RSS Feed
Archive for October 24th, 2013
Pepsi and Coke, Stop Using Tar Sands Oil
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on October 24th, 2013
EcoWatch: Environmental groups Sierra Club and ForestEthics targeted Coke and Pepsi in two full page USA Today print ads yesterday for their use of oil from tar sands in corporate car and truck fleets. The ads are part of a national campaign to eliminate the use of oil from Canadian tar sands by corporate car and truck fleets. The groups are targeting the soda industry with the "Tastes Like Tar Sands" campaign, which has generated more than 75,000 messages to soda industry executives.
As the advertisements...
Posted in 
United Kingdom: National Trust: We’re still opposed to fracking… for now
Posted by BusinessGreen: Jessica Shankleman on October 24th, 2013
BusinessGreen: The National Trust been forced to deny a U-turn on fracking, after its director general said the conservation charity was not necessarily opposed to shale gas exploration on its land.
Dame Helen Ghosh told The Times that the Trust was keeping "an open mind" on whether to allow fracking on its land or support planning applications nearby.
The former Defra permanent secretary said it would need to wait until studies had determined the full environmental impact of fracking activity before making...
Australia: Informed discussion on climate change impacts can turn table on denialist prime minister
Posted by Alex White: None Given on October 24th, 2013
Alex White: The Australian government is fast turning into an international embarrassment on climate change. The environment minister Greg Hunt revealed that he looked Australia's history of bushfires on Wikipedia and concluded that there was no link between the latest outbreaks and climate change. (More on Hunt's risible Wikipedia searches at The Guardian here.) Meanwhile, climate denying prime minister Tony Abbott has been criticised by Nobel laureate and former US vice president Al Gore over Mr Abbott's...
Power Struggle Rises Over Tanzania’s Pangani River
Posted by Inter Press Service: Kizito Makoye on October 24th, 2013
Inter Press Service: As farmers and herders fight over dwindling water levels in the Pangani River Basin in northeastern Tanzania, a new dispute is emerging between farmers and the state-run power utility firm over this precious resource.
The Tanzania Electric Supply Company or TANESCO manages three hydropower plants located on the Pangani River near Muheza district, which are meant to provide 17 percent of the country's electricity.
Subira Mgalu, the Muheza district commissioner, told IPS that conflict was rife...
Study Finds High Levels of Carcinogens Downwind of Petrochemical Plants in Edmonton
Posted by Edmonton Journal: None Given on October 24th, 2013
Edmonton Journal: A newly published study says air downwind from a cluster of petrochemical plants northeast of Edmonton contains pollutants at levels equal to some of the world's largest cities.
Other pollutants, including some known to cause cancer, also measured well above normal. And cancer rates linked to those chemicals were found to be higher in communities closest to the so-called Industrial Heartland.
Although scientists don't definitively link the two, one of the report's co-authors said the findings...
United Kingdom: National Trust may open up land to fracking, says Dame Helen Ghosh
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 24th, 2013
Press Association: The National Trust has an "open mind" about fracking and would consider allowing it on its land, the head of the charity has said.
Dame Helen Ghosh, the conservation trust's director general, told the Times it would make up its mind about the controversial gas extraction procedure after seeing the evidence on its environmental impact.
It appears to be a move away from the trust's previous stance of a "presumption against fracking" on its land "because natural gas is a fossil gas", a position...
Plane fighting Australia fires crashes as cooler weather eases threat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 24th, 2013
Reuters: A plane dousing wildfires in bushland south of Australia's biggest city, Sydney, crashed into a national park on Thursday, killing the pilot and sparking a new fire to add to 55 still burning across the state of New South Wales.
The accident happened as more dry, windy conditions caused a flare-up in huge fires burning for a week in mountains to the west of Sydney, closing roads and entering a valley running down towards the metropolitan area.
"It's hard to definitely say that (the worst is...
Australia: Bushfires: Coalition deploys straw man against burning issue of climate change
Posted by Guardian: Lenore Taylor on October 24th, 2013
Guardian: The Abbott government is desperately constructing a straw man to help it fight the potentially big political problem of rising public concern about climate change and scrutiny of its Direct Action policy.
The straw man is the contention that anyone making a perfectly reasonable and scientifically justifiable point -- that climate change is likely to cause a higher prevalence of the weather conditions that pose a bushfire risk -- has actually been making the unreasonable and scientifically unjustifiable...
Canada: Christy Clark’s unenviable path to B.C. pipeline prosperity
Posted by Globe and Mail: Jeffrey Jones on October 24th, 2013
Globe and Mail: The last time a Canadian Premier complained loudly about getting shortchanged in energy developments, he dug in his heels and made what turned out to be very lucrative deals for his province.
That was Newfoundland's Danny Williams, who in the past decade demanded better terms from the world's largest oil majors as they planned the Hebron project on the Grand Banks.
The pugnacious former leader won the right to buy a 4.9-per-cent stake in the multibillion-dollar development, and established...
Colorado’s Fracking Moratorium Carries Uncertain Legal Consequences
Posted by Coloradoan: Kevin Duggan on October 24th, 2013
Coloradoan: The outcome of the Nov. 5 election on a proposed five-year moratorium on fracking in Fort Collins is not likely to put the issue to rest.
If voters approve Issue 2A, the city could be sued by representatives of the oil and gas industry, the state and mineral rights owners because of the moratorium’s impact on their interests, opponents of the proposal say.
If the proposal fails, the battle over hydraulic fracturing specifically and oil and gas development in general is likely to go on at the...