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Archive for December 23rd, 2013
Chevron appeals to top Ecuador court in pollution case
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 23rd, 2013
Reuters: U.S. energy company Chevron Corp appealed on Monday to Ecuador's highest court, asking it to cancel a $9.5 billion fine for polluting the Amazon rainforest in a long-running case.
Last month Ecuador's National Court of Justice upheld a 2011 verdict by a lower court that Chevron was responsible for pollution in the area caused by U.S. oil firm Texaco, whose assets were bought by Chevron in 2001.
Chevron says that 2011 ruling was obtained by fraud and it is pursuing a case in New York against...
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Worldwide Electronic Waste to Reach 65 Million Tons by 2017
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on December 23rd, 2013
EcoWatch: The volume of electronic waste generated worldwide is expected to climb by 33 percent by 2017 to 65 million tons, according to a study conducted by a partnership of United Nations organizations, industry, governments and scientists.
So many computers, televisions, mobile phones and other devices are being tossed away annually that within four years the volume of e-waste would fill a 15,000-mile line of 40-ton trucks, the report said. The report, released by a group called StEP--Solving the E-Waste...
Malaysia’s Indigenous People Intensify Anti-Dam Battle
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on December 23rd, 2013
Environment News Service: The strongest wave of indigenous protests since the 1990s is underway in Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. On International Human Rights Day, December 10, hundreds of people across the state demonstrated against a series of 12 mega-dams planned by the government company Sarawak Energy.
Bakun dam on the Balui River, the world`s second largest dam, is complete and began operating in 2011, while the second in the series, Murum dam, is nearing completion.
If all the dams are built,...
Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Gets Approved, Ignores Massive Opposition
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on December 23rd, 2013
EcoWatch: In a long-awaited announcement, the National Energy Board (NEB) released the final recommendation from the Joint Review Panel (JRP) to approve the contentious Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project--along with a lengthy list of conditions that must be met for the pipeline to go ahead.
The panel’s report, released last week in Calgary, follows years of heated public debate and fierce opposition to the project across British Columbia--opposition that won’t be letting up any time soon.
“This...
Global Warming Will Intensify Drought, Says New Study
Posted by Guardian: John Abraham on December 23rd, 2013
Guardian: When scientists think about climate change, we often focus on long term trends and multi-year averages of various climate measures such as temperature, ocean heat, sea level, ocean acidity, and ice loss. But, what matters most in our day-to-day lives is extreme weather. If human-caused climate change leads to more extreme weather, it would make taking action more prudent.
It is clear that human emissions have led to increased frequencies of heat waves and have changed the patterns of rainfall...
Fracking opponents win big in Pennsylvania
Posted by Grist: John Upton on December 23rd, 2013
Grist: Robinson Township in western Pennsylvania is home to a couple thousand residents and about 20 fracked wells. In a resounding victory for common sense and for local governments throughout the state, residents there and in six other towns won an epic court battle last week that will give them back the right to regulate or even evict the fracking operations in their midst.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday struck down elements of a state law that had prevented local governments from regulating...
Enbridge Dilbit Spill Still Not Cleaned Up as 2013 Closes, Irritating the EPA
Posted by InsideClimate: David Hasemyer on December 23rd, 2013
InsideClimate: Little evidence remains of the chaotic scramble to stop the massive oil spill that fouled Michigan's Kalamazoo River in the summer of 2010, yet the full effects of the calamitous accident will likely remain unknown for years. State environmental officials says it could be 2018 before they are ready to issue a final verdict on the damage done to the Kalamazoo after more than a million gallons of heavy crude oil poured into the river from a pipeline owned by Enbridge Inc [3]. At the same time, the...
Greenland’s Snow Hides 100 Billion Tons of Water
Posted by LiveScience: Becky Oskin on December 23rd, 2013
LiveScience: Big surprises still hide beneath the frozen surface of snowy Greenland. Despite decades of poking and prodding by scientists, only now has the massive ice island revealed a hidden aquifer.
In southeast Greenland, more than 100 billion tons of liquid water soaks a slushy snow layer buried anywhere from 15 to 160 feet (5 to 50 meters) below the surface. This snow aquifer covers more than 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometers) -- an area bigger than West Virginia -- researchers report today...
TransCanada CEO Girling: U.S. President Obama Will Approve Keystone Project
Posted by Hill: None Given on December 23rd, 2013
Hill: TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said he is "very confident" the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would be approved by President Obama.
Girling said he expects the final environmental review of the pipeline, which would carry crude from oil sands in Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries, to be released by the State Department in the coming weeks.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Girling said that he "remain[s] very confident" Obama will approve the pipeline.
"I remain 100 percent confident that this...
Alberta Premier Redford Says Keystone XL Pipeline Prospects Improving
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 23rd, 2013
Globe and Mail: Alberta Premier Alison Redford says that heading into 2014, she sees encouraging political signs in relation to approval of the Keystone XL pipeline in the United States, and North Americans are realizing that pipelines are a better means of shipping crude than rail.
In a year-end interview at her Calgary office, the Premier cited a broader recognition of the safety and environmental risks of rail, which has become the key transport alternative as Alberta oil sands and U.S. light oil production...