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Archive for October 20th, 2013
Salinity in Bangladesh coastal aquifers `alarming´
Posted by Dhaka Tribune: None Given on October 20th, 2013
Dhaka Tribune: Salinity intrusion into the aquifers of the country’s coastal districts has reached an alarming proportion due to unplanned use of groundwater in agriculture and seawater seeping into underground due to sea-level rise caused by global warming. “We’ve assessed the quality and quantity data of groundwater up to 1,100 feet deep in 19 costal districts. But, we’ve found saline water in aquifers within just 600-700 feet deep,” deputy director (Groundwater Hydrology) at Bangladesh Water Development Board...
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Oil formation could fuel Valley boom
Posted by Hanford Sentinel: Seth Nidever on October 20th, 2013
Hanford Sentinel: The cure to Kings County’s unemployment problem could be oil thousands of feet underground, according to a California State University, Fresno study released Friday.
The study forecast that major development of the multi-county Monterey Shale oil formation could create 195,000 jobs, generate $22 billion in personal income and produce $6.7 billion in new taxable sales.
The study, commissioned by the Western States Petroleum Association, was conducted by Fresno State economics professors Antonio...
Saving the great north woods
Posted by Star Tribune: Josephine Marcotty on October 20th, 2013
Star Tribune: In a clearing at the edge of one of the largest intact forests on Earth, Laura Kavajecz flits about like a tree fairy with a clipboard, slipping long mesh tubes over tiny seedlings. The sun beats down. It's buggy. The ground is covered with a tangle of downed trunks, stumps and severed limbs. Kavajecz, a graduate student, has a mundane but vital task: Protecting the fledgling trees -- 33,000 of them scattered across Minnesota's northern forest -- from the scourge of deer that await in the shadows....
Canada: New Brunswick fracking protesters seize media equipment
Posted by Toronto Star: None Given on October 20th, 2013
Toronto Star: Tensions at a shale gas protest in Rexton, N.B., remained high on Saturday as a small group of protesters seized vehicles and equipment from two news agencies while others blocked a highway. Jim Haskins, news director for Global News in New Brunswick, said journalist Laura Brown was at the site of an ongoing shale gas protest around noon when about five protesters confronted another media outlet and seized a vehicle on Route 134. Haskins said Brown got into her vehicle and locked the door, but...
The worst wildfires in a decade pour acrid smoke over Sydney
Posted by Grist: John Metcalfe on October 20th, 2013
Grist: Going outside in many parts of southeastern Australia right now is like sucking on a stogie filled with smoldering grass and bark. The countryside is alive with flame from nearly 100 rampaging blazes, which are drawing strength from feverish weather to slam a dirty-black lid of smoke over Sydney.
This breakout will go down as the worst regional fires in a decade. More than a third of the fires are out of control and behaving erratically thanks to screwy yet strong wind patterns. The Sydney Morning...
Indonesian miners risk lives in modern-day gold rush
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2013
Agence France-Presse: In a desolate area of central Indonesia where lush rainforest once stood, illegal miners on the frontline of a modern-day gold rush tear up the earth in the hunt for the precious metal.
Thousands of men use high-pressure hoses to blast tonnes of sand out of the ground daily in open pits around Kereng Pangi on Borneo island, before running it through filters to find specks of gold.
Aside from the environmental devastation, the workers there and at many similar sites across Indonesia are risking...
Australia bushfires: New South Wales declares state of emergency
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2013
BBC: A state of emergency has been declared in New South Wales as Australian firefighters battle bushfires that have already destroyed more than 200 homes.
The announcement comes as conditions look set to deteriorate with soaring temperatures and strong winds expected to fan the flames in the coming days.
The Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, has been the worst-hit region with some fires still raging out of control.
State officials say they are the most dangerous conditions in 40 years.
New...