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Archive for July 15th, 2013
Chilean court suspends Barrick’s Pascua-Lama mine project
Posted by Reuters: Erik Lopez on July 15th, 2013
Reuters: A Chilean appeals court on Monday suspended Barrick Gold Corp's controversial Pascua-Lama gold mine until the company builds infrastructure to prevent water pollution, and ordered the mine's environmental permit be reviewed. In April, the Copiapo Court of Appeals temporarily and preventively froze construction of the $8.5 billion project, which straddles the Chile-Argentine border high in the Andes, while it examined claims by indigenous communities that it has damaged pristine glaciers and...
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Chevron granted access to environmental activists’ email accounts
Posted by Guardian: Alexander White on July 15th, 2013
Guardian: Oil giant Chevron has been granted access to "more than 100 email accounts, including environmental activists, journalists, and attorneys" involved in a long-running dispute involving damage "caused by oil drilling" in Ecuador, reports the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) which, with EarthRights International (ERI), is opposing the New York court's decision says:
After years of litigation, an Ecuadorian court last year imposed a judgment of over $17 billion...
India says nearly 6,000 missing a month after devastating floods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 15th, 2013
Reuters: India officially declared on Monday that nearly 6,000 people were missing a month after flash floods ravaged large parts of its northern state of Uttarakhand, but stopped short of saying they were presumed dead.
The figure of 5,748, based on tallies of missing persons from around the country, was the first official estimate following weeks in which the numbers of dead and missing fluctuated wildly from a few hundred to several thousand.
Their families will now be eligible for financial relief,...
Polar ice loss cause still unclear
Posted by Climate News Network: Tim Radford on July 15th, 2013
Climate News Network: Here is a non-conclusion: after nine years of close observation, researchers still cannot be sure whether the planet is losing its ice caps at an accelerating rate.
That is because the run of data from one satellite is still not long enough to answer the big question: are Greenland and Antarctica melting because of global warming, or just blowing hot before blowing cold again in some long-term natural cycle?
The question is a serious one. If the loss of ice that seems to be happening now is...
French President insists shale gas ban is staying put
Posted by BusinessGreen: James Murray on July 15th, 2013
BusinessGreen: French President Francois Hollande has sought to end speculation France could soften its controversial moratorium on shale gas development, stating unequivocally that the ban will remain in place as long as he remains in office.
A French court is due to rule this week on an appeal against the ban on fracking, after developer Schuepbach Energy sought to challenge to 2011 moratorium.
The ruling comes following a debate within the government over whether to rethink the policy. French Industry...
Fracking water’s dirty little secret – recycling
Posted by Reuters: Nichola Groom on July 15th, 2013
Reuters: The oil and gas industry is finding that less is more in the push to recycle water used in hydraulic fracturing. Slightly dirty water, it seems, does just as good a job as crystal clear when it comes to making an oil or gas well work.
Exploration and production companies are under pressure to reduce the amount of freshwater used in dry areas like Texas and to cut the high costs of hauling millions of barrels of water to oil and gas wells and later to underground disposal wells.
To attack those...
Full Extent of Heavy Metal Contamination in Exxon Oil Spill Still Unknown
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song and Shruti Ravindran on July 15th, 2013
InsideClimate: When a broken pipeline spills oil into a residential neighborhood, the most immediate health concerns are those caused by volatile chemicals—airborne toxins that leave people complaining of symptoms like headaches and nausea and worrying about long-term problems like cancer. But crude oil also contains small amounts of heavy metals that rarely evaporate into the air. Instead, they stay with the oil as it spills onto the ground and into waterways. These compounds, which include mercury, manganese,...
Fiji: Villagers learn about climate change
Posted by Fiji Times: Ana Madigibuli on July 15th, 2013
Fiji Times: WOMEN of Naisaumua Village in Tailevu have learnt how to be resilient towards climate change during an empowerment workshop that was held in the village last week.
Climate change has been a topic of discussion for many villages in the country, particularly those that are feeling its impact.
Sainimilika Vuataki said the four-day empowerment workshop was educational as women learnt about the impact of climate change on their lives.
Mrs Vuataki said most of the time women in the village did...
Bangladesh Pollution, Told in Colors and Smells
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 15th, 2013
New York Times: On the worst days, the toxic stench wafting through the Genda Government Primary School is almost suffocating. Teachers struggle to concentrate, as if they were choking on air. Students often become lightheaded and dizzy. A few boys fainted in late April. Another retched in class. The odor rises off the polluted canal — behind the schoolhouse — where nearby factories dump their wastewater. Most of the factories are garment operations, textile mills and dyeing plants in the supply chain that exports...