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Archive for January 7th, 2011
High Court Takes Up Interstate River Battle
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2011
New York Times: The Supreme Court next week will wade into a dispute between Montana and Wyoming over water rights to two rivers that flow through both states.
Montana claims Wyoming farmers and industries are using too much water in a region where it remains a scarce resource.
At issue are the waters of the Powder and Tongue rivers, both tributaries of the Yellowstone River, which run into Montana from Wyoming.
Rights to the water have long been settled via the Yellowstone River Compact, which was finalized...
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Chlorine Substitutes In Water May Have Risks
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2011
National Public Radio: Water systems across the country are changing the way they disinfect drinking water because the traditional disinfectant, chlorine, can leave behind toxic chemicals.
But alternatives to chlorine are turning out to have risks of their own, says a scientist who wrote an analysis in the journal Science.
The change in disinfectants comes a century after water systems in the U.S. began adding chlorine to prevent the spread of diseases like cholera and typhoid. For much of that time, people thought...
Australia: Unprecedented, “Biblical” Floods Inundate Australia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2011
National Geographic: Workers clean out a flooded hardware store in Bundaberg, near the eastern coast of Australia, on January 1. Tropical rains pounded the Australian state of Queensland after Christmas, and the floodwaters have worked their way toward the sea, inundating 22 towns and cities, affecting 200,000 people, and shutting down shops, mines, and a major port. The Australia Bureau of Meteorology warned in mid-December of unusually heavy rains to come, fueled by a strong La Niña pattern of ocean currents this...
Oil still fouling La. marshes, tour finds
Posted by Associated Press: Harry Weber on January 7th, 2011
Associated Press: Oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster remains in marshes off the coast of Louisiana, where officials renewed complaints Friday about the cleanup effort by BP and the federal government.
State and parish officials took media on a boat tour of Barataria Bay, pointing out areas where oil is collecting in marshes and protective boom is either absent or overwhelmed by the oil.
"This is the biggest cover-up in the history of America," said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, who was accompanied...
Canada PM applauds job creation, defends oil sands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2011
Reuters: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Friday the creation of 22,000 jobs in the country in December was "encouraging", but added that the recovery remained under threat and that the unemployment rate was too high.
In a televised news conference, Harper also called Canada an "ethical" supplier of oil to the United States, defending the Alberta oil sands projects that environmentalists criticize as a huge source of greenhouse gases and toxic waste.
Statistics Canada reported on Friday...
The Call of the Bayou
Posted by New York Times: Amy Harmon on January 7th, 2011
New York Times: My article in Friday`s paper, “A Son of the Bayou, Torn Over the Shrimping Life,’’ is a coming-of-age story with the BP oil spill as its backdrop.
For this guest post here on the Green blog, I considered riffing on various environmental angles. I could write about how the Obama administration is paving the way for deep-water drilling to resume in the Gulf of Mexico, even as the presidential spill commission warned this week that a similar accident could well occur without significant reform. ...
Canada invests Can$278 million in ‘greener’ paper
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a 278-million-dollar (279-million US) investment Thursday to help Canada's pulp and paper industry become more environmentally friendly.
Speaking in Windsor, Quebec, Harper said Ottawa would namely allocate nearly 25 million dollars to paper manufacturer Domtar Corporation to help its pulp and paper mill "invest in energy-efficient and environment-friendly technologies."
The 24.8-million-dollar (24.9-million US) investment is part of the government's...
Lakes a big source of climate-warming gas: Study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2011
Reuters: Lakes and rivers emit far more of a powerful greenhouse gas than previously thought, counteracting the overall role of nature in soaking up climate-warming gases, a study showed on Thursday.
A review of 474 freshwater systems indicated they emitted methane equivalent to 25 percent of all carbon dioxide -- the main greenhouse gas blamed for stoking climate change -- absorbed by the world's land areas every year.
Trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide as they grow.
"Methane emissions...
Poor to pay for higher food costs
Posted by Gulf News: Yazad Darasha on January 7th, 2011
Gulf News: More than a billion people across the world who survive on less than $1.25 a day will feel the impact of higher food prices as developing-nation governments struggle to feed their poor.
Prices of grains, sugar, meat and other edibles are at an all-time high, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food price index for December, released on Wednesday.
The index, which measures monthly price changes for a food basket composed of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat...
Two environment rules halted in New Mexico
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2011
New York Times: Acting on a campaign promise, New Mexico’s new Republican governor, Susana Martinez, has scuttled a state regulation requiring annual 3 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. A second environmental rule intended to control the discharge of waste from dairies in southern New Mexico was also dropped before publication. A different state rule that caps greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources like power plants remains in effect for the time being. During her campaign, Governor Martinez...