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Archive for February, 2012
Canada: Shine light on money for oilsands debate
Posted by Edmonton Journal: None Given on February 12th, 2012
Edmonton Journal: The oilsands are Alberta's advantage, and while no further proof is needed, it's right there in a provincial budget that predicts unrivalled revenue and royalties for the industry and the province respectively.
And it's in the national census that proves Canadians from other provinces are flocking to Alberta, no doubt for the promise of jobs and prosperity. It's there in a report from TD Economics that projects a country-leading 2.5-per-cent increase in Alberta's GDP from 2016 to 2021. It's there...
Drilling deeper on talk of U.S. energy independence
Posted by Seattle Times: Jon Talton on February 12th, 2012
Seattle Times: If you're like me, you've been reading about a renaissance in American fossil-fuel production. Not just that, but that the United States is on course to gain "energy independence" and even become a significant exporter of natural gas.
"The transformation ... could see the country become the world's top energy producer by 2020," Bloomberg recently reported. Drill, baby, drill, would seem to have succeeded.
Big talk is as old as the Oil Patch. Reality often disappoints. The gusher of cheerleading...
Fukushima reactor readings raise reheating concern
Posted by Guardian: Justin McCurry on February 12th, 2012
Guardian: Concern is growing that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan is no longer stable after temperature readings suggested one of its damaged reactors was reheating.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said the temperature inside No 2 reactor – one of three that suffered meltdown after last year's earthquake and tsunami – may have reached 82C on Sunday.
Tepco said there was no evidence that the melted fuel inside had reached criticality. The utility reportedly increased...
Central African rainforests disappearred from climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 12th, 2012
Economic Times: Climate change combined with human activity caused the disappearance of tropical rainforests in central Africa 3,000 years ago, a study has found.
According to the Prensa Latina news agency, an analysis of marine sediment of the Congo river shows that at that time there was the influence of a strong chemical erosion.
Experts from the French Research Institute for Marine Exploration ( IFREMER) said this deterioration occurred with the arrival of tribal communities that brought agricultural and...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Central African rainforests disappearred from climate changeWhere’s the Beef? Less of It in Texas
Posted by Wall Street Journal: Mark Peters and Marshall Eckblad on February 11th, 2012
Wall Street Journal: A severe drought in the southern Great Plains is fueling a massive cattle drive north that is pushing beef prices higher and threatening to alter the country's production of red meat.
Surrounded by parched prairies and dry watering holes, ranchers in Texas and Oklahoma have deeply culled their herds and helped cut the national cattle population to the lowest level in decades. They have found greener pastures in states such as Iowa and Nebraska, but land there is more valuable for corn than cattle,...
United Kingdom: Drought alerts remain despite rain and snow
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 11th, 2012
Independent: Much of eastern England remains in a state of drought, despite winter rain and snow, the Environment Agency warned yesterday.
A broad region covering Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, west Norfolk and parts of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire is seriously water-stressed, with springs, rivers and wells drying up.
In North Norfolk, springs at an RSPB nature reserve have run dry, leaving less marshland for wading birds to feed on; domestic wells are drying up on the South Lincolnshire limestone with...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Drought alerts remain despite rain and snowSaved From Extinction, Darwin’s Crocs Are Now King
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2012
National Public Radio: It's appropriate that Darwin, the tropical capital of Australia's Northern Territory, is named for the English naturalist.
The massive, powerful and deadly saltwater crocodile - the world's largest living reptile - is the evolutionary triumph of 50 million years of natural selection. And in Darwin, the crocodile is equally dreaded and beloved.
Crocodylus porosus was hunted to near extinction in the last century. But in 1974, the Australian government put the species, known affectionately as...
Wastewater Reuse Could Increase U.S. Supplies 27 Percent, Report Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: Advanced treatment of municipal wastewater could increase available water supplies in the U.S. by 27 percent, according to a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences. Of the 32 billion gallons of municipal wastewater discharged each day nationwide, about 12 billion gallons of effluent is emptied into an ocean or estuary, the report said. Existing treatment technologies would allow municipalities to reuse that water for a variety of purposes -- including irrigation, industrial use and drinking...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wastewater Reuse Could Increase U.S. Supplies 27 Percent, Report SaysU.S. Oil Fields Stage “Great Revival,” But No Easing Gas Prices
Posted by National Geographic: Mason Inman on February 10th, 2012
National Geographic: The United States has long been seen as a nation in its twilight as an oil producer, facing a relentless decline that began when President Richard Nixon was in the White House. He and every president since pledged to halt the U.S. slide into greater dependence on foreign oil, but the trend seemed irreversible—until now. Forty-one years later, U.S. oil production is on the rise. U.S. oil fields yielded an estimated 5.68 million barrels per day in 2011—their highest output since 2003, thanks largely...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. Oil Fields Stage “Great Revival,” But No Easing Gas PricesMega pig-farm could breach human rights, council warned
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2012
Guardian: Controversial plans to build a US-style mega pig-farm in South Derbyshire close to a prison and residential housing pose serious health risks to those living and working there and could breach their legal rights to protection of their private and family life, the local council is being warned.
In the light of fresh legal advice, the organic farmers' group, the Soil Association and Friends of the Earth have joined forces with local group Foston Community Forum and Pig Business, film-makers and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mega pig-farm could breach human rights, council warned