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Archive for March 16th, 2011
Serengeti road project opposed by ‘powerful’ tour company lobby
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 16th, 2011
Mongabay: Serengeti road project opposed by 'powerful' tour company lobby
Government plans to build a road through Serengeti National Park came up against more opposition this week as the Tanzanian Association of Tour Operators (Tato) came out against the project, reports The Citizen. Tato, described as powerful local lobby group by the Tanzanian media, stated that the road would hurt tourism and urged the government to select a proposed alternative route that would by-pass the park. Tato's opposition may...
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Japan to use water cannon at nuclear plant as international concern grows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 16th, 2011
Guardian: Workers battling to prevent nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plant will use a police water cannon to try to cool one of the crippled reactors after strong winds and high radiation levels thwarted attempts to spray from a helicopter.
The renewed efforts came as the EU's energy chief, Guenther Oettinger, said the plant was "effectively out of control" and the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation said the situation in Japan was "developing under the worst scenario".
Yukiya Amano,...
Agricultural research ‘urgently needs more women’
Posted by SciDev.Net: Eva Aguilar on March 16th, 2011
SciDev.Net: There is an urgent need for more women in agricultural research, particularly at PhD level and beyond, according to a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The 2010--11 edition of The State of Food and Agriculture, launched by the FAO last week (7 March), said that female scientists are essential to efforts to increase the productivity of farms run by women in developing countries. Nienke Beintema, programme head of the Agricultural Science & Technology Indicators (ASTI)...
Hardrock Mining Reform a Tough Sell Despite Activist Outcry
Posted by Greenwire: Manuel Quinones on March 16th, 2011
Greenwire: Efforts by President Obama to overhaul federal oversight of the hardrock mining industry may fall short despite bipartisan agreement that some reforms are overdue.
The president's budget blueprint would enact a new fee on hardrock mineral production to help pay for reclamation of abandoned hardrock mines. It also requires royalties from companies mining certain minerals, including gold, copper, lead and uranium.
Obama's proposal is a nod to environmentalists and other advocates who say the...
U.S. will do new studies on Keystone XL tar sands pipeline
Posted by LA Times: Kim Murphy on March 16th, 2011
LA Times: The U.S. State Department is going to require additional environmental studies before granting a permit for the 1,660-mile Keystone XL pipeline, proposed to carry oil from the tar sands of northern Canada through the U.S. heartland and on to south Texas.
In an announcement Tuesday, department officials said they would open a new round of public comments on a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, to be released in mid-April, with a decision on whether to grant a permit for the controversial...
Social class makes no difference to water contamination risk
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on March 16th, 2011
Science Centric: Wealthy, well educated people who choose to drink bottled water rather than water from public supplies may be no less exposed to potentially cancer-causing water contaminants, according to new research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health.
As part of the EPICURO national bladder cancer study, researchers from all over Spain quizzed 1,270 individuals about their water use and consumption in an effort to discover whether social class has any bearing on exposure...
Canada: Alberta tar sands pipeline project delayed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 16th, 2011
Guardian: A controversial pipeline project to pump crude from the tar sands of Alberta to the refineries of Texas has been delayed after the Obama administration ordered additional environmental reviews.
The state department, which has final say on the $7bn pipeline, said it would seek further public comment on the project before making a final decision at the end of the year.
That likely delay the start date for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to mid-2013. The administration had earlier indicated...
Japan nuclear crisis: fire in fuel pools ‘would raise radiation exposure’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 16th, 2011
Guardian: A fire at the stores of spent atomic fuel in Japan's stricken nuclear reactors would dramatically raise the dangers of a radiation leak, scientists have warned.
Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) confirmed a fire in Fukushima Daiichi's No 4 reactor on Tuesday, following an explosion that damaged the structure housing the massive concrete pools storing fuel rods used in the reactor. A further fire broke out at the No 3 reactor on Wednesday, where a fuel storage pool had overheated and may have let off...
Japanese emperor ‘deeply worried’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 16th, 2011
BBC: Japan's Emperor Akihito has said he is "deeply worried" about the crisis his country is facing following last Friday's earthquake and tsunami.
In an extremely rare appearance, the emperor went on live TV to make his first public comments on the disaster, and urged an all-out rescue effort.
He spoke after technicians temporarily abandoned a quake-crippled nuclear plant as radiation briefly surged.
Thousands of people were killed in the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami.
The stricken Fukushima...
Climate change and quakes: a link?
Posted by Montreal Gazette: William Marsden on March 16th, 2011
Montreal Gazette: Severe earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and most recently Japan have raised the question of whether the world's tectonic plates are becoming more active and if so what is the cause.
Some scientists theorize that the sudden melting of glaciers due to man-made climate change is lightening the load on the Earth, allowing its mantle to rebound upward, causing the plates to become unstuck.
These scientists point to the historical increase in volcanic and earthquake activity that occurred about 12,000...