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Archive for August 23rd, 2013
Huge California Wildfire Spreads Into Yosemite
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 23rd, 2013
New York Times: A giant wildfire raging out of control grew to nearly 200 square miles Friday and spread into Yosemite National Park at the height of the summer season for one of California's most popular tourist destinations.
While it has closed some backcountry hiking, it was not threatening the Yosemite Valley, home to such iconic sights as the Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and Bridalveil and Yosemite falls.
But in an unusual move, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for San Francisco...
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Japan: Radioactive Water Tank Leak at Fukushima Worst Since 2011 Disaster
Posted by EcoWatch: Justin McKeating on August 23rd, 2013
EcoWatch: The seemingly endless torrent of scandals rushing from the damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima continues with the news that a serious incident is underway at the stricken plant. Once again we see that Fukushima’s owner TEPCO is utterly unfit to deal with the ongoing disaster.
And the bad news just keeps coming. We have now heard that 300 tons of highly contaminated water has escaped from storage tanks at the site--the worst leak since the disaster began in March 2011.
Currently, the situation...
Mining in Chile Going Back Underground
Posted by Inter Press Service: Marianela Jarroud on August 23rd, 2013
Inter Press Service: Declining mineral content, the need to preserve the environment, and technological advances are causing big mining companies to turn back to underground mining in what is a rising trend in Chile and around the world, experts say.
Juan Carlos Guajardo, head of the Centre for Copper and Mining Studies (CESCO), told IPS that "not only Chile is opting for underground mining, but the industry itself is evolving towards that kind of extraction."
The trend, he said, "is because large deposits that...
650,000 Comments Call on Obama Administration to Ban Fracking on Public Lands
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on August 23rd, 2013
EcoWatch: Yesterday, a coalition of 276 environmental and consumer organizations including Americans Against Fracking, 350.org, Berks Gas Truth, Center for Biological Diversity, CREDO Action, Democracy for America, Environmental Action, Daily Kos, Food & Water Watch, MoveOn, Progressive Democrats of America, The Post Carbon Institute and United For Action delivered to President Obama and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) nearly 650,000 public comments asking the federal government to ban hydraulic fracturing--fracking--on...
Battles Escalate Over Community Efforts to Ban Fracking
Posted by National Geographic: Joe Eaton on August 23rd, 2013
National Geographic: As President Obama visits upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania this week to discuss his education agenda, a separate issue looms large in the background: fracking, a practice that has transformed Pennsylvania's economy and divided New York, where a moratorium is in place.
Protesters on both sides of the issue are expected to greet the President. And while his trip highlights many unresolved issues related to America's new wealth of natural gas and oil, a growing number of communities...
Fight Over Proposed Federal Fracking Rules Flares Up
Posted by Wall Street Journal: Keith Johnson on August 23rd, 2013
Wall Street Journal: A voluminous file of public comments shows how high the stakes are for President Barack Obama's Interior Department as it prepares to decide the fate of proposed rules for hydraulic fracturing on federal lands. Mr. Obama, who has said he supports greater production of natural gas along with environmental protections, is navigating between industry groups that oppose any federal regulation of fracking and some environmental groups that want to ban the practice. The Bureau of Land Management, part...
Wildfire rages to Yosemite’s edge in hot, dry weather
Posted by Reuters: Laila Kearney on August 23rd, 2013
Reuters: A California wildfire swept further into Yosemite National Park on Friday, remaining largely unchecked as it threatened one of the country's major tourist destinations.
The so-called Rim Fire, which started on Saturday in the Stanislaus National Forest, had blackened 11,000 acres at the northeastern corner of Yosemite as of Friday afternoon after exploding in size overnight, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said.
The blaze burning in the western Sierra Nevada mountains is now the fastest-moving of...
Anti-Fracking Groups Greet Obama On New York Tour
Posted by Huffington Post: Kate Sheppard on August 23rd, 2013
Huffington Post: Anti-fracking activists confronted President Barack Obama as he toured upstate New York on Friday. Organizers reported that more than 500 protesters showed up to Obama's town hall event at Binghamton University, where the president was speaking on education.
"I think the key message we wanted to get across through the whole tour was that New Yorkers don't want this," said Alex Beauchamp, Northeast regional director at the environmental group Food and Water Watch, which coordinated the protests...
China: China’s arsenic risk estimated
Posted by BBC: Rebecca Morelle on August 23rd, 2013
BBC: Nearly 20 million people in China could be exposed to water contaminated with arsenic, a study suggests.
Scientists used information about the geology of the country to predict the areas most likely to be affected by the poison.
The report is published in the journal Science.
Arsenic occurs naturally in the Earth's crust, but if it leaches into groundwater, long-term exposure can cause serious health risks.
These include skin problems and cancers of the skin, lungs, bladder and kidney....