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Archive for January 20th, 2012
Weird Winter Continues with Western Storms
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on January 20th, 2012
Climate Central: If you're on the Left Coast and like snow, it may be time to rejoice. If you're on the East Coast, though, don't hold your breath.
The winter weather pattern is finally changing, steering long-awaited storms into California, Oregon, and Washington, while still failing to excite snow lovers along the East Coast. Aside from a light-to-moderate snow event on Saturday, the Washington-to-Boston corridor is likely to see milder than average conditions heading into early February, according to recently...
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Fracking Would Emit Large Quantities of Greenhouse Gases
Posted by Scientific American: Mark Fischetti on January 20th, 2012
Scientific American: Add methane emissions to the growing list of environmental risks posed by fracking.
Opposition to the hydraulic fracturing of deep shales to release natural gas rose sharply last year over worries that the large volumes of chemical-laden water used in the operations could contaminate drinking water. Then, in early January, earthquakes in Ohio were blamed on the disposal of that water in deep underground structures. Yesterday, two Cornell University professors said at a press conference that fracking...
Republicans plot next step on Keystone oil pipeline
Posted by Reuters: Richard Cowan on January 20th, 2012
Reuters: Republicans in Congress are considering using upcoming payroll tax cut or highway construction bills in order to force quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline but have not yet settled on a strategy, lawmakers said on Friday.
Having failed so far to get President Barack Obama to approve TransCanada Corp's application for the $7 billion Canada-to-Texas pipeline, Republicans who control the House of Representatives are discussing Keystone during a three-day retreat in Baltimore that focuses...
Recognizing value of nature could boost income for the world’s poor
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 20th, 2012
Mongabay: The rural poor would substantially boost their income if the ecological services of the ecosystems they steward were valued and compensated by the rest of the world, claims a new study published in the journal Bioscience.
The study assessed the value of benefits from receive from healthy and functioning ecosystems - including crop pollination, foods and fiber, medicines, clean water, and climate regulation - across 17 of the world's key conservation hotspots. It estimated the value of these services...
Trumpeter Swans Rebound, with an Assist from Global Warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 20th, 2012
Daily Climate: Outside Alaska's largest city, where wildlife is more common than pigeons, locals bearing field glasses turn out every year to watch blazingly white trumpeter swans stop to feed on their way south for the winter. The swans, famed for their French horn call and immortalized by author E.B. White, were nearly hunted to extinction in much of the United States and Canada by the late 1800s for their meat, feathers, down and quills. Now, North America's largest wild fowl may be one of the few good-news...
Climate Change Threatens California Economy by Changing Ecosystems
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 20th, 2012
Yahoo!: Climate change is likely to harm California's economy by reducing the types of natural, non-irrigated vegetation available for livestock forage and the ability of forest ecosystems to store carbon dioxide, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the scientific journal Climatic Change. The ability of ecosystems to store carbon dioxide is a key part of implementing the state's climate law, the Global Warming Solutions Act, also known as Assembly Bill 32 or AB 32. "Much of the talk about climate...
California awaits tar sands legal ruling
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 20th, 2012
Guardian: A high-stakes legal battle is underway in California over whether the state's clean air agency can enforce a first-ever rule to slash carbon emissions in transportation fuels. The fight is being closely watched because the rule could choke global market demand for Alberta's carbon-intensive oil sands at a very precarious time for the industry.
On Wednesday, the Obama administration rejected a permit for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which could have increased imports of the fuel into...
Pipeline politics in Canada and U.S. a peril for Stephen Harper
Posted by Toronto Star: Tim Harper on January 20th, 2012
Toronto Star: Pipeline politics appears to be settling in at the top of the North American agenda for the next two years, perhaps more.
There could be a day when both the Keystone XL and the Northern Gateway pipelines are built, but not before some political careers are badly bruised, if not killed.
In the U.S., the Keystone debate will revolve around jobs, but an emboldened environmental movement is ready for the next twist over the proposed TransCanada pipeline route in Nebraska.
In Canada, the Enbridge...
United States: Forecast: Seattle weather could stay eventful in next three months
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 20th, 2012
Christian Science Monitor: Federal forecasters looking at temperature and precipitation trends over the next three months are calling for cooler and wetter conditions than normal in the Pacific Northwest.
Indeed, over the next 14 days, the western United States is expected to be the country's ground zero for a range of hazardous conditions – from heavy snow in the northern Rockies to high winds throughout most of the region to heavy rains for the Pacific Coast, from just north of San Luis Obispo, Calif., to Seattle and...
Fracked: The debate over shale gas deepens
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 20th, 2012
Time Magazine: Is shale gas good for us or not? Most of that argument has been over the potential risks that hydrofracking for shale gas might pose to water supplies--risks that were highlighted again this week when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) came to Dimock, PA, to test groundwater in the area. You might know Dimock from the anti-fracking film Gasland--a group of residents have claimed for years that fracking poisoned their water supply, and federal involvement indicates there may be more at stake....