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Archive for February, 2011
Ecuador: Chevron’s lawyers – the busiest in the world?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 18th, 2011
Guardian: Oil is the dirtiest industry in the world and Chevron, one the world's largest companies, must be the oiliest. That's saying something when you consider it has rivals including BP, Shell, Exxon and Oxy. Never mind the gross violations of the Ecuadoran environment for which it was punished this week with a $8bn (£5bn) fine. When it comes to aggressive legal tactics, vindictiveness, threats, pollution, intimidation, tax evasion and links with venal and repressive regimes, it is in a league of its own...
Climate change no tall tale for local fisherman
Posted by Athens Banner-Herald: None Given on February 18th, 2011
Athens Banner-Herald: Years earlier, Rusk's father had, as he says, "laid a trip on me. Before he died, he said, 'Rich, it looks like the issue for your generation is going to be climate change - people are going to have to believe the projections of the scientists ... and you're going to need to get after it."
Rusk's dad died in 1994, and, he admits, his dad probably didn't use the words "climate change" - "but he picked up on it decades before, in the '60s and '70s, he saw it coming."
For his part, Rusk says he...
How close are we to the edge?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 18th, 2011
Living on Earth: GELLERMAN: A recent World Bank study notes that food prices have soared nearly 30 percent just in the past year. Meanwhile, many autocratic regimes in the Middle East that have ruled for decades have suddenly become unstable - as citizens take to the streets, demanding change.
This is not a coincidence says Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute. He writes that rich nations are adding to the social instability when they buy up land in poor nations to guarantee their own food supply....
UK storm blamed on climate change
Posted by Age: Geoff Strong and Lindsay Murdoch on February 18th, 2011
Age: AS AUSTRALIANS from both ends of the country were yesterday cleaning up after storms and floods, a British study has concluded for the first time that an extreme storm in that country is likely to have doubled in intensity due to human induced climate change.
The study, published yesterday in the journal Nature, is significant because for the first time climate change has been blamed for a single event.
But Australian experts are divided over whether a similar study here would have been able...
The beaver’s new brand: Eco-saviour
Posted by Globe and Mail: Erin Anderssen on February 18th, 2011
Globe and Mail: Our bucktoothed icon is hard-working and monogamous, steadfast and stable in the Canuck way. But beloved? Not when one drops a tree on your cottage or floods your land with its dam. These days, however, the beaver has a new brand: eco-saviour. An increasingly vocal group of scientists and conservationists believes the dam-building rodent is an overlooked tool to mitigate climate change -- a natural remedy for our sick rivers and ravaged wildlife. Fly away with that, bald eagle.
It's the beaver's...
Hudson River Fish Evolve Toxic PCB Immunity
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 18th, 2011
National Geographic: Bottom-feeding fish in the Hudson River have developed a gene that renders them immune to the toxic effects of PCBs, researchers say.
A genetic variant allows the fish to live in waters notoriously polluted by the now-banned industrial chemicals, and distinguishes the fish--Atlantic tomcod (Microgadus tomcod)--as one of the world’s fastest evolving populations.
"This is very, very rapid evolutionary change," said Isaac Wirgin, an environmental toxicologist at New York University’s...
Ecuador plaintiffs appeal Chevron damages award
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 17th, 2011
Reuters: Ecuadoreans suing U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp for environmental damages on Thursday appealed a recent court ruling that awarded them $8.6 billion, claiming that more money would be needed for cleanup efforts.
Residents of Ecuador's Amazon jungle say that Texaco, which was later acquired by Chevron, dumped polluted water into their rivers and left drilling waste to fester in unlined pits, charges that the company denies.
At $8.6 billion, the damages figure is one of the biggest environmental...
Anti-fracking bill gets Oscar hopeful’s support
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 17th, 2011
Reuters: Hoping success rubs off, a U.S. lawmaker had the director of the Oscar-nominated film "Gasland" near when announcing he will reintroduce a bill making companies reveal chemicals used in natural gas drilling.
"Before this country embraces natural gas as the solution to our energy needs ... we need to take every step possible to ensure our water is not contaminated, our air is not polluted, and our communities are not irrevocably harmed," Representative Maurice Hinchey of New York, who will reintroduce...
Sting “ringleader” re-enters Chevron-Ecuador case
Posted by Reuters: Braden Reddall and Dan Levine on February 17th, 2011
Reuters: Plaintiffs in the Ecuador pollution case against Chevron Corp will get to question the man they call the "ringleader" of a sting operation that is key to Chevron's efforts to avoid paying a massive judgment.
The deposition of Diego Borja will be the first chance for the plaintiffs to use the same kind of U.S. legal device extensively used by the oil company in building its extortion case against them.
The Borja ruling comes just days after an Ecuadorean court awarded plaintiffs $8.6 billion...
Rep. Whitfield Scores One for Coal, Stripping $1.5M From ‘Greening the Capitol’
Posted by Greenwire: John Mcardle on February 17th, 2011
Greenwire: Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) won a victory for the coal industry in the wee hours of the morning today when the House adopted a relatively cheap but highly symbolic amendment to the fiscal 2011 continuing resolution. Whitfield's amendment, which was adopted by voice vote at about 1 a.m. this morning, stripped $1.5 million from the House's Greening the Capitol initiative, a program begun in 2007 under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to make Congress an example of energy efficiency in the workplace....
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