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Archive for September 26th, 2013
Public backs Keystone pipeline, power-plant emissions curbs, poll says
Posted by Baltimore Sun: David Lauter on September 26th, 2013
Baltimore Sun: In the debate over energy and climate change, the public continues to give support to both sides, according to a a new poll.
By more than a 2-1 margin, respondents in a new Pew Research Center poll said they favor building the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from tar sands deposits under Canada's western prairies through the Midwest to refineries in Texas.
Republicans in Congress have strongly advocated building the pipeline, while President Obama has given mixed signals on the...
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United Kingdom: Mega-mines will have to comply with tough ‘water trigger’ law: Greg Hunt
Posted by Guardian: Lenore Taylor on September 26th, 2013
Guardian: Huge coalmines proposed by Clive Palmer and a company co-owned by Gina Rinehart are among 47 projects that the new environment minister, Greg Hunt, has determined must comply with tough new federal rules about their impact on water, under laws enacted in the dying days of the former Labor government.
Hunt has decided that 47 of 50 projects waiting for a federal government decision did in fact have to complete extra environmental assessments under the new "water trigger" in the federal law.
He...
With Murky Water And Manatee Deaths, Lagoon Languishes
Posted by National Public Radio: Greg Allen on September 26th, 2013
National Public Radio: Something is wrong in Florida's Indian River Lagoon.
Over the past year, record numbers of dolphins, manatees and pelicans have turned up dead in the 150-mile-long estuary that runs along Florida's Atlantic Coast. Bouts of algal blooms have flourished in the waters. All the signs point to an ecosystem that is seriously out of balance. The crisis has mobilized scientists, residents and elected officials in Florida.
An Ailing Lagoon
Florida has gotten a lot of rain this year. While that's...
Boom in Unregulated Gas Pipelines Posing New Risks
Posted by InsideClimate: Naveena Sadasivam on September 26th, 2013
InsideClimate: Thousands of miles of pipelines are being built at natural gas drilling sites throughout the nation without supervision or regulation by state or federal authorities.
These specialized pipelines, known as gathering lines, carry gas from wells to nearby separation facilities for processing. Many of the pipes are as large as regulated pipelines and operate at the same or higher pressures. Some run close to homes and businesses.
Of the nation's 240,000 miles of gathering lines [3], only about...
How climate change could make mercury pollution worse
Posted by LiveScience: Douglas Main on September 26th, 2013
LiveScience: Mercury pollution and climate change are both unintended consequences of burning fossil fuels for centuries. A new study finds another link between the two problems: Climate change has the potential to make mercury pollution worse.
Mercury is a particularly persistent pollutant, and sticks around in surface waters and the air for centuries, said Dave Krabbenhoft, a researcher at the U.S. Geological Survey in Middleton, Wis. As a volatile metal, it vaporizes at relatively low temperatures, and...
In Wake Of Colo. Floods, A Scramble To Clean Up Spilled Oil
Posted by National Public Radio: Grace Hood on September 26th, 2013
National Public Radio: The heavy floodwaters in Colorado this month caused more than 37,000 gallons of oil to spill into or near rivers, and the state's oil and gas industry is rushing to fix equipment damaged during the storm. It comes at a time when there's growing public concern about the environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing in the state. In recent years, hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technologies have enabled more oil and gas production along Colorado's Eastern Plains. The boom has led to thousands...
Fracking-Harmed Residents Demand U.S. EPA Renew Investigations
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on September 26th, 2013
Environment News Service: Residents of three states who say they were harmed by gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, held a news conference in front of the White House today to demand that the government reopen investigations into fracking-related drinking water pollution in Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming.
They then delivered 250,000 signatures on a petition stating their demands to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy at EPA headquarters.
The residents were all part of EPA...