RSS Feed
Archive for April 1st, 2013
Should Russia fear climate change forecasts?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2013
RIA Novosti: In March, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations published forecasts for climate change in Russia. According to the Anti-Stikhiya Center, the temperature in the Arctic may rise by seven degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century, as a result of global climate change.
Experts note that the rate of climate change on Russian territory over the last hundred years has been between 1.5- and 2-times faster than elsewhere in the world. In addition, in the last decade, the speed of warming in...
Posted in 
Streams stressed by pharmaceutical pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2013
ScienceDaily: Pharmaceuticals commonly found in the environment are disrupting streams, with unknown impacts on aquatic life and water quality. So reports a new Ecological Applications paper, which highlights the ecological cost of pharmaceutical waste and the need for more research into environmental impacts.
Lead author Dr. Emma Rosi-Marshall, a scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, comments: "Pharmaceutical pollution is now detected in waters throughout the world. Causes include aging infrastructure,...
Organic Farmers Struggle to Protect Land from Encroaching Fracking Industry
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on April 1st, 2013
EcoWatch: Many farmers in Pennsylvania welcomed the natural gas industry with open arms, letting companies set up operations on their land to drill wells and fracture the shale rock thousands of feet under the surface. Pennsylvania would not have become one of the top gas producing states in the U.S. in such a short period without the acquiescence of the state`s farming community.
Not every landowner, though, believed in the promise of riches or bought into the gas industry`s image of family farms coexisting...
Federal Agencies Asked to Delay Keystone Over Pipeline Safety Issues
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song on April 1st, 2013
InsideClimate: A petition filed with federal agencies last week by a coalition led by the National Wildlife Federation is demanding a moratorium on pending tar sands pipelines—including the Keystone XL—until regulators establish new rules to ensure their safety.
As if to illustrate the dangers outlined in the petition, Exxon's Pegasus pipeline that carries Canadian diluted bitumen, or dilbit, on Friday spilled in central Arkansas [3], releasing an estimated 84,000 gallons of the crude within about 45 minutes...
Campaigner sees warning in U.S. oil spills
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2013
United Press International: The release of oil into the U.S. environment from two incidents highlights the risks of transporting Canadian crude, an advocacy group said.
Oil Change International, a group expressing concern about the environmental effects of tar sands oil, said it was frustrated over two incidents last week.
About 350 barrels of crude oil spilled during a train derailment last week near Parker Prairie, Minn. Rail company Canadian Pacific sent equipment to transfer of crude oil from Canada to other cars....
Texas deploys its ‘rainy day fund’ to start long-term fight against drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2013
ClimateWire: Concerned about its continuing drought, the Lone Star State is embarking upon a multi-decade effort to increase water supplies and make it more resilient to the dry spells that climate scientists say will become more frequent.
Though many conservative lawmakers here still shy from acknowledging climate change, they took decisive action to address it last week when the state's House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to support the Texas Water Development Board's (TWDB) statewide water plan....
After Three Years in Legal Battle, Oil Company with Megaloads to Start Production
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2013
Associated Press: The Canadian company whose desire to move gigantic oil equipment loads across Idaho and Montana caused about three years of legal wrangling in both states is close to producing oil.
Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil officials said the processing equipment has been assembled at the Kearl Lake Oil Sands project in northern Alberta. Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser told the Missoulian (http://bit.ly/14GqpHe) Friday that production was likely just days away.
"We are continuing to make progress toward safe...
In Dry Texas, Waterless Fracking Makes Headway
Posted by Texas Tribune: Kate Galbraith on April 1st, 2013
Texas Tribune: Call it hydraulic fracturing -- without the hydro.
In most hydraulic fracturing operations, several million gallons of water, together with sand and chemicals, get pumped down a hole to blast apart rock that encases oil or gas.
But with water increasingly scarce and expensive around Texas, a few companies have begun fracking with propane or other alternatives.
“We don’t use any water,” said Eric Tudor, a Houston-based official with GasFrac, a Canadian company that fracks with propane gel...
Why Is Canada the Only Country to Quit UN Anti-Drought Convention?
Posted by Toronto Star: Editorial on April 1st, 2013
Toronto Star: Why, suddenly, has the federal government chosen to withdraw from a United Nations convention to combat drought, making Canada an outlier among 194 nations, the only country in the world outside the agreement?
Is International Cooperation Minister Julian Fantino to be believed when he said, in the government’s first public statement on Wednesday, that “membership in this convention was costly for Canadians”?
Maybe not. Membership appears to have cost Canadians $350,000 last year — the equivalent...
ExxonMobil Spent $2 Million on Pro-Fracking Ad Campaign
Posted by Star-Gazette: None Given on April 1st, 2013
Star-Gazette: Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. spent $2 million on a pro-drilling advertising campaign en route to becoming New York’s second-highest spender on lobbying last year, according to a report Thursday from the state’s ethics board.
Exxon Mobil spent $2.1 million total on its New York lobbying in 2012, second only to the $4.2 million spent by a coalition of business interests known as the Committee to Save New York, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics found.
State records show the company sent $2...