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Archive for January 25th, 2012
Canadian energy regulatory changes months away
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 25th, 2012
Reuters: Canada is looking at both legislative and regulatory changes in its quest cut the time it takes to approve major energy projects, although rewrites of the acts governing developments are unlikely, the country's natural resources minister said on Wednesday.
Changes aimed at streamlining regulatory proceedings are likely to start taking shape in the coming months, said Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver, who is pushing for speedier approvals after more than 4,000 people registered to comment...
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New map for what to plant reflects global warming
Posted by Associated Press: Nichola Groom on January 25th, 2012
Associated Press: Global warming is hitting not just home, but garden. The color-coded map of planting zones often seen on the back of seed packets is being updated by the government, illustrating a hotter 21st century.
It's the first time since 1990 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has revised the official guide for the nation's 80 million gardeners, and much has changed. Nearly entire states, such as Ohio, Nebraska and Texas, are in warmer zones.
The new guide, unveiled Wednesday at the National Arboretum,...
U.S. implements snake ban to save native ecosystems
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 25th, 2012
Mongabay: Last week the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced it was banning the importation and sale across state lines of four large, non-native snakes: the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus), the yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus), and two subspecies of the African python (Python sebae). Although popular pets, snakes released and escaped into the wild have caused considerable environmental damage especially in the Florida Everglades.
"Unwitting individuals are buying these animals...
State of the Union: From Climate to Clean Energy to…Fracking?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 25th, 2012
Time: Well, he mentioned the 'c` word this year. Last year President Obama raised more than a few eyebrows when he failed to talk about climate change during his State of the Union--something even his Republican predecessor George W. Bush, no friend of the environment, usually managed to work in. But last night Obama did cite climate change, albeit in a rather roundabout way, criticizing Congress for being too deeply divided to pass comprehensive climate legislation--or for that matter, the clean energy...
ALERT! Stop Peru’s Road to Rainforest Ecocide and Genocide of Uncontacted Indigenous Tribes
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on January 25th, 2012
By Ecological Internet's Rainforest Portal
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW!
Plans are to build a highway through Alto Purus - Perus largest national park comprised of vital intact Amazonian rainforest ecosystems and inhabited by at least two 'uncontacted' indigenous tribes [search]. The Alto Purus protected rainforest in south-east Peru is an area of incredible biodiversity covering some of the most pristine forests in the southwestern Amazon and home to jaguars, monkeys and pink dolphins. To cut it with a road would compromise the integrity of the entire Amazonion basin and trigger the swift demise of some of Earths last isolated hunting and gathering tribes. One of the 'uncontacted' tribes in the park is known as the 'Mashco-Piro', thought to be the largest group i
Obama backs fracking to create 600,000 jobs, vows safe drilling
Posted by Bloomberg: Jim Snyder and Katarzyna Klimasinska on January 25th, 2012
Bloomberg: President Barack Obama pushed drilling for gas in shale rock and support for cleaner energy sources to boost the economy in his final State of the Union address before facing U.S. voters in November.
Hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting water, sand and chemicals underground to free gas trapped in rock, could create more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade, Obama said yesterday. The process, called fracking, is among a list of energy policies Obama said would fuel economic growth....
Fracking complicates the climate debate
Posted by Reuters: John Kemp on January 25th, 2012
Reuters: Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have laid to rest concerns about peaking oil and gas supplies for a generation, but they have also made the search for comprehensive policies to restrain greenhouse gas emissions more urgent.
In a world where fossil energy remains abundant and relatively cheap the economy will combust increasing quantities. Oil and gas reserves will last long after the planet has been gently cooked unless governments enact deliberate policies to restrain consumption....
US set to require disclosure from ‘frackers’
Posted by Financial Times: Ed Crooks on January 25th, 2012
Financial Times: High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/11b88afa-4722-11e1-b847-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1knSo3Q8P US authorities will compel companies producing gas and oil on federal lands to disclose the chemicals they use for hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”, said President Barack...
United Kingdom: Environmental protections may follow planning rules into the government shredder
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 25th, 2012
Guardian: On 12 January, cabinet office minister Oliver Letwin met senior officials from the department of the environment along with representatives from the Environment Agency and Natural England and made a startling proposition. Letwin told them he wanted all environmental guidance replaced with a single 50-page document, just as the government aims to do with the 1,000 pages of planning guidance.
That is the story told to me by a well-placed source. I have tried to uncover more details, but have met...
UN conference returns to Rio with new emphasis
Posted by Associated Press: Michael Astor on January 25th, 2012
Associated Press: Representatives from around the world will be returning to Rio de Janeiro this June -- 20 years after the U.N. Earth Summit -- but this time the focus will be on sustainable development, not climate change, a Brazilian diplomat said Tuesday.
Andre Correa do Lago, who heads the Brazilian delegation negotiating a draft of the outcome document for "Rio plus 20," said that climate change was too sensitive an issue for many countries, while sustainable development was something everybody could get...