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Archive for June, 2015
Lawsuits over California water rights are a fight a century in making
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on June 30th, 2015
LA Times: The lawsuits hit the courts within days of the state mailing notices to some Central Valley irrigation districts: They were to stop diverting from rivers and streams because there wasn't enough water to go around.
Unsurprising as the move may be in this fourth year of drought, to the districts, the notices amounted to an assault on water rights they have held for more than a century.
"This is an attempted water grab," said Steve Knell, general manager of the Oakdale Irrigation District, one...
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OSU researchers need volunteers track drought, effects of ‘the blob’
Posted by Oregonian: Tara Kulash on June 30th, 2015
Oregonian: Scientists want to get to the bottom of this drought, and they need your help.
Oregon State University researchers are looking for volunteers to run climate models on their computers. The simulations will compare thousands of Western United States winter seasons.
California is in its fourth year of a drought, with some of the most severe drought conditions in the past century. Oregon is in its second drought year and Washington is in its first.
Researchers want to know whether this is linked...
Freshwater fish threatened by acidification
Posted by Science: Warren Cornwall on June 30th, 2015
Science: Acidifying ocean water—a byproduct of increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere—messes with saltwater fish in a variety of ways. Rockfish become more nervous. Clownfish can’t always detect predators, whereas the brown dottyback actually avoids the smell of injured prey. But it turns out that saltwater fish aren’t the only ones affected. Pink salmon reared in CO2-rich fresh water showed many of the same signs as their marine brethren, according to a study published today in the journal Nature Climate...
New blow to UK fracking is a delay but not the end of the road
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 30th, 2015
New Scientist: Opencast coal mines were once routinely delayed by local councils amid unfounded health concerns. The same is happening with fracking, warns a professor of energy engineering
It is a relief to see that the pseudoscientific gobbledygook deployed against fracking has not prevailed. I say that despite the rejection of two high-profile attempts by energy firm Cuadrilla to win consent to explore for shale gas in Lancashire, UK.
The reasons given for rejecting the planning applications are the classic...
Which Power Plants Emitted the Most Mercury?
Posted by National Geographic: Craig Welch on June 30th, 2015
National Geographic: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday dealt a blow to an Obama administration regulation cutting mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants. The court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency didn’t do enough to consider the costs of complying. As a result, the EPA will have to reexamine and perhaps alter its rules. But since the regulation went into effect earlier this year, many power plants have already installed equipment reducing mercury, a neurotoxin linked to lower IQs and other...
Is the Supreme Court’s Mercury Decision Pointless?
Posted by Vox: David Roberts on June 30th, 2015
Vox: This morning, the Supreme Court decided against EPA in a case concerning the agency's regulations on mercury pollution. Brad Plumer has a great explainer on the background and details. I just want to highlight one aspect of the ruling that hasn't gotten enough attention in all the coverage, namely: it is likely pointless.
The ruling is probably not going to change the mercury regulations. It's probably not going to have any effect on the power sector. It probably won't establish any significant...
Pennsylvania Budget Bill Would Block New Rules for Conventional Drillers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 30th, 2015
National Public Radio: Environmentalists are raising alarms over language slipped into a budget bill that would prevent the state Department of Environmental Protection from establishing its new draft rules on conventional oil and gas drillers. “It’s very sneaky. It’s a dangerous pathway to go down,” says Matt Stepp, policy director for the environmental group PennFuture. “This would actually stop the regulatory process from occurring.” The language was added over the weekend to the fiscal code– a companion piece of...
Shocking Documents Reveal Fracking Health Complaints Swept Under the Rug in Pennsylvania
Posted by EcoWatch: Wenonah Hauter on June 30th, 2015
EcoWatch: Heavily-fracked Pennsylvania is a battle ground in the fight to protect affected families from the harms of the toxic drilling method. Last week after months of resisting our efforts, the state finally delivered more than 100 pages of documents to Food & Water Watch that were requested through a public Right-to-Know request. And what we received was shocking. The documents clearly demonstrate an ongoing pattern of alarming negligence and incompetence by the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH)...
Hawaii goes to war over telescopes
Posted by Maui Times: Anthony Pignataro on June 30th, 2015
Maui Times: Watching the battle over the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea and now the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) on Haleakala has reached nearly comical proportions. Especially over on the Big Island, where native Hawaiian discontent over the big scope–they say it is an unwarranted desecration of the sacred Mauna Kea summit–has been building for years. Has Governor David Ige never seen civil disobedience before? Can he not recognize a rapidly mobilizing population...
Ige not considering National Guard to settle Mauna Kea dispute
Posted by KITV: None Given on June 30th, 2015
KITV: The governor’s comments come after a dozen protesters were arrested on the mountain last Wednesday for refusing to move out of the way of construction crews trying to reach the site of what could become the world’s largest land-based observatory. Ige said he wants to enforce existing state law that prevents overnight camping at Mauna Kea and the blocking of the summit road, but did not provide a timeline.
"We are being smart about what that means and trying to be comprehensive in what changes...