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Archive for July 22nd, 2013
Pakistan’s new big threat isn’t terrorism — it’s water
Posted by Grist: None Given on July 22nd, 2013
Grist: In a report released last week by the Asian Development Bank [PDF], Pakistan was pinpointed as "one of the most water-stressed countries in the world, not far from being classified, 'water-scarce.`" As water demand exceeds supply in the South Asian country, more and more water is being withdrawn from the nation`s reservoirs, leaving them in a critically precarious position. According to the ADB, Pakistan`s storage capacity, the amount of water it has on reserve in case of an emergency, is limited...
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America’s wicked, deadly heat wave last week
Posted by Grist: John Metcalfe on July 22nd, 2013
Grist: Released on Friday by NOAA, the map shows the hellish days that preceded the nation`s current meteorological bugbear: an "oppressively hot area of high pressure," to use the National Weather Service`s language, that`s now making eyeballs sweat on the East Coast. How nasty is it there? Here are a few indicators:
So many people were camped in front of their A/Cs on Friday that New York`s power grid reached an all-time usage high. Reports Reuters: "The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO)...
Vast ‘Fossil’ Aquifer Beneath Sahara Desert is Slowly Refilling
Posted by Nature World News: None Given on July 22nd, 2013
Nature World News: A vast water supply stored deep beneath the Sahara Desert thought to be a relic of ancient times is actually being resupplied each year, according to a new study published in the the journal Geophysical Research Letters. But the rate of resupply does not meet or exceed water demand, which poses long-term water challenges for the future.
The northern Sahara aquifer system extends across an area nearly double that of mainland France and is thought to hold more than 30,000 cubic kilometers of water...
New Pipeline Threatens Wetlands in Gulf Coast Communities
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on July 22nd, 2013
EcoWatch: In a region still scarred by the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Plains Southcap, LLC, is building a pipeline meant to carry conventional crude oil from Alabama to Mississippi, threatening waterways in both states.
Set to finish construction this year, Southcap’s underground pipeline would carry crude from the Ten Mile Terminal in Mobile, AL, to the Chevron refinery in Pascagoula, MS, tearing a path through Hamilton Creek, which feeds into Big Creek Lake, as well as Bangs Lake, only two...
Two Idaho Fires Rage as Summer Heat Wears On
Posted by Nature World News: Tamarra Kemsley on July 22nd, 2013
Nature World News: Forest fires are once again blazing in the hot, dry West. Only this time, instead of Colorado or Arizona, it's Idaho that's feeling the heat after two fires started over the weekend continue to burn.
One, called the Lodgepole fire, is located roughly 15 miles west of the town Challisa and was discovered around noon on Saturday, at which point local fire resources responded both quickly and effectively, according to NASA. As of Monday, the cause of the fire remained unknown and firefighters continued...
ExxonMobil Fined for Fracking Wastewater Spill into Pennsylvania River
Posted by EcoWatch: Trisha Marczak on July 22nd, 2013
EcoWatch: The Obama administration has fined an ExxonMobil subsidiary $100,000 and ordered the company to spend $20 million to improve its hydraulic fracturing wastewater management system in the wake of a 2010 leak that contaminated a tributary of the Susquehanna River.
This photo taken from a plane above Hickory, PA, shows pits containing fracking wastewater. Photo credit: Marcellus Protest via Flickr.
The U.S Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) handed the fine down...
Canada: No one knows how to stop these tar-sands oil spills
Posted by Grist: John Upton on July 22nd, 2013
Grist: Thousands of barrels of tar-sands oil have been burbling up into forest areas for at least six weeks in Cold Lake, Alberta, and it seems that nobody knows how to staunch the flow.
An underground oil blowout at a big tar-sands operation run by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has caused spills at four different sites over the past few months. (This is different from the 100-acre spill in Alberta that we told you about last month, which was caused by a ruptured pipeline.)
Media and others have...
Chile indigenous group appeals Pascua-Lama ruling: lawyer
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 22nd, 2013
Reuters: A group of indigenous Chileans asked the Supreme Court to revoke the environmental license of Barrick Gold Corp's Pascua-Lama gold mine because it seeks a total re-evaluation of the project, a lawyer representing the group told Reuters on Monday.
The Copiapo Court of Appeals last week ordered a freeze on construction of the project, which straddles the Chile-Argentine border high in the Andes, until the company builds infrastructure to prevent water pollution. However, it did not terminate the...
Fish Return To A Mining County River
Posted by National Public Radio: Emily Corio on July 22nd, 2013
National Public Radio: The Cheat River runs through historic mining country in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia. Coal has been an economic boost to the area, but often at a cost to the environment. The Cheat was one such casualty.
Peak oil lives, but will kill the economy
Posted by Guardian: Nafeez Ahmed on July 22nd, 2013
Guardian: Last Monday's BBC News at Ten broadcast a report by science editor David Shukman arguing that concerns "about oil supplies running dry are receding." Shukman interviewed a range of industry experts talking up the idea that a "peak" in oil production has been "moved to the backburner" - but he obfuscated compelling evidence in his own report contradicting this view.
"There's still plenty of oil - we just haven't got all of it out of the ground yet. There's not a real danger of there being no fossil...