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Archive for June 29th, 2015
Recent mercury pollution on the rise, but quick to change, study shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 29th, 2015
ScienceDaily: A Dartmouth-led study using a 600-year-old ice core shows that global mercury pollution increased dramatically during the 20th century, but that mercury concentrations in the atmosphere decreased faster than previously thought beginning in the late 1970s when emissions started to decline.
The findings suggest that present-day efforts to cut mercury emissions will reduce pollution more quickly than current models predict.
The study appears in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. ...
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Big reserve expansion gives tigers a boost in India
Posted by Mongabay: Morgan Erickson-Davis on June 29th, 2015
Mongabay: A hundred years ago, there were thirteen times as many tigers in the world as there are today, ranging from Turkey across the Eurasian continent to the eastern coast of Russia. The 13 countries that contain the world’s last tigers today - a mere, 2,500 mature individuals - are challenged with increasing protected tiger habitat to prevent crowding and inbreeding, while facing extreme funding and space constraints. One state in India, however, has found a cost-effective way to give tigers more room....
Rain Harvesting Could Provide Major Economic Benefits in India, Study Finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 29th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Collecting precipitation in rain barrels could result in significant savings for many people in India, according to an analysis of precipitation data collected by a NASA satellite. Estimates showed that harvested rain could provide at least 20 percent of average indoor water demand, or entirely irrigate a household vegetable garden. The savings associated with a vegetable garden could be between 2,500 and 4,500 rupees per year (39 to 71 U.S. dollars) — an amount equivalent to half a year’s rent in...
United Kingdom: Demonstrators celebrate Lancashire fracking licence rejected
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 29th, 2015
Guardian: Anti-fracking protesters cheer outside County Hall in Preston as news emerges that an application to frack in the area has been rejected. On Monday Lancashire County Council turned down a planning request to allow fracking on a site near Little Plumpton, prompting campaigners to parade through Preston city centre in celebration.
Chinese turtle heist sends rare Philippine species brink of extinction
Posted by Mongabay: Glenn Scherer on June 29th, 2015
Mongabay: On Friday, June 19, Philippine authorities raided a warehouse on the island of Palawan and confiscated more than 4,000 live, illegally harvested rare turtles, only days before they were to be shipped to foreign food and pet markets.
"It appears that a businessman, a Chinese national in the Philippines, had stored them in a warehouse in large cement tanks, piled a dozen deep, awaiting export to China," Dr. Brian D. Horne told mongabay.com. Horne is the Wildlife Conservation Society's coordinator...
Washington wildfire engulfs 3,000 acres, homes burn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 29th, 2015
Reuters: A wildfire racing through central Washington state "blew up" overnight, threatening homes and businesses as flames enveloped roughly 3,000 acres, nearly double the area burning only a day earlier, state officials said Monday. "It jumped last night, just blew up," said Janet Pearce, spokeswoman for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. "It is such a bad year." Emergency officials were deploying added teams of firefighters to the area, Pearce said. On Sunday, hundreds of people were...
Supreme Court Blocks Obama Administration Plan On Power Plant Emissions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 29th, 2015
National Public Radio: The Supreme court has ruled against an Obama administration effort to limit toxic mercury emissions from power plants, saying the costs of compliance with regulation should be taken into account.
In a 5-4 decision, the court sided with industry and 23 states that challenged the Environmental Protection Agency over the rules for oil- and coal-fired utilities, which the EPA estimated would cost $9.6 billion dollars annually. The states and industry groups said the cost estimate far outweighed the...
Which oil and gas companies are leaking the most methane?
Posted by ClimateWire: Gayathri Vaidyanathan on June 29th, 2015
ClimateWire: Over the years, ConocoPhillips -- an energy company so rich that it earns as much in a year as Croatia -- has positioned itself as a good guy among its peers when it comes to greenhouse gas pollution. It is a member of a U.N.-led initiative to reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is the primary component of natural gas. In the United States, it is a longtime participator in U.S. EPA's voluntary program to curb methane leaks. In January, Ryan Lance, CEO of ConocoPhillips, said...
Alberta puts pressure on oil sands with plan double carbon fee
Posted by ClimateWire: Benjamin Hulac on June 29th, 2015
ClimateWire: The top environmental official in Alberta -- home to the Canadian oil patch that would be the point of origin for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline -- announced yesterday that the province will raise its carbon price next year. Shannon Phillips, Alberta's minister of environment and parks, said the exiting fee of $15 per metric ton will climb to $20 per metric ton in 2016 and $30 per ton in 2017.
"Our regulations are now obsolete," said Phillips, telling reporters that the current regulations...
How coastland development ‘blue carbon’ contributes to climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 29th, 2015
Sydney Morning Herald: Coastal developers should be paying to offset air pollution – not from their bulldozers and or dredging barges, but from the tonnes of ancient carbon released into the atmosphere when wetlands are drained and dug up.
This is the view of Dr Peter Macreadie, award-winning marine ecologist and Australian Research Council Fellow, who has just completed the first major survey of "blue carbon" stocks along 2000 kilometres of Victorian coastline.
Blue carbon is stored many metres deep in the sediment...