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Archive for April, 2013
Assembly panel backs halt to fracking
Posted by LA Times: Chris Megerian on April 30th, 2013
LA Times: Plans to halt fracking in California advanced in the Legislature on Monday, when a key committee approved three measures that would prohibit the practice until the state can study it further.
The votes were a victory for environmentalists, who have been scrambling to slow the boom in fracking nationwide. A proposed moratorium on fracking failed in the California Legislature last year.
Hydraulic fracturing is the practice of injecting chemicals into the ground to break apart rock and release...
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Canada: Harper Gov’t Drops Heavy Oil Processing From Environmental Review List
Posted by Calgary Herald: Mike De Souza on April 30th, 2013
Calgary Herald: Building a diamond mine, expanding an oilsands mine, offshore exploration or an interprovincial bridge could soon require a federal environmental review under proposed additions and subtractions to the Harper government's new environmental rules.
But provincially regulated pipelines, facilities used to process the heavy oil from the oilsands, pulp and paper mills as well as chemical explosive plants are among those being deleted from a list of projects requiring federal environmental investigations...
The consensus seems to be: Let somebody else fix the delta
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on April 30th, 2013
LA Times: Confidential surveys of water officials, water users and others involved with the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta offer some telling insight on why the delta is stuck in a perpetual quagmire.
When it comes to fixing the hub of California's water system, most parties would prefer it if someone else made the sacrifices.
The surveys, conducted last year by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California and discussed in a new institute report, found that there was general agreement with scientists...
Bristol Bay: Largest Salmon Fishery vs Giant Mine Proposal
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on April 30th, 2013
Environment News Service: If Bristol Bay, Alaska is opened to mining, the ore deposit would be mined for decades, and the wastes would require management "for centuries or even in perpetuity," finds a revised environmental assessment issued Friday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Bristol Bay watershed in southwestern Alaska supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, is home to 25 federally recognized tribal governments, and also contains one of the largest concentrations of copper, gold and...
World’s longest-running plant monitoring program now digitized
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 29th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Researchers at the University of Arizona's Tumamoc Hill have digitized 106 years of growth data on individual plants, making the information available for study by people all over the world.
Knowing how plants respond to changing conditions over many decades provides new insights into how ecosystems behave.
The permanent research plots on Tumamoc Hill represent the world's longest-running study that monitors individual plants, said co-author Larry Venable, director of research at Tumamoc Hill....
Humans’ indelible stamp on Earth clear 5000 years ago
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 29th, 2013
New Scientist: When did humans stamp our footprint on the planet? The idea that we have entered a geological epoch defined by our very presence – the Anthropocene – is gaining traction, but exactly when did this epoch begin? After the first atom bomb went off? At the start of the industrial revolution in the mid-18th century? Or was it a lot earlier? A new study argues that the Anthropocene began with the rise of farming or even in Neolithic times, when we took to widespread burning of the bush to hunt animals....
Rising seas clearly evident along SC coast
Posted by Associated Press: Bruce Smith on April 29th, 2013
Associated Press: Living in a coastal town or city with seawalls and docks on the waterfront, it can be difficult to notice the sea level rise by increments each year. But effects of higher sea level are very clear down a winding dirt road in Georgetown County where acres of what was once a forested wetland have morphed into a salt marsh of dead trees jutting toward the sky. "When you go into the field, you really see a lot of trees dying. That's the first thing that catches your eye," said Alex Chow, who teaches...
Canada’s Keystone XL Pitch Goes Into Overdrive
Posted by Hill Times: None Given on April 29th, 2013
Hill Times: Federal officials are stepping up efforts to make the case for the Keystone XL pipeline in Washington D.C., but some experts warn that the frequent public visits could be doing more harm than good.
Between federal Cabinet ministers and Western Canadian premiers, Canadian representatives have been averaging a trip to Washington every two weeks in 2013, with a focus on making the case for the Keystone XL pipeline and addressing concerns over Canada's environmental record.
Natural Resources Minister...
Some Oil Pipelines Exempted From Federal Reviews
Posted by Vancouver Sun: Mike De Souza on April 29th, 2013
Vancouver Sun: Building a diamond mine, expanding an oil-sands mine, offshore exploration or an interprovincial bridge could soon require a federal environmental review under proposed additions and subtractions to the Harper government's new environmental rules.
But provincially regulated pipelines, facilities used to process heavy oil from the oilsands, pulp and paper mills as well as some chemical plants are among those being deleted from a list of projects requiring federal environmental investigations before...
Experts: BP Oil Spill Gone From Deep Ocean, but Remains in Marshes
Posted by Knox News: Megan Boehnke on April 29th, 2013
Knox News: Scientists cannot find traces of oil in the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico three years after the nation’s worst offshore spill, but residual toxins are still in the sediment along the coastal marshes, according to scientists at the University of Tennessee who have studied the effects of the spill. Bacteria in the Gulf was already adapted to consuming oil that naturally leaks from the ground into the water there, said Terry Hazen, a Governor’s Chair for Environmental Biotechnology at UT and Oak...