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Archive for August, 2014
Court rules in favour Cuadrilla in anti-fracking protest dispute
Posted by Blue and Green: None Given on August 29th, 2014
Blue and Green: Manchester High Court Judge, David Hodge QC has imposed an interim injunction against a group of anti-fracking protestors in Lancashire after a court battle with gas firm Cuadrilla.
Cuadrilla took up legal proceedings alongside ten local farmers earlier this week, claiming protestors were trespassing and affecting business for landowners.
The anti-fracking campaigners, also known as ‘nanas’, camped on farmland at Little Plumpton in Lancashire from August 7 – 27 to protest against proposed shale...
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Officials Confirm Fracking Caused Water Contamination In Penn Wells
Posted by Gothamist: None Given on August 29th, 2014
Gothamist: As Governor Cuomo continues to mull over the current statewide moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, some disturbing fracking-related news has come out of Pennsylvania: fracking has contaminated private drinking wells a previously undisclosed 243 times over six years, according to the state's Department of Environmental Protection.
The Associated Press reported this week that the 243 cases were reported between 2008 and 2014, thanks to the DEP's "thorough review" of statewide files [pdf]. Contamination...
U.S. to resume oil drilling leases in California
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 28th, 2014
Associated Press: The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will resume issuing oil and gas leases next year for federal lands in California after a new study found limited environmental impacts from fracking and other enhanced drilling techniques, the agency said Thursday.
The move will end a halt that has stood since a federal judge ruled in 2013 that the federal agency failed to follow environmental law in allowing an oil extraction method known as fracking on public land in Monterey County.
The study released Thursday...
Don’t underestimate rightwing desperation in media attacks on greens
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 28th, 2014
Guardian: The gloves are off. In recent days, a sustained attack on environmentalism has been mounted in the UK media. The Times, the Telegraph and the Financial Times have all run articles by influential journalists blaming the environment community for our current woes.
In the Financial Times, John Kay blamed environmentalist's malign influence on procrastinating politicians for the risk that the lights will go out.
In the Telegraph a fawning interview of Nigel Lawson by Cristina Odone saw him accusing...
Catastrophic flooding turned U.K. into nation of climate change believers
Posted by Salon: Lindsay Abrams on August 28th, 2014
Salon: What`s it going to take to convince people that climate change is a real and serious threat? I`m loath to think an eye-opening catastrophe`s the answer. Yet, there`s this: Half the people who lived through this past winter in the U.K. - which was marked by widespread flooding - said it made them more convinced that climate change is happening, according to a survey conducted by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. And over a quarter of respondents emerged with a strengthened belief that human...
Southwest U. S. may face ‘megadrought’ this century
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 28th, 2014
ScienceDaily: Due to global warming, scientists say, the chances of the southwestern United States experiencing a decade long drought is at least 50 percent, and the chances of a "megadrought" -- one that lasts over 30 years -- ranges from 20 to 50 percent over the next century.
The study by Cornell University, University of Arizona and U.S. Geological Survey researchers will be published in a forthcoming issue of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate.
"For the southwestern U.S., I'm not...
Forest Service to allow logging of burned trees near Yosemite National Park
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 27th, 2014
Reuters: The U.S. Forest Service said on Wednesday it would sell thousands of trees burned in last year's devastating wildfire around Yosemite National Park to loggers in an effort to reduce fuel for future blazes and stimulate the regional economy.
In a draft decision, the agency said it planned to allow logging on about 33,000 acres near the park, less than initially proposed but more than environmentalists wanted.
Under the plan, which is expected to be finalized next month, logging companies would...
How climate change could ruin your Hawaii vacation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 27th, 2014
Christian Science Monitor: A University of Hawaii report is warning the state's tourism industry to start preparing now for the effects of climate change.
The study says Hawaii will likely see more competition for visitors as warmer climate zones expand and new, easier-to-reach tropical resorts emerge in coastal regions from Texas to Florida, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1sDkT0c ).
Hawaii will be a hotter place, with fewer cooling trade winds and more drought, fewer waterfalls and forest...
Dupont fined $1.275 million in West Virginia toxic pollution case
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 27th, 2014
Reuters: DuPont will pay a fine of $1.275 million and spend an estimated $2.3 million more to settle claims by U.S. officials that the global chemical conglomerate failed to prevent toxic releases of hazardous substances in West Virginia that killed at least one man, environmental regulators said on Wednesday.
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co reached the settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice in a case about eight alleged releases of harmful levels...
Megadrought Likely in Store for Southwestern US
Posted by Nature World: Jenna Iacurci on August 27th, 2014
Nature World: Due to global warming, a megadrought is likely in store for the southwestern United States in the future, researchers say.
According to a new study, the chances that this region will experience a decade-long drought is at least 50 percent, and the odds of a "megadrought" - one that lasts over 30 years - ranges from 20 to 50 percent over the next century.
"For the southwestern US, I'm not optimistic about avoiding real megadroughts," lead author Toby Ault of Cornell University said in a statement....