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Archive for August 11th, 2014
Scientists hunt for native plants to fight incendiary invader of the West
Posted by ClimateWire: Elizabeth Harball on August 11th, 2014
ClimateWire: SEEKING: A local; late bloomer with a desire to put down deep roots. Must be comfortable with dry spells and an occasional fiery outburst. Ability to outfox strong, hot competition will be crucial.
The desired partner here is not of the human variety. For scientists with the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Bureau of Land Management and anyone else who's contending with America's worsening wildfire problem, the ideal match would be a plant capable of crowding out cheatgrass, one of the West's most...
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Aceh’s largest peat swamp at risk from palm oil
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 11th, 2014
Mongabay: Oil palm plantations and other developments are threatening Rawa Singkil Wildlife Preserve--Aceh's largest peat swamp, and home to the densest population of Sumatran orangutan in the Leuser Ecosystem. The lack of clear boundaries, and construction of roads bisecting the area has fostered encroachment by local and outside entrepreneurs, including some former local officials, reports Abu Hanifah Lubis, Program Manager of Yayasan Leuser Internasional (YLI).
"They claim the boundaries are not clear,"...
Global Warming Will Make Toxic Algae Blooms Worse
Posted by Columbus Dispatch: Laura Arenschield on August 11th, 2014
Columbus Dispatch: Scientists say climate change is exacerbating toxic-algae problems in Lake Erie and across the country.
They say more-intense storms are dumping heavy rains onto farm fields, causing more fertilizer runoff than in the past, and that lake-water temperatures are rising, making a perfect home for the toxic blue-green algae that plague Lake Erie every summer and caused Toledo’s recent drinking-water woes.
“When you have a gentle rain, where you get maybe an inch ... over a 24-hour period, you don’t...
New Jersey Gov. Christie Vetoes Bill Aiming Ban Fracking Waste in State
Posted by Star-Ledger: None Given on August 11th, 2014
Star-Ledger: For the second time in two years, Gov. Chris Christie has vetoed a bill that would have banned the dumping of fracking waste in New Jersey.
Environmentalists and lawmakers from both parties had championed the measure, which would have prohibited companies from treating, discharging, disposing, and storing waste from hydraulic fracturing - the controversial practice of pumping water, sand, and chemicals deep underground to harvest natural gas.
Though an increase in fracking has caused U.S. energy...
Keystone XL carbon emissions ‘would be four times higher than US thought’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 11th, 2014
Associated Press: The much-debated Keystone XL pipeline could produce four times more global warming pollution than the State Department calculated earlier this year, a new study concludes.
The US estimates didn’t take into account that the added oil from the pipeline would drop prices by about $3 a barrel, spurring consumption that would create more pollution, the researchers said.
The researchers estimate that the proposed pipeline, which would carry oil from tar sands in western Canada to refineries on the...
Keystone XL Will Cough Out Equivalent 110 Million Tons of CO2 Yearly
Posted by Softpedia: None Given on August 11th, 2014
Softpedia: Study finds Keystone XL will produce more greenhouse gas emissions than estimated by the US State Department
It's a good thing that Pinocchio-like incidents only happen in tales, otherwise quite a lot of people would experience drastic changes in their anatomy after more or less purposely downplaying the environmental impact of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
For those unaware, plans to build this pipeline, which would serve to carry oil from western Canada to the mid-western US, were first...
Report: Water to grow scarce without better management
Posted by Pharos Tribune: Maureen Hayden on August 11th, 2014
Pharos Tribune: When more than a dozen wells dried up near the small town of Parr two summers ago, leaving residents without water to bathe or flush a toilet, local officials suspected the record heat and drought.
State investigators decided otherwise. At fault were large farming operations that drew huge amounts of water to irrigate fields and keep rain-starved crops from dying.
The incident was widely publicized, but state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valpraiso, fears it was soon forgotten.
“Today, if you asked...