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Archive for January, 2014
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...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Inside California’s $25 billion plot to save its water supplyAustralians 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...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australians to expect longer, hotter heat wave; Adelaide set to become world’s hottest cityCoal-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...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada loses patience on Keystone XL, tells U.S. to decideCalifornia wildfire: why winter hasn’t brought relief
Posted by Associated Press: Raquel Maria Dillon on January 16th, 2014
Associated Press: Homes burned in a wildfire threatening neighborhoods in dangerously dry foothills of Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains on Thursday, fanned by gusty Santa Ana winds that spit embers into the city below. Residents who awakened in the pre-dawn darkness to see flames approaching were ordered to evacuate.
Television images showed several structures engulfed in flames in a neighborhood abutting Angeles National Forest, just north of the San Gabriel Valley community of Glendora. Homes are nestled...
Australia: Heatwave stretches services and brings bushfire warnings
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Lisa Whitehead on January 16th, 2014
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Southern Australia is heading for the fourth day of an intense heatwave that's brought record-breaking temperatures.
The scorching heat has put a strain on electricity supplies and stretched ambulance services.
Tomorrow Victoria is potentially facing its worst bushfire threat since Black Saturday.
Strong winds and temperatures over 40 degrees are forecast across the state and South Australia has also issued a severe bushfire warning for tomorrow.
Lisa Whitehead...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: Heatwave stretches services and brings bushfire warningsEPA: Bristol Bay Mine Threatens World’s Largest Salmon Fishery
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 16th, 2014
Environment News Service: Proposed large-scale mining in Alaska`s Bristol Bay watershed would pose risks to the world`s largest sockeye salmon fishery and Alaska Native cultures dependent on salmon, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concludes in its final Bristol Bay Assessment released today.
The report, titled "An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska," is a scientific report, not a decision document, Dennis McLerran, regional administrator for EPA Region 10, told reporters...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on EPA: Bristol Bay Mine Threatens World’s Largest Salmon FisheryPregnant Women Warned Against Drinking Water In W.Va. Area
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2014
National Public Radio: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging pregnant women who live in the areas of West Virginia where a toxic chemical leaked into the water supply last week to drink bottled water, even in places where the no-use ban has been lifted. The move comes "out of an abundance of caution," the CDC and the state's Bureau of Public Health say.
The federal agency said Wednesday that pregnant women should stick to bottled water "until there are no longer detectable levels of MCHM in the water...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Pregnant Women Warned Against Drinking Water In W.Va. AreaFar West Got Drier Last Year, Data Shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2014
New York Times: Drought conditions in California and elsewhere in the Far West intensified last year, government scientists said Wednesday, adding to concerns about water supplies in the region. Although on the whole 2013 was a wetter than average year for the contiguous 48 states, the scientists said, that statistic masked sharp regional differences. Many states east of the Rockies had much higher than average precipitation, helping to alleviate drought in the central United States and the Southeast. “But California...
Alaska mine threatens salmon, native cultures -U.S. agency
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2014
Reuters: Large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed poses serious risks to salmon and native cultures in this pristine corner of southwest Alaska, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a report released on Wednesday.
The EPA said a mine could destroy up to 94 miles of salmon-supporting streams and thousands of acres of wetlands, ponds and lakes. The report focused on the impact of mining in an area where a Canadian-based company wants to build a large copper and gold mine.
Polluted water...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Alaska mine threatens salmon, native cultures -U.S. agency