RSS Feed
Archive for September 17th, 2013
New Fracking Emissions Study Brings Out The Usual Suspects
Posted by Forbes: Michael Lynch on September 17th, 2013
Forbes: A Cabot Oil and Gas natural gas drill stands at a hydraulic fracturing site on January 18, 2012 in South Montrose, Pennsylvania. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, stimulates gas production by injecting wells with high volumes of chemical-laced water in order to free-up pockets of natural gas below. The process is controversial with critics saying it could poison water supplies, while the natural-gas industry says it's been used safely for decades. While New York State has yet to decide...
Posted in 
Severe flooding in Colorado linked to global warming
Posted by Environmental News Network: Beth Buczynski on September 17th, 2013
Environmental News Network: Conditions were so bad, the National Weather Service felt compelled to use the words "biblical rainfall amounts" to communicate the risk to local residents.
Any other time, extra precipitation is cause for rejoicing in Colorado. Ongoing drought has facilitated massive wildfires across the state for two years running. We'll take all the wet we can get, although as the past few days have shown, we'd prefer it doesn't all fall at once.
As I write this, the rain has slowed, even stopped in some...
Fracking and Colorado Flooding Don’t Mix
Posted by EcoWatch: Phillip Doe on September 17th, 2013
EcoWatch: A lot is being written in the state and national press about the terrible human devastation week-long rain storms have created in Colorado. The impact has been greatest along what is known locally as the Front Range, the flat land directly east of the Rocky Mountains. The city of Boulder and smaller towns such as Lyons and Jamestown have been particularly hard hit, but no city along the front range from the Wyoming state line through Denver to Colorado Springs has been spared. In Colorado, we’ve...
Romanians mobilise in protest against gold mine plans
Posted by Guardian: Claudia Ciobanu on September 17th, 2013
Guardian: Street protests are snowballing in Romania against a Canadian-led gold mining project in the Rosia Montana area in the Apuseni Mountains. More than 20,000 people joined a protest march in Bucharest on Sunday, and thousands in other Romanian cities took to the streets.
The Sunday marches represent the third major countrywide weekend mobilisation to oppose the project since Sep. 1. They drew the biggest numbers of participants so far. Smaller numbers of people have been protesting daily in Bucharest,...
Adapting to climate change in Bangladesh
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on September 17th, 2013
SciDevNet: Natural disasters -- particularly tropical cyclones, tornadoes, storm surges and flooding -- occur frequently in Bangladesh.
With changing weather patterns, these disasters are predicted to become both more frequent and more intense.
During the past century, over 400 tropical cyclones have struck Bangladesh's coast, causing widespread devastation and death.
Earlier this year, Cyclone Mohasen hit Bangladesh, forcing thousands of people into emergency accommodation, causing flooding and crop...
Just how extreme was Colorado’s record-setting rainfall?
Posted by Salon: Lindsay Abrams on September 17th, 2013
Salon: The torrential rainfall that inundated Colorado for the better part of a week has finally cleared, leaving eight confirmed dead and 1,600 destroyed homes in its wake (see images from the initial flooding here).
Yesterday, meteorologist Robert Henson told Climate Central, the city of Boulder officially set the record for its rainiest year in recorded history. Five days in the past week set individual rainfall records, while the 9.08 inches that fell on Sept. 12 shattered the previous single-day...
Talk point: what value should we place on water in developing countries?
Posted by Guardian: Will Henley on September 17th, 2013
Guardian: As American financier Warren Buffett once said, "price is what you pay, value is what you get". Price is set by the market. Value needs to be assessed and determined. This is worth bearing in mind as we consider the value of water – for it is worth far more than what we pay for it.
All sorts of factors influence water prices: supply and demand, technology and regulation. Determining value is more challenging, especially in many developing countries where water is regarded as priceless.
As the...
Appalachian miners decry what call Obama’s ‘war on coal’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 17th, 2013
LA Times: When President Obama laid out ambitious plans in June for combating climate change, coal miners like Roger Horton heard what they considered the latest fusillade in the administration's "war on coal."
Until his retirement two weeks ago, Horton, 59, worked underground for decades in southern West Virginia's Logan County, then operated a 200-ton earth-moving truck to remove debris from blasted mountaintops.
A milestone in Obama's initiative will come this week, when the Environmental Protection...
Gas Leaks in Fracking Less Than Estimated
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 17th, 2013
New York Times: Drilling for shale gas through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, appears to cause smaller leaks of the greenhouse gas methane than the federal government had estimated, and considerably smaller than some critics of shale gas had feared, according to a peer-reviewed study released on Monday.
Workers tended to a well head in a hydraulic fracturing operation at Enana Oil and Gas well near Rifle, Colo., in March.
The study, conducted by the University of Texas and sponsored by the Environmental...
Seven confirmed dead, 1,500 homes destroyed in Colorado floods
Posted by Reuters: Keith Coffman on September 17th, 2013
Reuters: Seven people were confirmed dead and at least 1,500 homes destroyed in Colorado after a week of rare, torrential rains along the eastern slopes of the Rockies, and helicopter search-and-rescue flights resumed on Monday in flood-stricken areas.
Much of the evacuation effort was focused on remote foothill and canyon communities of Larimer and Boulder counties in north-central Colorado, where 1,000 residents remained stranded due to washed-out roads, bridges and communication lines, the county sheriff's...