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Archive for June 24th, 2013
Palm oil companies linked to haze see share prices drop
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2013
Mongabay: Three firms linked to fires in Sumatra saw their share prices decline since the haze crisis worsened a week ago. Golden Agri-Resources Ltd (SGX:E5H) led the pack with an 8 percent decline since June 18. Wilmar International Limited (SGX:F34) dropped 5 percent, while First Resources Ltd (SGX:EB5) lost 4 percent. All three firms are listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange and have been cited in media reports based on hotspot data from NASA. Officials in Singapore and Indonesia say they will pursue...
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Wild Alaskan weather intensifies climate debate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2013
New Scientist: Nothing but blue skies"¦ This rare satellite image of a completely cloudless Alaska triggered media debate this week on whether climate change and melting Arctic sea ice are to blame. The true picture looks more nuanced.
Release of the image by NASA coincided with a heatwave that saw the mercury hit 36 °C in Anchorage on 17 June, and record-breaking temperatures in at least three other towns. Yet just weeks ago, the state saw unseasonably late snow and cold weather, prompting former Alaskan governor...
Alberta promises C$1 billion in flood funding, won’t balance budget
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2013
Reuters: Alberta Premier Alison Redford on Monday promised C$1 billion ($950 million) in initial funding to help pay for damage caused by major flooding this past weekend, and said the oil-rich province would no longer be able to balance its operating budget this year.
Redford said funding was a preliminary contribution to pay for the initial cost of cleaning up the floods in southern Alberta that began last week and for those that affected the oil sands center of Fort McMurray earlier this month.
The...
Massive wind-stoked wildfires rage through Colorado forests
Posted by Reuters: Keith Coffman on June 24th, 2013
Reuters: A trio of wind-driven wildfires roared unchecked across 76,000 acres of national forest in southwest Colorado on Monday and firefighters held the line against flames threatening the mountain town of South Fork.
Crews have been hampered in battling the West Fork Complex fires - which consist of three separate blazes - by the steep mountainous terrain and winds in excess of 50 miles an hour (80 km/h) on some ridgelines.
South Fork, the town of 600 residents evacuated last week as flames crept...
Beetles to blame for Colorado’s fires? Blame climate change instead
Posted by NBC: Alan Boyle on June 24th, 2013
NBC: Tiny, winged bark beetles have been the ecological bad guys of the West for more than a decade, and rightfully so. They've killed off millions of acres' worth of trees in Colorado. Now all those dead trees are feeding the flames across tens of thousands of acres in the southern part of the state.
The West Fork Complex fire raging through southwest Colorado has already burned through more than 75,000 acres, including wide stretches of tinder-dry trees hit by beetle damage. With 600 people evacuated...
Duke Study Finds Higher Gas Levels in Drinking Water Wells Near Marcellus Fracking Sites
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on June 24th, 2013
EcoWatch: Some homeowners living near shale gas wells appear to be at higher risk of drinking water contamination from stray gases, according to a new Duke University-led study, Increased Stray Gas Abundance in a Subset of Drinking Water Wells Near Marcellus Shale Gas Extraction.
A Dimock, Pa., resident who did not want to be identified pours a glass of water taken from his well after the start of natural gas drilling in 2009. Photo credit: Reuters.
The scientists analyzed 141 drinking water samples...
EPA delays fracking safety study until 2016
Posted by Grist: John Upton on June 24th, 2013
Grist: We told you last week that the EPA is abandoning an investigation that linked fracking chemicals with groundwater contamination in Wyoming. Amid controversy over that move, news about EPA delaying another fracking study got overlooked by most media.
In 2010, Congress ordered the EPA to look into the dangers posed to drinking water sources by hydraulic fracturing. That research was expected to be completed in 2014. But last Tuesday, an EPA official told attendees of a shale-gas conference in Cleveland,...
Fracking, Fracking and More Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: Stefanie Spear on June 24th, 2013
EcoWatch: It`s virtually impossible these days to read, listen to or watch a news program that doesn`t mention hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Nearly every day, EcoWatch posts at least one article on fracking and last week was no different.
Big news last week was the announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that it`s delaying from 2014 to 2016 the release of its study on the impact of fracking. In 2010, at the request of Congress, the U.S. EPA was mandated to conduct a study to...
Kerry implores India to tackle climate change, ticks off Indian enviros
Posted by Grist: John Upton on June 24th, 2013
Grist: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in India over the weekend and gave a speech urging the fast-developing country to work closely with the U.S. and other countries on solutions to climate change. Kerry is leading a delegation to Delhi for U.S.-India talks focused on trade and energy; Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is part of the visiting group. The stop in Delhi is one leg of a trip Kerry is making throughout the region. The Americans` arrival in Delhi coincided with deadly floods in northern...
Plants do Math Overnight to Efficiently Use Food Stores
Posted by Nature World News: James A. Foley on June 24th, 2013
Nature World News: Plants perform precise arithmetic calculations to prevent starvation overnight, according to new research published in the open access journal eLife.
Scientists working at the John Innes Centre (JIC) in Norfolk, England report that plants will make calculations that allow them to use up their reserves of starch so precisely that they are depleted at dawn, when a new round of photosynthesis begins.
Martin Howard, an expert mathematical modeler at the JIC, said the research is the "first concrete...