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Archive for April 18th, 2013
On Pipelines, Pulitzers and Independent Online Journalism
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on April 18th, 2013
New York Times: I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch and weigh in on the illuminating online chat I had yesterday with Inside Climate News publisher David Sassoon, editor Susan White and reporter Lisa Song. We explored the comprehensive series of articles on environmental risks from America’s fast-growing maze of oil pipelines that earned the tiny, foundation-supported Web site the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting on Monday. This is the third online news outlet to win a Pulitzer (one prize for Huffington...
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Europe’s Carbon Market Crisis: Why Does it Matter?
Posted by National Geographic: Thomas K. Grose on April 18th, 2013
National Geographic: The European Parliament this week voted 334-315 (with 60 abstentions) against a controversial "back-loading" plan that aimed to boost the flagging price of carbon, which since 2008 has fallen from about 31 euros per tonne to about 4 euros (about $5.20). Since the vote, the price has fallen even farther, to 2.80 euros. The collapsing market is hardly the kind of firm foundation needed for building a clean-energy economy. (Related: "Renewable Energy Not Growing as Fast as Necessary," and "IEA Outlook:...
Fertility needs in high-yielding corn production
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 18th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Although advances in agronomy, breeding, and biotechnology have dramatically increased corn grain yields, soil test values indicate that producers may not be supplying optimal nutrient levels. Moreover, many current nutrient recommendations, developed decades ago using outdated agronomic management practices and lower-yielding, non-transgenic hybrids, may need adjusting.
Researchers with the University of Illinois Crop Physiology Laboratory have been re-evaluating nutrient uptake and partitioning...
Remote-sensing study quantifies permafrost degradation in Arctic Alaskan wetlands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 18th, 2013
ScienceDaily: A team of geoscientists from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) using newly available remote-sensing technology has achieved unprecedented detail in quantifying subtle, long-period changes in the water levels of shallow lakes and ponds in hard-to-reach Arctic wetlands.
Analysis comparing time-lapsed, high-resolution satellite imagery of the Ahnewetut Wetlands in Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska, revealed an accelerated loss of surface water in shallow thaw lakes and ponds over a recent 27-year...
U.S. drought easing slightly after week’s rains
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 18th, 2013
Reuters: Drought conditions eased after storms moved across the central United States and the U.S. Plains in the past week, bringing much-needed moisture to some of the driest areas of the country, according to a report released on Thursday by state and federal climatologists.
The Drought Monitor report, which tracks soil moisture on a weekly basis, said the Plains - the region hardest hit by the drought of 2012 - was seeing some relief from the drought. As of Tuesday, 73 percent of the region was in severe...
Rowdy Keystone pipeline hearing pits workers vs greens
Posted by Reuters: Katie Schubert on April 18th, 2013
Reuters: U.S. construction workers, environmentalists and company executives squared off on Thursday at a raucous meeting on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, but it was unclear the gathering changed any minds on the controversial project.
U.S. State Department officials hosting the meeting repeatedly called for order at the hearing in Grand Island, Nebraska. It was the first since the department released a 2,000-page report on the environmental impacts of the pipeline in March and more than four years after...
Rise in U.S. Gas Production Fuels Unexpected Plunge in Emissions
Posted by Wall Street Journal: Russell Gold on April 18th, 2013
Wall Street Journal: U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions have fallen dramatically in recent years, in large part because the country is making more electricity with natural gas instead of coal.
Energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that is widely believed to contribute to global warming, have fallen 12% between 2005 and 2012 and are at their lowest level since 1994, according to a recent estimate by the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Energy Department.
While...
Mongolia: Rio Tinto accused of environmental and human rights breaches
Posted by on April 18th, 2013
Guardian: Protesters from around the world attacked mining company Rio Tinto for a string for alleged environmental and human rights breaches during a fiery meeting with shareholders in London on Thursday.
Native Mongolian herders claimed that a $5bn (£3.3bn) expansion of the company's Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in the Gobi desert threatened the fresh water supply of hundreds of nomadic people and the area's unique ecology.
Sukhgerel Dugersuren, executive director of Mongolian civil society organisation...
Keystone XL State Department Hearing In Nebraska Features Passionate Pleas
Posted by Huffington Post: Lynne Peeples on April 18th, 2013
Huffington Post: When Evan Vokes stepped to the microphone during a public hearing on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline on Thursday afternoon, one might have guessed he supported the plan to send Canadian tar sands oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Like most of the pipeline supporters at the hearing, Vokes wore a polished suit. But the engineer informed those gathered in the Heartland Event Center in Grand Island, Neb., that he's actually a former employee of TransCanada, the pipeline operator, who has since turned...
Groups Sue Interior Secretary to Protect California Public Lands From Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on April 18th, 2013
EcoWatch: In the wake of a landmark legal victory against fracking on public lands last week, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club filed a new lawsuit today challenging the Obama Administration’s auction of an additional 17,000 acres in Monterey, San Benito and Fresno counties for drilling and fracking. The suit against newly appointed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and the Bureau of Land Management says the government did not fully consider the dangers fracking poses to watersheds, endangered...