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Archive for March, 2013
Southern California wildfire fully contained
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2013
Reuters: Fire officials on Saturday said they had fully contained a wildfire that scorched the hills east of Los Angeles as record-setting dry weather parched Southern California.
The fire has burned about 310 acres in Riverside County, said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
It was fully contained by 6 p.m. local time, the Riverside County Fire Department said on its website.
The blaze broke out on Thursday afternoon in Jurupa Valley near the...
Climate is a hot topic in the Kansas Legislature
Posted by Kansas City Star: Brad Cooper on March 3rd, 2013
Kansas City Star: Almost a decade after Kansas wrestled with the merits of evolution, the Legislature now grapples with the politics of environmental science.
As they move to ease often expensive renewable-energy mandates, lawmakers also debate the climate-change worries that help motivate such regulations.
Bills look not just to set aside the concerns about greenhouse gases spewed to generate energy. Some would also require schools to teach challenges to mainstream climate science. Others aim to prevent public...
With Lingering Drought Comes Plans for New Reservoirs
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2013
New York Times: Tucked away in northeast Texas, Lake Gilmer was the last major reservoir built in the state, more than a decade ago. Local officials said they had intended to share construction costs and water with a new power plant, but the power company backed out, leaving the City of Gilmer with the bill. Rather than serve city or industrial customers as a water source, the lake is mostly used for bass fishing. Nonetheless, Texas’ interest in reservoirs is reviving as the drought persists and growing cities...
Plants tell a story of climate change at Santa Fe Dam
Posted by Whittier Daily News: Steve Scauzillo on March 3rd, 2013
Whittier Daily News: Ann Croissant bent down to listen to what the plants were saying.
She skimmed her weathered hands lightly across the tops of the moss and liverwort. These lichen-like plants are skin of the earth flora seen more often during dank winters. But here it was, March 1, just a few weeks until spring, and the plethora of winter species crowding out the fleeting spring arrivals concerned Croissant, a noted botanist and activist who has taught at Cal Poly Pomona and Azusa Pacific University.
"There...
Violence in Kenya’s Tana River Delta stems from natural resource conflict
Posted by Mongabay: Stephanie Jones on March 2nd, 2013
Mongabay: Since August 2012, Kenya's Tana River Delta has been besieged by civil conflict continuing into the New Year. The New York Times reported in January at least 200 people are dead and 36,000 displaced in increasingly violent skirmishes between the herders and farmers who share the delta of Kenya's largest river. Although the conflict began as an isolated dispute over water, both groups engaged in retaliatory attacks that have earned comparisons by major global media to the violence preceding Kenya's...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Violence in Kenya’s Tana River Delta stems from natural resource conflictDroughts and floods ‘will be common events in Britain’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2013
Guardian: Britain faces increasingly extreme weather conditions and urgently needs to improve its anti-flood defences and preparations for severe drought, says the Environment Agency.
Its stark conclusion follows detailed analysis of weather patterns, river levels and flooding events in 2012, which revealed that some areas suffered record levels of drought before facing some of the worst flooding ever.
Last year, flooding was recorded on 20% of days and drought on 25% of days, with rivers such as the...
Firefighters contain 80 percent of Southern California wildfire
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2013
Reuters: Fire officials on Saturday said they had contained 80 percent of a wildfire that scorched the hills east of Los Angeles as record-setting dry weather parched Southern California. About 310 acres in Riverside County have been burned by the wildfire, said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the State of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The flames were still raging at midday but the wildfire was expected to be fully contained by evening, state and local fire officials said. No injuries...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Firefighters contain 80 percent of Southern California wildfireKeystone XL pipeline report slammed by activists and scientists
Posted by Guardian: Paul Harris on March 2nd, 2013
Guardian: Green activists and climate change scientists have slammed a new report from the Obama administration that raises no serious objections to building a massive and controversial oil pipeline.
The Sierra Club, one of the US's oldest and most respected environmental advocacy groups, attacked the State Department study into the proposed Keystone XL piepline – which will bring oil from Canadian tar sands deposits down to the Gulf of Mexico – as a "deeply flawed" analysis of the environmental consequences...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keystone XL pipeline report slammed by activists and scientistsSpill in China Lays Bare Environmental Concerns
Posted by New York Times: Edward Wong on March 2nd, 2013
New York Times: The first warning came in the form of dead fish floating in a river. Then officials in this city got confirmation that a chemical spill had taken place at a fertilizer factory upstream. They shut off the tap water, which sent residents into a scramble for bottled water. In the countryside, officials also told farmers not to graze their livestock near the river. The spill, which occurred on Dec. 31, affected at least 28 villages and a handful of cities of more than one million people, including...
New York Fracking Reportedly Held As Andrew Cuomo, RFK Jr. Talk Health
Posted by Associated Press: Michael Gormley on March 2nd, 2013
Associated Press: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo came as close as he ever has to approving fracking last month, laying out a limited drilling plan for as many as 40 gas wells before changing course to await the findings of a new study after discussions with environmentalist and former brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy Jr., several people familiar with his thinking told The Associated Press.
The turning point, which could delay a decision for up to a year or longer, came in a series of phone calls with Kennedy. The two...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New York Fracking Reportedly Held As Andrew Cuomo, RFK Jr. Talk Health