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Archive for February 18th, 2013
German Minister Seeks Fracking Law Before September
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 18th, 2013
Reuters: German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier said on Saturday he wants to ban controversial gas drilling methods, or fracking, in all areas where drinking water is protected and that he would like to see legislation on fracking in place by September.
Speaking in a video released on the government website, Altmaier said there are unresolved issues about fracking. He previously said he did not see that fracking would be employed anywhere in Germany in the foreseeable future.
"I'll propose that...
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Keystone XL Pipeline Foes Say Their Side Has New Momentum
Posted by Norfolk Daily News: None Given on February 18th, 2013
Norfolk Daily News: Nebraskans fighting to stop the Keystone XL pipeline are feeling optimistic.
President Barack Obama made a high-profile State of the Union pledge Tuesday to address climate change through executive action. More than 20,000 people are expected to show up at the White House today for a major protest against the pipeline.
And the U.S. State Department assured them Friday that it would include its own independent review of TransCanada's new pipeline route through Nebraska in its final environmental...
Keystone XL Pipeline Work Delayed, Nebraska Utility Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 18th, 2013
Associated Press: A Nebraska utility says the new route for a proposed oil pipeline that would carry Canadian crude oil through the state will delay work on electric transmission lines for the pipeline.
Nebraska Public Power District officials said they won't be able to build the transmission lines by the deadline TransCanada set for the end of 2014.
NPPD Chief Operating Officer Tom Kent said there's no way the transmission lines will be ready by 2015, the Columbus Telegram reported (http://bit.ly/12WrOrZ)....
Meet the Man Selling Canada’s Oil Sands to Washington
Posted by Globe and Mail: Steven Chase on February 18th, 2013
Globe and Mail: Ottawa is quietly using a well-connected Conservative MP as a direct liaison with the U.S. Congress to help build support for the Keystone XL pipeline project and a raft of other Canadian priorities in Washington.
Rob Merrifield is operating on a mandate letter from Prime Minister Stephen Harper that instructs him to represent Canadian interests to the legislative branch of the U.S. government on everything from the oil-sands crude pipeline to speeding the passage of trade through heavy American...
Natural Gas Pipeline Draws Last-Minute Protests
Posted by New York Times: Jon Hurdle on February 18th, 2013
New York Times: In a last-ditch effort to block construction of a controversial natural gas pipeline in northeastern Pennsylvania, campaigners urged an interstate regulator on Friday to review the project’s environmental impact. The 44-mile section of pipeline, the Northeast Upgrade, would become part of a longer pipeline moving natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale in northern Pennsylvania to a terminal in Mahwah, N.J. In a letter, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, an environmental group, urged the Delaware...
Canada: Oilsands tailings leaking into groundwater, Joe Oliver told in memo
Posted by Canada.com: Mike De Souza on February 18th, 2013
Canada.com: Tailings ponds from oilsands production are leaking and contaminating Alberta’s groundwater, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver was told in an internal memo obtained by Postmedia News.
The memo, released through access to information legislation, said that federal government scientists, including Quebec City-based research geoscientist Martine Savard, had discovered evidence of the contamination in new research that rejected longstanding claims that toxins in the region of the Athabasca River...
Tar Sands Oil Fight Moves to Maine Towns
Posted by Portland Press Herald: Leslie Bridgers on February 18th, 2013
Portland Press Herald: Code Enforcement Officer Chris Hanson eyed the door of the selectmen's chambers every time it opened, counting each person who came into the room -- something he doesn't often have to do.
The room was nine people short of capacity just before the start of the meeting Tuesday evening, when it would become the latest battleground for the Portland Pipe Line Corp. and environmentalists trying to prevent the company from carrying so-called tar sands oil through the Sebago Lake watershed.
The owner...
Denver demonstration protests climate change and pipeline
Posted by Denver Post: Nic Turiciano on February 18th, 2013
Denver Post: Issac Rivera, with fist in the air, and other protesters wore black and lay down in Civic Center to form a "human oil spill" during a rally Sunday. A few hundred people marched from the Auraria campus to the rally at Civic Center. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)
Twelve-year-old rapper/environmental activist Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez showed Sunday that small people can deliver big messages.
Xiuhtezcatl -- the name is Aztec -- and his 10-year-old brother Izcuauhtli (also Aztec) belted...
Thousands March on White House to Protest Climate Change
Posted by Voice of America: Sean Maroney on February 18th, 2013
Voice of America: Thousands of protesters gathered outside the White House, to urge President Barack Obama to aggressively combat climate change.
Demonstrators formed a "human pipeline" Sunday, stretching from the National Mall to the White House, to protest an oil pipeline that would stretch across the United States, linking Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
They want President Obama to reject the nearly 3,000-kilometer Keystone XL Pipeline, saying its development would harm the environment and ultimately lead...
Halve meat consumption, scientists urge rich world
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on February 18th, 2013
Guardian: People in the rich world should become "demitarians" – eating half as much meat as usual, while stopping short of giving it up – in order to avoid severe environmental damage, scientists have urged, in the clearest picture yet of how farming practices are destroying the natural world.
They said the horsemeat scandal had uncovered the dark side of our lust for meat, which has fuelled a trade in undocumented livestock and mislabelled cheap ready meals. "There is a food chain risk," said Professor...