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Archive for September, 2013
Canada: Government leaks on oil pipeline make for slippery politics: Steward
Posted by Toronto Star: Gillian Steward on September 10th, 2013
Toronto Star: When it comes to oil and pipelines these days, leaks seem to be inevitable. Not so much actual oil leaks but leaks from government that are designed to bamboozle U.S opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline into believing that Canada is serious about reducing the greenhouse gases churned out during production of the oil running through the pipeline. The latest leak occurred last Friday when Stephen Harper’s team leaked to the CBC a letter Harper has sent to U.S. President Barack Obama formally proposing...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Canada: Government leaks on oil pipeline make for slippery politics: StewardTeam Australian Greens is growing
Posted by Guardian: Bob Brown on September 10th, 2013
Guardian: The new parliament will have more Greens, and more parties, than ever before. It will test the patience of the press gallery which lives for the simplicity of two-party politics and the jousting of personalities above the contest of ideas for Australia's future.
The Greens held Senate seats in Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia. In Victoria, Janet Rice picked up a new Senate place and the party's deputy leader Adam Bandt consolidated his hold on the house of representatives seat of...
West: California: Fires Prompt Air Quality Warning
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 10th, 2013
New York Times: Air quality officials are warning San Joaquin Valley residents of potential health hazards because of increasing ozone levels and smoke from lingering wildfires. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District issued an air alert, the second this year, on Monday for San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare Counties and parts of Kern County. Officials have advised people in those counties to reduce prolonged exposure to the air and strenuous activities. High ozone levels...
Experts: Climate primary factor on lake levels
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 9th, 2013
Associated Press: Placing water retention structures in the St. Clair River may not be enough to counteract the effects of a warming climate and raise Lakes Huron and Michigan to their normal levels, experts said Monday.
As water surface temperatures and evaporation rates continue to rise, low water is likely to be a long-term problem despite significant improvement this year following heavy snows in winter and a rainy spring, according to testimony during the annual meeting of the Great Lakes Commission.
"Water...
10 ways to build a sustainable future
Posted by Guardian: Anna Scott on September 9th, 2013
Guardian: Luis M A Bettencourt, professor of complex systems, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, USA. @BettencourtLuis
Cities must be allowed to evolve: Technology can help a lot, but cities are not like machines to be engineered and controlled through big data feeds. Cities must be allowed to change and evolve, and such a process is not one of simple engineering optimisation, especially when looking at development issues. There are very few consistent studies on how settlements evolve over time, and there is...
United Kingdom: Balcombe protesters to be evicted
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 9th, 2013
Independent: More than 100 protesters against fracking company Cuadrilla’s exploratory drilling programme in Balcombe must vacate the area by nine o’clock on Tuesday morning after being served with an eviction order this afternoon.
The six-week protest outside a potential fracking site in the West Sussex village was dealt a blow as a representative of the county council, flanked by bailiffs, visited the camp along the grass verges of the London Road with the order.
“You must cease your occupation of the...
China must manage the conflict between coal and water
Posted by Guardian: Tianyi Luo, Betsy Otto, and Andrew Maddocks on September 9th, 2013
Guardian: China faces a serious conundrum. The country, already the world's largest coal consumer, wants to significantly increase its coal electricity generating capacity in order to expand its economy. But this introduces a critical resource concern: more than half of the proposed plants will depend on water resources that are under high or extremely high stress.
In July 2012, China proposed building 363 new coal-fired power plants. These plants would have a combined generating capacity exceeding 557...
Climate Change Influenced 2012’s Extreme Weather, Report Finds
Posted by LiveScience: Denise Chow on September 9th, 2013
LiveScience: Man-made climate change contributed to some of 2012's most extreme weather, including the spring and summer heat waves that baked parts of the United States and Hurricane Sandy, which devastated coastal communities along the eastern coast of the country, according to a new report.
The study, which includes research from 18 different teams from around the world, examined 12 extreme weather events from last year and found that human-caused global warming increased the likelihood of half of the incidents,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate Change Influenced 2012’s Extreme Weather, Report FindsCanada sees path for Keystone but won’t talk details
Posted by Reuters: Patrick Rucker on September 9th, 2013
Reuters: Canada will do more in the global fight against climate change as the nation develops its vast oil sands resources and tries to win backing for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, the country's energy minister said on Monday.
The proposed pipeline that would link oil sands fields in western Canada to Gulf Coast refiners should come in tandem with plans to curtail carbon dioxide pollution, said Canada's energy minister Joe Oliver after a meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz .
Canada...
Dilbit in Exxon’s Pegasus May Have Contributed Pipeline’s Rupture
Posted by InsideClimate: Elizabeth Douglass on September 9th, 2013
InsideClimate: In the five months since ExxonMobil's Pegasus oil pipeline burst in Arkansas, two things have become clear. Flawed, 1940s-era welding techniques used when the Pegasus was built set the stage for the rupture, and an internal pipeline inspection failed to spot the problem just weeks before the spill.
The most critical question of all, however, has yet to be answered: What caused the pipe's long-dormant flaws—assumed to be J-shaped 'hook cracks,' in this case—to awaken and grow undetected until catastrophe...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Dilbit in Exxon’s Pegasus May Have Contributed Pipeline’s Rupture