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Archive for May 23rd, 2013
House passes another bill authorizing Keystone XL
Posted by Houston Chronicle: Jennifer A. Dlouhy on May 23rd, 2013
Houston Chronicle: The House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday that would speed construction of the Keystone XL pipeline - a largely symbolic measure with probably no chance of clearing the Democratic Senate and overcoming a presidential veto. The bill approved 241-175 on Wednesday is the latest attempt by the Republican-controlled House to pressure the Obama administration to approve the pipeline that would transport oil sands crude from Canada to the Gulf Coast. TransCanada Corp. first sought approval...
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America’s frogs and toads disappearing fast, study warns
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 23rd, 2013
Reuters: Frogs, toads and salamanders have been in trouble for decades, but a new U.S. government study shows just how quickly many amphibians are disappearing from ponds and creeks across the United States.
The average rate of decline for U.S. amphibians is about 3.7 percent a year, which may sound small but compounds over time, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey reported on Wednesday in the peer-reviewed online journal PLOS One.
Biologists recognized an international amphibian crisis in 1989,...
30 years of time-lapse satellite images show coastal Louisiana wasting away
Posted by Lens: Bob Marshall on May 23rd, 2013
Lens: The new Google app arrived in my life to the kind of reception reserved for a doctor carrying the results of a biopsy. Did I really want to know?
The blog post announced that the God of the Internet had just delivered another digital miracle. It was now possible to watch 30-year time-lapse photography of any spot on the planet. This innovation expands on the phenomenal product named Google Earth, the one that stitches together satellite images of every inch of our world and offers the results...
House passes Keystone bill as White House vows veto
Posted by Bloomberg: Jim Snyder on May 23rd, 2013
Bloomberg: The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the eighth time congressional Republicans have advanced a measure promoting the project.
Democrats called yesterday’s vote in the Republican-controlled chamber a largely symbolic effort to score political points because the bill was unlikely to become law. The Senate, where Democrats have the majority, isn’t considering similar legislation, and President Barack Obama’s administration has threatened a...
USGS cites accelerating rate of depletion, posing problems for irrigation, surface water
Posted by Bloomberg: Rachel Leven on May 23rd, 2013
Bloomberg: Groundwater is being depleted at a rapidly accelerating pace, posing potential problems for irrigation and surface water flow, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study released May 20.
U.S. groundwater supplies were depleted by more than two times the volume of Lake Erie between 1900 and 2008, the study said. However, 25 percent of that amount--or 800 cubic kilometers of the 1000 cubic kilometers depleted--occurred between 2000 and 2008, indicating a rapid increase in the depletion rate, USGS...
Keystone XL is hot in Washington but ho-hum elsewhere
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: David J. Unger on May 23rd, 2013
Christian Science Monitor: The US House of Representatives voted 241 to 175 Wednesday in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline.
The vote is one of many symbolic gestures by the GOP-controlled House gestures in favor of a project that would transport oil from Canadian oil sands to Gulf refineries. If the Senate doesn't block the so-called Northern Route Approval Act, President Obama will almost certainly veto it. The point is to raise the profile of an issue that is frequently edged out by the headline of the day.
Half the...
Canada: Quebec to do own review of Enbridge pipeline project
Posted by Reuters: Valerie Volcovici on May 23rd, 2013
Reuters: Quebec will announce within weeks that it will launch its own public review of a proposed pipeline that would deliver crude oil from western Canada to eastern markets, its environment minister said Thursday.
Yves-Francois Blanchet told Reuters in an interview that the review will be done simultaneously with a review by Canada's National Energy Board, in order to give local groups a chance to learn more about the project.
Enbridge Inc, Canada's largest pipeline company, plans to reverse a section...
China plans tougher quality standards for coal to tackle pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 23rd, 2013
Reuters: China may impose higher quality standards for imported and locally traded coal to cut air pollution, two sources said, in a move that could slash imports while boosting the fortunes of a faltering domestic industry.
The National Energy Administration (NEA) held a meeting with major state-owned coal producers earlier this month to discuss the new standards, one of the sources said, adding top producer Shenhua Coal, China Coal, Datong Coal, Shanxi Coking Coal Group and Jizhong Energy Group were...
Mekong Mystery: Dwindling Fish
Posted by New York Times: Jeff Opperman on May 23rd, 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. As we traveled down the Mekong River, I kept hearing variations of the same story: “There are fewer fish.” Our guide in the Four Thousand Island region of Laos relayed that fishermen now work longer hours and catch fewer fish. At a fishing camp just below Khone Falls,...
Steingraber Calls Out Illinois Fracking Regulations
Posted by EcoWatch: Jeff Biggers on May 23rd, 2013
EcoWatch: Before environmental lobbyists and legislators push a hydraulic fracking bill through the Illinois legislature, they need to sit down with farmers in Clinton County and learn how well regulations defended their water, farms and cankered lives from the contamination of coal slurry in the Pearl Aquifer.
Then they would fight to the end, like five southern Illinois county boards, for a moratorium on fracking--instead of a regulatory compromise that undercuts their efforts.
That was the advice...