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Archive for January, 2014
United Kingdom: Weather blows a warning for our future
Posted by Scotsman: None Given on January 4th, 2014
Scotsman: Storms lash Britain again, bringing flooding, power cuts, and general misery to thousands. Across the Atlantic, the eastern United States and Canada are weighed down by huge snowfalls and temperatures more akin to the Arctic. In the southern hemisphere, Australia has just experienced the hottest year on record, sparking ferocious forest fires. Some may see this coincidence of extreme events as just that, an unlucky happenstance. They, however, are increasingly in the minority. The evidence now argues...
United Kingdom: High tides likely to bring more floods, Environment Agency warns
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2014
Guardian: The Environment Agency has warned that Saturday afternoon high tides will bring a further risk of flooding despite an improvement in conditions.
The agency said there were four severe flood warnings in place, three on the river Severn and one on the Lower Stour at Iford in Kent. There were a further 97 flood warnings and 244 flood alerts in place. The agency has removed 175 warnings or alerts in the past 24 hours.
The Met Office has issued yellow warnings of rain in the south of England and...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United Kingdom: High tides likely to bring more floods, Environment Agency warnsMajor Victory for Clean Water in Coal Export Battle
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 3rd, 2014
EcoWatch: The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington denied a motion to dismiss, allowing the Clean Water Act case to proceed against BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) for coal contamination of U.S. waterways. The Sierra Club, Puget Soundkeeper, Columbia Riverkeeper, Spokane Riverkeeper, RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Friends of the Columbia Gorge filed the lawsuit on July 24, 2013, after finding substantial amounts of coal in and along several...
Tar-sands mining in Canada is unleashing mercury pollution
Posted by Grist: John Upton on January 3rd, 2014
Grist: Drilling for tar-sands oil in Alberta has long been recognized as a driver of climate change, helping to nudge the mercury up in thermometers around the world. Now, it appears that it`s also dousing the Canadian province with straight-up mercury pollution.
Canadian government researchers have discovered that oil-sands operations have puffed out mercury over 4.7 million acres of northeast Alberta, boosting levels to as much as 16 times higher than background levels. Mercury is a potent poison that`s...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tar-sands mining in Canada is unleashing mercury pollutionExxon to Face Criminal Charges for 50,000+ Gallon Fracking Wastewater Spill
Posted by EcoWatch: Emily Atkin on January 3rd, 2014
EcoWatch: Exxon Mobil Corp. subsidiary XTO Energy will have to face criminal charges for allegedly dumping tens of thousands of gallons of fracking waste at a Marcellus Shale drilling site in 2010, according to a Pennsylvania judge’s ruling on Thursday.
Following a preliminary hearing, Magisterial District Judge James G. Carn decided that all eight charges against Exxon--including violations of both the state Clean Streams Law and the Solid Waste Management Act--will be “held for court,” meaning there is...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Exxon to Face Criminal Charges for 50,000+ Gallon Fracking Wastewater SpillSolar Beats Natural Gas in Game-Changing Court Ruling
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 3rd, 2014
EcoWatch: Solar energy faced off against natural gas in a courtroom this week, and the greener of the two came out on top.
Minnesota administrative law judge Eric Lipman recommended a solar project to help Xcel Energy, one of the state`s largest utility, provide 550 megawatts (MW) of new electricity generation by 2020. Lipman could have selected one of five natural gas projects instead, but he realized Geronimo Energy’s Aurora Solar Project was the better deal.
“It’s the first time that solar’s gone...
Mark Ruffalo Wants You to Imagine 100 Percent Clean Energy Future
Posted by Climate Desk: Indre Viskontas and Chris Mooney on January 3rd, 2014
Climate Desk: For Mark Ruffalo, environmental activism started out with something to oppose, to be against: Fracking. It all began when the actor, perhaps best known for his role as Bruce Banner (The Hulk) in Marvel`s The Avengers, was raising his three small children in the town of Callicoon, in upstate New York. At that time the Marcellus Shale fracking boom was coming on strong and was poised to expand into New York, even as the area also saw a series of staggering floods, each one seemingly more unprecedented...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mark Ruffalo Wants You to Imagine 100 Percent Clean Energy FutureWeather warnings: avoid coastal or riverside paths, say agencies
Posted by Guardian: James Meikle, Henry McDonald, Owen Duffy on January 3rd, 2014
Guardian: People are being strongly advised not to walk on coastal paths and promenades or near floodwater as high winds continued to batter southern and western parts of the United Kingdom.
The rivers Stour in Dorset and Severn in Gloucestershire burst their banks, sandbag defences were set up near Belfast docks and Scotland is bracing itself for blasts of up to 80mph later in the day as storm surges that flooded towns and villages in England moved northwards.
Another bout of severe weather was expected...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Weather warnings: avoid coastal or riverside paths, say agenciesAntarctica’s Pine Island Glacier Vulnerable to La Niña Events, Researchers Find
Posted by Nature World: None Given on January 3rd, 2014
Nature World: Pine Island Glacier melting is more vulnerable to climatic variations caused by La Niña events than previously assumed, a new study reported.
The present study was conducted by researchers at British Antarctic Survey along with their colleagues at University of Washington and other institutions. The team found that the melting of the ice-shelf decreased by 50 percent between the years 2010 and 2012.
La Nina might have led to this decrease in melting, according to the researchers. La Niña is...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier Vulnerable to La Niña Events, Researchers FindAustralia swelters under a sham climate change policy after hottest year on record
Posted by Guardian: Alexander White on January 3rd, 2014
Guardian: Australia's temperatures have warmed by "about 1° C since 1910" according to the Bureau of Meteorology, and 2013 was the hottest year since records began in 1910. In the last 11 months leading to November 2013 average temperatures "were 1.25°C above average" and 2013 saw maximum temperatures 1.45°C above the average. The full update is available from the BOM here. It bears repeating: 2013 was Australia's hottest year on record and globally the seventh hottest year on record. Most of Australia...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia swelters under a sham climate change policy after hottest year on record