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Archive for April 12th, 2013
EU Looking Favorably on Shale Gas Development
Posted by EurActiv: Anne Glover on April 12th, 2013
EurActiv: The EU’s chief scientific advisor has said that evidence allows the go-ahead for extracting shale gas, the energy source at the centre of a European policy tug-of-war. The EU executive launched a green paper on 27 March, setting out Europe's energy and climate aims for 2030, with Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger taking a favourable position on shale gas. "I am in favour of producing shale gas, particularly for safety reasons, and to reduce gas prices," he said. "In the United States, which...
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Finding the Reasons for the 2012 Drought
Posted by National Geographic: Jane J. Lee on April 12th, 2013
National Geographic: Last year's drought smothered the central Great Plains from Colorado to Illinois in bone-dry heat, resulting in blasted fields, dried-up watering holes, and raging wildfires.
The period from May to August was the driest four months the United States has experienced since 1895, according to an analysis released April 11 led by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
A drought as severe as last year's happens only once every couple of hundred years, said Martin Hoerling,...
Will Synthetic Biology Benefit or Threaten Wild Things?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2013
New York Times: Please look below for a "Your Dot" missive on an emerging force that will, in ways both direct and indirect, shape the face of what we used to call "nature" or "wildlife." The post was sent by Cristián T. Samper, the president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, from a meeting held this week at Cambridge University to examine this question: "How will Synthetic Biology and Conservation Shape the Future of Nature?"
There`s a superb and detailed framing paper for the meeting posted here.
WCS...
At Long Last, Great Plains Sees Some Drought Relief
Posted by Climate Central: Daniel Yawitz on April 12th, 2013
Climate Central: After months of watching the skies and holding their breath, Nebraskans finally saw some meaningful drought relief, in the form of a mixed bag of precipitation, from thunderstorms to sleet, damaging hail, and heavy snow. The spring blizzard brought long-overdue drought relief to one of the hardest hit states by the historic national drought, which in many respects was more severe than the Dust Bowl era droughts of the 1930s, according to a federal report released on Thursday.
While the drought...
Year after Wyo. blowout, no fines for Chesapeake
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2013
Associated Press: A company that owns a Wyoming oil well that blew out and forced 50 people to flee their homes has not been fined in the year since the accident because the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission determined none of its rules were violated.
A group of landowners and at least one affected couple were upset by the inaction against Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp., even though the commission said human error contributed to the complete loss of control over the well last April 24 five...
Anti-desertification efforts to be mulled in Uzbekistan
Posted by Azernews: Aynur Jafarova on April 12th, 2013
Azernews: Uzbekistan will host a roundtable on measures related to combating desertification and land degradation as well as improving the condition of land and water conservation.
The event will be held during a visit by Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Luc Gnacadja, to the Central Asian state in late April.
The UNCCD came into force in 1996 and has been ratified by 195 countries. Uzbekistan ratified the convention in October 1995.
Desertification, a process...
Global warming not a big factor in 2012 drought
Posted by Summit County Voice: Bob Berwyn on April 12th, 2013
Summit County Voice: Last summer`s crippling Great Plains drought can`t definitively be linked with global warming, according to a team of federal scientists from various agencies. In a new report issued this week, the researchers said the drought was probably caused by a confluence of natural climate variations that might only come together in a similar constellation once a century.
Cyclical variations in ocean temperatures -- especially the combination of a cooler-than-average Pacific Ocean and a warm phase of the...
Global warming not significant in 2012 drought: Feds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2013
Climate Central: The extreme 2012 Central Great Plains drought was more intense than the Dust Bowl era droughts of the 1930s, according to a new federal assessment of the origins and predictability of the drought, released on Thursday. The team of 19 atmospheric scientists, led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), found that global warming may have played a relatively small contributing role by helping to make the drought slightly warmer, and hence drier, than it otherwise might have been....
Exxon’s 22-Foot Rupture Illustrates Tremendous Operating Pressure of Oil Pipelines
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song on April 12th, 2013
InsideClimate: The rupture in the ExxonMobil pipeline that sent a river of oil through a suburban neighborhood in Mayflower, Ark. is now known to be 22 feet long and 2 inches wide [3]. That's almost four times larger than the six-foot pipeline tear that sent more than one million gallons of Canadian dilbit into Michigan's Kalamazoo River in 2010, the worst accident of its kind in U.S. history.
The size and speed of the release through a long opening, thin as a mail slot, shines a spotlight on just how quickly...
Better rankings of climate vulnerability needed – experts
Posted by AlertNet: Chelsea Diana on April 12th, 2013
AlertNet: Which fares worse in a world of climate shifts, drought-ridden Burundi or flood-prone Bangladesh?
As poorer countries are hit by the effects of climate change and their resources to respond remain inadequate, richer nations have promised $100 billion a year by 2020 to help them adapt to the impacts and try to curb their own climate-changing emissions. But experts say dividing up the money requires answering one very tough question: Who is the most vulnerable to climate change?
Given the urgency...