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Archive for November 23rd, 2014
Canada: RCMP Arrest Protesters at Kinder Morgan Tar Sands Pipeline Expansion
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on November 23rd, 2014
Environment News Service: An 11-year-old girl was among those arrested Sunday as a crowd protested survey work by the Texas-based Kinder Morgan company for a tar sands pipeline expansion through the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby.
In late October, Canada`s National Energy Board granted Kinder Morgan access to begin work on their TransMountain tar sands pipeline expansion project in a designated conservation area on Burnaby Mountain.
In response, community members have established a camp and prevented Kinder Morgan from...
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Small quake shakes Dallas area, stirring fracking critics
Posted by Reuters: Jim Forsyth on November 23rd, 2014
Reuters: A light earthquake shook the Dallas-Ft. Worth area of North Texas on Saturday night, leaving no known damage or casualties but stirring concern about the potential of the area's oil and gas fracking industry to generate seismic activity.
The magnitude 3.3 earthquake struck about 9:15 p.m. Central time on Saturday, said Dale Grant, an geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
The epicenter was near the border of the cities of Dallas and Irving, near the site of the former Texas Stadium,...
Impact of climate agreement questionable
Posted by Asbury Park Press: Robert Samuelson on November 23rd, 2014
Asbury Park Press: The United States-China agreement on climate change is a huge political triumph, possibly "historic," as its supporters say. Whether it much alters the world's climate is a more open question.
Recall the agreement's outlines. By 2030, China pledges to reach peak emissions of global greenhouse gases and also to increase its reliance on non-fossil fuels to 20 percent of its total energy. For its part, the United States committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 by 26 percent to 28...
Western New York braces for flooding as heavy snow melts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 23rd, 2014
Reuters: Emergency workers filled thousands of sandbags on Sunday as the area around Buffalo, New York braced for potential flooding as warming temperatures began to melt up to seven feet (2 meters) of snow.
Hundreds of members of the New York National Guard were in Erie County and Buffalo to help with flood prevention after days of work to clear roads and dig homes and cars out of the record snow from a storm that killed 13 people.
The National Weather Service said roads could flood quickly from snow...
Winter weather weirdness may be just beginning
Posted by Buffalo News: Jerry Zremski on November 23rd, 2014
Buffalo News: Brace yourself. November’s white nightmare could become a recurring bad dream of varying intensity.
While last week’s winter blast appears to be the freak offspring of a typhoon-blasted jet stream and a warm Lake Erie, it’s also part of a long-term pattern that shows no sign of changing.
Meteorologists and geographers say that lake-effect snows have increased as temperatures have warmed in recent decades. That means more bizarre early-season storms, though not necessarily as bad as last week’s,...
New York braces for flooding as warming trend follows epic snowstorm
Posted by LA Times: Javier Panzar, James Queally on November 23rd, 2014
LA Times: Even though her street was buried under 3 feet of snow, Jean Ulrich considered herself lucky so far. The octogenarian and lifelong resident of Bowmansville, just outside Buffalo, has seen lots of snow before — but never, she said, like last week.
Epic lake-effect snowfall pummeled the Buffalo region, dumping about 80 inches of snow, causing at least 13 deaths and virtually shutting down highways for days with thousands of stranded cars.
This weekend the snow stopped, but more weather turmoil...
Malaysia: Climate change will affect water supply
Posted by New Straits Times: Fazleena Aziz on November 23rd, 2014
New Straits Times: CLIMATE change will affect all water-related sectors, including water supply and agriculture, resulting in drought, flood and degradation of coastal ecosystem.
National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia's (Nahrim) Extension Study of the Impact of Climate Change on the Hydrologic Regime and Water Resources of Peninsular Malaysia shows there will be an increase in rainfall magnitude and intensity in the future.
"Global warming will affect peak flow, causing more extreme floods at river...
Half of future whooper habitat could be lost
Posted by Victoria Advocate: Sara Sneath on November 23rd, 2014
Victoria Advocate: About half of the potential whooping crane habitat along the South Texas coastline is projected to be lost to sea level rise.
As the only wild flock of whooping cranes continues to grow, the endangered birds will need more space. For whooping cranes to be listed as threatened instead of endangered, the population must grow to 1,000 birds, a feat that will require 125,000 acres of wintering habitat, according to a recently published study.
Researchers identified where the 5-foot-tall birds might...
Record Drought Reveal Stunning Changes Along Colorado River
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 23rd, 2014
National Geographic: In early September, at the abandoned Piute Farms marina on a remote edge of southern Utah's Navajo reservation, we watched a ten-foot (three-meter) waterfall plunging off what used to be the end of the San Juan River.
Until 1990, this point marked the smooth confluence of the river with Lake Powell, one of the largest reservoirs in the U.S. But the lake has shrunk so much due to the recent drought that this waterfall has emerged, with sandy water as thick as a milkshake.
My partner DeEdda McLean...
Despite Persecution, Guardian of Lake Tai Spotlights China’s Polluters
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 23rd, 2014
New York Times: By autumn, the stench of Lake Tai and the freakish green glow of its waters usually fade with the ebbing of the summer heat, but this year is different. Standing on a concrete embankment overlooking a fetid, floating array of plastic bottles, foam takeout containers, flip-flops and the occasional dead fish, Wu Lihong, the lake’s unofficial guardian, shook his head in disgust. “If you jumped into this water, you’d shed a layer of skin,” he said one recent afternoon. “The government claims they are...