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Archive for January, 2012
When Property Rights, Environmental Laws Collide
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2012
National Public Radio: The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in a case near and dear to EPA haters.
It would seem to be a David-and-Goliath case that pits a middle-class American couple trying to build their dream home against the Environmental Protection Agency. But the couple, Michael and Chantell Sackett, is backed by a veritable who's who in American mining, oil, utilities, manufacturing and real estate development, as well as groups opposed to government regulation.
On one side of the kaleidoscope, this...
United States: Grand Canyon-Area Uranium Mines to Be Blocked for 20 Years
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2012
New York Times: The Obama administration is set to announce on Monday that it will block new uranium mining on one million acres in northern Arizona near the Grand Canyon, lobbyists and Interior Department employees who had been informed about the decision said on Friday. The department, which in 2009 imposed an interim ban that is soon due to expire, now plans a 20-year moratorium on new mines. Western environmental groups have long sought such a measure. In proposing an extended moratorium last year, the interior...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United States: Grand Canyon-Area Uranium Mines to Be Blocked for 20 YearsNY court loss for Chevron on Ecuador pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 6th, 2012
Reuters: A federal court judge on Friday denied a Chevron Corp bid to prevent Ecuadorean plaintiffs from collecting on an $18 billion damages award against the U.S. oil giant over pollution in the Amazon jungle.
The oil company in November had asked Manhattan federal court judge Lewis Kaplan to freeze the plaintiffs' assets in order to be assured payment in the event it were to win its fraud lawsuit in federal court against the Ecuadoreans.
An Ecuadorean appeals court on Tuesday upheld a ruling that...
As wild weather hits Latin America, experts look to both La Nina and climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 6th, 2012
Associated Press: From Chile to Colombia to Mexico, Latin America has been battered recently by wildfires, floods and droughts. For many witnessing the extreme weather in the region and around the world, the question that comes up again and again is whether climate change is playing a role. The response from experts: Probably. While leading climate scientists are unable to pin any single flood or heat wave solely on climate change, experts say the number of extreme weather events is increasing worldwide and the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on As wild weather hits Latin America, experts look to both La Nina and climate changeEPA may truck water to Pa residents near fracking site
Posted by Reuters: Edward McAllister and Timothy Gardner on January 6th, 2012
Reuters: Federal regulators are considering trucking fresh water to households in a Pennsylvania town where residents say wells have been polluted by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas.
Only a month after declaring water in Dimock safe to drink, the Environmental Protection Agency is reconsidering action after residents supplied the EPA with hundreds of pages of data that link water pollution to fracking.
Two residents of Dimock, a town of some 1,400 in the northeast corner of Pennsylvania,...
NY judge declines to halt $18B Ecuadorean judgment
Posted by Associated Press: Larry Neumeister on January 6th, 2012
Associated Press: A federal judge said Friday he's not yet willing to block collection of an $18 billion court judgment against the energy giant Chevron for environmental damage in an Ecuadorean rain forest despite claims by Chevron that it faces imminent irreparable harm to its holdings around the world if U.S. courts do not intervene.
A court in Ecuador last February ordered Chevron to pay the steep penalty for pollution that occurred when Texaco was operating in the forest, between 1972 and 1990. Texaco became...
African Rainforests in the 21st Century
Posted by Voice of America: Joe DeCapua on January 6th, 2012
Voice of America: Africa’s tropical forests face challenges from deforestation, hunting, logging and mining, as well as climate change.
“Climate change is a major issue for much of the world, but for Africa, in particular. And there’s much interest and concern around Africa’s forests, which is the second largest area of tropical forest in the world after the Amazon forest. And yet there’s been very little synthesis of the research that’s there. There’s much less known about both climate and forest and people and...
High Temperature Records Set in the Plains
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on January 6th, 2012
Climate Central: Longstanding high temperature records were annihilated yesterday in eight states, most especially in North and South Dakota, which are typically among the nation's coldest places at this time of year.
It was warmer in Rapid City, S.D., with a high of 73°F yesterday, than it was in Miami, where the temperature topped out at 69°F. Mitchell, S.D., reached 68°F, an all-time record high for the month of January (recordkeeping began there in 1896).
Aberdeen, S.D., reached 63°F, which was also the...
Africa’s rainforests ‘more resilient’ to climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 6th, 2012
BBC: Tropical forests in Africa may be more resilient to future climate change than the Amazon and other regions, a gathering of scientists has said.
An international conference agreed that the region's surviving tree species had endured a number of climatic catastrophes over the past 4,000 years.
As a result, they are better suited to cope with future shifts in the climate.
The event at the University of Oxford looked at the "fate of Africa's tropical forests in the 21st Century".
Conference...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Africa’s rainforests ‘more resilient’ to climate changeNo-One Wants Mexico City’s Garbage
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 6th, 2012
Inter Press Service: The closure of Mexico's biggest garbage dump has highlighted the absence of a comprehensive policy for urban waste collection, disposal and processing, a failure that has serious consequences for health and the environment.
The leftwing government of the Mexican capital decided in December to close Bordo Poniente, the biggest refuse dump, located in the east of the city, without coming up with an alternative solution. Now municipalities adjacent to Mexico City are refusing to accept its waste....