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Archive for January, 2015
Montana oil spill latest in pipeline company’s string of of incidents
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 31st, 2015
Guardian: The Wyoming company whose pipeline leaked 30,000 gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone River in Montana and its sister company have had multiple pipeline spills and federal fines levied against them in the last decade, according to government records.
Bridger Pipeline, the operator of the Poplar Pipeline that broke recently near Glendive, Montana, recorded nine pipeline incidents between 2006 and 2014, according to the pipeline administration. Combined, the spills leaked nearly 11,000 gallons...
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Iceland Rises 1.4 inches year due to Climate Change
Posted by News Maine: Felix Balthasar on January 31st, 2015
News Maine: A study has found that Iceland's region under ice has been shrinking at a faster rate due to climate change. It is causing a gradual rise in the level of the earth's crust. According to researchers associated with the study, the ice part of the region is rising as much as 1.4 inches every year, much faster than previously thought.
The research was conducted by research teams from the University of Arizona and the University of Iceland. The detailed report with findings of the team has been published...
Amid California drought, water chief preaches conservation – and balance
Posted by Sacramento Bee: Jeremy B. White on January 31st, 2015
Sacramento Bee: Felicia Marcus gets in the shower when it’s still cold.
As full-time chair of California’s State Water Resources Control Board, Marcus has a key role in how California stewards its finite resources during a devastating drought. So Marcus can hardly let precious water wash down the drain while she waits for the shower to heat up.
“Just using less and using it more wisely is No. 1,” Marcus said of her agency’s goals. “We’ve had the luxury of it just coming out of the tap – if you step back, it’s...
Aboriginal Mithaka take battle against fracking to UN
Posted by Radio New Zealand: None Given on January 31st, 2015
Radio New Zealand: esterday's state election in Queensland was watched closely by the Mithaka people - Aboriginal traditional owners of some of the iconic landscapes known as Channel Country in south western Queensland. They have taken their concerns to the UN, saying the state government has violated international law by failing to consult them over fracking.
California’s ‘Dismally Meager’ Snowpack Signals More Drought
Posted by National Geographic: Warren Cornwall on January 30th, 2015
National Geographic: After measuring California's mountain snow on Thursday, state officials described it as "dismally meager" and predicted that a fourth year of drought is on the way. Statewide, the water trapped in the form of snow is just a quarter of the amount usually found at this time of year, California's Department of Water Resources reported shortly after teams returned from measuring snow levels at Echo Summit in the Sierra Nevada mountains, southwest of Lake Tahoe. (Watch a video about new technology California...
Obama Orders Higher Flood Risk Standard for Federal Projects
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 30th, 2015
Environment News Service: Considering the risk of rising sea levels due to climate change, President Barack Obama today issued the nation`s first Federal Flood Risk Management Standard for taxpayer-funded projects. He described the Standard as "a flexible framework to increase resilience against flooding and help preserve the natural values of floodplains."
The new flood standard will apply when federal funds are used to build, retrofit or repair structures and facilities in and around floodplains to ensure that those...
Senators Vote in Circles about Global Warming and Keystone XL Pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
Scientific American: The U.S. Senate voted 62 to 36 yesterday to build the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline that would bring oil from tar sands in Canada down through the U.S. Tar sands are one of the dirtiest forms of oil and expansion of their use would ensure too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, helping climate change wreak even more havoc. Yet this prospect is exactly what many of the same Senators who approved the pipeline voted to avoid, philosophically at least, just last week. How can that be? And who...
Thunderstorms Move Ozone Toward Surface of the Earth, Research Shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Thunderstorms move a significant amount of ozone from the stratosphere down toward the earth's surface — a process that could have important impacts on climate, according to a recent study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Ozone shields the planet from the sun's ultraviolet rays when it's in the stratosphere, the second-lowest layer of the atmosphere, but ozone acts as a powerful greenhouse gas and pollutant when it's nearer to the earth's surface, in the troposphere. Ozone is created...
Four Things to Know About Keystone XL
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on January 30th, 2015
Climate Central: The Obama administration is under pressure from Congress to decide on the fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline after the Senate approved a bill Thursday that would greenlight the pipeline's construction. A final bill could land on President Obama's desk sometime next week, but he is expected to veto the bill because he objects to Congress usurping his administration's authority over the pipeline's approval.
With the political pressure on, the U.S. State Department, which is in charge of the Keystone's...
Cleanup Yellowstone’s Icy Oil Spill Offers Cautionary Tales
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
National Geographic: On a muddy bluff overlooking the Yellowstone River, Paul Peronard watched as workers tried to mop up oil through holes drilled into the frozen surface. Nearby, a whirring vacuum truck held crude from the first serious U.S. spill into icy water in a quarter-century.
The week had begun sunny and unseasonably mild. Peronard, the Environmental Protection Agency's on-scene coordinator, asked for an update. The response: Ice was melting upstream, adding to the cleanup's danger.
"Oh," Peronard winced....