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Archive for August, 2012
No help for Okla. as wildfires burn out of control
Posted by NBC News: None Given on August 4th, 2012
NBC News: Wildfires are burning out of control in Oklahoma, destroying homes and shutting down highways in a state that has suffered 18 straight days of 100-plus degree temperatures and persistent drought.
Emergency officials counted 12 different wildfires around the state, with at least 65 homes destroyed in parched areas north and south of Oklahoma City and south of Tulsa.
A state-wide burn ban was issued by Governor Mary Fallin Friday, according to a statement by Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management....
Court Weighs an Order on Yucca Mountain
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2012
New York Times: A federal appeals court indicated Friday that it would issue an order for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to resume an evaluation of a possible nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, a volcanic ridge in the Nevada desert, unless Congress acted by December to resolve the legal tangle around the project. The commission is required by a 1987 law to determine if the site, 100 miles from Las Vegas, is suitable, but in 2010, President Obama had the government stop work on the project, making good...
Peru: More Than 100 Sickened by Toxic Spill at Mine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2012
Associated Press: More than 100 rural Peruvians have been sickened by the spill of a toxic copper concentrate produced at one of the Andean country’s biggest mines, the authorities said Friday. The Ancash State regional health office said 140 people were treated for “irritative symptoms caused by the inhalation of toxins” after a pipeline carrying the concentrate under high pressure burst open in their community. Most of those affected had joined in efforts to prevent liquid copper slurry from reaching a nearby river...
Enbridge says pipeline system safe despite U.S. concerns
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2012
Reuters: Enbridge Inc, whose pipelines ship the bulk of Canada's oil exports to the United States, defended the record of its system on Friday after a U.S. regulator said it had concerns about the safety of the operation following a series of spills.
The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has refused to allow Enbridge to reopen its 318,000 barrel per day Line 14 after a rupture spilled 1,200 barrels of oil into a Wisconsin field a week ago.
After a series of spills,...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Enbridge says pipeline system safe despite U.S. concernsClimate change is here — and worse than we thought
Posted by Washington Post: James E. Hansen on August 3rd, 2012
Washington Post: When I testified before the Senate in the hot summer of 1988 , I warned of the kind of future that climate change would bring to us and our planet. I painted a grim picture of the consequences of steadily increasing temperatures, driven by mankind's use of fossil fuels.
But I have a confession to make: I was too optimistic.
My projections about increasing global temperature have been proved true. But I failed to fully explore how quickly that average rise would drive an increase in extreme...
The implications of overpopulation are terrifying. But will we listen to them?
Posted by Guardian: Ian Jack on August 3rd, 2012
Guardian: Sitting on my own in the bar of the Royal Court theatre on Wednesday with my orange juice and lightly sea-salted packet of crisps, I remembered that I was first here more than 50 years ago, as a teenager down on holiday from Scotland and determined to witness England's cultural revolution. In 1961 that still meant John Osborne, whose new play, Luther, had just opened at the Court with Albert Finney. I queued at the box office and got two tickets to stand at the back of the stalls, where my brother...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on The implications of overpopulation are terrifying. But will we listen to them?Oklahoma Is OK if You Like Sizzling Temperatures
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on August 3rd, 2012
Climate Central: Oklahoma has one more day of record heat to endure before temperatures are forecast to cool to more comfortable levels. Well, that is if you consider the upper-90s to low-100s to be "comfortable,' anyway.
Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and all points in between have seen record-breaking or near-record-breaking heat during the past week or more. The high temperature in Oklahoma City on Wednesday and Thursday reached 112°F, the hottest it's been there since Aug. 10, 1936, and just 1°F shy of the city's all-time...
Opinions on Global Warming Shift with the Weather
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 3rd, 2012
LiveScience: A heat wave is not proof of global warming, but it does seem to help convince people that global warming is real, survey data indicates.
On the flip side, surveys show cool temperatures can make Americans less convinced there is "solid evidence" the planet is heating up.
The new study based on five national surveys of American adults sponsored by the Pew Research Center in June, July and August 2006, January 2007 and April 2008. Respondents were asked: "From what you've read and heard, is there...
Mexican Communities Fight Mini-Dams
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 3rd, 2012
Inter Press Service: Small-scale hydroelectric dams with a capacity of under 30 MW are seen by the authorities in Mexico as an important alternative for generating energy. But local communities reject them on the argument that they would cause social, economic and environmental damages.
On the front line of the struggle are communities in the southern states of Puebla, Tabasco, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, where there is great potential to harness hydro energy with small dams.
"They claim the so-called mini-hydroelectric...
Drought dries up stretch of Platte River, slows barges on lower Mississippi
Posted by NBC News: Miguel Llanos on August 3rd, 2012
NBC News: It's not just on land where drought is taking a toll: a 100-mile stretch of the Platte River has dried up, while barges along the lower Mississippi are having to carry less cargo in order to navigate shallower water.
The Mississippi impact is one that goes far beyond the immediate area: About 60 percent of the nation's grain, 22 percent of its oil and gas, and 20 percent of the nation's coal goes down the river. Lighter barges mean longer waits for those products.
The Army Corps of Engineers...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drought dries up stretch of Platte River, slows barges on lower Mississippi