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Archive for December 21st, 2013
Australia gives environmental nod to $5.7B coal project
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 21st, 2013
Agence France-Presse: Waratah Coal on Saturday, December 21, welcomed the Australian government's approval of its Aus$6.4 billion (US$5.7 billion) Galilee coal project, as conservationists warned the decision threatened the environment. The proposed coal mine, rail and infrastructure development in Queensland received approval for its environmental impact statement on Friday, December 20. "The project has been approved subject to 49 strict conditions to avoid, mitigate and manage impacts to matters of national environmental...
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If Managed Properly, Coastal Fish Farms Can be Sustainable: NOAA
Posted by Nature World: James A. Foley on December 21st, 2013
Nature World: As long as coastal fish farms are appropriately located and managed properly, their presence leads to minimal-to-no harm to the coastal ocean environment, according to a new report issued by NOAA's National Ocean Service.
The study focuses on coastal finfish farms. The term finfish is used to distinguish the farm's product as true fish, as the term fish is often used in the fisheries industry as a collective term for mollusks, crustaceans or other harvested aquatic animals.
After analyzing...
United Kingdom: Fracking protests head north as activists mass on proposed Manchester shale gas exploration sites
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 21st, 2013
Telegraph: Gathered under the banner of Frack Free Greater Manchester, militant activists last week pledged to do everything they could to disrupt the search for new sources of energy. Portraying themselves as representing local opinion, they have been involved in a series of demonstrations around Manchester against test drilling by a number of companies which hope to begin commercial exploitation of shale oil and gas. But The Telegraph can reveal that the leading campaigners against "fracking' in the North...
In drought-prone Texas, a threat to the energy supply
Posted by Dallas Morning news: None Given on December 21st, 2013
Dallas Morning news: At the height of the 2011 drought, the worst one-year drought in Texas history, the president of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas wrote to the head of the Public Utility Commission warning of unusual stresses on the power grid, “even for a Texas summer.” Demand for electricity was at an all-time high because of the heat, and the water needed to cool the state’s coal, nuclear and gas power plants was in short supply. In some places, water levels had dropped below intake pipes; in others,...
Hundreds of conditions attached to Northern Gateway route’s approval
Posted by EnergyWire: Elana Schor on December 21st, 2013
EnergyWire: In a decision that could shake up the political battle over the Keystone XL pipeline, a joint review panel steered by the Canadian National Energy Board yesterday attached more than 200 conditions to its recommended approval of a 525,000-barrel-per-day oil sands crude route to the nation's West Coast.
The joint panel's asterisk-ridden thumbs-up to the $7.4 billion Northern Gateway, a combination of pipelines and tankers aimed at opening new Asian markets for Alberta's emissions-heavy fuel, includes...
The U.S. has acted before, it can again on climate change
Posted by Express News: None Given on December 21st, 2013
Express News: During the 1980s, the United States and the world faced an urgent environmental challenge. Scientists warned strongly that chlorofluorocarbons, known as CFCs, were destroying the ozone layer.
If not stopped, this would wreak havoc on public health -- increasing cancer rates, cataracts and worse -- and on ecosystems that are essential for agriculture and marine life.
The scientists made it clear: Humans caused this problem and humans must fix it.
Under then-President Ronald Reagan's leadership,...
Sustainability goes mainstream
Posted by US News and World Report: David Brodwin on December 21st, 2013
US News and World Report: The face of sustainability is changing, according to a new report by Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review. In a worldwide survey of more than 1,000 executives and managers, BCG and Sloan took the pulse of sustainability efforts. Their research shows that sustainability is steadily growing in importance and is being integrated into the mainstream of corporate strategy. Most importantly, the key drivers of sustainability are evolving.
Customer preference leads the way.
In the...
America’s hidden epidemic of tropical diseases
Posted by New Scientist: Debora MacKenzie on December 21st, 2013
New Scientist: WHEN the letter arrives, it must come as a shock. Would-be blood donors are politely rejected because they've tested positive for a deadly tropical infection – and their doctors aren't much help. Kristy Murray at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, recalls one doctor telling a patient: "The test is wrong. That disease doesn't exist in the US!" But an estimated 330,000 US citizens, and possibly as many as a million, carry the parasite that causes Chagas disease. It is a chronic, silent...
Australia: Records melt in our hottest year
Posted by Sydney Morning News: None Given on December 21st, 2013
Sydney Morning News: 2013 will go down as the year that registered Australia's hottest day, month, season, 12-month period - and, by December 31, the hottest calendar year.
Weather geeks have watched records tumble. These tallies include obscure ones, such as the latest autumn day above 45C (Western Australia's Onslow Airport at 45.6C on March 21), the hottest winter's day nationally (29.92C , August 31), and even Wednesday this week, with the hottest-ever 9am reading (44.6C, at Eyre weather station near the WA-South...
On climate change, Florida’s been warned
Posted by Tampa Bay Times: Ivan Penn on December 21st, 2013
Tampa Bay Times: In just seven words, Jane Long summed up three days of intense discussion last week about energy and climate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
A senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund and a retired Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher, she turned to look at me after I told her I was from the Tampa Bay area. And without hesitation, yet with a smile, she issued me an apocalyptic warning:
"Oh, you're going to be under water."
I was one of more than two dozen...