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Archive for August 30th, 2013
Ohio Man Pleads Guilty to Dumping Toxic Fracking Wastewater Into River
Posted by EcoWatch: Laura Beans on August 30th, 2013
EcoWatch: Last year, more than 14 million gallons of radioactive toxic fracking wastewater was injected into Ohio`s Class II disposal wells, with more than half of the wastewater coming from out-of-state.
While some toxic fracking wastewater is injected into wells, it has also been dumped illegally into streams and rivers, contaminating Ohio`s waterways.
According to The Plain Dealer, Michael Guesman, an employee of Hardrock Excavating--a company that stored, treated and disposed of oil and gas drilling...
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Proposal Weakens Endangered Species Protections From Fracking on Public Lands
Posted by Center for Biological Diversity: None Given on August 30th, 2013
Center for Biological Diversity: The Obama administration has proposed a new rule that would scale back the requirement that federal agencies fully track the harms inflicted on endangered species when large-scale plans are developed and carried out on federal public lands. As a result, the cumulative impacts on rare species from actions like oil and gas drilling will be discounted in the decision-making process--putting hundreds of plants and animals at greater risk of extinction. The change is being proposed by the U.S. Fish and...
Antarctic moss a charming but chilling sign of warming
Posted by Grist: None Given on August 30th, 2013
Grist: A fleecy clump of moss growing on the Antarctic Peninsula might not seem like much of a sight to behold, but it`s a sign of a climate in flux.
The patch of Polytrichum moss, sampled in 2008 by scientists at Alexander Island`s Lazarev Bay, either did not exist or was slumbering beneath ice when the peninsula was first spotted by Russian sailors in 1820.
But now it is flourishing on ice-free rock - the world`s southernmost such moss bank.
The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest-warming...
Greenland Ice Hides Gorge Longer than the Grand Canyon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 30th, 2013
Yale Environment 360: A massive gorge nearly twice as long as the Grand Canyon is hidden under Greenland's ice sheet, reports a team of researchers from the U.K, Canada, and Italy. With a width of about six miles and a maximum depth of 2,600 feet, the previously undiscovered canyon is as wide as its Arizona counterpart and nearly half as deep. Flowing water likely carved the canyon long before the formation of the mile-deep ice sheet that has blanketed it for the past few million years. Researchers found the feature using...
Fracking Wastewater Spill Kills Rare Fish in KY, Puts Entire Species at Risk
Posted by EcoWatch: Amy Mall on August 30th, 2013
EcoWatch: Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently published a peer-reviewed journal article that discusses the results of the investigation into a 2007 fracking wastewater spill in Kentucky.
Fracking wastewater that was being stored in open air pits (a practice that can lead to toxic spills) overflowed into Kentucky`s Acorn Fork Creek and left an orange-red substance, contaminating the creek with hydrochloric acid, dissolved minerals and metals, and...
Environmentalists say Keystone fails Obama’s test
Posted by FuelFix: Jennifer A. Dlouhy on August 30th, 2013
FuelFix: Environmentalists on Thursday asserted that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline fails President Barack Obama`s test for approval, because it would exacerbate global warming.
The project is the "linchpin" to unlocking the development of Alberta, Canada`s oil sands using particularly energy intensive techniques, according to a report issues by the Sierra Club, Environment America and other groups.
"The Keystone XL presidential permit decision is so important precisely because it has critical implications...
Lake Superior’s ongoing transformation, courtesy of climate change
Posted by WI Public Radio: Chuck Quirmbach on August 30th, 2013
WI Public Radio: Swimming in Lake Superior has never been easy without a wetsuit, but if you're going in with just a swimsuit late August is usually one of the best times. On a hot day near Marquette, Mich. last weekend, three college students jumped off what are called the Black Rocks and into the relatively cool water. Even a visiting journalist took the plunge.
As refreshing as a brief swim in the big lake might be, scientists and advocates say there appear to be trouble signs for the waters. In some of the...
Pro-fracking group hits National Park Service over ‘appalling’ comments
Posted by Hill: Ben Geman on August 30th, 2013
Hill: The National Park Service is “lend[ing] credence to activist theater” in its formal input on federal hydraulic fracturing rules, a natural-gas industry group alleges.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), in a letter Thursday to Director Jon Jarvis, basically says the Park Service went rogue in its Aug. 23 comments to a sister agency that’s crafting the upcoming fracking regulations.
The group says the Park Service overstates concerns about leakage of the greenhouse gas methane...
Newly discovered Greenland “mega canyon” sends water to the sea
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on August 30th, 2013
Climate Central: Researchers have found a "mega canyon" in Greenland tucked under a mile and a half of ice that could rival the size and depth of Arizona's Grand Canyon. While the discovery won't become a major tourist attraction, it does provide insight into how meltwater courses its way underneath the world's second-largest ice sheet, and how that might affect ice shelves and glaciers at its periphery. Melting ice from Greenland and Antarctica is now the dominant contributor to global sea level rise, which is expected...
Greenland has its own Grand Canyon deep under ice, study says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 30th, 2013
Christian Science Monitor: A canyon similar in scale, if not in grandeur, to Arizona's Grand Canyon lies beneath Greenland's ice sheet, according to a new study.
Running from deep within the island's interior north to Greenland's northwest coast, the canyon measures at least 470 miles long, six miles across at its widest, and as many as 2,600 feet deep – reaching its widest and deepest points near the coast. The Grand Canyon, by comparison, is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 6,000 feet deep.
The portrait points to...