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Archive for June 5th, 2015
Fracking Does Cause ‘Widespread, Systemic’ Contamination of American’s Drinking Water
Posted by EcoWatch: Josh Fox and Lee Ziesche on June 5th, 2015
EcoWatch: In a draft report five years in the making, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed that fracking does indeed contaminate drinking water, a fact the oil and gas industry has vehemently denied.
But instead of dismantling the industry’s "not one single case of groundwater contamination caused by fracking" refrain, the EPA decided to go with the misleading headline "there is no evidence fracking has led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources."
It’s a puzzling...
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Don’t Be Fooled by Yesterday’s Headlines, EPA Finds Fracking Contaminates Drinking Water
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on June 5th, 2015
EcoWatch: Don’t be fooled. Headlines in the New York Times and other news media about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) long-awaited study on the impacts of fracking on drinking water are another tragic case of not looking beyond the timid agency’s spin. Despite the lack of new substantive data and the limited scope of the study, the EPA did find instances of water contamination and outlined the areas where this could happen in the fracking process.
Rather than seriously undertaking its mission,...
Huge Pension Fund in Norway Will Divest Many of Its Coal Holdings
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 5th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: The Norwegian Parliament has voted to sell off many of the coal-related investments in the government’s massive $890 billion pension fund, a significant boost to the growing fossil fuel divestment movement. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is the largest such government fund in the world, and parliament voted Friday to order the fund to shift its investments out of billions of dollars of stock in companies that rely at least 30 percent on coal. A spokesman for the firm that manages the government’s...
World Environment Day: UN Asks Us Each for One Change
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on June 5th, 2015
Environment News Service: Many of the Earth`s ecosystems are approaching "critical tipping points," the United Nations warned today, World Environment Day. The world body accompanied the warning with an invitation to each of the planet`s 7.247 billion plus people to mark the day by making one change towards more responsible consumption of resources, such as flying with e-tickets instead of paper tickets or riding a bike to work.
"Humanity continues to consume far more natural resources than the planet can sustainably provide....
Insane Heat Wave in Alaska Put Temperatures Higher Than in Arizona
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on June 5th, 2015
EcoWatch: Alaska, along with the rest of the Arctic, has been warming even faster than other regions of the world due to climate change. That was the findings of a report this spring from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which found that the rate of warming will only continue to increase in the coming decades.
Insane heat in Alaska--90 deg temps near Fairbanks, records toppling like, um, snowmen in May http://t.co/mo6xgGKqoR pic.twitter.com/3yqhV0Sbt6
-- Bill McKibben...
Science challenges claim that global warming took a hiatus
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 5th, 2015
National Geographic: A reported pause in global warming-a mystery that has vexed scientists and delighted contrarians-was an illusion based on inadequate data, U.S. government researchers reported Thursday.
The findings by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) researchers that there was no warming "hiatus" over the past 15 years could reshape consensus science on recent climate change. The research undercuts an argument of pundits and politicians who oppose taking action.
In the new report, NOAA's...
NOAA: There Has Been No ‘Pause’ or ‘Hiatus’ in Global Warming
Posted by EcoWatch: Michael Mann on June 5th, 2015
EcoWatch: Just out in Science is a new article by Tom Karl of NOAA`s National Climatic Data Center and colleagues driving another stake through the heart of the supposed “hiatus” or “pause,” i.e. what I like to call the “Faux Pause.”
I expect this article will be attacked by climate change deniers who are unhappy to see the demise of a narrative they helped frame, a narrative that arguably took hold due in part to the “seepage” of contrarian framing into mainstream climate science discourse.
Because...
Texas’s Warmer Future: Drought & Heavy Rains?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 5th, 2015
Climate Central: The seemingly endless and often torrential rains that deluged Texas and Oklahoma in May are in some ways a harbinger of what the South Central states can expect to see as the world warms. But the region also could be in store for just the opposite – more long bouts of hot, dry days that could cause the Southern Plains to be even more susceptible to drought than they already are. The juxtaposition between these trends is an example of the complex and sometimes unpredictable way that climate change...
EPA: Fracking Doesn’t Cause ‘Widespread’ Pollution, Experts Cry Foul
Posted by Sputnik: None Given on June 5th, 2015
Sputnik: The US Environmental Protection Agency says that, while hydraulic fracturing has the potential to contaminate drinking water, and has done so on some occasions, there is no evidence of "widespread" pollution across the country, according to a draft report released by Thursday.
The report, commissioned by Congress, claims to be the most comprehensive evaluation to date of the effect on drinking water of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The process involves pumping chemical-laden water deep underground...