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Archive for March 3rd, 2011
Federal Officials Say They’ll Examine Fracking Practices
Posted by New York Times: John Collins Rdolf on March 3rd, 2011
New York Times: Lisa P. Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, at microphone, testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee on Thursday. At her side was Barbara Bennett, the agency’s chief financial officer.
Testifying before Congress on Thursday, Obama administration officials said they planned to scrutinize the waste disposal practices of natural gas producers after reports that drilling wastewater containing radioactive material was being dumped in public waters without...
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‘Bogus Bidder’ Convicted For Energy Auction Disruption
Posted by National Public Radio: Howard Berkes on March 3rd, 2011
National Public Radio: Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher was accused of hijacking bids at a federal auction, in an effort to protect two national parks from oil and gas drillers. Here, DeChristopher leaves the federal Courthouse in Salt Lake City, Monday Feb. 28.
Climate activist Tim DeChristopher said he disrupted an oil and gas leasing auction in 2008 to prevent greater harm to the planet. But a federal jury in Salt Lake City has decided instead that DeChristopher is guilty of two federal felonies.
"We know...
Brazil court gives dam go-ahead
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2011
BBC: Brazil court reverses Amazon Monte Belo dam suspension
Chief Raoni of the Kaiapo tribe has been a vocal opponent of the project A court in Brazil has approved a controversial hydro-electric project in the Amazon rainforest, overturning an earlier ruling.
Last week a judge blocked construction of the Belo Monte dam, saying it did not meet environmental standards.
But a higher court on Thursday said there was no need for all conditions to be met in order for work to begin.
Critics say the...
Brazil: Rural Women Protest Use of Toxic Agrochemicals
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2011
Inter Press Service: Thousands of women farmers in Brazil demonstrated this week against the use of toxic weedkillers and pesticides on crops and in favour of agricultural techniques that protect their families' health.
Under the slogan "Women Against the Violence of Agribusiness and Agrotoxins; For Land Reform and Food Sovereignty", members of the international peasant movement Via Campesina, together with other organisations working for the rights of women and the rural population, demonstrated Tuesday and Wednesday...
GOP Budget Plans Quash Obama Environment Policy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2011
National Public Radio: The Environmental Protection Agency and global warming programs government-wide stand to lose big in the battle over the federal budget. The House already passed its bill to fund the federal government for the rest of this year, and it doesn't just cut EPA programs "” it also steamrolls Obama administration environmental policy.
The House bill would slash the EPA budget by nearly a third "” more than any other agency. It would stop the agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it would...
Brazil court lifts suspension of massive Amazon dam
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2011
Reuters: A Brazilian court on Thursday lifted an order that suspended construction of the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric plant in the Amazon rain forest, a project expected to face barrage of lawsuits by environmental critics.
Belo Monte, which would be the world's third-largest hydroelectric dam, has sparked protests in Brazil and abroad over its impact on the environment and native Indian tribes in the region. [ID:nN20131326]
A federal judge last week ordered construction to be suspended on the...
Climate change ‘will bring drought, not rain, to East Africa’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2011
SciDev.Net: The study predicts drought for the region
East African environmental specialists have questioned new research that concludes that that climate change will bring increased drought, rather than more rain, to the region.
The new research, published in Climate Dynamics, predicts that the droughts common in eastern Africa over the past 20 years are likely to continue if global temperatures rise further.
But the prediction contradicts the scenario of increased rainfall projected by the Intergovernmental...
Report: 90 oil spills in Peruvian Amazon over 3 years
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2011
Mongabay: Report: 90 oil spills in Peruvian Amazon over 3 years
An oil spill flows down Chuuntsa Creek in Oil Block 1-AB. Photo courtesy of: Amazon Watch.
A new report has uncovered 90 oil spills by Pluspetrol in northern Peru's Amazon rainforest over the past 3 years. Covering two oil blocs--1-AB and 8--the report, complied by the Federation of Indigenous Communities of the Corrientes River (FECONACO), recorded 18 major oil spills in just the last year.
"A week after the landmark ruling against Chevron...
Alberta’s oil sands: Hard evidence, missing data, new promises
Posted by NIEHS: None Given on March 3rd, 2011
NIEHS: Pitched battles are a regular occurrence in northern Alberta, Canada, as development of the province’s oil sands continues to expand. One ongoing battle--with another salvo launched in February 2011 with the leak of a European Commission report1--concerns how dirty oil sands are, relative to other fuels. Another concerns the influence of the oil sands industry in monitoring its own activity.2 In an effort to cut through the rhetoric of health advocates, industry representatives,...
Questions of costs, jobs and influence surround O’Malley’s offshore wind proposal
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2011
Washington Post: Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley on Thursday will ask lawmakers to support a proposal to raise almost every state resident's electric bill for the next 20 years to underwrite a plan for Maryland to generate some of the nation's first offshore wind power.
O'Malley's legislation runs counter to a campaign promise to lower ratepayer costs that helped propel him to the governor's mansion five years ago, as well as repeated efforts since then to cast himself as a fighter for lower residential energy prices....