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Archive for January 8th, 2015
The point of the Keystone fight
Posted by Grist: None Given on January 8th, 2015
Grist: Josh Green is a smart guy and a great writer, but I think he`s being uncharacteristically dense in his latest column - he`s got the same blind spot on this issue that his friend Jonathan Chait has.
The column argues that, whichever side wins or loses, the fight over the Keystone XL pipeline has become almost entirely pointless. It`s pointless for the right because, contrary to their rhetoric, it won`t create all that many jobs, reduce the price of gasoline, or boost the economy in any measurable...
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Tar sands supporters suffer setback British Columbia rejects pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 8th, 2015
Guardian: Efforts to expand production from the Alberta tar sands suffered a significant setback on Friday when the provincial government of British Columbia rejected a pipeline project because of environmental shortcomings.
In a strongly worded statement, the government of the province said it was not satisfied with the pipeline company's oil spill response plans.
The rejection of the pipeline – which was to have given Alberta an outlet to Pacific coast ports and markets in China – further raises the...
Do Plummeting Oil Prices Weaken Case for Keystone Pipeline?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 8th, 2015
National Geographic: Back in September 2008, when a Canadian company first sought U.S. approval to build the Keystone XL pipeline, the United States was the world's third largest oil producer and crude oil prices hovered around $105 per barrel.
At that time, Apple was selling the iPhone3, Britney Spears won an MTV award, and George W. Bush was president.
Today, in Barack Obama's second term in the White House, Calgary-based TransCanada is still seeking the go-ahead for the northern leg of its controversial Canada-to-U.S....
Stop what you’re doing & watch Elizabeth Warren rip apart Keystone
Posted by Grist: None Given on January 8th, 2015
Grist: Every time Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) opens her mouth, I want to stand up and slow clap. She didn`t let me down at the first Energy Committee hearing of the year, at which Warren cranked open a can of her secret-recipe whoop-ass on the new Republican Congress. This time, it was to announce a snarky yet eloquent "HELL NO" on the subject of the Keystone XL pipeline. Here are a few highlights from her spiel.
Warren starts with some real talk on why Republicans want to pass the bill:
It`s...
Groups Demand EPA Regulate Toxic Water Pollution from Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
Posted by EcoWatch: Bill Price on January 8th, 2015
EcoWatch: As my colleague Mary Anne Hitt noted in her “highlights of 2014” column we’ve had some significant victories in the fight against the destruction of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia over the past year. But there is still so much to be done to stop this horrible practice from devastating our communities, our health and our wild Appalachian places. That’s why the Sierra Club joined a coalition of groups taking legal action this week to compel the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)...
Land Disturbances Darken Snow and Increase Melt Rate, Researchers Say
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 8th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Land disturbances, such as agricultural practices and development, may have a big impact on snow purity and melt rates, according to a large-scale survey of impurities in North American snow by researchers at the University of Washington. During a nearly 10,000-mile trek across North American snowfields, the researchers were particularly interested in the Bakken oil fields of northwest North Dakota. Before undertaking the study, they predicted that diesel emissions and air pollution associated with...
Texas city in fracking area rocked by 11 earthquakes in 24 hours
Posted by Grist: None Given on January 8th, 2015
Grist: On the heels of a report linking 77 earthquakes in Ohio to fracking, a Texas city in an area rife with drilling operations was hit with a wave of 11 earthquakes in 24 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. The most intense registered 3.6 on the Richter scale, well over the level at which people would feel it -- the local 911 service received more than 300 calls from residents trying to figure out what was going on.
These recent quakes bring the total number to 26 since October in Irving, Texas, a suburb...
Cantwell to Canadian pipeline builder: Play by America’s rules
Posted by Post-Intelligencer: Joel Connelly on January 8th, 2015
Post-Intelligencer: The Keystone XL pipeline won its first round in the new Republican-run Senate on Thursday, but its Canadian builder received a sharp rebuke from Washington’s Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell.
“My message to Trans-Canada Corporation is: Play by the rules,” said Cantwell, who is now the ranking member in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The committee voted 13-9 is favor of legislation that would bypass the U.S. State Department review, take approval authority away from President...
United Kingdom: Labour seeks fracking restrictions to protect drinking water
Posted by Blue and Green: None Given on January 8th, 2015
Blue and Green: The Labour Party is seeking to ban fracking for shale gas on land that collects Britain’s drinking water in proposed amendments to the government’s infrastructure bill. A campaign group has said such a move is “basic common sense”.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is gradually becoming more widespread in the UK although the method of extracting shale gas remains controversial.
Those supporting fracking claim it can be used as a transition fuel towards a low-carbon economy and that with the...
Leave Fossil Fuels Untapped to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change, Study Urges
Posted by Climate Change Network: None Given on January 8th, 2015
Climate Change Network: The sheer scale of the fossil fuel reserves that will need to be left unexploited for decades if world leaders sign up to a radical climate agreement is revealed in a study by a team of British scientists.
It shows that almost all the huge coal reserves in China, Russia and the U.S. should remain unused, along with more than 260 billion barrels of oil reserves in the Middle East—the equivalent of Saudi Arabia’s total oil reserves. The Middle East would also need to leave more than 60 percent of...