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Archive for March, 2013
Iraq’s depleted uranium clean-up to cost $30m as contamination spreads
Posted by Guardian: Rob Edwards on March 6th, 2013
Guardian: Cleaning up more than 300 sites in Iraq still contaminated by depleted uranium (DU) weapons will cost at least $30m, according to a report by a Dutch peace group to be published on Thursday.
The report, which was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, warns that the contamination is being spread by poorly regulated scrap metal dealers, including children. It also documents evidence that DU munitions were fired at light vehicles, buildings and other civilian infrastructure including...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Iraq’s depleted uranium clean-up to cost $30m as contamination spreadsIndia: Cool summer, dry monsoon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2013
Times of India: Summer wouldn't exactly sizzle this year as it may rain this month and again in May. The ensuring monsoon won't be too wet as the rainfall from June to September is likely to reduce drastically all over the state if a recent study on climate change is any indicator.
Put together by experts at the University of Agricultural Sciences here, the study looks closely at climatic conditions and the fallout on various sectors, particularly cropping pattern in the state.
"The early attainment of maximum...
D.C. snowstorm scrubs global-warming hearing
Posted by Politico: None Given on March 6th, 2013
Politico: The House Science, Space and Technology Committee announced early Wednesday that it's postponing its environmental subcommittee's scheduled 10 a.m. hearing on the state of the science behind climate change. As a reason, it cited "weather."
The session was apparently designed to shore up the knowledge of subcommittee members ahead of expected new carbon regulations from President Barack Obama. As of Tuesday evening, a committee spokesman had insisted the show would go on.
From the start, the...
China’s new leadership faces growing environmental pressures
Posted by AlertNet: None Given on March 6th, 2013
AlertNet: As the Chinese government prepares to make a leadership transition this week, the country faces conflicting pressures as it strives toward economic growth while wanting to reduce emissions.
While the country's new leaders have declared "ecological progress' will be a priority, analysts at a World Resources Institute-led press teleconference said China must deal with series of inter-linked challenges-- economic prosperity, energy security, mitigating climate change and social unrest -- to make...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on China’s new leadership faces growing environmental pressuresAt the Bottom of Lake Nyasa is ‘Rare Earth’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2013
Inter Press Service: The local Tanzanian community bordering Lake Nyasa is no nearer to understanding what the conflict between their country and Malawi is about, nor why so much is at stake, as mediation efforts between Malawi and Tanzania are expected to begin soon.
The 29,000-square-kilometre tranquil lake, known as Lake Malawi by Malawians, is a tourist spot, source of revenue and food for local populations. But since July 2012, it was discovered that the lake could potentially be a lucrative oil and gas source,...
NYS Assembly Moving Forward with Fracking Moratorium
Posted by Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Joseph Spector and Haley Viccaro on March 6th, 2013
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Assembly Democrats are expected Wednesday to pass a two-year hydrofracking moratorium, the second time in two years that the chamber has sought to block the controversial drilling practice.
A hydrofracking moratorium has not moved forward in the Republican-led Senate, but now the Senate's control is shared by Democrats and Republicans.
And Tuesday, the five-member group of breakaway Democratic senators proposed legislation for an additional 24 months to review the potential health impacts of...
Deadly snowstorm slams road, air travel in Midwest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2013
Reuters: A deadly late-winter storm dumped heavy snow on the Midwestern United States on Tuesday, contributing to numerous automobile accidents and flight cancellations as it headed toward the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic states.
The storm was expected to move eastward over the Ohio Valley and then the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic states on Wednesday, hitting Washington with its biggest snowfall in possibly two years, the National Weather Service said.
"It will be a wet, heavy, gloppy snow...
Indonesia: A turning point for deforestation
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Michael Bachelard on March 6th, 2013
Sydney Morning Herald: A contract signed in Jakarta on Tuesday by the owners of Asia Pulp and Paper, which is based in Indonesia, has received the qualified endorsement of its tormentor, Greenpeace after it agreed to log solely plantation timber.
The man who brokered the deal, Australian Scott Poynton, from the Forest Trust, said this ''could be a real turning point in the fight against deforestation``.
''APP has got such a complex political, environmental and economic context, if they can do it, there`s no excuse...
A Must Read Account of Fracking Colorado
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on March 5th, 2013
EcoWatch: I went to a meeting earlier this winter in the Colorado Governor`s Office. I’m not a regular.
The Governor, John Hickenlooper, Hick to his friends, had called the meeting with Boulder County Commissioners to discuss the county’s draft regulations governing the recovery of oil and gas found in the county’s deep underground shale formations. The fact is that most of the state is underlain by these ancient and organically rich seabeds. All are ripe for exploitation through the use of the industry’s...
Forests under fire: Australia’s imperiled south west
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 5th, 2013
Mongabay: In the far southwestern corner of Western Australia, beyond the famed wineries in the shadow of the Margaret River, lies an ecosystem like no other, the South West ecoregion. This part of Australia has been identified as one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots, home to rare endemic flora and fauna like the Carnaby’s black cockatoo, numbat (banded anteaters), woylie (brush-tailed bettong), mainland quokka and over 1500 plant species, most found nowhere else. Unfortunately, this unique habitat is being...