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Archive for February, 2012
20 Million Years Later, Russians Work To Drill Into Lake
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 4th, 2012
National Public Radio: DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Imagine a place on earth where there's been no light, no wind for millions of years. Lake Vostok is one such place. The world's third largest lake, in terms of amount of water, has long been hidden, buried beneath two miles of ice until, perhaps, this coming week. Russian researchers are about to break through that ice.
And to tell us what they might find and what dangers they may encounter, we've brought in John Priscu. He's a researcher at Montana State University who's...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on 20 Million Years Later, Russians Work To Drill Into LakeDemocrats counter energy security claims about Keystone pipeline project
Posted by The Hill: Andrew Restuccia on February 4th, 2012
The Hill: Democrats this week opened an aggressive front to counter the Republican push to green-light the Keystone XL pipeline, alleging the project will do little to improve U.S. energy security.
The move is meant to undercut Republicans’ rationale for speedy approval of the Alberta-to-Texas pipeline – that the project will make the United States less reliant on oil from unstable nations.
Democrats in the House and Senate revived long-standing concerns this week that oil from the project will be exported...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Democrats counter energy security claims about Keystone pipeline projectTexas drought forces a town to sip from a truck
Posted by New York Times: Manny Fernandez on February 4th, 2012
New York Times: The water that once nourished this central Texas community never traveled far: it came from a fenced-in well at the edge of Lake Travis, down a winding street next to the golf course. These days, the water that flows from kitchen and bathroom faucets takes an extraordinary journey that can be measured not in feet but in miles. This drought-stricken place in the scenic hills outside Austin has been forced to bring in water by truck from more than 10 miles away because its sole well came close to...
Sturgeon Scarcity Affects More Than Caviar
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 4th, 2012
National Public Radio: Sturgeon have been swimming around for more than 200 million years, but their eggs are sought after for caviar. This week, the National Marine Fisheries Service placed the Atlantic sturgeon on its endangered species list. Guest host David Greene speaks with Dr. Ellen Pikitch, executive director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University.
Oil spurs Canadian PM China visit
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 4th, 2012
BBC: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will visit China next week to discuss the future of Canada's oil products.
The visit comes after the US rejected a pipeline route from Alberta to Texas.
Five Cabinet ministers, including the ministers of natural resources, trade and foreign affairs will join Mr Harper on his second official visit to China.
A spokesman for the prime minister told the Associated Press it was "absolutely in Canada's interests" to build a new pipeline to deliver oil to...
House GOP seeks to tie Keystone to highway bill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2012
Reuters: Republican lawmakers hope to move one step closer next week to linking a measure approving the controversial Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline to a highway funding bill.
The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee will vote on Tuesday on a bill that would transfer permitting authority over TransCanada's planned pipeline to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and direct the commission to approve the project within 30 days.
"It's time for Congress to take this decision...
U.S. to require disclosure of fracking fluids on public
Posted by Reuters: Timothy Gardner and Ayesha Rascoe on February 3rd, 2012
Reuters: The U.S. government will require natural gas drillers to disclose which chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing on public lands, according to draft rules crafted by the Interior Department.
President Barack Obama pledged in the State of the Union address last week that the government would develop a road map for responsible natural gas production and roll out new rules to ensure drillers protect the environment.
Companies would be required to disclose the "complete chemical makeup of all...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. to require disclosure of fracking fluids on publicBill would block export of Keystone fuels
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2012
Reuters: Democrats unveiled legislation on Friday that would block export of any oil transported by the Keystone XL pipeline, as they challenged claims that the delayed project would boost U.S. energy security.
TransCanada's $7 billion Keystone pipeline has become a political lightning rod this election year, with Republicans arguing that the pipeline will provide a critical link to Canada's vast oil sands crude and lessen U.S. dependence on oil from more hostile regimes.
But critics of the project...
Canada, Alberta set up oil sands monitoring
Posted by Reuters: Jeffrey Jones and Scott Haggett on February 3rd, 2012
Reuters: Canada will set up a new environmental monitoring system for the northern Alberta oil sands as it seeks to fend off harsh international criticism following revelations that oversight of the huge petroleum development has been insufficient.
The federal and the Alberta provincial governments said on Friday the new plan that will boost water sampling and increase information available to the public.
They said they will take three years to implement a joint program that will continuously study...
Elephants Took 24 Million Generations to Evolve From Mouse-Size
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2012
National Geographic: Some mammals need roughly 24 million generations to go from mouse-size to elephant-size, a new study says.
Using both fossil and living specimens, scientists calculated growth rates for 28 different mammalian groups during the past 65 million years-and found that, for mammals, getting big takes longer than shrinking.
It takes a minimum of 1.6 million generations for mammals to achieve a hundredfold increase in body size, about 5 million generations for a thousandfold increase, and about 10...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Elephants Took 24 Million Generations to Evolve From Mouse-Size