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Archive for November 1st, 2011
Obama: health, economy to affect Keystone decision
Posted by Reuters: Jeff Mason and Matt Spetalnick on November 1st, 2011
Reuters: President Barack Obama said on Tuesday health and economic factors would be taken into account when he decides whether to approve TransCanada Corp's Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline proposal.
Speaking in a television interview, Obama said the State Department would give him a report on the issue "over the next several months."
That could indicate a delay in the decision, which the State Department had previously targeted for the end of this year.
Obama's inclinations about the pipeline...
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Palm oil company forcibly evicts indigenous community in Indonesian Borneo
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 1st, 2011
Mongabay: Deforestation for oil palm near Muara Tae, West Kutai, East Kalimantan. Courtesy of Telapak.
A palm oil company has forcibly evicted an indigenous community from one of the last tracts of rainforest near Jempang in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, reports Telapak, a group that advocates community forest management.
The incident, which allegedly took place last week, pitted villagers of Muara Tae against plantation developer PT Munte Waniq Jaya Perkasa after the...
Nebraska legislators move to block Keystone XL pipeline route
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 1st, 2011
Guardian: Legislators in Nebraska moved to block the controversial Keystone XL project on Tuesday, introducing a bill that would give state officials authority over pipeline routes.
The bill, introduced in a special session by Senator Annette Dubas, would grant the state's public service commission authority to review major pipeline projects – especially those which could affect natural resources.
It was the only proposal put forward at the start of the special session, which lasted just 16 minutes....
Key UN report ties climate change to extreme weather
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 1st, 2011
Agence France-Presse: A new UN report concludes that man-made climate change has boosted the frequency or intensity of heat waves, wildfires, floods and cyclones and that such disasters are likely to multiply in the future.
The draft document, which has been three years in the making, says the severity of the impacts vary, with some regions more vulnerable than others.
Hundreds of scientists working under the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) will vet the phonebook-sized draft at a meeting in Kampala...
Canada toughens tone on Keystone approval
Posted by Reuters: Bruce Nichols on November 1st, 2011
Reuters: Canada is toughening its tone on the Keystone XL pipeline, warning the Obama administration that rejection of TransCanada Corp's $7 billion project could prompt Ottawa to concentrate on selling its oil-sands-derived crude to Asian customers instead.
"What will happen if there wasn't approval -- and we think there will be -- is that we'll simply have to intensify our efforts to sell the oil elsewhere," Joe Oliver, Canada's natural resources minister, told Reuters on Monday.
In the face of rising...
Extreme Weather Events Likely Linked to Warming, IPCC Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 1st, 2011
Yale Environment 360: A draft report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says there is a 2-in-3 probability that human-caused climate change is already leading to an increase in extreme weather events. The draft summary, obtained by the Associated Press, said that increasingly wild weather, such as the downpours that have caused recent extreme flooding in Thailand, will lead to a growing toll in lost lives and property damage, and will render some locations “increasingly marginal as places to live.”...
Dust bowl looms if US Southwest drought plans fail
Posted by New Scientist: Peter Aldhous on November 1st, 2011
New Scientist: THEY like their beef in Texas. So when Texan ranchers started offloading their cattle at bargain prices because pastures were parched - as they did this summer - it was a clear sign that this was no ordinary drought. While rains in October brought some relief, further drought is forecast, which will add to losses already exceeding $5 billion. The bigger question is whether the Texan rancher's pain is a harbinger of things to come for the entire Southwest - and if so, what the broader impact on Americans...
Why weekend snow was so destructive
Posted by LiveScience: Wynne Parry on November 1st, 2011
LiveScience: The surprisingly early snowstorm that smacked the East Coast this weekend picked up energy after crossing the country, producing an "extreme precipitation event" with damaging effects magnified by the fact that leaves remained on the trees.
"In many cases, this storm is unprecedented," said Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service.
The record-breaking storm set itself apart by dumping snow, measuring as deep as 32 inches (81 centimeters) in Peru, Mass., along a wide swath...
UN releases snapshot of environmental change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 1st, 2011
Associated Press: The United Nations says humans are destroying the environment faster than they are learning to protect it. The U.N. Environment Program says the last two decades have been marked by a steady erosion of the planet's resources as the world population grows and becomes ever more urban. But a 20-year snapshot comparing the period between the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and next year's sustainable development meeting in the Brazilian city also shows some progress. UNEP says fossil fuels are...
United States: Shale gas fracking ‘probable’ cause of Lancashire quakes
Posted by Ecologist: Juliette Jowit and Hanna Gersmann on November 1st, 2011
Ecologist: Shale gas fracking 'probable' cause of Lancashire quakes - News - The Ecologist
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Energy speculators say as many as 800 wells could be drilled in Lancashire in the search for shale gas
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