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Archive for November 14th, 2014
Alaska Shows no Sign of Rising Methane Levels, For Now
Posted by Nature World: None Given on November 14th, 2014
Nature World: Climate scientists will be happy to hear that Alaska, despite large temperature increases in recent decades, is showing no signs of rising methane levels, at least for now.
Previous studies had suggested that methane from Alaskan soils was being released at unusually high rates, but the new NASA-led study, suggests otherwise, and "That's good news, because it means there isn't a large amount of methane coming out of the ground yet," lead author Rachel Chang said in a news release.
Methane is...
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Has Support For Fracking Really Decreased? Maybe Not
Posted by Scientific American: Sheril Kirshenbaum on November 14th, 2014
Scientific American: According to a new poll out by Pew of 1,353 Americans, support for the increased use of fracking has declined over the past year with 41% of Americans in favor of the practice and 47% opposed. But wait just one second...
Is it really fair to assess support for fracking given over half of Americans still aren`t even familiar with what the terms 'fracking` or 'hydraulic fracturing` mean?
According to the latest wave of the UT Energy Poll among 2,105 Americans, only 44% are familiar with these...
House of Representatives passes bill approving Keystone XL oil pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 14th, 2014
Guardian: The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline with a resounding majority on Friday, setting the stage for a showdown in the Senate next week.
The debate over completion of the controversial pipeline, which would transport crude oil from Canada to refineries in Texas, has become a cause celebre for the environmental movement and taken centre-stage in a still-ongoing Senate race in Louisiana.
Hours before the House passed the bill 252-161...
Farmers would pay more for water from proposed California tunnel
Posted by Reuters: Sharon Bernstein on November 14th, 2014
Reuters: California farmers would pay more to irrigate their crops under a proposal to build tunnels under the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta to funnel water to the state's agricultural breadbasket, officials said on Friday.
The analysis released by state Treasurer Bill Lockyer said regional water suppliers and the farmers who purchase water from them would be able to handle the increased costs, even though the price of water could more than double once the price of paying for the project is included....
Democracy at Its Best: Boulder County Extends Fracking Ban
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 14th, 2014
EcoWatch: “The time is always right to do the right thing.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.
As I sat in the hearing room of the Boulder County Commissioner yesterday I witnessed citizen-led democracy in action.
In a unanimous vote, three Boulder Colorado County Commissioners voted to extend the moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the county for the next three-and-a-half years. The three Democratic party women not only voted against fracking until July 1, 2018, they did so with strong language and gusto as...
Keystone Bill Expected to Pass House, but Senate in Doubt
Posted by Reuters: Timothy Gardner and Emily Stephenson on November 14th, 2014
Reuters: The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives prepared to vote on Friday to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline that will help transport oil from Canada to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, but a companion bill in the Senate may lack votes to pass next week.
The bills would circumvent the need for approval of TransCanada Corp's $8 billion project by the Obama administration, which has been pending for more than six years.
Final approval would bring to an end years of jousting between supporters,...