Archive for January 10th, 2015

It’s Official: 2014 Hottest Year Ever Recorded

Nature World: Yea, so 2014's December may have been bone-chillingly cold for some parts of the world. But when measurements from every corner of the Earth from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 were finally combined and averaged, it was revealed that this past year was easily the hottest ever recorded. That's at least according to Japan's Meteorological Agency, one of the four primary record-keeping organizations that routinely measure, gather, and asses net temperature data from across the globe. This data includes both terrestrial...

NY weighed ‘phased rollout’ of fracking

Gannett: New York had been considering a "phased rollout" of large-scale hydraulic fracturing in the months prior to deciding to ban it, with the proposal received well by public-health experts the state had asked for advice. The revelation was included in a series of letters from three experts from top universities, who had been contracted by the state to review its proposals for shale-gas drilling and recommend ways to improve them. The letters, written in late 2012 and early 2013, were first disclosed...

Study: Agent Orange may have affected Air Force workers after Vietnam

LA Times: Two dozen U.S. Air Force planes used to spray Agent Orange during the Vietnam War remained contaminated with the herbicide at levels that likely posed a health risk to some personnel who flew on them in the decade after the conflict, according to a new report. The report could open the way to medical care and disability pay for hundreds of reservists who worked on the C-123 planes until 1982 and later developed certain medical conditions. The Department of Veterans Affairs has denied nearly...

GOP House votes approve Keystone pipeline despite veto threat

Washington Post: For four years, Republicans in Congress have been accused of obstructing President Obama’s agenda. Now, with the House and Senate under their control, GOP leaders are ready to turn the tables. During the next few months, congressional leaders plan to approve a steady stream of legislation that has the support of at least a few Democrats but is opposed by the White House. Obama will be forced either to sign these “bipartisan” bills -- including several that would begin to dismantle his Affordable...

Obama facing rising pressure on Keystone oil pipeline

New York Times: President Obama came under new pressure on Friday to make a decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline as the Nebraska Supreme Court cleared the way for its construction through the state and the House passed a bill to approve the project. The House vote of 266 to 153 in favor of the pipeline sends the measure to the Senate, which is likely to pass the bill in the coming weeks. The Nebraska ruling eliminates Mr. Obama’s chief reason for delaying his decision on whether the pipeline should be...

Australia: Climate change: Why some of us won’t believe it’s getting hotter

Age: What is it about the temperature that some of us find so hard to accept? The year just ended was one of the hottest on record. In NSW it was the absolute hottest, in Victoria the second-hottest, and in Australia the third hottest. The first step in getting people to at least agree that it’s getting hotter is to stop talking about how to prevent it. Muddying the two, as we do all the time, gets people’s backs up. The measure is compiled by the Bureau of Meteorology. It dates back to 1910....

Republicans, court ship oil pipeline decision back to Obama

Associated Press: Congressional Republicans and Nebraska's Supreme Court have shipped the Keystone XL oil pipeline project right back to a reluctant President Barack Obama. Obama is so loath to make the call that deliberations have entered their sixth year, nearly as long as he has held office. He has blamed the delays on bureaucratic formalities and parochial issues in Nebraska, even when skeptics claimed that the politics of Obama's re-election race in 2012 were a more accurate explanation. That campaign...

Watch Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders Blast the Keystone Bill

Moyers and Company: As expected, a bill approving the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline sailed through the House of Representatives for the tenth time on Friday. The bill is predicted to pass the Senate next week, but Republicans may not have enough votes to override the veto Obama has promised. On Wednesday we got a preview of the Senate debate when the Energy and Natural Resources Committee met to vote on the bill. Before the vote, which passed 13-9, Democrats used the opportunity to express their environmental...

Keystone XL: US House approves oil pipeline again

Guardian: The House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a bill authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline to bring tar sands oil from Canada to the US, despite a renewed pledge by the White House to veto the legislation. Hours before the House vote, Nebraska’s highest court tossed out a lawsuit challenging the pipeline’s route, an obstacle the White House said it needed removed to make a decision. Keystone XL has been one of the biggest areas of conflict between President Barack Obama and a Congress...