RSS Feed
Archive for August 19th, 2015
Oil and Gas Methane Emissions Slashed by U.S. EPA
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on August 19th, 2015
Environment News Service: New standards to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas methane, volatile organic compounds and air toxics from the oil and gas industry were issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday.
The proposal is a part of the administration's strategy under President Barack Obama's Climate Action Plan to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025.
But the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, says the new standards are...
Posted in 
Haze chokehold spurring efforts to save Indonesia’s forests
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on August 19th, 2015
Mongabay: This is the first part in a two-part series on fires in Indonesia and what`s being done to stop them.
The annual burning of Indonesian rainforests represents an example of the increasing clouding of regional-global divides when it comes to environmental problems.
Many Southeast Asians are wondering if they will have to withstand another blanket of haze from rainforest fires as Indonesia enters its annual dry season. Signs of an impending El Nino weather pattern mean the country’s traditional...
July 2015 was very likely Earth’s hottest month on record
Posted by Mashable: None Given on August 19th, 2015
Mashable: The warmest year on record so far may have claimed another milestone, and this time it's a big one.
According to preliminary data from NASA along with information from the Japan Meteorological Administration, July 2015 was the warmest month on record since instrument temperature records began in the late 1800s.
Research using other data, such as tree rings, ice cores and coral formations in the ocean, have shown that the Earth is now the warmest it has been since at least 4,000 years ago. ...
Report: Drought to Cost California $2.74 Billion This Year
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 19th, 2015
Reuters: Agricultural economists at the University of California, Davis, said the drought, entering its fourth year, would impact the state more in 2015 than in 2014, when the total cost to the economy was estimated to be $2.2 billion.
"If a drought of this intensity persists beyond 2015, California's agricultural production and employment will continue to erode," said co-author Josue Medellin-Azuara, a water economist with the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.
The report, released on Tuesday,...
What the wildfires are costing us
Posted by CNBC: Mark Fahey, Nicholas Wells on August 19th, 2015
CNBC: Wildfires are getting worse: Is your home at risk?
It's getting harder and harder to fight forest fires. CNBC's Eric Chemi takes a serious look at the costs and numbers plaguing the fire-fighting industry.
It's not your imagination--forest fires really are getting worse.
As of this week, more than seven million acres of American land have been scorched by wildfires this year. That's about the size of Massachusetts, and more than any other year at this point of the season, in at least the...