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Archive for May, 2013
Enbridge expansion could turn into Keystone-like fight
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 3rd, 2013
Bloomberg: A new front may soon open in the battle over pipelines that transport Canadian oil to the U.S.
And this one involves a line that would carry even more oil derived from Alberta’s tar sands than TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s proposed Keystone XL, a project that has inflamed environmentalists who say it would exacerbate climate change.
Enbridge Inc. (ENB)’s request for a permit to boost the volume of oil on an existing pipeline from Alberta to Wisconsin has so far escaped controversy. That may change...
New Yorkers Win Frack Fight at Local Level
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on May 3rd, 2013
EcoWatch: Local residents and elected leaders in Dryden, N.Y. are celebrating victory in a closely watched case over local fracking bans. A state appeals court ruled in favor of the towns of Dryden and Middlefield, affirming lower court decisions upholding the towns’ right to ban oil and gas development activities--including the controversial technique of fracking--within town limits. The legal battle first began in 2011 and industry is widely expected to seek review of the ruling by New York’s high court...
Nicaragua cloud forest ‘under siege’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 3rd, 2013
BBC: A famed rainforest in Nicaragua is under growing threat from illegal loggers, say indigenous leaders.
The Bosawas Biosphere Reserve is Central America's largest tropical forest with clouds constantly drifting over the hilly terrain.
But the Mayangna and Miskito people who live there say 30,000 hectares a year are being deforested by "colonists".
They are calling on US president Barack Obama, who is visiting the region, to support their battle.
Described by the United Nations as a global...
New York appeals court upholds municipalities banning fracking through zoning laws
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 3rd, 2013
Associated Press: A mid-level appeals court says New York municipalities can use local zoning laws to ban the use of hydraulic fracturing to drill for natural gas. The four-judge appellate division panel ruled unanimously Thursday that state mining and drilling law doesn’t trump the authority of local governments to control land use. The case of Norse Energy Corp.’s challenge to a ban in the Tompkins County town of Dryden has been closely watched by industry hoping to drill in New York’s piece of the Marcellus Shale...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on New York appeals court upholds municipalities banning fracking through zoning lawsLow-key US plan for each nation to set climate goals wins ground
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 2nd, 2013
Reuters: A U.S.-led plan to let all countries set their own goals for fighting climate change is gaining grudging support at U.N. talks, even though the current level of pledges is far too low to limit rising temperatures substantially.
The approach, being discussed this week at 160-nation talks in Bonn, Germany, would mean abandoning the blueprint of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which set central goals for industrialized countries to cut emissions by 2012 and then let each work out national implementation....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Low-key US plan for each nation to set climate goals wins groundWhy Sewage Plants Are Especially Vulnerable to Climate Change
Posted by Atlantic Cities: None Given on May 2nd, 2013
Atlantic Cities: f the subway disruption, and the housing damage and residential displacement, and the general psychological toll of Superstorm Sandy weren't enough, there's also the sewage.
Approximately 11 billion gallons of untreated (or only semi-treated) waste spilled into waterways after Sandy, according to a new report from the environmental group Climate Central. The vast majority of that overflow occurred in the rivers and bays surrounding New York and New Jersey. Forgive us if we order sparkling the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Why Sewage Plants Are Especially Vulnerable to Climate ChangeProtestors dislike Mark Zuckerberg’s support of Keystone XL pipeline
Posted by Mother Nature Network: None Given on May 2nd, 2013
Mother Nature Network: Dozens of protestors rallied outside Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters on Wednesday after FWD.US, the social welfare organization co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg, funded television ads in support of the Keystone XL pipeline and other oil drilling positions. "Facebook, dislike, Keystone take a hike," the protestors chanted, according to a report from the Mercury Daily News. When it was first announced, Zuckerberg and other FWD.US founders said the organization would focus mostly on immigration...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Protestors dislike Mark Zuckerberg’s support of Keystone XL pipelineBakken shale: Prosperous play’s new oil estimates could influence pipeline plans
Posted by EnergyWire: Nathanial Gronewold on May 2nd, 2013
EnergyWire: The resource potential of the booming Bakken Shale oil and gas zone is much bigger than previously thought, U.S. government geologists announced yesterday.
A new assessment of oil and gas reserves in that region by the U.S. Geological Survey concludes that industry could have access to almost double the amount of hydrocarbons previously calculated in parts of North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. That rapid increase in the reserve estimate comes mainly from a first-time assessment of the Bakken...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Bakken shale: Prosperous play’s new oil estimates could influence pipeline plansReport: Illinois coal enjoyed record exports in 2012
Posted by Associated Press: Jim Suhr on May 2nd, 2013
Associated Press: Illinois' abundant high-sulfur coal once shunned as a pollution source by U.S. utilities saw record demand oversees last year even as domestic coal providers broadly curtailed production as cheaper, competing natural gas crimped their sales, according to new report Wednesday.
Energy Ventures Analysis Inc.'s study, commissioned by the Illinois Office of Coal Development, found that 13 million tons of Illinois coal was exported last year, up from the 2.5 million tons in 2010 and the 5.5 million...
With Arctic sea ice vulnerable, summer melt season begins briskly
Posted by Christian Scienc Monitor: None Given on May 2nd, 2013
Christian Scienc Monitor: After a record loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean last year, the 2013 melt season has begun at the top of the world, with ice vanishing in April at a faster pace than it did this time last year.
Summer sea ice – a key player in Earth's climate system and one whose decline is widely taken as a prominent sign of global warming – has been shrinking in extent since satellites first started to build a consistent record of the ice in late 1978. Ice losses in 2007 set a melt-season record, only...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on With Arctic sea ice vulnerable, summer melt season begins briskly