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Archive for January 13th, 2012
After earthquakes, Ohio city questions future fracking wells
Posted by Reuters: Kim Palmer on January 13th, 2012
Reuters: Alarmed over a string of earthquakes linked to deep wells in nearby Youngstown, authorities in Mansfield, Ohio have threatened to block construction of two similar waste disposal wells planned within their city limits.
Ohio has over 170 active disposal wells, though only recently has it become permissable to use them for disposal of out-of-state waste from fracking, a controversial process to drive gas and oil out of underground rock.
Now, fresh questions about their safety are being raised...
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Evaluating Feedback on Fracking Rules
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 13th, 2012
New York Times: As I report in today’s Times, New York State environmental regulators are sorting through more than 20,000 public comments as they develop the final rules for high-volume hydraulic fracturing, the much-debated process to extract natural gas from underground shale formations.
On Thursday, the federal Environmental Protection Agency posted its comments on its Web site advising New York officials to study more issues and revise its plans to protect water supplies and the environment. The recommendations...
Covering the Coverage: Scientists Propose Cuts in Methane, Soot Emissions
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on January 13th, 2012
Climate Central: A paper published yesterday in the journal Science shows the tremendous climate change, public health, and crop yield benefits that could come from reducing emissions of soot and methane, both of which contribute to global warming but don't stay in the air nearly as long as carbon dioxide (CO2), the main climate change villain. As I reported yesterday, the proposals contained in the study could slash the rate of global warming nearly in half through 2050, while saving up to 4.7 million lives annually...
United Kingdom: Hydraulic fracturing controversy: what a fracking shambles
Posted by Guardian: Michael White on January 13th, 2012
Guardian: An oilman I know slightly said in the pub that the "flaming taps" problem widely associated with techniques of hydraulic fracturing – fracking – became a problem only after rural folk in Pennsylvania went drilling for oil in their back yards (as Americans do) in an amateur, "mom and pop" fashion.
"There's no problem in Texas – folk know about oil drilling in Texas," my oil friend said with adopted Texan pride.
A quick glance at any account of the fracking controversy – here's Wiki's summary...
Honeybee problem nearing a ‘critical point’
Posted by Grist: Claire Thompson on January 13th, 2012
Grist: Anyone who's been stung by a bee knows they can inflict an outsized pain for such tiny insects. It makes a strange kind of sense, then, that their demise would create an outsized problem for the food system by placing the more than 70 crops they pollinate -- from almonds to apples to blueberries -- in peril.
Although news about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has died down, commercial beekeepers have seen average population losses of about 30 percent each year since 2006, said Paul Towers, of the...
Massive ecological change predicted for Canada: NASA
Posted by CNEWS: None Given on January 13th, 2012
CNEWS: Many parts of Canada are predicted to see massive ecological changes over the next century, according to NASA.
Researchers from the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology investigated how Earth's plant life is likely to react over the next three centuries to changes in climate brought about by rising levels of human-produced greenhouse gases.
"While warnings of melting glaciers, rising sea levels and other environmental changes are illustrative and...
Houston tackles storm and population surges in its customary ways
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 13th, 2012
ClimateWire: Standing in her kitchen, here, Michelle Dugan shows off the electronic gadget that might help her save on the substantial heating and cooling bills for her drafty, 120-year-old home.
A small touch-screen monitor on the energy-tracking device her utility, Reliant Energy, gave her allows Dugan's family to follow the energy consumption of the 2,700-square-foot house in real time. Thanks to her neighborhood's participation in Reliant's experimental program, Dugan says she now knows precisely how much...
Diverse Ecosystems Are Crucial Climate Change Buffer
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 13th, 2012
redOrbit: Preserving diverse plant life will help buffer the negative effects of climate change and desertification in drylands
Preserving diverse plant life will be crucial to buffer the negative effects of climate change and desertification in the world`s drylands, according to a new landmark study.
The findings of the multi-author study, published January 12 in the journal Science, are based on samples of ecosystems in every continent except Antarctica.
They confirm for the first time that the...
Middle England and eco-activists unite in opposition to shale gas and fracking
Posted by Ecologist: Jan Goodey on January 13th, 2012
Ecologist: In a perfect storm, Middle England is joining forces with climate activists to say no to fracking and the UK's much-talked about shale gas boom
The UK's shale gas boom is spreading. After more than a year of exploratory drilling in Lancashire, new sites are now being established in the south-east of England.
Unlike the road protests of the nineties where the car was king, this time the stockbroker-belt faces the despoiling of precious countryside and potentially, underground water supplies....
Pa. families asking EPA chief to send water
Posted by Associated Press: Geoff Mulvihill on January 13th, 2012
Associated Press: Residents of a small northeastern Pennsylvania town at the center of the political fight over natural gas drilling struck out Friday when they tried to take their complaints directly to the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A handful of residents-turned-activists from Dimock joined about 50 environmental activists from neighboring communities and elsewhere to rally outside a conference at Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences on urban environmental issues, chanting, "Lisa...