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Archive for February 8th, 2013
Landowners Threaten to Sue if New York Misses Fracking Deadline
Posted by Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Jon Campbell on February 8th, 2013
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: A statewide group of pro-drilling landowners says it will sue New York state if the Department of Environmental Conservation misses a fast-approaching deadline for its proposed hydraulic fracturing rules.
In a newsletter distributed to its members Friday, the head of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York said the group is “laying the ground work for a lawsuit against New York State” if the state doesn’t finalize its fracking regulations by Feb. 27. If not finished by then, the regulations...
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Potable-Water-Reuse Ideas Go Forward in Texas, Despite Concerns
Posted by New York Times: Audrey White on February 8th, 2013
New York Times: The idea of turning treated sewage into drinking water may give some people pause. But with lake levels having officially dropped below 40 percent of capacity on Tuesday, this onetime oil boomtown plans to move ahead with the technology. The city hopes to produce five million gallons of water a day next year with potable-reuse technology, which officials say is safe. “There was probably a lot of reservations about reuse water projects when we first discussed it in the late ’90s,” Mayor Glenn Barham...
In California, the Snow Tells the Future for the Water Supply
Posted by New York Times: Norimitsu Onishi on February 8th, 2013
New York Times: Along Highway 50 in the Sierra Nevada, elevation 6,820 feet, a California winter ritual unfolded here on a recent morning. In the snow-blanketed meadow of a local homeowner’s backyard, reporters representing news organizations from across the state followed a man on skis who kept plunging an aluminum tube into the snow. Leading the pack was Frank Gehrke, California’s chief snow surveyor, the man responsible for measuring the Sierra Nevada’s snowpack, the source of a third of this state’s water supply....
Boulder NCAR scientist says climate change worsens Northeast storm
Posted by Daily Camera: Charlie Brennan on February 8th, 2013
Daily Camera: Climate change will likely add to the final snowfall totals from the monster winter storm lashing the Northeast by 5 to 10 percent, according to a leading expert on climate change at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Kevin Trenberth, a distinguished senior scientist in the Climate Analysis Section at NCAR, said Friday that snowfall totals from the storm are being influenced by both warmer air temperatures, leading to the atmosphere retaining more moisture, and a 1-degree increase in...
New England to bear brunt of powerful blizzard
Posted by Reuters: Scott Malone on February 8th, 2013
Reuters: New England braced on Thursday for a possibly record-setting winter storm, with forecasts of up to 2 feet of snow already causing airlines to cancel thousands of flights and utilities to prepare for power outages.
The storm was blowing in from the Midwest where it began dropping snow on the Chicago area on Thursday afternoon. It was due to bring light snow to the Northeastern United States on Friday morning before ramping up to blizzard conditions by afternoon.
In Boston, which was expected...
Climate change is ‘threat multiplier’
Posted by Politico: Sherri Goodman and Gordon Sullivan on February 8th, 2013
Politico: Severe drought. Record heat. Extreme storms. In the past year, the United States has experienced conditions that have already become commonplace in many of the most volatile parts of the world. But not until the day of his second Inauguration did President Barack Obama put climate change squarely back on the table, after a long presidential campaign from which the issue had been largely absent.
While the fact of climate change might be fodder for political debate, it is widely accepted across...
Obama Needs to Be Brutally Honest About Climate Change in His State of the Union
Posted by National Journal: Coral Davenport on February 8th, 2013
National Journal: President Obama surprised even his most ardent environmental backers with his impassioned inaugural pledge to fight climate change in his second term. In the State of the Union address Tuesday, he’ll need to tell Congress and the American people how--specifically--he plans to take on the challenge. If he’s honest, it won’t be pretty. In his first term, Obama rarely spoke about the urgent and fearful nature of the climate crisis, or how long and difficult--politically, economically, and diplomatically--it...