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Archive for October 27th, 2013
Pilgrim no. 1 in U.S. for shutdowns
Posted by Cape Cod Times: Christine Legere on October 27th, 2013
Cape Cod Times: From broken water pumps, leaky valves and steaming pipes to elusive electrical problems, it's been a tough year for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
Entergy, Pilgrim's owner and operator, has poured $500 million into the 41-year-old plant since buying it from Boston Edison in 1999, yet mechanical problems and off-site power outages have forced the operation to shut down six times since January, making it No. 1 among the U.S. fleet of 100 commercial nuclear reactors for shutdowns this year.
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What we didn’t learn from Superstorm Sandy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2013
CNN: Many of our immediate responses to Hurricane Sandy were successful. Scientists accurately forecast the storm; authorities ordered the proper actions; many people heeded the orders; and there was a massive government response in the aftermath.
What went most wrong, and continues to go wrong, is our handling of environmental risks in the long term. Even when the present has delivered an unprecedented shock, we still have trouble accepting that the future will bring new ones, unlike those before....
Climate-change disconnect is baffling
Posted by PoughKeepsie Journal: None Given on October 27th, 2013
Poughkeepsie Journal: We are currently experiencing a slow-motion catastrophe. The dye is cast. We have emitted enough carbon into the atmosphere to guarantee climate change and rising sea levels. Some of our most precious real estate, our commercial capital and destination beaches, are doomed. And yet, instead of proactively considering possible solutions, from abstaining from new building on fragile coastlines to moving inland, the response of many is to deny that they are or will ever experience the effects of climate...
Brown University’s Misguided Vote to Not Divest From Coal
Posted by Huffington Post: Jamie Henn on October 27th, 2013
Huffington Post: Today, on the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, Brown University defied the will of its student body and its own investment advisory committee and voted not to divest from the 15 largest U.S. coal companies.
"I'm deeply disappointed in our administration," said Brown student Ruby Goldberg '17. "The board acted explicitly in opposition to the voices of Brown's community, and of the endowment oversight committee. This could have been a moment for Brown to step up as a leader in the fight against climate...
Romanian farmers choose subsistence over shale gas
Posted by Reuters: Luiza Ilie on October 27th, 2013
Reuters: The small hilly town of Pungesti in eastern Romania could be sitting on vast reserves of shale gas and U.S. energy major Chevron wants to find it.
But the people of Pungesti want nothing to do with it.
Though most of them live off subsistence farming, social aid and cash from relatives working abroad, they would rather stay poor than run what they say is the risk of ruining their environment.
Villagers have set up camp outside the empty lot where Chevron aims to install its first exploratory...
In The Long Run, Rebuilding Coastlines Could Prove Too Costly
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2013
National Public Radio: One year ago Tuesday, Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast, devastating shoreline communities from Florida to Maine. Many of these areas have been rebuilt, including the Long Beach boardwalk, about 30 miles outside New York City. Officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new boardwalk Friday. Ninety percent of the funding for the restoration came from the federal government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid $44 million to repair the devastation. Jack and Roseanne Vanderbeck...
Romania split over Europe’s biggest gold mine
Posted by Aljazeera: @jamesreinl on October 27th, 2013
Aljazeera: Andrei Gruber lights a cigarette and points through his kitchen window to where a Canadian mining firm wants to set up Europe's biggest open cast gold mine and change the face of this sleepy Romanian town forever. The 28-year-old knows mining well. Gruber's ancestors came to Rosia Montana hundreds of years ago to scour the hills for precious metals. But a scheme by Gabriel Resources is bigger and more destructive than anything this community has seen before. "Mining is what created Rosia Montana,...
Wisconsin GOP Aims tLimit Mining Rules & Silence Opposition
Posted by Progressive: None Given on October 27th, 2013
Progressive: The frac sand mining industry faced off with dozens of Wisconsin citizens on Thursday as the Senate Committee on Workforce Development, Forestry, Mining and Revenue held a public hearing on a bill that would severely limit local governments' abilities to protect their communities against the harmful health and environmental effects of frac sand and other non-metallic mining activities.
Mining for sand used to extract natural gas and oil in the hydraulic fracturing process has become a serious...
Estuaries in Puerto Rico’s capital get ‘mega clean up’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2013
Reuters: A flotilla of fishing skiffs and kayaks plied through the channels and lagoons that comprise the San Juan estuary system Saturday, as volunteers dove beneath bridges and trudged through the thick mangrove forest lining its coasts. With egrets, herons and terns circling overhead and large tarpon breaking through the lagoon's surface, the estuary system evokes a tropical paradise. A closer look shows its green waters are ripe with an algae bloom, the result of sewer and storm water runoff that hide...