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Archive for May 2nd, 2011
TVA prepares two coal-fired plants for flooding
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 2nd, 2011
Reuters: The Tennessee Valley Authority said workers on Monday were taking precautions to reduce possible flooding at two coal-fired power plants in Tennessee and Kentucky.
TVA said crews were preparing sandbags and inflatable coffer dams for possible use at the 1,369-megawatt Shawnee Fossil Plant west of Paducah, Kentucky, on the Ohio River, and at the 750-MW Allen Fossil Plant on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee.
On Monday, the Ohio River was forecast to crest just below a level that...
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NRC chief says nuke agency to look at flood risk
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 2nd, 2011
Associated Press: U.S. nuclear power plants may need to upgrade their flood protection plans to avoid a crisis like Japan has faced since a massive earthquake unleashed a tsunami, the top U.S. nuclear regulator said Monday.
Severe flooding from the March 11 tsunami is likely to emerge as a "dominant cause" of the disaster in Japan, said Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Gregory Jaczko.
While nuclear plants have always been required to have detailed flood protection plans, Jaczko said the Japanese crisis...
Nuclear waste storage a top issue for NRC: chairman
Posted by Reuters: Roberta Rampton on May 2nd, 2011
Reuters: The U.S. nuclear safety regulator is studying whether to require plants to more quickly move radioactive waste out of pools as part of a review on safety in the wake of Japan's nuclear disaster, its chairman said on Monday.
Damage to a pool holding spent fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March has elevated concerns in the United States about how best to store the millions of spent fuel rods now mainly stored in pools at the nation's 104 plants.
"That's obviously something we're looking...
Corruption threatens climate finance
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on May 2nd, 2011
Deutsche Welle: Corruption is one of the main reasons for deforestation Hundreds of billions of dollars will be needed to respond to climate change over the years ahead. Yet corruption threatens to undermine the world's best efforts, Transparency International has warned in a new report. Fraud risks destabilizing the world's effort to tackle climate change according to a huge 360-page report published by Transparency International in Bangladesh on Saturday. The "Global Corruption Report: Climate Change," with...
The world’s tropical forests are already feeling the heat
Posted by Yale Environment 360: William Laurance on May 2nd, 2011
Yale Environment 360: On Jan. 12, 2002, in the Australian state of New South Wales, biologist Justin Welbergen was observing a colony of flying foxes for his Ph.D. research. The temperatures that day on Australia’s subtropical, eastern coast reached record highs, soaring to 42.9 degrees C (109 degrees F) at the weather station closest to Welbergen’s study site -- nearly 8 degrees C higher than the average summer maximum temperature. The flying foxes, or giant fruit bats, normally just doze in the treetops through the...
Texas wildfires made worse by changes on the state’s vast landscape, scientists say
Posted by Dallas News: Randy Lee Loftis on May 2nd, 2011
Dallas News: Scorched Texas is sprouting green. Almost before the embers cooled, nature began its renewal.
"There's already grass popping up in the black,' said Greg Creacy, a regional fire and natural resources coordinator with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Yet the signs of underlying trouble also will re-emerge.
Top Scientists Explain How Deadly Tornadoes in the South May Be Influenced by Climate Change
Posted by Alert Net: Brad Johnson on May 2nd, 2011
Alert Net: Top Scientists Explain How Deadly Tornadoes in the South May Be Influenced by Climate Change
Climate change is present in every single meteorological event, according to scientists who study global warming and extreme weather. Throughout human history, the climate system has been a source of life and death, the sun and rain capable of feeding our crops and bringing us comfort, or unleashing terrible devastation in wind, fire, drought, storm, and flood. Each tragedy that occurs -- such as the...
Waters still rising around evacuated Illinois town
Posted by Reuters: Miriam Moynihan on May 2nd, 2011
Reuters: Missouri's attorney general asked the Supreme Court on Sunday to intervene and block a proposed federal plan to protect the southern Illinois town of Cairo by blowing up a levee on the Mississippi River.
State Attorney General Chris Koster asked the nation's highest court for a temporary injunction to prevent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from intentionally breaching the Birds Point levee, a move that would flood 130,000 acres of farmland and destroy the homes of an estimated 200 people in...
Controversial Brazilian mega-dam receives investment of $1.4 billion
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 2nd, 2011
Mongabay: Controversial Brazilian mega-dam receives investment of $1.4 billion
Brazil's most controversial mega-dam, Belo Monte, which is moving full steam ahead against massive opposition, has received an extra infusion of cash from Vale, a Brazilian-run mining company.
Vale, which has projects around the world, announced it would buy 9% of Norte Energia S.A. (NESA), the company contracted to construct the massive dam.
"The plan makes all sense from a strategic point of view, because we will be able...
Malaysian tribes fight to protect rainforests
Posted by English alJazeera: None Given on May 2nd, 2011
English alJazeera: The long tussle over resources from rainforests in Malaysia's Sarawak province has pitted strong logging and palm oil companies against the indigenous tribes in the area.
Three tribes from the state, accusing the government of illegally handing out timber and palm oil licences to companies, have approached the country's highest court over their rights on the land.
The government says it is trying to alleviate poverty and bring the state's natives into mainstream society and that forest management...