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Archive for September 18th, 2011
China invests billions in oil sands
Posted by Houston Chronicle: Jennifer A. Dlouhy on September 18th, 2011
Houston Chronicle: As U.S. companies look toward oil riches in northern Canada, they're encountering increasing competition - as well as some much-needed cash infusions - from the Far East.
U.S. and Canadian companies have dominated Alberta's oil sands for decades. Now, though, Chinese firms are rushing to snap up Canadian oil sands resources and invest in ongoing projects - to the tune of $15 billion in the past 18 months in Alberta alone.
They are motivated by a desire to jump into one of the world's lowest-risk...
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Repeated droughts taking toll on midstate
Posted by Macon: S. Heather Duncan on September 18th, 2011
Macon: It was a summer when the hot air seemed to cling to your skin, dragging your ankles toward the baking pavement, drowning your lungs as you sucked in moist gulps.
The sun was relentless. On Saturdays, neighborhoods were strangely devoid of kids’ voices or bouncing basketballs, silent as everyone huddled behind their curtains over air conditioning vents.
The only hotter summer on record, in terms of mean temperature or average high, was in 1954, according to David Stooksbury of the University...
Egypt, Ethiopia to review impact of mega dam
Posted by Reuters: Sami Aboudi on September 18th, 2011
Reuters: Egypt and Ethiopia have agreed to set up a technical team to review the impact of a $4.8-billion Nile river dam which Addis Ababa announced in March, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said in Cairo on Saturday.
Egypt has been worried over changes to colonial-era treaties since Nile basin nations, including Ethiopia, signed a deal last year that strips Cairo of the right to the lion's share of the river's waters and effectively removes its veto power over dam projects.
Egypt, witnessing...