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Archive for August 7th, 2013
EPA Wants To Allow Continued Wastewater Dumping In Wyoming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 7th, 2013
National Public Radio: The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to let oil companies continue to dump polluted wastewater on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. This includes chemicals that companies add to the wells during hydraulic fracturing, an engineering practice that makes wells produce more oil. An NPR investigation last year discovered that the EPA was allowing oil companies to send so much of this contaminated water onto dry land that it was creating raging streams. At the time, there was a controversy...
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Govt, Energy Industry Accused of Suppressing Fracking Dangers
Posted by Inter Press Service: Jared Metzker on August 7th, 2013
Inter Press Service: New signs have emerged in recent days which indicate that extreme measures are being taken in order to suppress evidence of the pernicious effects of the energy extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”. At the beginning of this month, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette revealed that, in 2011, a Pennsylvania family reached an unprecedented settlement with an energy company fracking near their property. It included gag orders on the family’s two children, ages seven and 10 at the time...
Judge orders BP to pay $130 million fees to Gulf claims program
Posted by Reuters: Kathy Finn, Andrew Callus on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: BP Plc must pay $130 million to a court-appointed administrator overseeing payments to thousands of people who claimed they were hurt by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday, in a fresh legal setback for the oil company. BP had balked at funding the third-quarter operating budget for the administrator, Louisiana lawyer Patrick Juneau, complaining that his bill contained "excessive costs." But U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan in New Orleans ruled that it was "unreasonable"...
Japan: Fukushima’s Radioactive Water Leak: What You Should Know
Posted by National Geographic: Patrick J. Kiger on August 7th, 2013
National Geographic: Tensions are rising in Japan over radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a breach that has defied the plant operator's effort to gain control. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday called the matter “an urgent issue” and ordered the government to step in and help in the clean-up, following an admission by Tokyo Electric Power Company that water is seeping past an underground barrier it attempted to create in the soil. The head of...
Fracking could accelerate global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 7th, 2013
New Scientist: THE row over fracking for natural gas has hit the UK, with protests over plans in the village of Balcombe. Could they have a point? Studies are suggesting fracking could accelerate climate change, rather than slow it. The case for fracking rests on its reputed ability to stem global warming. Burning gas emits half as much planet-warming carbon dioxide as an equivalent amount of coal. That is why, after embracing fracking, CO2 emissions have fallen in the US. But leading climate scientists are warning...
Shh! Settlement bans two kids from talking about fracking – for life
Posted by Mother Nature Network: John Platt on August 7th, 2013
Mother Nature Network: Two Pennsylvania children have been permanently banned from talking about fracking following a legal settlement with the companies exploring for natural gas around their family farm. The 2011 settlement, signed when the kids were just 7 and 10 years old, could theoretically follow them for the rest of their lives, according to reports from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. How did two pre-teens get wrapped up in this gag order? It all stems from a 2011 settlement signed by their parents after fracking...
Adapting to climate change – one ecosystem at a time
Posted by Guardian: Richard Munang and Jessica Andrews on August 7th, 2013
Guardian: In Africa, food production will be hit by more frequent and more extreme heat waves and droughts if climatic changes continue at their current pace. The new report from the World Bank, Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience (pdf) suggests that the worst impacts can be avoided if the temperature rise is kept under 2° Celsius. But a 2°C rise will still see the median yield of all crops fall by 11%, destabilising efforts to alleviate hunger, poverty, and...
Fukushima plant operator cannot confirm volume of contaminated water into ocean
Posted by Reuters: Mari Saito and Antoni Slodkowski on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, said on Wednesday that it cannot confirm the exact volume of contaminated groundwater that is leaking into the ocean. The Japanese government believes radiation-contaminated water has been leaking into the Pacific Ocean at a rate of 300 tons a day, an industry ministry official told reporters on Wednesday. "We are not currently able to say clearly how much groundwater is actually flowing into the ocean," said Tokyo Electric...
Japan government: Fukushima plant leaking 300 tons/day of contaminated water into sea
Posted by Reuters: Osamu Tsukimori and Kentaro Hamada on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: A Japanese government official said an estimated 300 tonnes of contaminated water is leaking into the ocean each day from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged on Wednesday to step up government efforts to stem radioactive water leakage. Abe ordered the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry to urgently deal with the water situation and ensure the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, takes appropriate action to deal with the cleanup, which is expected...
Exclusive: China approves first genetically modified Argentine cargo
Posted by Reuters: Hugh Bronstein, Sam Nelson on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: China has approved its first major shipment of genetically modified Argentine corn, Buenos Aires officials said on Tuesday, signaling an increase in competition for a market long dominated by U.S. exporters.
Argentine Agriculture Minister Norberto Yauhar said Chinese health authorities cleared 60,000-tonnes of genetically modified (GMO) Argentine corn. The cargo was already headed inland to be used as hog and chicken feed.
Benchmark Chicago corn futures fell briefly after Reuters reported on...