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Archive for January 16th, 2014
California Drought Expands, Fueling Heat and Fire
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on January 16th, 2014
Climate Central: A wildfire exploded outside Los Angeles Thursday as record temperatures spread across California, where drought conditions are escalating as the state comes off its driest year on record.
A new update to the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that severe drought, the second-worst drought category, has spread across 62.7 percent of the California as of Tuesday. The previous week, severe drought was only affecting 27.6 percent of the state.
California recorded only 7.38 inches of precipitation statewide...
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3 Arrested in Los Angeles Wildfire, Police Say
Posted by New York Times: Ian Lovett on January 16th, 2014
New York Times: A fast-moving brush fire that erupted Thursday morning quickly burned at least 1,700 acres northeast of downtown Los Angeles, county fire officials said. The police in Glendora said three men had been arrested in connection with the Colby Fire, which broke out just before 6 a.m. in the Angeles National Forest, about 25 miles northeast of downtown. The chief of Glendora police, Tim Staab, said at a news conference that the three men had reportedly been camping in the forest, and that at least one...
Wildfire Near LA Destroys Homes, Forces Evacuations
Posted by Nature World: Tamarra Kemsley on January 16th, 2014
Nature World: A wildfire that broke out Thursday morning in a national forest roughly 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles has destroyed more than 1,700 homes and forced the evacuation of dozens of residents.
Three people have been arrested in connection to the fire that ignited in the Angeles National Forest, according to the Los Angeles Times.
According to the Times, arson investigators were at the scene of the blaze, which had already destroyed at least two homes by 11 a.m. - roughly five hours after...
Increased Mercury Levels In Arctic Ice Found Pushing Into Sea Water
Posted by RedOrbit: Gerard LeBlond on January 16th, 2014
RedOrbit: Researchers Dr. Chris Moore and Dr. Daniel Obrist, from Nevada`s Desert Research Institute, have recently discovered an increased level of mercury in Arctic sea ice. The study, published in the journal Nature, also found that the element is contaminating sea water below.
The researchers claim that the air above large cracks found in the ice of the Arctic is mixing vigorously pushing mercury down to the exposed seawater. This process causes an increase in toxic levels, which can in turn enter into...
Residents evacuated as wildfire burns in forest east of Los Angeles
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2014
Reuters: A fast-moving California wildfire, started accidentally by three campers, roared out of control in foothills above Los Angeles on Thursday, destroying at least two homes and forcing more than 1,000 residents to flee, fire and law enforcement officials said.
The wind-whipped blaze erupted before dawn in the Angeles National Forest north of Glendora, about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
By mid-morning, the so-called Colby Fire had blackened...
Groups Seek to Stop Illegal Swine Waste Pollution in North Carolina
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 16th, 2014
EcoWatch: The Neuse Riverkeeper Foundation and Waterkeeper Alliance issued a Notice of Intent to sue the current and former owners and operators of the Stilley swine feeding operation this week to stop illegal discharges of swine waste into groundwater, wetlands and streams that flow to the Trent River.
The Stilley Facility, which confines more than 11,000 swine near Trenton, NC facility for Murphy Brown, LLC--a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, Inc.--has a long history of illegal discharges and waste management...
Inside California’s $25 billion plot to save its water supply
Posted by Verge: Lessley Anderson on January 16th, 2014
Verge: Behind many of the shiny fruits and vegetables in the produce aisle, there's a decidedly ominous backstory: California, supplier of much of our domestic produce, is just one earthquake away from drying up.
The problem is that most of the state's agricultural water, as well as drinking water for large parts of Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other major metropolitan areas, comes from a vast estuary northeast of the San Francisco Bay. It's an estuary that's about to collapse. The Sacramento-San...
Australians to expect longer, hotter heat wave; Adelaide set to become world’s hottest city
Posted by Business Times: Reissa Su on January 16th, 2014
Business Times: Adelaide has become the hottest city in the world with a temperature of 46 degrees Celsius caused by Australia's record-breaking heat wave. According to a report by the Climate Council, heat waves in the country will be hotter, longer and more frequent.
The Climate Council's full report is set to be released in February but the organisation revealed its findings based on a study of heat waves in Australia between 1971 and 2008. The council points to climate change as the main factor behind...
Coal-ateral damage
Posted by In These Times: Cole Stangler on January 16th, 2014
In These Times: Virginia's new governor, Terry McAuliffe, isn’t exactly an environmental champion--on the campaign trail, he expressed a desire to the coal industry expand and accepted money from coal companies (Alpha Natural Resources is even covering some of the tab for McAuliffe’s inauguration celebration).
The isolated, mountainous border counties of southwest Virginia are among the poorest in the nation, still reeling from the roughly three-decade decline of Appalachia's coal industry. In Buchanan, Dickenson...
Canada loses patience on Keystone XL, tells U.S. to decide
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2014
Reuters: Canada bluntly told the United States on Thursday to settle the fate of TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, saying the drawn-out process on whether to approve the northern leg of the project was taking too long.
The hard-line comments by Foreign Minister John Baird were the clearest sign yet that Canada's Conservative government has lost patience over what it sees as U.S. foot-dragging.
Baird also conceded that Washington might veto the project, the first admission of its kind...