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Archive for January, 2015
Senate approves Keystone XL pipeline bill despite veto threat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
LA times: After weeks of unusually robust debate, the Senate on Thursday approved legislation to expedite construction of the massive Keystone XL pipeline, brushing aside President Obama`s threat to veto the measure.
Passage secured not only a top Republican policy victory but also a political success for new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who made Keystone his first priority.
The vote was an early test of McConnell`s promise to return the Senate to a place of freewheeling debate....
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Senate finally passes Keystone, but Obama’s veto looms
Posted by McClatchy: None Given on January 30th, 2015
McClatchy: The Senate passed a bill approving construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline on Thursday, setting up a showdown with President Barack Obama, who has promised to veto the measure.
Thursday's vote culminated six years of intense debate over the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline, designed to ship Canadian oil sands crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The Senate passed the measure 62-36, with nine Democrats joining all Republicans in voting in favor.
An almost identical bill already passed...
One of the World’s Biggest Lakes Is Dying & We’re to Blame
Posted by Mother Jones: Tim McDonnell on January 30th, 2015
Mother Jones: He's sitting behind a wooden table piled with a dozen tilapia and Nile perch at the market in Katoro, a roadside town in northern Tanzania. The fish--a staple of the Tanzanian diet--came in that morning from Lake Victoria, an hour's drive north. Around us, hundreds of shoppers are snatching up pineapples, textiles, and motorcycle parts. But Mohammed explains that basic economics is keeping customers away from his fish.
"There's less fish," he says. "So the price goes up, so customers can't afford...
Storms like U.S. blizzard may get stronger but less frequent: Study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
Reuters: Large storms like the blizzard that battered New England this week may become more severe but less frequent as the Earth's climate changes, scientists said on Thursday.
The Canadian-led study noted that warmer air can hold more moisture, meaning more fuel for rain, hail or snow, and found knock-on effects on how the atmosphere generates storms.
"In a future climate, the global atmospheric circulation might comprise highly energetic storms," they wrote in the journal Science.
At the same...
Pennsylvania governor bans new oil/gas leases on state land
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
Reuters: Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf on Thursday signed an executive order reinstating a moratorium on new leases for oil and natural gas development in state parks and forests.
The move restores the ban lifted by his predecessor, Tom Corbett, a Republican.
Officials in Pennsylvania were not immediately available to say how much gas and oil energy companies produce from state forest and park land.
Wolf, a Democrat, generally supports fracking, but called in his inaugural speech this month for...
U.S. Senate Votes Force Keystone XL Pipeline Approval
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 30th, 2015
Environment News Service: The new Republican-controlled Senate today voted for the first time to force U.S. approval of the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Proposed by TransCanada, the pipeline would carry diluted bitumen from the Alberta tar sands to TransCanada`s existing pipeline in Nebraska for transfer to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
The Republican-controlled House has already passed a similar bill in this new session of Congress and passed dozens of versions of the measure in the previous session....
World’s cities experiencing more heatwaves, study shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
Guardian: World cities are experiencing more heatwaves and fewer cold spells, according to a study of extreme temperatures in hundreds of urban areas over the past 40 years. It found that many cities are seeing fewer extremely windy days than in the 1970s and have more extremely hot individual days and nights. The climate researchers from US and Indian universities identified 620 of the world’s urban areas with a population over 250,000 and then chose 217 which were situated close to an international weather...
Climate Change Is Altering the Global Heat Engine
Posted by Smithsonian: None Given on January 30th, 2015
Smithsonian: Climate scientists have been warning for a while that as the planet heats up, storms will become fewer but stronger. This trend has been seen in a variety of historical data tracking wind speed, rain and snow over the past century or so. Now a team of researchers has figured out why, and the explanation is firmly rooted in atmospheric thermodynamics. Global warming is intensifying the world’s water cycle, and that drains energy from the air circulation that drives stormy weather, say Frederic Laliberté...
Senate Kills Climate Change Hoax Conspiracy With Keystone Amendments
Posted by Newsweek: None Given on January 29th, 2015
Newsweek: When the Senate voted Thursday to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, the bill they passed was padded with a few extra measures.
In an effort to get Republicans to make hard decisions on the Keystone XL bill, Democrats deluged the bill in recent days with amendments calling for hundreds of other concessions, mostly pertaining to climate change and environmental policy. A whopping 246 amendments were proposed by members from both sides of the aisle, but only six were ultimately passed...
Methane leaks from gas pipelines far exceed official estimates, Harvard study finds
Posted by InsideClimate: None Given on January 29th, 2015
InsideClimate: Methane is leaking from natural gas infrastructure in Boston and the surrounding region at rates two to three times higher than government estimates, scientists at Harvard University and other institutions found.
Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last week, the researchers' paper is the first peer-reviewed study that quantifies emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from natural gas installations in urban areas--including pipelines, storage terminals...