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Archive for April, 2011
Scientists urge Papua New Guinea to declare moratorium on massive forest clearing
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 19th, 2011
Mongabay: Scientists urge Papua New Guinea to declare moratorium on massive forest clearing
Forests spanning an area larger than Costa Rica--5.6 million hectares (13.8 million acres)--have been handed out by the Papua New Guinea government to foreign corporations, largely for logging. Granted under government agreements known as Special Agricultural and Business Leases (SABLs), the land leases circumvent the nation's strong laws pertaining to communal land ownership. Now, the Association for Tropical Biology...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Scientists urge Papua New Guinea to declare moratorium on massive forest clearingRussia risks repeat of wildfire crisis: NGO
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 19th, 2011
AFP: Russia is on track to experience another summer of catastrophic wildfires due to a lack of prevention measures and misdirected state funds, an environmental group warned on Tuesday.
Last year's record heatwave and drought escalated wildfires in central Russia out of control, killing dozens, threatening military and nuclear facilities, and causing a health crisis in Moscow with acrid smoke.
As seasonal fires begin to rage in Siberia and other regions, there are few signs that Russia has the...
Pa. wants to cut off gas-drilling wastewater
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 19th, 2011
Associated Press: Citing potentially unsafe drinking water, Pennsylvania called on companies drilling in the Marcellus Shale natural gas formation to stop taking wastewater to 15 treatment plants by May 19.
Tuesday's announcement was a major change in the state's regulation of gas drilling and came the same day that an industry group said it now believes drilling wastewater is partly at fault for rising levels of bromide being found in Pittsburgh-area rivers.
Gas drilling that uses millions of gallons of chemical-laden...
Starbucks stalls on energy and recycling goals – slashes water use
Posted by Business Green: Jonathan Bardelline on April 19th, 2011
Business Green: Starbucks has made strides in the past year to use to less water and serve ethically-sourced coffee, but lagged on using less energy and adding recycling to stores.
The coffee giant's progress and stumbles, detailed in its latest environmental and social responsibility report, are in some ways tied to outside factors that Starbucks has been trying to influence. Recycling, for instance, is heavily dependent on what services local governments and waste haulers offer. While 75 per cent of Starbucks...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Starbucks stalls on energy and recycling goals – slashes water usePressure mounts to delay “dangerous” $3.5 bln Mekong dam
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 19th, 2011
Reuters: - Plans for the first dam across the lower Mekong River are putting Laos on a collision course with its neighbors and environmentalists who fear livelihoods, fish species and farmland could be destroyed, potentially sparking a food crisis.
The impoverished, Communist nation seems determined to defy international pressure and forge ahead with construction of the $3.5 billion Xayaburi Dam, a mostly Thai-led project that experts say could cause untold environmental damage.
The four countries that...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Pressure mounts to delay “dangerous” $3.5 bln Mekong damBoat turbulence kills zooplankton
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 19th, 2011
BBC: Turbulence generated by speeding motor boats kills significant numbers of zooplankton, a study has revealed for the first time.
Experiments on copepods, tiny crustaceans that live and float in water, show that a third die in waters frequented by propeller-driven boats.
That is significantly more than in bodies of water not used by boats.
Zooplankton play a crucial role in water ecology and their death may have hitherto unknown impacts.
Details of the discovery are published in the Journal...
Violent protests delay destructive Amazon dams
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 19th, 2011
Rainforest News: The construction of the Madeira dams in the Brazilian Amazon has been delayed, following violent protests at the Jirau dam site last week. According to Survival, construction workers set fire to buildings and more than 40 buses at the site, and ransacked shops and cash-points, in protest against low pay and bad working conditions. The protests brought the dam construction to a stand still.
The Jirau and Santo Antonio dams, part of the Madeira River hydroelectric complex, will damage vast areas...
EPA chief says will decide in July on U.S. dust rule
Posted by Reuters: Kay Henderson on April 19th, 2011
Reuters: The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said she will decide in July whether to tighten U.S. controls on dust, an issue that has stirred fear in farm country of costly federal regulation.
Livestock and farm groups say it would be impossible to comply with stricter standards on exposure to dust, which they say is a natural part of farming. EPA regulates dust, formally described as particulate matter, under anti-pollution laws.
"It's my decision to make a final recommendation. That'll...
Brazil: Vale close to agreeing share in Amazon dam: source
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 19th, 2011
Reuters: Brazilian mining giant Vale is close to joining the consortium that will build the controversial $17 billion Belo Monte dam in the Amazon region, a source in the group told Reuters on Monday.
Vale is likely to take over the 9 percent stake in the project that had been held by an energy subsidiary of meat-packing firm Bertin that announced its withdrawal from the project in February, the source said.
"The deal should be finished within 30 days," the source from the Norte Energia consortium said....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazil: Vale close to agreeing share in Amazon dam: sourceCan US handle historic Texas wildfires?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 18th, 2011
Christian Science Monitor: The wildfires that have consumed 1.6 million acres of Texas plains and pines, threatened its capital, and destroyed 240 homes is stretching, but not yet stressing, the United States' wildland firefighting capability, the US Forest Service says.
On Sunday, Gov. Rick Perry acknowledged that Texas needs more federal help to deal with the situation, as dozens of fires are now burning largely uncontrolled across the state, including unusual "crown fires" in tops of trees in the east Texas pine barrens...