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Archive for January 30th, 2014
US Senate will hear testimony on West Virginia chemical leak
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2014
Associated Press: A US Senate subcommittee will hear testimony on the West Virginia chemical spill in Washington next week.
The committee on environment and public works' water and wildlife subcommittee will convene on Tuesday to discuss the spill that left 300,000 people without clean water for days.
Scheduled to testify are the West Virginia secretary of state, Natalie Tennant, the West Virginia department of environmental protection secretary, Randy Huffman, Natural Resources Defense Council official Erik...
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United Kingdom: Military on standby as forecasters warn Somerset to prepare for more flooding
Posted by Guardian: Steven Morris on January 30th, 2014
Guardian: Scores of soldiers, Royal Marines and emergency services personnel will be on standby on Friday as the people of the flooded Somerset Levels brace themselves again for more rain, gales and a tidal surge.
For the first time since the Levels went under water at the start of the month, military engineers and troops were on the ground on Thursday helping civilian staff plan the response to this weekend's predicted storms.
Military vehicles, including Royal Marine amphibious vessels, were made available...
California governor calls for water conservation as drought continues
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2014
Associated Press: Governor Jerry Brown provided some very practical guidance for Californians amid a deepening drought: take shorter showers, turn off the water while brushing teeth, and "don't flush more than you need to."
"Make no mistake, this drought is a big wakeup call," Brown said Thursday in downtown Los Angeles before meeting with local water district officials. "Hopefully it's going to rain. If it doesn't, we're going to have to act in a very strenuous way in every part of the state to get through." ...
Slowing down the floodwaters
Posted by Environmental News Network: Robin Blackstone on January 30th, 2014
Environmental News Network: Putting something called "Natural Engineering" to work in a five-year research project, Newcastle University in cooperation with the Environment Agency are discovering the benefits utilizing the land’s natural defenses to slow river flow downstream and prevent flooding. Slowing down water in anticipation of flooding events is being tested all over the world. Strategies include use of retention basins; wetlands development; levee systems and flood-walls but Newcastle University researchers directed...
Frackers banned from New York for at least another year
Posted by Grist: John Upton on January 30th, 2014
Grist: Good news, New Yorkers. Your state has staved off the creepy advances of environment-trashing frackers for at least another year.
While neighboring states have allowed oil and gas companies to frack freely in their Marcellus shale deposits, the Empire State declared a statewide moratorium in 2008, saying it needed time to study the impacts to water supplies and human health. The ban has attracted lawsuits from the energy industry, but fracking is so unpopular in New York that dozens of local governments...
Flooding experts say Britain will have to adapt to climate change – and fast
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2014
Guardian: "You are looking at retreat," says Prof Colin Thorne, a flooding expert at the University of Nottingham. "It is the only sensible policy – it makes no sense to defend the indefensible." This assessment of how the UK will have to adapt to its increasing flood risk is stark, but is shared by virtually all those who work on the issue.
Centuries of draining wetlands, reclaiming salt marshes and walling in rivers is being put into reverse by climate change, which is bringing fiercer storms, more intense...
New Study Shows Proximity to Fracking Sites Increases Risk of Birth Defects
Posted by EcoWatch: Brandon Baker on January 30th, 2014
EcoWatch: The dangers of fracking are no secret, but a study released this week shows the devastating impact the process can have on babies before they even have a chance to live their lives.
The unborn children of pregnant women who live within a 10-mile radius of fracking sites are far more susceptible to congenital heart defects (CHD), according to Birth Outcomes and Maternal Residential Proximity to Natural Gas Development in Rural Colorado, the latest study from the National Institute of Environmental...
Al Gore, Alison Redford ‘agree to disagree’ on climate change
Posted by Calgary Herald: Darcy Henton on January 30th, 2014
Calgary Herald: Premier Alison Redford said she faced down former U.S. vice-president Al Gore in Switzerland over his views on the impact of the oilsands on climate change, and they agreed to disagree.
Redford told reporters Wednesday in her first public appearance since returning from the World Economic Forum in Davos that she used her encounter with Gore at a private session last week to correct myths about the oilsands — and to tell the climate change crusader and other participants about the steps Alberta...
United Kingdom: Flooding: Army arrive in Somerset to aid flood relief effort
Posted by Telegraph: Edward Malnick on January 30th, 2014
Telegraph: Military planners and engineers have arrived in villages left stricken by floods as part of emergency relief efforts initiated by the Government.
The Ministry of Defence said up to 100 military personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Army were on standby to provide assistance, amid fears of further storms during Thursday.
The announcement came after the Government agreed to draw up plans for specialist amphibious equipment to be deployed to the Somerset Levels after Somerset County...
United Kingdom: January rainfall breaks records
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2014
BBC: Early figures suggest parts of England have had their wettest January since records began more than 100 years ago.
The Met Office said much of southern England and parts of the Midlands had already seen twice the average rainfall for January by midnight on Tuesday - with three days left in the month.
And it is warning of more rain, as well as snow and high winds, for much of the UK in the coming days.
In Somerset, the military is preparing to help flooded areas.
Up to and including January...