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Archive for January, 2014
Next 15 years vital for taming warming: UN panel
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2014
Agence France-Presse: The next 15 years will be vital in determining whether global warming can be limited to 2C (3.6F) by 2100, with energy and transport presenting the heftiest challenges, according to a draft UN report. "Delaying mitigation through 2030 will increase the challenges.... and reduce the options," warns a summary of the report seen by AFP. The draft is the third volume in a long-awaited trilogy by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a Nobel-winning group of scientists. Major efforts...
Kerry: No rush to decide on Keystone XL pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2014
Associated Press: At a joint appearance with Canada's foreign affairs minister, John Baird, Kerry said he has not received a crucial environmental report on the $7 billion pipeline, which would carry oil from western Canada to refineries in Texas.
"My hope is that before long, that analysis will be available, and then my work begins," Kerry said, referring to a recommendation he is expected to make on whether the pipeline is in the U.S. national interest. The State Department has jurisdiction over the pipeline...
Heatwave: Australia’s grape growers watch their fortunes wither
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2014
Sydney Morning Herald: Rod Gribble looks at his horror harvest through the haze of another 40-plus degree day. He's been up working since the early hours to beat the heat, only to be mauled by mosquitoes.
Sunburnt grapes are shrivelled and brown on his farm on Savage Road at Bilbul, near Griffith in the state's south west. This season's yield of chardonnay grapes is so poor it's cheaper to let them rot on the vine than harvest what remains.
''No matter how much you water, the heat just dries them up,'' Mr Gribble,...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Heatwave: Australia’s grape growers watch their fortunes witherFukushima’s operator says spin-off an option only for the future
Posted by Reuters: Mari Saito and Kentaro Hamada on January 18th, 2014
Reuters: Spinning off the clean-up project at Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant from the rest of operator Tokyo Electric Power's business could be an option in the future if the decommissioning runs smoothly, the company's president said.
Nearly three years after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the plant, Tokyo Electric (Tepco) is still struggling to contain radioactive water at the site and turn around its battered finances.
"Paying compensation (to evacuees), decontamination, and the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fukushima’s operator says spin-off an option only for the futureWill California frack? Not without water
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Nick Cunningham, on January 18th, 2014
Christian Science Monitor: Drilling for oil in California dates back to the late 19th Century, allowing it to become the country’s top producer by the beginning of the 20th. One hundred years later, California still ranks third, but its aging fields have been in decline for decades.
Yet the state is sitting atop the largest tight oil formation in the United States. The Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas may be leading the resurgence in U.S. oil production, but the reserves sitting in California’s Monterey...
Firefighters hold line against southern California wildfire
Posted by Reuters: Alex Dobuzinskis on January 18th, 2014
Reuters: Firefighters sought to prevent a wildfire in the foothills near Los Angeles from flaring up on Saturday, as they put out embers from a blaze that has destroyed five homes, officials said.
The so-called Colby Fire, which officials said started from a campfire early on Thursday, has blackened nearly 1,900 acres of drought-parched chaparral and is 30 percent contained, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Robert Brady.
That was the same level of containment firefighters reported on Friday, but officials...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Firefighters hold line against southern California wildfireDrought Emergency Declared in California as Residents Urge Halt to Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 18th, 2014
EcoWatch: The state of California formally declared a drought emergency today due to a lack of winter rainfall and water reserves at only 20 percent of normal levels. This is the third year of dry conditions across California, which poses a threat to the state’s economy and environment.
In addition to concerns about having an adequate water supply for food production, Californians are worried about Gov. Brown`s plan to increase fracking as oil companies are gearing up to frack large reservoirs of unconventional...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drought Emergency Declared in California as Residents Urge Halt to FrackingCalifornia’s Governor Declares Drought State Of Emergency
Posted by National Public Radio: Bill Chappell on January 18th, 2014
National Public Radio: Saying that his state must take steps to plan for prolonged water shortages, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over an extended drought Friday. California faces "water shortfalls in the driest year in recorded state history," according to the governor's office.
"We can't make it rain, but we can be much better prepared for the terrible consequences that California's drought now threatens, including dramatically less water for our farms and communities and increased fires in both urban...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California’s Governor Declares Drought State Of EmergencyCalifornia Governor Declares Drought Emergency
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 18th, 2014
Environment News Service: With California facing water shortfalls in the driest year in recorded state history, and drinking water supplies at risk in many California communities, Governor Jerry Brown today proclaimed a State of Emergency and directed state officials to prepare for these drought conditions.
"Extremely dry conditions have persisted since 2012 and may continue beyond this year and more regularly into the future, based on scientific projections regarding the impact of climate change on California's snowpack,"...
Shale gas extraction ‘will transform Britain’
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on January 17th, 2014
Guardian: The UK's push for shale gas will result in unavoidable changes to the countryside, the US energy secretary has warned. Ernest Moniz, who took over as energy chief for President Obama's second term, has overseen arguably the biggest changes to US energy production since the discovery of oil.
He said the exploitation of shale gas and oil on a vast scale in the US had been "transformative", vastly reducing energy prices, boosting industry and lowering carbon emissions as more electricity production...