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Archive for June 20th, 2013
S’pore Spars With Jakarta Over Fires, Hazardous Smog
Posted by Bloomberg: Kyunghee Park and Jasmine Ng on June 20th, 2013
Bloomberg: Singapore remained blanketed in thick, smoky haze as Indonesia’s Air Force prepared to water-bomb forest fires raging on the island of Sumatra.
Singapore’s Pollutant Standards Index stood at 135 as of 7 p.m., a level deemed unhealthy, the National Environment Agency, or NEA, said on its website. Earlier in the day it reached a hazardous reading of 401, a record. The NEA said it expected the 24-hour PSI to remain in the unhealthy 200-300 range.
Haze is common in many parts of Asia, with air...
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Keystone XL Export Pipeline: Bad for Americans, Bad for the Economy
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on June 20th, 2013
EcoWatch: The core talking points for the supporters of TransCanada`s Keystone XL pipeline center around U.S. domestic energy security and economic growth. However, Keystone is an "export pipeline" that will take tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, and pump it down to a tax-free zone in Texas and out to foreign markets.
In other words, the European Union, China and Latin America get the oil, the foreign-owned oil companies get the cash and North Americans get a few jobs and oil spills!
It`s a complicated...
EPA ends probe of Wyoming water pollution linked to fracking
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2013
Reuters: The Obama administration on Thursday dropped plans to further investigate preliminary federal findings that linked contamination of a Wyoming aquifer to natural gas drilling, following industry backlash that called the study into question. The draft report released by the Environmental Protection Agency in late 2011 sent shockwaves through the oil and gas sector, by finding that hydraulic fracturing fluids used in shale gas drilling had likely contaminated groundwater in Pavillion, Wyoming. Those...
Indian floods leave tens of thousands stranded in Uttarakhand state
Posted by Guardian: Maseeh Rahman on June 20th, 2013
Guardian: Tens of thousands of people, including pilgrims, tourists and local villagers, remained stranded on Thursday and an unknown number have been killed after torrential rains in the eastern Himalayas breached a glacier, flooded mountain rivers and triggered scores of landslides. The horrific natural disaster, described by some as a "Himalayan tsunami", was triggered by excessively heavy rainfall of more than 220mm (8.6in) on Sunday in a region home to the headwaters of the river Ganges. As army helicopters...
Wyoming Replaces U.S. to Study Water Woes Tied to Fracking
Posted by Bloomberg: Mark Drajem on June 20th, 2013
Bloomberg: The only finding by U.S. regulators of water contamination from fracking was thrown into doubt yesterday when the federal government halted its investigation and handed the probe over to the State of Wyoming. State officials will now investigate the integrity of gas wells owned by Encana Corp. (ECA) near 14 domestic water wells in Pavillion, Wyoming, while the Environmental Protection Agency stops further work on its draft report from 2011, which linked groundwater woes to hydraulic fracturing,...
EPA Won’t Confirm Frack-Pollution Tie
Posted by Associated Press: Mead Gruver and Ben Neary on June 20th, 2013
Associated Press: People who have been living with tainted well water in central Wyoming voiced concern Friday that they were excluded from a deal that has the state taking over further study of groundwater pollution from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Northern Arapaho Tribe raised concerns after the agreement was announced Thursday between the EPA, Wyoming and Encana Corp., owner of the Pavillion gas field. The Arapaho and the Eastern Shoshone Tribe both live on the Wind River Reservation, which surrounds...
Is NYC’s climate plan enough to win the race against rising seas?
Posted by Inside Climate: Katherine Bagley and Maria Gallucci on June 20th, 2013
Inside Climate: Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to protect New York City from future superstorm Sandys and other climate-related threats is the most ambitious and scientifically accurate plan of its kind in the world. But as global warming intensifies and sea levels rise, even this strategy may not be enough to flood-proof the city for very long, experts say.
The climate adaptation plan, unveiled last week, would funnel $19.5 billion into more than 250 initiatives to reduce the city's vulnerability to coastal...
Warming spike: Stalagmites show permafrost peril
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2013
Agence France-Presse: Areas of permafrost could start to thaw within decades, freeing long-stored greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, according to a study released on Wednesday that measured ancient stalagmites in a Siberian cave.
Continuous permafrost -- land that is frozen all year round -- starts to thaw when temperatures rise around 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, its authors said.
Earth has already warmed by around 0.8 C (1.4 F) since the start of the Industrial Revolution...
Tanzania’s agriculture revolution: land grabs or a welcome business boom?
Posted by Guardian: Jessica Hatcher on June 20th, 2013
Guardian: Mawalima Yamba, 62, shared her husband with another woman. As the second wife she didn't stand to inherit much. When her husband became terminally ill and died, she inherited a small stretch of poor scrubland that borders an unfinished road in Iringa, western Tanzania; the fertile land went to his first wife. There was a separate area of land that Yamba had farmed, but never expected she could own. Encouraged by her husband before he died, she applied for legal ownership. Yamba now holds title deeds...
How a Manchester co-op is getting the food revolution moving
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2013
Guardian: These are tough times for food producers. Last week the National Farmers Union (NFU) reported that confidence is at a 'new low' with 45% of arable farmers less confident in the prospects for their farm over the next 12 months, against only 16% more confident. In a separate, though probably related finding, the nation's wheat harvest is in crisis, with 2013 yields expected to be down 29% on last year, which were already below average. The response of the NFU has been to rail against proposed restrictions...