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Archive for April 24th, 2013
U.S. EPA Weighs In: Keystone XL Climate Impact Not Adequately Addressed
Posted by EcoWatch: Emily Saari on April 24th, 2013
EcoWatch: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has challenged the State Department on its draft environmental impact statement on the Keystone XL pipeline, objecting to its conclusion that the Keystone XL presents no significant climate change impact or environment risk. This criticism raises an important hurdle in the overall executive review process for its approval, and gives the pipeline’s opponents additional support in their fight against the project.
The U.S. EPA’s challenge comes alongside...
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Climate change will have impact on Pennsylvania vineyards
Posted by Patriot-News: None Given on April 24th, 2013
Patriot-News: Visitors at Allegro Winery and Vineyards in Brogue, York County always ask owner Carl Helrich what he thinks about the crazy shifts in weather.
"I will say the forecasts have not been as reliable as they used to be, and I live by forecasts," he said.
For example, he said that in 2002 the earliest the buds on the grape vines broke -- an indicator of the grape growing season -- on April 17. Last year, it occurred March 30. As Helrich points out, that is about an18-day difference in a matter of...
Mining and logging companies ‘leaving all of Chile without water’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 24th, 2013
Inter Press Service: More than 100 environmental, social and indigenous organisations protested in the Chilean capital, Santiago, this week to demand that the state regain control of the management of water, which was privatised by the then dictatorship in 1981.
More than 6,000 people took part in the peaceful "great carnival march for the recovery and defence of water" on Monday, according to the organisers, one of whom was former student leader Camila Vallejo, who plans to run for parliament as a Communist party...
Spilled tar sands oil could be creeping toward the Arkansas River
Posted by Grist: Suzi Parker on April 24th, 2013
Grist: Rocker Neil Young wanted to see for himself the damage from ExxonMobil`s ruptured Pegasus oil pipeline, which recently spewed reeking, black goo into small-town Mayflower, Ark. So Young, a stalwart environmentalist, drove his revamped, super fuel-efficient hybrid 1959 Lincoln Continental into Mayflower on Monday, unannounced.
A few people snapped pictures with Young (local blogger Shelli Russell bumped into a telephone pole while chasing him down). But regardless of how cool his car is, it’s unlikely...
Serbia’s unabated quest for coal causes tremors among mining communities
Posted by Guardian: Claire Provost on April 24th, 2013
Guardian: Vitomir Simic, 53, points at the faded, black and white photograph of his parents, still hanging on the wall of the home he abandoned in Radljevo, a village south-west of Belgrade, Serbia. Its modest frame hides only an inch of the giant fractures that ripped open the walls of the house where he was born, and forced him and his three children to flee.
Simic works nearby in the Kolubara coal mine, helping to maintain the giant excavators that gouge the earth day and night. This relentless quest...
United Kingdom: Climate change advisers says fracking can be OK
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 24th, 2013
Telegraph: The controversial fossil fuel is forced out of the ground by blasting water into rocks, a process known as "fracking'.
Environmentalists claim this hydraulic fracturing causes earthquakes and contaminates drinking water.
They are also concerned that methane escapes during drilling and burning the fuel releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
But despite these concerns, a new report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), said shale gas can be part of the energy mix.
The committee...
For Corn, Fickle Weather Makes For Uncertain Yields
Posted by National Public Radio: Abbie Fentress Swanson on April 24th, 2013
National Public Radio: "There are other things that can limit yield, and planting date isn't necessarily even the most important one," says University of Missouri agronomist Brent Myers. "But it is something we have to consider. And we want to try to get that corn planted in that timely window of, say, after the first week of April to the first week in May."
At his farm in Centralia, Mo., Gary Riedel, 69, in his green baseball cap and Western-style shirt, is just itching to plant corn on 1,000 acres of his 2,300-acre...
Arkansas AG on Why He’s Taking Exxon Spill Probe Into His Own Hands
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song on April 24th, 2013
InsideClimate: Since launching an investigation into the Mayflower, Ark. oil spill on April 2, state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has pushed hard to resolve unanswered questions about the pipeline accident. McDaniel, a Democrat in his second term as attorney general, caused a stir on April 3 when he insisted on touring the site of the spill with his staff instead of in a bus tour organized by ExxonMobil, the company responsible for the 210,000-gallon pipeline rupture. He drew attention again when he was among...
UN must challenge Canada’s complicity in mining’s human rights abuses
Posted by Guardian: Meera Karunananthan on April 24th, 2013
Guardian: Canada is scheduled for its universal periodic review (UPR) at the UN human rights council on 26 April. The UPR is an international mechanism established in 2006 to hold governments accountable for their human rights records. According to Ban Ki-moon, the review has the potential "to promote and protect human rights in the darkest corners of the world".
When Canada stands before the UN to have its "darkest corners" examined, the international community must not turn a blind eye to its complicity...
Advisers warn UK CO2 emissions ‘up’
Posted by BBC: Roger Harrabin on April 24th, 2013
BBC: A new report has laid bare the UK's pretensions to have cut greenhouse gas emissions over recent years.
Ministers have claimed global leadership in reducing CO2 emissions and urged other nations to follow suit.
But the official Climate Change Committee (CCC) said that the UK's total contribution towards heating the climate has actually increased.
This is because the UK is importing goods that produce CO2 in other countries.
The UK has been cutting emissions at home, but it has been importing...