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Archive for January 14th, 2015
Turns out the U.S. oil boom was just a fairy tale
Posted by Grist: None Given on January 14th, 2015
Grist: With one quick drop in the price of oil, the shale oil boom is officially bust. In less than a week, 61 oil rigs across the United States closed up shop, according to the most recent rig count from Baker Hughes. The U.S. has 1,750 oil rigs still hunting for new oil wells, but that number is expected to fall by another 400 rigs by the time spring rolls around.
The whole episode is a wake-up call about just how much of a fairy tale North America`s oil boom really was. It was a fairy tale with real...
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Retail Investors Snap Up World Bank Green Growth Bonds
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 14th, 2015
Environment News Service: The first equity index-linked World Bank Green Bond available to retail investors just closed, and it was a big hit, raising more than US$91 million to support environmental solutions, the bank has announced.
The World Bank Green Growth Bond was the first Green Bond linked to an equity index designed for retail investors in Belgium and Luxembourg. It turned out to be the largest public offer subscription for a non-Euro equity index-linked bond in those two countries last year.
A total of 10...
Barack Obama plans to cut US methane emissions by nearly half
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 14th, 2015
Economic Times: The Obama administration has unveiled plans to regulate methane emissions from the country's oil and natural-gas industry by as much as 45 per cent over the next decade.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to propose federal regulations to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 per cent to 45 percent by 2025 from 2012 levels, White House and agency officials said yesterday.
The move to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, is likley to Climate change...
Amazon gold rush destroying huge swaths rainforest
Posted by Mongabay: Morgan Erickson-Davis on January 14th, 2015
Mongabay: The rainforests of South America face many threats. The deforestation occurring on the continent is among the highest in the world and results in losses of habitat, biodiversity and massive amounts of sequestered carbon. While the usual culprits such as farming, ranching and logging are well known, gold mining is fast extending its destructive reach into some of the world’s most untouched landscapes, according to research published this week in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
"Although...
Obama Administration Announces Methane Plans
Posted by Clean Technica: None Given on January 14th, 2015
Clean Technica: The announcement this morning by President Obama of a revised target for US methane emissions is not just another gimmick to shackle the American oil and gas industry. Nor is it new.
Back in 1971, the world’s scientists thought that methane directly affected neither the climate nor the biosphere and was relatively unimportant. However, in the 2001 climate report from the UN, the experts were whistling a different tune--based on multiple lines of evidence discovered during the intervening 30 years....
Stop the War Against the Colorado River
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on January 14th, 2015
EcoWatch: “Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
As we head into 2015, the health of Colorado River is at extreme risk as is the economies of states in the lower part of the river in Arizona, Nevada and California that depend on flows in the river. Drought continues in the Southwest U.S., climate change is predicted to decrease river flows an additional 10 to 30 percent, and the level of Lake Mead—the reservoir that holds water for much of Nevada,...
Gold rush threat tropical forests
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 14th, 2015
BBC: Global demand for gold is putting some of the most remote and pristine tropical forests at risk, scientists warn.
Some 1,680 sq km of rainforest in South America was lost to gold mining from 2001 to 2013, a study shows.
University of Puerto Rico researchers say gold mining has become a major threat to ancient rainforests in countries such as Peru and Suriname.
Consumers can help by buying only fair-trade gold, say environmentalists.
The research, published in Environmental Research Letters,...
Obama Administration Unveils New Methane Regulations
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 14th, 2015
EcoWatch: Carbon emissions and their role in driving climate change have been in the headlines for years. But recently another greenhouse gas has made headlines: methane. As research has shown, when it comes to fueling climate change, methane is up to 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Today, the Obama Administration announced new regulations to curb methane emissions, a byproduct of oil and gas extraction operations. This follows up on the president’s announcement last June of a plan to cut carbon...
White House Takes Aim at Methane Emissions: 3 Key Takeaways
Posted by National Geographic: Christina Nunez on January 14th, 2015
National Geographic: Tackling a huge climate issue, the Obama administration Wednesday announced long-awaited measures to slash U.S. emissions of methane-a potent greenhouse gas-from the oil and gas industry. Setting an "ambitious" goal, the White House is aiming for a 40 to 45 percent cut from 2012 levels in the next ten years.
Releases of heat-trapping methane, the main component of natural gas, are rife in the booming oil and gas industry. Leaky equipment and the intentional flaring of "waste" gas at oil sites...
Obama Orders Oil and Gas Industry to Slash Methane Emissions, but There’s a Catch
Posted by Takepart: Taylor Hill on January 14th, 2015
Takepart: President Obama is tackling climate change again. The White House announced its latest move on Wednesday, directing the nation’s oil and gas industry to cut methane emissions as much as 45 percent by 2025.
The executive action is an important step in the fight to suppress global warming becausemethane emissions, while lower than carbon dioxide emissions, are over 25 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Environmentalists welcomed the announcement, but some suggested that the...