Archive for August 13th, 2015

Colorado Governor Drinks Water From Animas River After Historic Mine Waste Spill

EcoWatch: Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper was at the Animas River in Durango, Colorado yesterday, dealing with the ongoing chaos of the acid-mine pollution caused by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency`s (EPA) mistake at the Gold Strike Mine that turned the river a ghoulish orange-yellow color. Gov. Hickenlooper--always a media showboat--decided he was going to drink water out of the Animas River to prove a point that it was safe and as reported by the Durango Herald newspaper he did just that. .@hickforco...

For 2013 Arkansas Spill, Exxon Mobil’s Settlement Is $5M

Reuters: A federal judge on Wednesday approved Exxon Mobil Corp's $5.07 million settlement of charges that it violated the federal Clean Water Act and state environmental laws in connection with a 2013 oil spill in central Arkansas. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker in Little Rock, Arkansas called Exxon Mobil's consent decree with the United States and Arkansas "fair, reasonable, and adequate, and consistent with the Clean Water Act." The rupture of Exxon's Pegasus pipeline led to a March 29, 2013 spill...

Here’s the U.K. Govn’t Plan to Fast Track Fracking

Inside Climate News: The UK government has signalled its intention to break opposition to shale gas exploration by introducing tough new rules fast tracking planning applications. Under the new measures released on Thursday central government could take control of the shale gas application process from “under performing” councils who fail to process plans in 16 weeks. Ministers also warn that no shale gas proposal will “fall through the cracks” under new laws that mean rejected applications will face speedy appeals,...

Is Global Warming Lurking Behind This Summer’s Heat Waves?

Mashable: It's been a cruel, cruel summer for millions of people across the Northern Hemisphere. Extreme heat has been blamed for thousands of deaths from India to Egypt, on northward into Europe and west to the Pacific Northwest cities of Seattle and Portland. Even Japan and Hong Kong have set all-time high temperature records and passed historical heat wave markers. The most recent heat has occurred in parts of Europe, the Middle East and East Asia. On Aug. 7, for example, Berlin hit 102 degrees Fahrenheit,...

Koch Pipeline Company Pay Texas Oil Spill After Nearly 17 Years

Texas Tribune: In the time it has taken the state and federal governments to penalize a Koch Industries affiliate for a South Texas oil spill, 17 different quarterbacks started games for the Dallas Cowboys, including the team's current head coach. Now, however, Koch Pipeline Company is finally poised to pay up for spilling nearly 24,700 gallons of crude into Karnes County's Marcelinas Creek -- almost 17 years after the fact, according to filings in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. ...

India: Push irrigation, not dams

Indian Express: One of the drivers of India’s irrigation sector has been the construction of large dams on our rivers, which Jawaharlal Nehru famously described as “the temples of modern India”. While these dams have helped increase India’s irrigated area and provided a semblance of food security, they have also created more problems than they have solved. What is worse, these dams have not really achieved what they had promised. While the nation and its most deprived people have paid a huge price in terms of displacement...

Toxic Algae Contaminate Two of the Three U.S. Coasts

Environment News Service: A record-breaking algal bloom continues to spread across the North Pacific from as far north as the Aleutian Islands to as far south as southern California. At the same time, this year's Gulf of Mexico dead zone -- an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and marine life -- is above average in size and larger than forecast by government scientists in June. Coinciding with above average sea surface temperatures across the North Pacific and West Coast of North America, that bloom is laced...