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Archive for March 17th, 2013
Saudi Arabia to Drill Seven Shale Gas Test Wells, Al-Naimi Says
Posted by Bloomberg: Aibing Guo and Wael Mahdi on March 17th, 2013
Bloomberg: Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, will drill about seven test wells for shale gas this year, according to Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi.
“We know where the areas are,” Al-Naimi said at the Credit Suisse Asian Investment conference in Hong Kong today. “We have rough estimates of over 600 trillion cubic feet of unconventional and shale gas, so the potential is very huge and we plan to exploit it.”
Saudi Arabia is seeking to develop its natural gas resources to meet rising domestic energy...
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Russia Adopts Texas Drilling to Revive Soviet Oil Fields: Energy
Posted by Bloomberg: Stephen Bierman on March 17th, 2013
Bloomberg: Fracking isn’t just for shale. In Russia, producers are importing techniques from the U.S. to squeeze billions of dollars of extra oil from Soviet-era fields.
TNK-BP, Russia’s third-largest producer, will use hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling in almost half the wells it sinks this year, a sixfold increase in just two years, the company said. OAO Rosneft (ROSN), OAO Lukoil (LKOH) and OAO Gazprom Neft have similar plans.
So-called fracking, the process of blasting oil from...
When it rains these days, does it pour? Has the weather become stormier as the climate warms?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 17th, 2013
ScienceDaily: There's little doubt -- among scientists at any rate -- that the climate has warmed since people began to release massive amounts greenhouse gases to the atmosphere during the Industrial Revolution.
But ask a scientist if the weather is getting stormier as the climate warms and you're likely to get a careful response that won't make for a good quote.
There's a reason for that.
"Although many people have speculated that the weather will get stormier as the climate warms, nobody has done the...
Environmental Threats Could Push Billions into Poverty
Posted by Guardian: Claire Provost on March 17th, 2013
Guardian: The number of people living in extreme poverty could increase by up to 3 billion by 2050 unless urgent action is taken to tackle environmental challenges, a major UN report warned on Thursday.
The 2013 Human Development Report hails better than expected progress on health, wealth and education in dozens of developing countries but says inaction on climate change, deforestation, and air and water pollution could end gains in the world's poorest countries and communities.
"Environmental threats...
Nature adapts to survive climate change
Posted by Reuters: Jonathan Silver on March 17th, 2013
Reuters: While the climate change discussion in Washington is moving at a glacial pace, nature is responding to climate change at record speed. The animal, plant and insect kingdoms aren't interested in public policy. They don't read political blogs. They adapt because they have to. They must change to survive. We would be wise to heed the signs. Animals, plants and even insects are now adapting quickly to shifts in temperatures, often by migrating to cooler climates, modifying their diets and altering...
Maine grapples with climate change priorities
Posted by Morning Sentinel: Colin Woodard on March 17th, 2013
Morning Sentinel: When Hurricane Sandy slammed into the New York and New Jersey coasts last fall, killing 72 people and causing tens of billions in damage, many saw it as a wake-up call: The country is unprepared for the increased frequency and intensity of freak weather events -- a long-predicted result of climate change -- and a great deal of planning needs to be done to protect homes, infrastructure and businesses.
"Regardless of the cause of these storms, New York state must undertake major reforms to adapt...
Winter’s sting: Intense weather suggests the climate is changing
Posted by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: None Given on March 17th, 2013
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Global warming skeptics reacted with glee to the recent record snowfalls from the Midwest to states farther south. But the intensity of such storms and other severe weather does not refute climate warnings. Rather, it reinforces the likelihood that the world's climate is changing because of human activity -- and not for the better. More than 21 inches of snow fell in Wichita, Kan., in February, breaking a century-old monthly record. More snow fell in one day in Amarillo, Texas, last month (19 inches)...
Climate emerges as hot issue in Columbia River Treaty talks with Canada
Posted by Sacramento Bee: Rob Hotakainen on March 17th, 2013
Sacramento Bee: When President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Columbia River Treaty with Canada as one of his last official acts in January of 1961, global warming did not rank as a public concern.
Fifty-two years later, it's a far different story: Scientific models predict that rising temperatures will reduce the snowpack and glacier mass in nearby mountains, resulting in less water during seasonal runoffs for the 1,243-mile-long Columbia River, the longest in the Pacific Northwest.
The treaty created a massive...
Canada aboriginal movement poses new threat to miners
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 17th, 2013
Reuters: An aboriginal protest movement that's often compared with Occupy Wall Street has the potential to disrupt mining projects across Canada, threatening to undermine the country's coveted reputation for low-risk resource development.
Idle No More, a grass-roots movement with little centralized leadership, swept across Canada late last year with the help social media. Protesters blocked roads and rail lines, and staged big rallies in the country's largest cities to press a sweeping human rights and...
Pa. pushes drillers to frack with coal mine water
Posted by Associated Press: Michael Rubinkam on March 17th, 2013
Associated Press: Each day, 300 million gallons of polluted mine water enters Pennsylvania streams and rivers, turning many of them into dead zones unable to support aquatic life. At the same time, drilling companies use up to 5 million gallons of fresh water for every natural-gas well they frack.
State environmental officials and coal region lawmakers are hoping that the state's newest extractive industry can help clean up a giant mess left by the last one. They are encouraging drillers to use tainted coal mine...