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Archive for January, 2016
Coal projects advance but won’t be final under moratorium
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 27th, 2016
Associated Press: U.S. officials on Wednesday cleared the way for a review of two mining projects that would dig up 644 million tons of coal from public lands, despite a recent government moratorium halting federal coal sales.
Wyoming, Montana and U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials approved moving forward with a multiyear evaluation of the projects located next to existing mines in the states' Powder River Basin, the nation's largest coal-producing region.
The Jan. 15 moratorium from the Obama administration...
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The blizzard of 2016 was influenced by manmade global warming
Posted by Mashable: None Given on January 27th, 2016
Mashable: The blizzard of 2016 was an exceptional storm that broke all-time snowfall records in multiple locations. Yet for many people it hit, this storm was not a complete shock; a string of severe winter storms have slammed the East Coast in recent years.
This could be random chance, since the atmosphere does tend to unleash more major winter storms during some decades compared to others. Or it could be due to another factor: Manmade global warming could be tilting the scale in favor of exceptional snowfall...
Coal moratorium turns spotlight to oil, gas leases
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 27th, 2016
Climate Central: Emboldened by the Obama administration's pause on federal coal leasing, activists and scientists are now urging the government to bring federal oil and gas leasing in line with U.S. climate policy before the president leaves office next January.
The federal coal leasing moratorium announced in January marks a major turning point in the federal fossil fuels leasing program because it shows the government is willing to take steps to keep some fossil fuels in the ground as a way to address climate...
Negligence led to massive Porter Ranch-area gas leak, AQMD says
Posted by LA Times: Matt Hamilton on January 27th, 2016
LA Times: The government agency that regulates Southern California's air quality sued Southern California Gas Co. on Tuesday, accusing the company of negligence in a massive gas well leak that has forced thousands to leave their homes.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District said the utility's negligence extended to the design, construction, operation and inspection of one of the wells at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility near Porter Ranch, according to the civil complaint filed in Los...
TMT: Hawaii Telescope Still In Limbo
Posted by Hawaii Public Radio: Molly Solomon on January 27th, 2016
Hawaii Public Radio: The future of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Hawai‘i Island’s Mauna Kea remains uncertain. Construction has been halted on the project since protests began last April. And in December, Hawaii's Supreme Court ruled the permit invalid, sending the matter back for a new contested case hearing.
Panelists at a Chamber of Commerce Hawaii forum discuss the future of astronomy on Mauna Kea. They included TMT Executive Director Ed Stone, OHA Trustee Peter Apo, SVP of Bank of Hawaii Roberta Chu, and Executive...
U.S. Could Do Much More To Protect The Environment, Report Finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 27th, 2016
Huffington Post: In a new report that ranks countries by how well they protect the environment, the U.S. comes in at a disappointing 26th place among 180 nations.
The 2016 Environmental Performance Index, compiled by researchers at Columbia and Yale, measures how well countries protect human and ecological health, ranking them biennially from the world's greatest environmental champion to the worst.
In its latest report, the usual suspects topped the list: Finland, Iceland and Sweden, which have warmly embraced...
Governor Ige Remains Committed to TMT
Posted by Big Island Now: Jamilia Epping on January 27th, 2016
Big Island Now: Governor David Ige reconfirmed his stance on the currently stalled Thirty Meter Telescope project during his State of the State address on Monday morning. The Hawai’i governor compared the project to the failure of the SuperFerry, noting the state`s failure to justly following the rules. “Its failure [the SuperFerry] has been attributed to environmental objections and a hostile court. But that is not exactly what happened,” Governor Ige said. “The fact is the state failed to follow the law. When...
Canada to set climate change tests pipeline reviews: Trudeau
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 27th, 2016
Reuters: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged on Tuesday to require that environmental reviews of oil pipelines and LNG export projects consider greenhouse gas effects, and said it was not his role to be a cheerleader for such projects.
The Liberal government said the new rules would be rolled out within days, and that they would take into account not just the greenhouse gas emissions from a proposed pipeline or liquefied natural gas terminal but also its "upstream" effects, meaning the impact...
Australia sinks on ‘most credible’ environmental index in the world
Posted by Age: Peter Hannam on January 27th, 2016
Age: Australia's global ranking has dived on an international survey that Environment Minister Greg Hunt had described as "the most credible, scientifically based" analysis in the world.
The 2016 Environmental Performance Index, released every two years by Yale University in the US, has dropped Australia's ranking by 10 places to 13th out of 180 nations in its latest update.
The country's worst performance, though, came in the climate and energy category, where Australia was ranked 150th for its...
Ottawa to seek climate change study of energy projects
Posted by Vancouver Sun: Peter O'Neil and Rob Shaw on January 27th, 2016
Vancouver Sun: The Trudeau government will insist on environmental assessments for two major West Coast natural resource projects to take into account their greenhouse gas emissions, a senior source said Tuesday.
But the proposal -- Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr has only said to expect an announcement within days -- will not delay either project, the source said.
“We are keenly aware that significant commercial actors have spent a lot of good money in good faith on a process that they were assured by...