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Archive for August 20th, 2014
Anti-fracking billboards land Ohio man in hot water
Posted by Associated Press: Julie Carr Smyth on August 20th, 2014
Associated Press: An Ohio man who uses a biblical reference and a statement against "poisoned waters" on billboards opposing wells for disposal of gas-drilling wastewater is fighting a legal threat from the Texas well owner on free-speech grounds.
Austin, Texas-based Buckeye Brine alleges in a July lawsuit that the billboards paid for by Michael Boals, of Coshocton in eastern Ohio, contain false and defamatory attacks against its two wells, which dispose of contaminated wastewater from oil and gas drilling.
An...
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Algae-produced microcystin may follow blooms across lake
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2014
Toledo Blade: From the boat docks of Ohio State University's Stone Laboratory, practically a stone's throw from the party headquarters known as Put-in-Bay tiny green specs are in the early stages of bunching up and floating on Lake Erie's surface. It's been an all-too-familiar sight to Great Lakes scientists who use that lab, the oldest freshwater field station in the United States, since 1995. For the moment, they have no reason to panic. But they also know those tiny green specs are nature's way of putting...
EPA Wades Into Water Fight With Farmers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2014
National Public Radio: The EPA wants to "clarify" the scope of its oversight of water under the Clean Water Act. Big farm groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation call this a power grab that would place every ditch and mud puddle under federal regulation, forcing farmers to get permits for small trenches around the farm.
Life Found 800 Meters Down in Antarctic Subglacial Lake
Posted by Nature: Douglas Fox on August 20th, 2014
Nature: A cold breeze blew off the Antarctic plain, numbing the noses and ears of scientists standing around a dark hole in the ice. Flecks of ice crackled off a winch as it reeled the last few meters of cable out of the hole. Two workers in sterile suits leaned over to grab the payload -- a cylinder the length of a baseball bat -- dangling at the end of the cable. They used a hammer to chip away the ice and a blow drier to thaw part of the assembly. "Did it close?' asked the winch operator.
"Yeah,' shouted...
California Drought Threatens Salmon as River Water Levels Drop
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on August 20th, 2014
EcoWatch: Recalling a disastrous 2002 salmon die-off in the rivers of northern California`s Klamath Basin, members of Native tribes in that area, including the Karuk, Yurok and Hoopa, are pressuring the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to act to prevent another kill they say is imminent.
Tribal members are asking for the release of water from the Lewiston Dam on the Trinity River to prevent the spread of a parasite that preys on salmon and thrives in warmer, shallower water. While the bureau says it will release...
Why the Current Mass Extinction Matters
Posted by National Geographic: Simon Worrall on August 20th, 2014
National Geographic: More species are becoming extinct today than at any time since dinosaurs were wiped off the face of the Earth by an asteroid 65 million years ago. Yet this bio-Armageddon, caused mainly by humans, is greeted by most of us with a yawn and a shrug. One fewer bat species? I've got my mortgage to pay! Another frog extinct? There are plenty more!
In his new book Australian anthropologist Thom Van Dooren tries to break through this wall of indifference by showing us how we're connected to the living...
Antarctic hides extreme ecosystem
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2014
BBC: While the underbelly of Antarctica may not exactly be teeming with life, it certainly supports viable ecosystems.
Scientists have pulled up thousands of different types of micro-organisms from Lake Whillans, a large body of water buried 800m under the ice sheet.
It proves the dark, cold bottom of Antarctica is not a sterile domain.
In doing so, it raises the tantalising prospect that similar benign - albeit challenging - conditions could exist elsewhere in the Solar System.
There are...
Ohio River reopens as oil spill clean-up progresses
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2014
Reuters: The cleanup of a 5,000-gallon fuel oil spill from a Duke Energy Corp power plant into the Ohio River could stretch into Thursday, Duke said on Wednesday, as the U.S. Coast Guard reopened a 15-mile section of the river to limited traffic.
The Coast Guard closed a stretch of the river between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Dayton, Kentucky, on Tuesday after late Monday's spill. The incident occurred during what Duke called a "routine transfer of fuel oil" at the company's 60-year-old W.C. Beckjord Station...
Drought in California in pictures
Posted by Guardian: Justin Sullivan on August 20th, 2014
Guardian: As the severe drought continues for a third year, water levels in the state’s lakes and reservoirs are reaching historic lows
US Sent Thousands of Sailors To Help With Fukushima Relief. Did Radiation Make Them Sick?
Posted by Climate Desk: None Given on August 20th, 2014
Climate Desk: A $1 billion lawsuit accuses the Japanese nuclear energy company Tepco of lying about radiation levels.
This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The article was reported by the Guardian`s Suzanne Goldenberg, and the video was produced by Climate Desk`s James West.
The first time it occurred to James Jackson that there could be lasting damage from his US Navy service during Japan`s tsunami and nuclear disaster came...