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Archive for February 16th, 2014
Environ Agency head Chris Smith: ‘I’m not having my staff belittled’
Posted by Guardian: Stephen Moss on February 16th, 2014
Guardian: 'It was a terrible decision to direct ministerial fire against Chris Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency," wrote Matthew D'Ancona last week in his column in the London Evening Standard. "Those on the Tory side who think of him as a political seven-stone weakling are sorely mistaken. He is a sharp customer who fights his corner." Quite an encomium for a former Labour cabinet minister from a former editor of the Spectator.
I have to admit that I, too, had always thought of Smith, culture secretary...
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Water shortages could disrupt Britain’s electricity supply, researchers warn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2014
Guardian: Parts of Britain may be under water after the worst floods in half a century, but a team of top academics from Newcastle and Oxford University is warning that the country is at risk of water shortages that could shut down power stations and paralyse electricity supplies.
"It is difficult to fathom we should start to think about water shortages in the middle of these storms but only two years ago areas of Britain were suffering from severe droughts," said Ed Byers, a researcher at Newcastle University's...
Warming Arctic May Be Causing Jet Stream Lose Its Way
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2014
National Public Radio: Mark Twain once said: "If you don't like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes."
He was making an unknowing reference to the jet stream, which drives the weather over North America and Europe like a high-altitude conveyor belt. But increasingly, the jet stream is taking a more circuitous route over the northern latitudes, meaning weather systems hang around longer than they used to. And, a warming Arctic is probably to blame, says Jennifer Francis, a professor at Rutgers University's...
Desalination plants a pricey option if drought persists
Posted by Chronicle: Kevin Fagan on February 16th, 2014
Chronicle: As the drought bakes its way toward a fourth year, the state has a string of secret weapons in the works that could supply millions of gallons of new drinking water and help stave off disaster: desalination plants.
Seventeen plants are in planning stages along the coast to convert salt water from the ocean or bays, including one near Concord that would serve every major water agency in the Bay Area.
That plant is tentatively targeted to open in 2020, but could be kick-started earlier in an...
Snowfall no longer a sure bet, booming ski towns fight going bust
Posted by US News: None Given on February 16th, 2014
US News: As California resorts slog through their worst snow year on record amid historic drought, and as towns from Park City, Utah, to Sochi, Russia, faced temperatures in the 50s and 60s this week, there surfaced an unsettling question for local mayors, business leaders and resort owners:
Will the nation’s booming ski-towns ultimately go bust? Decades from now, will climate change, predicted to make winters feel more like thermostats on the fritz, turn destinations such as Aspen, Vail, and Lake Tahoe...
USDA helps growers deal with climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2014
Living on Earth: Climate is everything for farmers and foresters. To help growers deal with increased droughts, fires and more severe storms, the USDA is launching climate hubs in agricultural centers across the country. Ann Bartuska, one of the architects of the USDA program, tells host Steve Curwood how forestry and agriculture can cope with and be part of the solution to global warming.
Transcript
CURWOOD: Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, recently announced the creation...
Rapidly warming Arctic may be causing polar-vortex winter
Posted by Toronto Star: Kate Allen on February 16th, 2014
Toronto Star: The rapidly warming Arctic may be behind persistent weather patterns half a world away, including our polar-vortex winter, the U.K.’s relentless rain, and droughts in the American southwest, according to a “controversial” new theory.
Persistent weather isn’t just annoying, as the months-long, life-numbing chill has been. It can also be destructive.
“If it doesn’t rain for a few days, no big deal. But if it goes on for weeks, it becomes a big deal,” said Jennifer Francis, a Rutgers University...
Biodiversity conservationists get a little help with new online freshwater atlas
Posted by Environmental News Network: Richa Malhotra on February 16th, 2014
Environmental News Network: An online repository of maps has been launched to make information on freshwater biodiversity available on a common platform for use by scientists, policymakers, conservationists and NGOs. The Global Freshwater Biodiversity Atlas will help developing countries identify biodiversity-rich areas for conservation. It was launched last month (29 January), as part of an EU-funded project called BioFresh, with the aim of putting together published maps and sharing them under a creative commons license....
Plan Shows Regulatory Agency and Fracking Industry in Cahoots Promote Drilling in State Parks
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 16th, 2014
EcoWatch: Public documents reveal a plan by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), the agency responsible for regulating fracking in Ohio, to work with "allied" groups to promote the controversial drilling technique in state parks. The "allied" groups named were both fracking industry and state regulatory bodies alike, drawing new criticisms to what many people have been calling Gov. Kasich`s agenda to have his own way with the state`s public funds and resources.
The document, Oil & Gas State...
Possible radiation leak at New Mexico military nuclear waste site
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2014
Reuters: Unusually high levels of radioactive particles were found at an underground nuclear waste site in New Mexico on Saturday in what a spokesman said looked like the first real alarm since the plant opened in 1999.
U.S. officials were testing for radiation in air samples at the site where radioactive waste, such as plutonium used in defense research and nuclear weapon making, is dumped half a mile below ground in an ancient salt formation.
"They (air monitors) have alarmed in the past as a false...