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Archive for May 6th, 2013
Jerry Brown blames climate change for state’s early fire season
Posted by LA Times: Anthony York on May 6th, 2013
LA Times: Gov. Jerry Brown put the state’s early wildfire season in global terms Monday, saying the state would have to grow accustomed to more forest fires as a consequence of climate change. Brown’s remarks at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s aviation management unit in Sacramento came as firefighters in Ventura County said they expected to have the 28,000-acre Springs fire fully contained by Tuesday. State firefighters have responded to about twice the average number of wildfires...
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BP Agrees to 28 Early Restoration Projects for Gulf States
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on May 6th, 2013
Environment News Service: The British oil company BP has agreed to pay $600 million to cover 28 early restoration projects in the Gulf Coast states damaged by the massive 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.
In a preliminary agreement reached with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees, the company will pay for the 28 projects in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. These projects will restore marshes, barrier islands, dunes and near shore marine environments.
This funding...
Tar Sands Disaster: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You?
Posted by EcoWatch: Lauren Berlekamp on May 6th, 2013
EcoWatch: New reports of tar sands oil-related disasters continue to reinforce that the Keystone XL pipeline is too risky for American families.
Despite a "massive cleanup effort," ExxonMobil has recovered only 2,000 of the total 5,000 barrels of spilled Canadian tar sands crude in Mayflower, AK, according to the accident incident report from last month`s Pegasus pipeline disaster. The report was released by the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)...
Concerns grow over effects of solar geoengineering
Posted by SciDevNet: Akshat Rathi on May 6th, 2013
SciDevNet: The latest studies on solar geoengineering to tackle climate change are reinforcing the case for a global governance system and further study before deployment, as they show that the approach may have little effect on preventing rainfall changes in the tropics — and may even lead to widespread drought in Africa. Several geoengineering initiatives plan to tackle climate change by cutting incoming sunlight, through methods such as spreading reflective aerosols in the stratosphere. But without also...
Fever hits thousands in parched US West farm region
Posted by Associated Press: Gosia Wozniacka on May 6th, 2013
Associated Press: California and federal public health officials say valley fever, a potentially lethal but often misdiagnosed disease infecting more and more people around the nation, has been on the rise as warming climates and drought have kicked up the dust that spreads it.
The fever has hit California's agricultural heartland particularly hard in recent years, with incidence dramatically increasing in 2010 and 2011. The disease — which is prevalent in arid regions of the United States, Mexico, Central and...
‘Suffering…without witnesses’: over a quarter of million people perished in Somali famine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 6th, 2013
Mongabay: A new report estimates that 258,000 people died in 2011 during a famine in Somalia, the worst of such events in 25 years and a number at least double the highest estimations during the crisis. Over half of the victims, around 133,000, were children five and under. The report, by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), argues that the international community reacted too late and too little to stem the mass starvation brought on by government instability, conflict, high food prices, and failed...
Empty Nets on the Mekong
Posted by New York Times: Jeff Opperman on May 6th, 2013
New York Times: Jeff Opperman, a senior freshwater scientist with the Nature Conservancy, is taking a once-in-a-lifetime trip down the Mekong River in Southeast Asia with his wife and two children, ages 8 and 10. Previous posts can be found here.
In my last post, I described how our attempts at fishing in the Mekong River had produced meager results, which was somewhat puzzling because the Mekong produces the largest harvest of freshwater fish in the world, by far.
As a father, this was frustrating; catching...
Guadeloupe and Martinique threatened as pesticide contaminates food chain
Posted by Guardian: Martine Valo on May 6th, 2013
Guardian: On 15 April more than 100 fishermen demonstrated in the streets of Fort de France, the main town on Martinique, in the French West Indies. In January they barricaded the port until the government in Paris allocated EUR2m ($2.6m) in aid, which they are still waiting for. The contamination caused by chlordecone, a persistent organochlorine pesticide, means their spiny lobsters are no longer fit for human consumption. The people of neighbouring Guadeloupe are increasingly angry for the same reason....
Mills: EPA cuts estimate on leaks from gas operations
Posted by Times Record News: None Given on May 6th, 2013
Times Record News: The Environmental Protection Agency has dramatically lowered its estimate of amount of the potential heat-trapping gas leaks come from natural gas production. It is great news for natural gas producers, consumers, and the environment.
The EPA’s study on greenhouse emissions shows an average annual decrease of 41.6 million metric tons of methane emissions from 1990 through 2010, or more than 850 million metric tons overall or a 20 percent reduction from previous estimates. The agency converts the...
The Case of the Disappearing Oil: How Much Oil Was Released in 2010 Pipeline Spill?
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song on May 6th, 2013
InsideClimate: A key piece of data related to the biggest tar sands oil spill in U.S. history has disappeared from the Environmental Protection Agency's website, adding to confusion about the size of the spill and possibly reducing the fine that the company responsible for the accident would be required to pay.
The July 2010 accident on an Enbridge Inc. pipeline dumped thousands of barrels of Canadian dilbit into the Kalamazoo River and surrounding wetlands. But almost three years and two federal investigations...