RSS Feed
Archive for December 24th, 2013
Many Amish selling land to flee encroaching oil boom in Ohio, cashing in on royalties
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 24th, 2013
Reuters: Farmers in the close-knit Amish community who eschew electricity and most technology, are among landowners capitalizing on a new financial trend in the United States energy boom - selling decades of future oil and natural gas royalties for an immediate pile of cash.
Gulfport Energy Corp, Chesapeake Energy Corp , Anadarko Petroleum Corp and others have spent billions developing oil and gas reserves on land in Ohio's Utica shale formation - often by agreeing to give landowners years of royalties,...
Posted in 
Is Canada prepared for climate refugees?
Posted by Straight: None Given on December 24th, 2013
Straight: The winds, at more than 150 kilometres per hour, flattened almost all the homes, leaving bodies washed as far as 90 kilometres from the coast. Rice fields were destroyed, thousands died, many more were displaced, and, ever since, the soil has been saturated with salt.
“The tsunami that devastated the region in 1988 was the trigger,’’ Donatien Garnier wrote in 2010’s Climate Refugees about the disaster that struck southwestern Bangladesh 25 years ago. “Salt contamination has been increasing since...
Australia facing slump as China ‘goes green’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 24th, 2013
Ecologist: Australia has been growing rich from exporting coal to China. But as Kieran Cooke reports, China's renewable energy revolution may soon bring the 'good times' to an end. Owners and operators of the country's coal assets are, for the most part, ignoring what's going on. Coal mining companies in Australia have been enjoying the good life in recent years, making millions of dollars from feeding the seemingly insatiable energy appetites of Asia's tiger economies - particularly that of China. But a...
In 2013, Exxon Spill Showed Dangers Pipelines Buried Under Backyards
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song on December 24th, 2013
InsideClimate: When a 65-year-old ExxonMobil pipeline ruptured on March 29 [3] and spilled 210,000 gallons of oil in Mayflower, Ark., it opened the nation's eyes to the potential dangers lurking in the thousands of miles of aging and overlooked pipelines buried beneath neighborhoods and farms.
The spill also brought fresh attention to the debate over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and the inherent risks of transporting Canadian tar sands across America's heartland. Exxon's Pegasus pipeline was carrying dilbit...
Report: Some plants may not adapt quickly to future climate change
Posted by TG Daily: Thomas Anderson on December 24th, 2013
TG Daily: Using the largest dated evolutionary tree of flowering plants ever assembled, a new study suggests how plants developed traits to withstand low temperatures, with implications that human-induced climate change may pose a bigger threat than initially thought to plants and global agriculture.
The study appearing Sunday (Dec. 22) in the journal Nature and co-authored by University of Florida scientists shows many angiosperms, or flowering plants, evolved mechanisms to cope with freezing temperatures...
From drought to hurricanes, Grenada tackles climate change with German help
Posted by ClimateWire: Christa Marshall on December 24th, 2013
ClimateWire: After a sudden thunderstorm this fall, Paul Valdon sat in a line of cars for 45 minutes near a bridge over a river because of gushing water.
People got out of their vehicles and shouted in frustration as the river engulfed the concrete structure, preventing them from crossing the waterway in the northeast part of the island. His friend in a nearby car tried to find an alternative way through the mountains, but got stuck again when a landslide blocked that road, as well. Valdon missed an important...
Canada: 75 Alberta Environment Regulators Now on Payroll of Oil Industry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 24th, 2013
Edmonton Journal: More than 75 environment officers who watched over oil industry activities left the provincial environment department this fall, to take higher paying jobs with the new industry-funded Alberta Energy Regulator. Another 75-plus are expected to leave in the spring.
In mid-November, the department also began handing over to the regulator thousands of files on oil industry activity pertaining to the Public Lands Act, according to documents obtained by the Journal.
This shift in staffing and the...
‘Elves’ protest fracking on Illinois governor’s lawn
Posted by Chicago Tribune: William Lee on December 24th, 2013
Chicago Tribune: Had Gov. Pat Quinn been home to look out his front window Monday afternoon, he might have witnessed a strange sight: four elves dressed in green smocks and some in red leggings erecting a mock oil drill on the lawn of his Northwest Side home.
The roughly 10-foot oil drill, made of PVC pipe and painted black, wasn't noticed on the quiet block in the Galewood neighborhood until about 1 p.m., Chicago police said.
Illinois State Police, who provide security for the governor, and the Chicago Police...
In the Philippines, a Vortex of Climate Change and Debt
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 24th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Since Typhoon Yolanda made landfall in the Philippines on Nov. 8, the country has sent holders of its debt close to one billion dollars, surpassing, in less than two months, the 800 million dollars the U.N. has asked of international donors to help rebuild the ravaged central region of the archipelago. Even as the Philippines goes hat in hand to wealthier countries seeking disaster relief, it continues to diligently pay creditors in those same countries millions of dollars every day – much of it...