RSS Feed
Archive for June 20th, 2014
Help Stop Massive Clearcut Project Adjacent Yosemite National Park
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on June 20th, 2014
EcoWatch: Add your name to the growing list of people urging President Obama to protect the greater Yosemite ecosystem from post-fire salvage logging. In a warming world, we must act to foster a healthy regeneration of fire-affected forests and unroaded areas, protect endangered species susceptible to climate change and logging, and maintain the scenic resources of the region around Yosemite National Park for future generations.
Signing this petition sends an email to President Obama, Chief of the U.S....
Posted in 
Pennsylvania ordered its health workers to never discuss fracking
Posted by Grist: John Upton on June 20th, 2014
Grist: In the heavily fracked Keystone State, the economic interests of frackers trump the health concerns of residents.
That much is abundantly clear in the wake of an extraordinary story by StateImpact Pennsylvania, which interviewed two retired state health department workers. The former workers say they were ordered to not return the phone calls of residents who complained that nearby fracking was harming their health. Instead, they were told to pass messages on to their superiors, who apparently...
Pennsylvania Sues Dozens of Big Oil Companies for Gasoline Leak Cleanups
Posted by Trib Live: Mark Thompson on June 20th, 2014
Trib Live: Pennsylvania on Thursday sued dozens of oil companies to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars spent cleaning gasoline spills that contaminated groundwater across the state.
One of two lawsuits follows the lead of other states, some of which have won multimillion-dollar judgments on complaints that the companies used the fuel additive MTBE, which they knew was dangerous and would leak from underground storage tanks. The other lawsuit claims companies improperly took money from a state recovery...
Putin’s revenge—anti-fracking protests in Europe
Posted by Quartz: Steve LeVine on June 20th, 2014
Quartz: For years, Russian president Vladimir Putin has bitterly alleged a foreign conspiracy to undermine his rule. Western-funded private organizations, he has said, were fomenting protests and supporting his opponents. Now it turns out that Putin himself may be funding protest groups in Europe.
In a London appearance on June 19, Anders Rasmussen, the secretary-general of NATO, accused Russia of secretly funding European non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that oppose hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking"),...
Ancient Chinese anti-flooding efforts blamed for deadly Yellow river flooding
Posted by Blue and Green: Tom Revell on June 20th, 2014
Blue and Green: A combination of human-caused environmental degradation and efforts to control the great Yellow river in China, made almost 3,000 years ago, may be responsible for flooding that killed millions and led to the fall of an empire, according to new research.
In what could be considered a grim lesson from history of the importance of responsible land use, archeologists in China have found evidence that societies changed their environments much earlier than previously believed.
"Human intervention...
Is Russia trying to stop Europe fracking?
Posted by CNN: Mark Thompson on June 20th, 2014
CNN: Just how far will Moscow go to keep Europe hooked on its natural gas?
NATO says Russia is working with activists who are trying to stop shale gas projects that are part of the region's plans to diversify its energy supply.
"I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engages actively with so called non-governmental organizations, environmental organizations working against shale gas -- obviously to maintain European...
Why would Vladimir Putin bankroll greenies he previously locked up?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2014
Telegraph: “You have to wonder what they are smoking at Nato HQ”, retorted Greenpeace to charges by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary general of the treaty organisation, that Russia was “engaged actively” with environmental groups to stop fracking in Europe. And indeed it does seem a bit far-fetched to envisage Putin financing – as industry sources were quick to suggest – the very greenies he locked up last year.
Yet – though Nato distanced itself from his allegation – the former Danish prime minister...
Earth ‘on brink of mass extinction event’
Posted by MSN: None Given on June 20th, 2014
MSN: Earth is on the brink of a "mass extinction event" which could be equivalent in scale to the one that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, a landmark study by an international group of scientists has concluded. Researchers warned that deforestation, climate change, and overfishing have driven extinction rates to 1,000 times their normal level, Reuters reports. Duke University biologist and conversation expert Stuart Pimm says that "time is running out" to avert the threat of mass extinction....
As Pipeline Production Soars in Minnesota, Critics Urge Focus Safety
Posted by MPR: None Given on June 20th, 2014
MPR: Every day, about 2.3 million barrels of crude oil crosses Minnesota through 10 pipelines, and eight trains carry another 500,000 barrels.
Eight of the pipelines are operated by Enbridge Energy and the other two by the Koch Pipeline Company, which transports 465,000 barrels a day to the Twin Cities through its MinnCan line.
Soon, there will be much more. North Dakota's oil fields hit a major milestone this week, hitting daily production of a million barrels. Although there is not a single oil...