Archive for August 6th, 2013

Fears of quakes and flammable tap water hit Britain as fracking looms

CNN: The fear of fracking has come to Britain, replete with worries about potential earthquakes and tap water tainted with natural gas that bursts into flames at the strike of a match.. Since a ban on the method of extracting natural gas was lifted in May, a company has begun exploratory drilling in the southern town of Balcombe to see what reserves may lie locked up in rock strata far beneath its rolling hills and green meadows. Read more: 'Fracking' protesters say drilling jobs not worth environmental...

In Kansas, Water Is ‘More Precious Than Gold’

National Public Radio: Imagine enough water to fill a couple of Great Lakes, but spread under some of the driest parts of eight Western states. That was the High Plains Aquifer 60 years ago. But now, Nate Pike, whose been riding the dry rolling ranch lands south of Dodge City, Kan., for most of his 80 years, can't even go fishing at his favorite spring called St. Jacob's Well. "And that thing had a lot of water in it. It never went down, never changed," he says. "But as you can see now, I can't believe I can't see...

Anything but fine

BusinessGreen: A couple of weeks ago I spent a very pleasant evening at The Oval watching Surrey take on their local rivals Middlesex. It was a Friday night, a beautiful summer evening, and the cricket, despite a cameo from the great Ricky Ponting, was not at its most captivating. Consequently, the full house crowd at the Oval engaged in what full house crowds at the Oval always do when the home side are winning comfortably and enthusiastically par-took of the hospitality on offer from the bar. The net result is...

Himalayan researcher reverses earlier findings of looming water shortage

ClimateWire: One of the big unknowns of climate change predictions -- and one that has led to considerable contention -- lies in knowing the future of water runoff from the Himalayas. The snow- and ice-rich region supplies water for billions of people in Asia and is sometimes referred to as the Earth's "Third Pole." For years, scientists struggled to understand how precipitation will change in these mountains (ClimateWire, Oct. 24, 2011). They have also had difficulty determining how much glacier melt from the...

Climate change softens up already-vulnerable Louisiana

USA Today: Pelicans and pickups roam the beach, where the waves roll in and return, lapping over the open water of the Gulf of Mexico. The water covers land that was once beach, and it has devoured land that was once marsh tucked behind this 6-square-mile barrier island, a speed bump for hurricanes headed north from the Gulf. On this sunny day, the Tarpon Rodeo - billed as "the oldest fishing tournament in the United States!" - is underway, with fishing boats and truck-bed hot tubs competing in nearly...

BP Cites New Fraud Allegations in Gulf Spill Settlement

Associated Press: BP said Monday that it has uncovered new allegations of fraud and conflicts of interest inside the settlement program that has awarded billions of dollars to Gulf Coast businesses and residents for damage from the company’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP attorneys outlined the allegations in a court filing, which asks a federal judge to temporarily suspend settlement payments while former FBI Director Louis Freeh leads an independent investigation of the court-supervised settlement program....

Back to the Future for Canada’s West Coast LNG Hopes

Wall Street Journal: Grassy Point, British Columbia is the once and future springboard for Western Canada’s dream of becoming one of Asia’s largest gas suppliers. Thirty years ago, the undeveloped nub of land jutting into the northern Pacific Ocean was heralded as the site of a multi-billion dollar liquefied natural gas export terminal. Those plans never materialized, but today the same spot has attracted the likes of ExxonMobil Corp.XOM +0.21%, one of four business groups that have made an “expression of interest”...