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Archive for December 12th, 2013
Landmark Ruling Rejects Disastrous Water Diversion Project in Nevada and Utah
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on December 12th, 2013
EcoWatch: In a landmark decision released yesterday, Senior Judge Robert Estes of the Seventh Judicial District Court of Nevada rejected the Nevada state engineer’s 2011 allocation of approximately 84,000 acre-feet of ancient groundwater a year to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for export to Las Vegas. The decision is a huge blow to the Water Authority’s plan to suck massive amounts of water out of the Nevada-Utah desert to feed urban sprawl in and around Las Vegas.
Cave Lake State Park in White Pine...
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Sea Level and Risk of Flooding Rising Rapidly in Mid-Atlantic
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on December 12th, 2013
Climate Central: During the 20th century, sea levels along the highly populated U.S. Mid-Atlantic coastline between New York and Virginia rose faster than in any other century during the past 4,300 years, according to a new study. And as those sea levels continue to increase as a result of global warming and local land elevation changes, the risks of coastal flooding will dramatically escalate.
The study, by geoscientists at Rutgers and Tufts Universities and published in the new journal "Earth's Future,' took...
Great Lakes Ecosystems Threatened by Food Scarcity
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on December 12th, 2013
EcoWatch: Declines of the food resources that feed lake organisms are likely causing dramatic changes in the Great Lakes, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study. USGS scientists and partners found that since 1998, water clarity has been increasing in a majority of the Great Lakes, while phytoplankton (the microscopic water organisms that feed all other animals), native invertebrates and prey fish have been declining. These food web changes fundamentally affect the ecosystem’s valuable resources...
Mundurukú Indians in Brazil Protest Tapajós Dams
Posted by Inter Press Service: Fabíola Ortiz on December 12th, 2013
Inter Press Service: It took them three days to make the 2,000-km journey by bus from their Amazon jungle villages.
The 10 Mundurukú chiefs and 30 warriors made the trek to the capital of Brazil to demand the demarcation of their territory and the right to prior consultation in order to block the Tapajós hydroelectric dam, which could flood several of their villages.
"No one from the government has come to talk to us," Juarez Saw, the 45-year-old chief of Sawre Muybu, one of the affected Mundurukú villages, told...
Groups Challenge World Bank Funding of Destructive Mega-Dams
Posted by EcoWatch: Peter Bosshard on December 12th, 2013
EcoWatch: As the World Bank makes an effort to raise billions of dollars from donor governments for its International Development Association (IDA) fund, civil society groups are calling on governments to shift support for energy projects from the Bank to institutions that prioritize clean, local energy sources for the poor.
The World Bank is asking donor governments to replenish the IDA--its fund for the poorest countries--at a meeting in Moscow, Russia, on Dec. 16-17. The Bank plans to finance a new generation...
Indian villagers struggle to save land as islands shrink in Sundarban
Posted by Economics Times: None Given on December 12th, 2013
Economics Times: Imagine buying a plot of land only to see it vanishing into the river gradually after a few years!
Thousands of farmers living on the banks of the islands in Sundarbans are struggling to protect their land as their villages are shrinking in size due to rising sea levels induced by climate change.
As a child, 50-year-old farmer Sahadeb Guru recalls how while sitting on the banks of the island in Pathar Pratima he could hear people talking in the nearby island on the opposite side of the river....
As Quakes Shake Oklahoma, Scientists Eye Oil and Gas Industry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 12th, 2013
New York Times: Mary Catherine Sexton has been rattled enough. This fall her neighborhood in the northeastern part of this city has been shaken by dozens of minor earthquakes. “We would just have little trembles all the time,” she said. Even before a magnitude 4.5 quake on Saturday knocked objects off her walls and a stone from above her neighbor’s bay window, Ms. Sexton was on edge. “People are fed up with the earthquakes,” she said. “Our kids are scared. We’re scared.” Oklahoma has never been known as earthquake...
Chevron, PGNiG join forces on shale gas exploration in Poland
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 12th, 2013
Agence France-Presse: US energy giant Chevron on Thursday signed a preliminary agreement with Poland's PGNiG to join forces on shale gas exploration in southern Poland, the firms said.
"Both parties could profit from sharing the exploration risk and from reduced costs, including the potential cost of developing the reserves," PGNiG acting CEO Jerzy Kurella said in a joint statement.
The announcement comes weeks after Poland said it would begin commercial production of shale gas next year, making it the first European...
Politicians’ Delay Means Climate Catastrophe for Malawi’s Poor
Posted by Inter Press Service: Mabvuto Banda on December 12th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Delays in finalising Malawi's climate change policy, which has been in the making for the last three years, are affecting millions of families living in disaster-prone areas across this southern African nation, says the country's minister of environment and climate change management Halima Daudi.
Daudi, who led the Malawian delegation to COP19 in Warsaw last month, tells IPS that the delay in drafting and making the policy operational comes at a cost to many of Malawi`s vulnerable.
"For example...
Nacogdoches-based pipeline opponent files for Texas governor’s race
Posted by KTRE: Donna McCollum on December 12th, 2013
KTRE: Mike Bishop of Douglass is preparing to run for governor.
The outspoken Nacogdoches County landowner is known best for his ongoing legal battles over the Keystone X-L Pipeline.
Mike Bishop is frustrated with mainstream politics.
"Both parties in this country have failed. Both parties in the State of Texas have failed," said Bishop.
So the conservative turns to the Constitution Party of Texas not only as a supporter, but as a Gubernatorial Candidate. Bishop likes the party's stand on,...