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Archive for June 20th, 2013
Indian landslides leave thousands trapped in valley
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2013
Associated Press: As many as 4,000 people are believed trapped by landslides in a valley near a Hindu shrine in the Indian Himalayas, days after floods killed more than 100 people. Helicopters have ferried rescue workers and doctors along with equipment, food and medicine to Kedarnath in the state of Uttarakhand, the nearest town. Most of those stranded are Hindu pilgrims who were visiting four shrines. Amit Chandola, a state spokesman, said authorities had so far been unable to reach eight villages feared washed...
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Billionaire Steyer Rejects Trade With Obama on Keystone
Posted by Bloomberg: Mark Drajem on June 20th, 2013
Bloomberg: President Barack Obama’s adoption of measures to combat climate change shouldn’t be seen as a trade off for approving the Keystone XL pipeline, a top donor to his re-election campaign said.
Hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer unveiled a social-media campaign today meant to organize supporters and pressure the president to reject the pipeline, which would carry oil sands from Alberta to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. Steyer hired a former Obama campaign digital producer, Tara McGowan, to help...
New FEMA Study: Climate Change Will Greatly Increase Flood Risk, Debt
Posted by Huffington Post: Peter Lehner on June 20th, 2013
Huffington Post: The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in a study finally released last week after five years in the making, predicted that areas at risk of flooding in the United States would increase 45 percent by 2100, largely because of climate change. That prediction is dire news, not just for residents of flood zones, but for all taxpayers, who fund FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). With flood risk on the rise, the program will have to insure 80 percent more properties than it does today, and...
India: Global warming to dry up rivers, inundate cities
Posted by Deccan Chronicle: None Given on June 20th, 2013
Deccan Chronicle: India’s summer monsoon will become highly unpredictable if the world’s average temperature rises by 2ºC in the next two-three decades, a scientific report commissioned by the World Bank says.
The report released in the national capital on Wednesday focuses on the likely impacts of warming between 2ºC and 4ºC on agricultural production, water resources, coastal ecosystems and cities across South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia.
The report titled Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes,...
New indictments for ex-BP executive, engineer over Gulf spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2013
Reuters: Federal prosecutors unveiled new criminal indictments on Wednesday against a former BP Plc executive and a former BP engineer charged with obstructing investigations into the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The new indictment of former executive David Rainey adds language suggesting he knew of the congressional probe he was charged with obstructing when he provided false information soon after the spill to members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, including about the rate that...