RSS Feed
Archive for February, 2012
Boehner Challenges Obama to Approve Full Keystone Pipeline
Posted by The Hill: Andrew Restuccia on February 28th, 2012
The Hill: House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) criticized President Obama Monday for backing TransCanada Corp.’s bid to build a major portion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
The White House expressed its support earlier Monday for the company’s plan to build a segment of the pipeline from Cushing, Okla., to refineries in Texas. But Boehner said that’s not enough.
He called on the president to approve a permit that would allow the pipeline to cross from Alberta, Canada, into the United States.
“The...
Posted in 
Keystone breakthrough may muffle Republican attack on Obama
Posted by Reuters: Richard Cowan on February 28th, 2012
Reuters: A Canadian company's decision on Monday to proceed with part of a U.S. pipeline might end up muffling one of the Republicans' loudest arguments in this election year: that President Barack Obama has pursued failed energy policies.
TransCanada Corp announced it intended to begin work on the southern leg of the $7 billion Keystone XL project, from Oklahoma to Texas, leaving for later another run at the more controversial, and complicated, northern segment.
For months, Republicans have hammered...
Indigenous peoples at forefront of climate change offer lessons on plant biodiversity
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 28th, 2012
ScienceDaily: Humans are frequently blamed for deforestation and the destruction of environments, yet there are also examples of peoples and cultures around the world that have learned to manage and conserve the precious resources around them. The Yanesha of the upper Peruvian Amazon and the Tibetans of the Himalayas are two groups of indigenous peoples carrying on traditional ways of life, even in the face of rapid environmental changes. Over the last 40 years, Dr. Jan Salick, senior curator and ethnobotanist...
TransCanada Renewing Request to Build Keystone Pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 27th, 2012
New York Times: TransCanada said Monday that it would reapply for a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline from Canadian oil sands formations in Alberta to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico, assuring that the fiercely contested project will remain a source of political heat throughout the presidential campaign. The company also said it would seek immediate permission to move ahead with the southernmost portion of the project, from Cushing, Okla., to the gulf, in the hope that that part of the pipeline could be...
Obama supports TransCanada’s bid to push ahead with part of oil pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 27th, 2012
Guardian: Barack Obama helped put the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline back on track on Monday, endorsing construction on a key southern portion of the controversial project.
The White House support for construction of a southern portion of the pipeline, running from Cushing, Oklahoma to Port Arthur, Texas, essentially unravels its rejection of the entire project just one month ago.
The move was seen by environmental campaigners as a betrayal. The Sierra Club described the revival of the pipeline project...
BP may settle with Deepwater Horizon oil spill victims as trial postponed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 27th, 2012
Guardian: BP may be close to a legal settlement on the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster – but many of the tens of thousands of victims still want to drag the oil company through the courts.
Judge Carl Barbier ordered a week-long delay in the civil trial, which was due to start on Monday.
The delay, ordered after a conference call with lawyers from all the main parties on Sunday afternoon, was seen as a sign that BP was close to a settlement with those who lost their livelihood as a result of the oil disaster....
Analysis: Mexico in no rush to exploit shale oil bonanza
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 27th, 2012
Reuters: Mexico may be sitting on a vast untapped reserve of shale oil just south of the Rio Grande, but state monopoly Pemex is showing little urgency to exploit their share of the bounty.
While U.S. energy companies are racing to drill more wells in the oil-rich Eagle Ford shale play that geologists say extends well south of the border, Mexican energy officials and Pemex executives appear unrushed.
Mexico has the world's fourth-largest reserve of shale gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information...
Shrinking Arctic Sea Ice Linked to Snowier Winters?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 27th, 2012
National Geographic: Rapidly shrinking Arctic sea ice could be behind the recent unusually cold and snowy winters in the Northern Hemisphere, a new model suggests.
From 2007 to 2011, large parts of the U.S., northwestern Europe, and northern and central China experienced early or abnormally heavy snowfall.
Some scientists have speculated that such harsh winters might be a result of disappearing Arctic sea ice, which reached a record low in 2007 due to global warming, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice...
Melting Arctic link to UK snows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 27th, 2012
BBC: The progressive shrinking of Arctic sea ice is bringing colder, snowier winters to the UK and other areas of Europe, North America and China, a study shows.
As global temperatures have risen, the area of Arctic Ocean covered by ice in summer and autumn has been falling.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a US/China-based team show this affects the jet stream and brings cold, snowy weather.
Whether conditions will get colder still as ice melts further is unclear....
Judge Dismisses Organic Farmers’ Case Against Monsanto
Posted by National Public Radio: Eliza Barclay on February 27th, 2012
National Public Radio: A New York federal court today dismissed a lawsuit against agribusiness giant Monsanto brought by thousands of certified organic farmers. The farmers hoped the suit would protect them against infringing on the company's crop patents in the future.
The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association and several other growers and organizations do not use Monsanto seeds. But they were betting that the judge would agree that Monsanto should not be allowed to sue them if pollen from the company's patented...