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Archive for March, 2013
Draft Assessment of Tar Sands Pipeline “Devastatingly Cynical”
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2013
Inter Press Service: The U.S. State Department late Friday released a draft environmental impact assessment of a contentious pipeline project that simultaneously acknowledged the dangers posed by climate change while also noting the project would "not likely result in significant adverse environmental effects".
Scientists and advocates have reacted with significant alarm, warning that the new report, officially a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), is merely recycling deeply flawed conclusions offered...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Draft Assessment of Tar Sands Pipeline “Devastatingly Cynical”U.S. review gives boost to Keystone oil pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2013
Reuters: The Keystone XL oil pipeline got a boost on Friday when the State Department said the project would not likely change the rate at which Canada's oil sands are developed, discounting warnings from environmentalists that it would lead to a spike in greenhouse gas emissions.
The report is far from the last word on Keystone. The environmental assessment must be finalized after the public comment. Federal agencies will then have 90 days to work with the State Department to determine whether the pipeline...
Australia’s Record-Breaking Hottest Summer
Posted by Guardian: Lair Trewin and Karl Braganza on March 1st, 2013
Guardian: This summer hasn't just felt hot. It's been hot. In fact, the summer of 2012-13 is now the hottest on record. Average temperatures beat the record set in the summer of 1997-98, and daytime maximum temperatures knocked over the 1982-83 record. January 2013 has been the hottest month since records began in 1910.
A significant summer, for weather and climate
There is an old adage in meteorology and climatology circles, "Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get". But what does this mean?...
Louisiana chief says master plan can adapt to sea level rise
Posted by Advocate: Bob Marshall on March 1st, 2013
Advocate: Yes, we can. And, by the way: You’re wrong. That’s how Garret Graves, head of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, and some coastal scientists have responded to federal researchers who last week predicted the southeast coast faces the highest rate of sea level rise “on the planet” – 4.4 feet by 2100.
At that rate, they said, parts of the state’s coastal Master Plan will be obsolete before they are completed.
“The NOAA folks are just misinformed,” said Graves, summing...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Louisiana chief says master plan can adapt to sea level riseCanada: Keystone XL focus shifts to climate change, oil lobby says
Posted by National Post: None Given on March 1st, 2013
National Post: A delegation of oil sands CEOs “couldn’t get a clear reading” in Washington this week over whether Barack Obama’s renewed focus on climate change means more uncertainty for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, an executive with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said Thursday.
The climate discussion, the carbon discussion, is clearly back as being a priority issue
The Canadian lobby group and a handful of Canadian oil patch leaders met with members of Congress, the administration...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: Keystone XL focus shifts to climate change, oil lobby saysNatural capital: avoiding the next financial crisis
Posted by Chinadialogue: None Given on March 1st, 2013
Chinadialogue: Nature underpins global wealth creation. The renewable flow of goods and services provided by the earth's ecosystems buttress our economy and yield benefits for business. But this stock of ecosystems -- also known as "natural capital' -- is largely invisible in financial decision-making. As a result, natural capital does not appear on the balance sheets of businesses and is largely unaccounted for in financial products.
Take for instance an investor in London, Shanghai or New York who finances...
Youngstown gas driller indicted, accused of dumping fracking waste into river
Posted by Plain Dealer: James F. McCarty on March 1st, 2013
Plain Dealer: A federal grand jury returned an indictment against the owner of an oil and gas drilling company on Thursday, charging him with violating the Clean Water Act by dumping more than 20,000 gallons of fracking waste into a river in Youngstown.
In addition to the charges against Benedict Lupo, 62, of Poland, Ohio, the grand jury also returned Clean Water Act indictments against Lupo`s company, Hardrock Excavating, and an employee of the company, Michael Guesman, 34, of Cortland.
Guesman previously...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Youngstown gas driller indicted, accused of dumping fracking waste into riverWhy you should sweat climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2013
USA Today: More American children are getting asthma and allergies, and more seniors are suffering heat strokes.
Food and utility prices are rising. Flooding is overrunning bridges, swamping subways and closing airport runways.
People are losing jobs in drought-related factory closings. Cataclysmic storms are wiping out sprawling neighborhoods. Towns are sinking.
This isn't a science-fiction, end-of-the-world scenario. Though more anecdotal than normal - today, at least - these scenes are already playing...