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Archive for June 22nd, 2011
House votes to ease rules for offshore drilling
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 22nd, 2011
Associated Press: The House has approved a bill removing a barrier to companies seeking to drill for oil in some areas offshore.
The measure was approved Wednesday by 253-166 vote. It would give the Environmental Protection Agency six months to decide on air pollution permits for offshore rigs or platforms exploring for oil. It also limits challenges to the EPA's appeals board and restricts which emissions can be evaluated.
Shell Oil Co. scrapped plans to drill in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska in February after...
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How Agriculture Affects Endemic Fish
Posted by New York Times: John S. Sparks and Christopher B. Braun on June 22nd, 2011
New York Times: Walking to Lake Andrapongy through a lengthy series of rice paddies and mud fields laced with zebu dung, we become disheartened. It looks as though more and more of the flood basin has succumbed to agriculture. The water is fetid on our approach and we expect yet another disappointment. One team member who went down to see the lake returns, exclaiming, “There’s nothing here in this schistosome-infested dung-hole!” Still, we approach some local fishermen and inquire whether the Damba (Paretroplus...
US ethanol subsidy caused corn price surge: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 22nd, 2011
Agence France-Presse: US ethanol subsidies pushed up corn prices as much as 17 percent in 2011, according to a study released Wednesday at a time when Washington's policies on biofuels are coming under heightened scrutiny.
The study by Bruce Babcock of Iowa State University and released by the Geneva-based International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, suggests that high gasoline prices this year may have intensified demand for ethanol, creating a tighter market for maize than in previous years.
"Under...
House Panel Fast-Tracks Bill to Divest EPA of Regulatory Power Over Water
Posted by New York Times: Paul Quinlan on June 22nd, 2011
New York Times: After a brief but rancorous debate, a House committee approved a fast-tracked bill that would shift regulatory powers over water, wetlands and mountaintop-mining regulation from U.S. EPA to the states.
In a 35-19, largely party-line vote, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this morning approved the bill (H.R. 2018 (pdf)) backed by the top Republican and Democrat on the committee, Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.).
Four other Democrats also joined in support:...
Senegal farmers fight desertification with trees
Posted by AlertNet: George Fominyen on June 22nd, 2011
AlertNet: Dame Diop looks at the green leaves of trees growing on the sandy Sahelian soil of his Senegal village, Khatre Sy, and talks with modesty about the community's effort to restore fertility to their degraded soil.
"There was a time when we could stand in the village and see cars on the road, although almost four kilometres separate the road from the village,' said the 45-year-old.
"The trees had disappeared because of many droughts and also because people were cutting them for firewood and for...
Droughts devastating East Africa
Posted by English Aljazeera: Andrew Wander on June 22nd, 2011
English Aljazeera: Many tribes across East Africa are having to leave their pastoral way of life for urban poverty because of severe droughts
Whether you ask about the carcasses of livestock baked white in the sun, the gaggle of people crowding around the district commissioner's door, or the wards of malnourished children lying listlessly in hospital beds, the explanation given is always the same.
"It's because of the drought", they say.
The failure of rains across arid parts of East Africa has brought misery...
Track the nation’s rivers: Missouri River floods and southern drought
Posted by Climate Central: David Kroodsma on June 22nd, 2011
Climate Central: This year's extreme weather, marked by unusually heavy precipitation in the northern half of the country and drought in the South and Southwest, continues.
The Missouri River is currently above flood stage in every state that it passes through. People are evacuating homes, bridges are down, and the Army Corps of Engineers is struggling to manage reservoirs swollen with runoff from weeks of heavy rains and melting mountain snowpack. A few unsettling pictures show floodwaters surrounding the Fort...
United Kingdom: Pupils join mass world water test
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 22nd, 2011
BBC: Children from hundreds of schools in Britain are taking part in what organisers say may be the biggest ever global chemistry experiment.
Students from around the world are testing the acidity of water from their local rivers and lakes.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry will collate the data into a map of global water quality.
Participating countries range from Australia to Slovakia, India and South Africa.
The project is part of the International Year of Chemistry...
Aussie chef catches flak for treated tap water
Posted by Reuters: Pauline Askin on June 22nd, 2011
Reuters: An Australian chef has received a chilly reception for charging diners for treated tap water and ditching boutique bottled water, which he termed wasteful, for an eco-friendly option. Mark Best, chef and owner of Marque Restaurant in Sydney, turned years of environmental consciousness into action by splashing out on a $6,000 Italian-made water system that filters, chills and carbonates tap water, the first of its kind in an Australian restaurant. He now charges A$5 ($5.3) for water -- but this...
Burkina Faso Losing Thousands of Hectares of Forests Each Year
Posted by Inter Press Service: Brahima Ouédraogo on June 22nd, 2011
Inter Press Service: The Burkina Faso authorities have sounded the alarm over the increased rate of degradation of forests in this Sahelian country.
According to a study by the Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development, some 110,550 hectares of forest are destroyed each year, just over four percent of the country's total wooded area – around three-quarters of this annual loss linked to farming. The data covers forest loss between 1992 and 2002, but the trend continues, according the ministry.
The...