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Archive for January 9th, 2012
United States: Iceless lake concerns scientists
Posted by Sandusky Register: Tom Jackson on January 9th, 2012
Sandusky Register: Lake Erie's ice is missing.
It's January, and the area went through a cold snap last week. But people who look out across the lake are still waiting for the usual winter coat of ice to show up.
It's an odd sight, said George Leshkevich, a research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich.
"I would say at this point in the season, certainly the Western Basin should have a fairly substantial ice cover,"...
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Canada pipeline hearings near
Posted by Wall Street Journal: Edward Welsch on January 9th, 2012
Wall Street Journal: The first of more than a year's worth of public hearings over a proposed pipeline designed to ship crude from Canada's landlocked oil-sands to the Pacific begins Tuesday, threatening to fan a debate in Canada over the country's growing status as a global energy powerhouse.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently ratcheted up support for the idea of transporting some of Canada's growing oil production westward to the coast, where it can be loaded onto tankers and sent to thirsty Asian markets. The...
Supreme Court to hear case of dream home quashed by EPA
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Warren Richey on January 9th, 2012
Christian Science Monitor: The US Supreme Court on Monday is set to hear a case involving the Environmental Protection Agency that some property-rights advocates and business groups say is an example of how onerous federal regulations are spreading throughout the country.
The case examines whether an Idaho couple may seek the help of a federal judge to decide a dispute with the EPA over whether the lot they purchased for a planned dream home is a federally-regulated wetland.
Environmental groups say the couple...
Nigeria’s oil disasters are met by silence
Posted by Guardian: Michael Keating on January 9th, 2012
Guardian: In 2010 the world watched in horror as the Gulf of Mexico filled with 5m gallons of oil from an undersea leak caused by the careless handling of equipment on the part of BP and its partner Halliburton. Shocking images of uncontrolled spillage erupting from the ocean floor travelled around the world for weeks, sparking a media frenzy, a range of stern governmental responses and a huge amount of public outrage. BP has spent millions on the clean-up and millions more on a public relations campaign,...
Climate change can cause alpine meadows disappear in coming decades: Study
Posted by Daily News and Analysis: None Given on January 9th, 2012
Daily News and Analysis: A new study of changing mountain vegetation has suggested that some alpine meadows could disappear within the next few decades as a result of climate change.
The first ever pan-European study carried out by an international group of researchers revealed that climate change is having a more profound effect on alpine vegetation than expected.
Led by researchers from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Vienna, biologists from 13 different countries in Europe analysed 867 vegetation...
Species lag in climate change shift
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 9th, 2012
Agence France-Presse: Fast-track warming in Europe is making butterflies and birds fall behind in the move to cooler habitats and prompting a worrying turnover in alpine plant species, studies published on Sunday say.
The papers, both published by the journal, Nature Climate Change, are the biggest endeavour yet to pinpoint impacts on European biodiversity from accelerating global temperatures.
A team led by Vincent Devictor of France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) found that from 1990 to 2008,...