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Archive for March 7th, 2015
Ministry urged to assess impact of Mekong River damming
Posted by Vietnam Net: None Given on March 7th, 2015
Vietnam Net: Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has told the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to assess impact of hydropower damming in the mainstream Mekong River on residents in the downstream.
The ministry said at a meeting on Tuesday with the Deputy PM that it has invited representatives of Laos and Cambodia, and international organizations and experts to jointly prepare a study on impact of hydropower projects.
Le Duc Trung, office manager of the Vietnam National Mekong Committee, said...
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Women and Children are Most Affected by Water Scarcity
Posted by National Yemen: Asma al-Mohattwari on March 7th, 2015
National Yemen: Yemen is a country with one of the highest rates of population growth in the world. It is also the country with the highest rate of exhaustion of water sources in the Middle East. Half of the Yemeni population in the country is in need of access to clean water. The water crisis has become a real threat.
Running water is available in some parts of Yemen, but most villages remain without it. An example is the rural population in Amran province, which lies to the north of the capital Sana’a, which...
Wendell Berry’s Thoughts On ‘Our Only World’
Posted by Planet Save: None Given on March 7th, 2015
Planet Save: It’s a shame Wendell Berry’s new book of essays, Our Only World, has received scant recognition from reviewers. Not that the media have failed to acknowledge the work, just that they have all printed the same review by Kevin Begos of the Associated Press--a good review, but sadly singular.
Spiritual kin as well as an associate of Edward Abbey, Larry McMurtry, Tillie Olsen, and Ken Kesey through Wallace Stegner’s Stanford writing class, the Kentucky-born poet-philosofarmer deserves more attention....
China pollution film disappears from local video sites
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 7th, 2015
Reuters: A popular documentary on China's struggles with pollution was inaccessible on the country's video sharing websites on Saturday, sparking concern from Chinese Internet users that it had been censored within a week of its launch.
"Under the Dome", a film by journalist Chai Jing that explains air pollution in straightforward terms, spurred a national debate after its release last weekend and quickly garnered hundreds of millions of views on streaming video sites.
Its removal will likely be seen...
Derailed Oil Train Continues To Burn In Illinois
Posted by National Public Radio: David Shaper on March 7th, 2015
National Public Radio: A derailed oil train continues to burn in northwestern Illinois near the Mississippi River town of Galena more than 24 hours after it crashed.
It is the third fiery derailment of trains carrying crude from the Bakken area of North Dakota in the past three weeks, raising more questions about the volatility of the oil and the safety of the tank cars used to transport crude.
No one was hurt when the BNSF Railway freight train derailed at about 1:20 p.m. Thursday in a hilly and heavily wooded area...
Infrastructure boom threatens world’s last wildernesses
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 7th, 2015
Guardian: As developing countries continue to grow their populations and economies, new dams, mines, oil wells and cities will be built to support the expansion. But in a study published on Thursday, researchers said the localised impacts of these projects was “almost trivial” compared to the litany of woe caused by the roads that service them.
“When you’re talking about things like hydroelectric projects, mining projects, logging projects, what these things are doing is creating an economic impetus for...
Operators: Open Pit Mine in N Wisconsin Not Feasible
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 7th, 2015
Public News Service: After five years of trying to get permits and approval for a huge open pit taconite mine in Wisconsin's Northwoods at the southern shore of Lake Superior, Gogebic Taconite Corporation has announced it is closing up shop in Wisconsin. The company says further attempts to develop the mine are not feasible. The proposed mine would have been four-and-a-half-miles long and a mile deep, and environmentalists said all along it would create massive and irreversible environmental damage. Amber Meyer Smith,...
State of Tribes address draws one-sided cheers over mine company pullout
Posted by Wisconsin State Journal: Steven Verburg on March 7th, 2015
Wisconsin State Journal: The mention of the pullout of a mining company drew applause during the annual State of the Tribes address to Wisconsin legislators. "When it comes to the Penokee Hills mine, we are not going to see that mine happen," said Chris McGeshick, chairman of the Sokaogon Chippewa Community, who delivered the address. Minority Democrats in the Assembly chamber broke into loud applause while Republicans generally remained quiet. Gogebic Taconite, a company formed to dig a huge open-pit iron mine in Iron...
EPA disputes Gogebic’s fears of agency blocking mine
Posted by Journal Sentinel: Lee Bergquist on March 7th, 2015
Journal Sentinel: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has disputed concerns raised by Gogebic Taconite that the agency might have tried blocking construction of its iron ore mine, as the EPA did last year with a large gold and copper mine in Alaska.
After nearly two years of planning, Gogebic said on Feb. 27 it was suspending plans for the $1.5 billion iron ore mine in the Bad River watershed, a tributary to Lake Superior.
Gogebic, also known as GTAC, said it was worried the EPA would draw on rarely used...
Leave action on climate policy to provinces, B.C. tells Ottawa
Posted by Globe and Mail: Shawn Mccarthy on March 7th, 2015
Globe and Mail: British Columbia Premier Christy Clark is telling Ottawa to refrain from imposing any carbon emissions regulations that would hinder growth in the energy sector, and to leave leadership on climate policy to the provinces.
In a speech to a conservative gathering in Ottawa, the Premier said on Friday that resource development is crucial to Canada's economic success, but must be accompanied by credible environmental protection to win public support.
Ms. Clark told reporters that Ottawa's role...