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Archive for March 6th, 2013
An Inside Look at Democracy in Action to Ban Fracking in Fort Collins
Posted by EcoWatch: Phillip Doe on March 6th, 2013
EcoWatch: I drove to Fort Collins, Colorado last night to testify in favor of a proposed ban on fracking within that city’s boundaries. When I got there I discovered the Colorado Petroleum Association, the political arm of the industry, had already issued a press release stating the council had passed the ban.
Sure enough, the council, after hearing several hours of citizen testimony voted 5-2 in favor of the ban, causing one activist to mutter in amusement that you just can’t underestimate the power of...
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As the climate warms, skiers can kiss their Aspen goodbye
Posted by Grist: Greg Hanscom on March 6th, 2013
Grist: Ask any pack of bona fide shredders about their exploits on the slopes last winter, and they`re apt respond, "Winter? What winter?"
The winter of 2011-12 was one of the warmest, driest winters on record in North America. The skiing and snowboarding was so bad - and the weather in coastal cities so mild - that many avid powder hounds just sat it out.
I wrote about the devastating season for the latest issue of High Country News. (You can read the full story on HCN’s website if you sign up for...
How Climate Change Worsened Violence in Syria
Posted by Climate Desk: Tim McDonnell on March 6th, 2013
Climate Desk: In October 2010, just months before a Tunisian street vendor self-immolated and sparked what would become the Arab Spring, a prolonged drought was turning Syria`s verdant farmland into dust. By last month, more than 70,000 Syrians, mostly civilians, had been killed in the brutal and ongoing conflict between President Bashar al-Assad`s dictatorial regime and a coalition of opposition forces; just today, the UN announced that over one million refugees fled the country in the last two years. International...
Time is Short: Questions Overdue
Posted by Deep Green Resistance: Alex Budd on March 6th, 2013
Deep Green Resistance: Environmentalists today have our work cut out for us. Caught between the urgency of the ecological crises and reactionary capitalist forces that continue to push (quite successfully) for ever more outrageous and egregious destruction, finding an effective and timely path forward is no easy task. There are a wide variety of strategies for change vying for our attention, broadcast to us by a diversity of folks with a diversity of motivations--some of which are mixed, others confused, and more that...
‘Snowquester’ Threatens To Cause Major Coastal Flooding
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on March 6th, 2013
Climate Central: An intensifying coastal storm, nicknamed "Snowquester," was plastering the Mid-Atlantic states with 1-to-2 feet of heavy, cement-like snow on Wednesday, and is forecast to crawl northeastward, bringing the threat of multiple rounds of coastal flooding to an already vulnerable New Jersey shore and coastal New England, along with rain and snow.
While the prospect of heavy snow in places like Washington, D.C. and New York City has garnered most of the headlines, coastal flooding may end up having...
Chevron Shale Bet Down Under Makes Senex Target: Real M&A
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2013
Bloomberg: Senex Energy Ltd. (SXY), Asia’s worst gas exploration stock in the past year, is rebounding after Chevron Corp. (CVX)’s investment in an Australian shale competitor stoked optimism that it may be the next target.
Last week, Chevron made the biggest single investment in shale in Australia, agreeing to pay as much as $349 million for a stake in Adelaide-based Beach Energy Ltd.’s Cooper Basin prospects. Senex, which also explores in the Cooper Basin, has risen 13 percent since Chevron’s investment...
Ohioans Lobby for Support of Proposed Fracking Legislation at Statehouse Protest
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on March 6th, 2013
EcoWatch: Citizens from across the state converged on the Ohio Statehouse today to lobby for legislator support of proposed legislation that would protect Ohioans from the effects of hydraulic fracturing or fracking.
Organized as part of Legislator Accountability Day, the action was sponsored by Buckeye Forest Council, Frack Free Ohio, Food & Water Watch, Center for Heath, Environment & Justice and Ohio Sierra Club. The groups called for a return of local municipal control over oil and gas activities,...
Louisiana senator Mary Landrieu calls on government to lift EPA ban on BP
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2013
Guardian: A Lousiana senator has called on the US government to lift the ban that prevents BP from securing sensitive federal contracts, even as the state sues the oil firm for the environmental damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Mary Landrieu said the moratorium, imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last November, amounted to "double jeopardy".
The 2010 oil spill is the subject of a sprawling civil law case being played out in New Orleans. Louisiana is among the five Gulf...
Keystone XL: US government report drew on analysis by oil consultants
Posted by Guardian: Lisa Song on March 6th, 2013
Guardian: The State Department's recent conclusion that the Keystone XL pipeline "is unlikely to have a substantial impact" on the rate of Canada's oil sands development was based on analysis provided by two consulting firms with ties to oil and pipeline companies that could benefit from the proposed project.
EnSys Energy has worked with ExxonMobil, BP and Koch Industries, which own oil sands production facilities and refineries in the Midwest that process heavy Canadian crude oil. Imperial Oil, one of...
Long-Delayed Rulings on Endangered Species Are Coming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2013
New York Times: Perhaps it does not seem cause for celebration that the Oregon spotted frog, a four-inch-long amphibian that prefers the Pacific Northwest’s dwindling marshy spots, is to be considered this year for federal protection as an endangered species. Tell that to the frog. It has been languishing for 22 years — since 1991 — awaiting its day in the bureaucratic sun. The eastern massasauga rattlesnake has been a candidate for protection since 1982, a legless bridesmaid, never a bride. Ditto the elfin-woods...