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Archive for January 29th, 2016
In Canada, Justin Trudeau takes pipelines in a new direction
Posted by LA Times: Christopher Guly on January 29th, 2016
LA Times: It's getting harder to build an oil pipeline in Canada.
In 2013, when TransCanada Corp. proposed a cross-country pipeline that would be among the longest in the world, the Conservative Party was in power and the project's approval seemed a given.
But the new Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now requiring pipeline projects to pass a more stringent environmental review, including a climate test to determine how it would affect greenhouse gas emissions.
That change represents...
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Copenhagen Set to Divest Funds Out of Coal, Oil and Gas Holdings
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 29th, 2016
EcoWatch: The city of Copenhagen is set to become the latest recruit to the unstoppable divestment movement, with its plan to sell off the coal, oil and gas assets of its 6.9 billion Krone (EUR1.29 bn) investment fund.
The Danish capital will join a movement worth more than $3.4 trillion worldwide, following Norway’s capital Oslo and non-European cities such as Newcastle, Australia, as well as more than 500 institutions, universities, banks, companies and thousands of people, who have already pulled their...
European Summers Hottest Since Roman Empire, According to Tree Ring Analysis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 29th, 2016
Yale Environment 360: For the past three decades, Europe has been experiencing its warmest summers since the days of the Roman Empire, according to a study published in the Environmental Research Letters Journal. The study, compiled by 40 academics, concluded that average summer temperatures have been 1.3 degrees Celsius hotter than they were 2,000 years ago. Heat waves also occur more often and last longer. The temperature figures were calculated by analyzing the tree ring analysis of three pine species found in Austria,...
Australia bushfires raze ancient World Heritage-listed forests
Posted by Agence France-Presse: Glenda Kwek on January 29th, 2016
Agence France-Presse: World Heritage-listed forests whose origins pre-date the age of the dinosaurs are being destroyed by raging Australian bushfires, with conservationists increasingly fearful they could be lost forever.
Firefighters in Tasmania -- a state south of the mainland known for its cooler temperatures -- have been battling bushfires for 18 days, with 95,000 hectares (234,750 acres) of land burnt so far, authorities said Friday.
While no properties have been destroyed and no one hurt in the infernos --...
Erin Brockovich to Stephen Colbert: ‘Flint, Michigan Is the Tip of the Iceberg’
Posted by EcoWatch: Cole Mellino on January 29th, 2016
EcoWatch: Environmental activist Erin Brockovich appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to talk about the Flint water crisis. Brockovich said members of the Flint community reached out to her a year ago because they were concerned about how their water looked, tasted and smelled. She sent a team of experts to Flint to investigate and even drafted a protocol for how the city should deal with the problem.
She explained to the audience what went wrong in Flint and what the city needs to do to provide...
As memory of Chernobyl, Fukushima fades, activists renew nuclear warning
Posted by Climate Home: Alex Pashley on January 29th, 2016
Climate Home: As aides escorted him past swaying chandeliers to a panic room, the mind of Japan`s prime minister flashed to his country`s seaside nuclear power stations.
Tremors in Tokyo meant tsunamis, Naoto Kan, a physics graduate, feared. It was 11 March 2011.
The next day 250km north-east of the capital, three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant went into meltdown as cooling systems failed.
Large explosions shot radioactive materials into the atmosphere following a barrage by 20-metre waves. Over...
Oilpatch seethes over new environmental rules for pipelines: ‘Deeply disappointing.’
Posted by Financial Post: None Given on January 29th, 2016
Financial Post: Many in the oilpatch are quietly seething over Ottawa`s announcement that decisions on the Energy East and Trans Mountain pipelines will be delayed as it studies the projects’ contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.
Ottawa to take more time weighing Energy East, Trans Mountain pipeline approvals
The two companies proposing the pipelines, TransCanada Corp. and Kinder Morgan Inc., were diplomatic in their responses to the new approval rules announced Wednesday, saying they had "concerns" about...
Pipeline reforms ‘great step’ but don’t account for most emissions, say climate critics
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 29th, 2016
Tyee: The Trudeau government's newly announced reforms to pipeline environmental assessments still fail to consider the impact of almost 90 per cent of resulting greenhouse gas emissions, climate experts have told The Tyee.
The government announced a new interim assessment regime Wednesday, saying it will restore public confidence in much-criticized National Energy Board reviews.
The major change will see a pipeline's upstream emissions included in the assessment. For a pipeline from Alberta's oil...
British people as unconcerned about climate change as Americans and Saudis
Posted by Independent: Harry Lambert on January 29th, 2016
Independent: In a survey of 17 countries, the people of Britain has ranked 15th in its concern over climate change.
The UK, US and Saudi Arabia are the three countries least concerned among the group surveyed by YouGov. Only 10.8% of Britons ranked climate change as their most important issue.
Hong Kong is the most concerned, with 20 per cent of those surveyed choosing the issue ahead of eight others.
The Scandinavians countries are also among the more concerned.
They – and the Chinese, the French,...
Air pollution plays bigger role in global rainfall changes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 29th, 2016
PhysOrg: Ozone is a naturally-forming gas in our atmosphere, but human activity has caused ozone to increase in the lower atmosphere (a component of air pollution, from causes such as vehicle exhausts and other industrial and agricultural activities) and decrease in the stratosphere (ozone depletion - due to historic emissions of CFC gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning).
It has long been understood that these ozone changes, as well as affecting human health, also contribute to climate change....