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Canada Pushes Ahead with Alternatives to Keystone XL
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on March 30th, 2015
Climate Central: A decision on whether to allow the Keystone XL Pipeline to be built in the U.S. could come at any time, but there are myriad other projects on the table designed to do exactly what Keystone XL was designed to do: transport Canadian tar sands oil to refineries.
Those pipelines, both in the U.S. and Canada, are being designed to move the oily bitumen produced from the tar sands to refineries in Texas and eastern Canada, and to ports on the Pacific Coast where the oil could be shipped to Asia.
Combined,...
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Wildfires Tied to Drought, Heat & Topography, Not Beetles
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on March 29th, 2015
Climate Central: In 2012, when the High Park Fire tore through a northern Colorado forest replete with dead trees left in the wake of a mountain pine beetle infestation, blame for the fire's spread across 87,000 acres was often placed primarily on the beetles.
The High Park Fire, which killed one person and destroyed 259 homes, and the attention to the beetles in its wake were part of the impetus for a new University of Colorado study showing that bark beetle infestations and the dead trees they leave behind have...
Four Things to Know About Keystone XL
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on January 30th, 2015
Climate Central: The Obama administration is under pressure from Congress to decide on the fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline after the Senate approved a bill Thursday that would greenlight the pipeline's construction. A final bill could land on President Obama's desk sometime next week, but he is expected to veto the bill because he objects to Congress usurping his administration's authority over the pipeline's approval.
With the political pressure on, the U.S. State Department, which is in charge of the Keystone's...
Study: Natural Gas Reliance Impediment to Renewables
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on September 24th, 2014
Climate Central: Using natural gas to produce electricity is a major part of the Obama administration's policy on climate change, which aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants in favor of renewables and natural gas-fired plants that emit less CO2.
But a new University of California-Irvine study published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Research Letters suggests that the country's push toward natural gas is not only a distraction from "decarbonizing' the U.S. and expanding renewable...
Drought in West is Literally Moving Mountains
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on August 21st, 2014
Climate Central: Climate change is driving the Greenland Ice Sheet to melt, which is contributing to sea level rise. But imagine that the same amount of water melting from Greenland each year is being lost in California and the rest of the West because of the epic drought there.
What happens? The land in the West begins to rise.
In fact, some parts of California's mountains have been uplifted as much as 15 millimeters (about 0.6 inches) in the past 18 months because the massive amount of water lost in the drought...
Keystone XL Will Spike Oil Demand and CO2, Study Says
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on August 10th, 2014
Climate Central: The proposed Keystone XL Pipeline and the greenhouse gases that would be released because of it have been at the heart of the debate over whether the pipeline should be built in the U.S. since it was first proposed in 2008.
The U.S. State Department estimated in its final environmental review of Keystone XL that the pipeline would lead to the emission of between 1 million and 27 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, but won't significantly worsen climate change.
A new study published Sunday...
Warming Threatens Roads, Ports and Planes, Report Says
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on July 28th, 2014
Climate Central: The transportation sector is a major contributor to climate-changing carbon dioxide emissions, and, worldwide, it's also one of the most vulnerable sectors to the effects of climate change, according to a new report.
In other words, climate change could mean "sun kinks' could warp train tracks in the heat, airplanes will be more expensive to fly, highway surfaces could soften in heat waves, roadways and bridges could be washed away in rising seas and storm surges, and storms in the open ocean...
Study Digs Deep on Shale Gas Wells, Methane Leaks
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on June 30th, 2014
Climate Central: Defects in fracked oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania are leading to methane leaks in shale wells throughout the state -- greenhouse gas emissions that could exacerbate climate change, according to a Cornell University study published Monday.
The study, conducted by a team led by Cornell environmental engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea, analyzed more than 75,000 publicly available state environmental compliance records for about 41,000 oil and gas wells that had been drilled between 2000 and...
‘Catastrophe’ Claim Adds Fuel Methane Debate
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on May 16th, 2014
Climate Central: A Cornell University scientist's claims that oil and gas development is so harmful to the climate that methane emissions and oil and gas production in general need to be cut back immediately to avoid a "global catastrophe" are adding more fuel to the scientific debate over the climate implications of shale oil and gas production.
Fossil fuels production is the largest methane pollution source in the U.S., and ignoring those emissions will lead to a climate change "tipping point' from which there...
Growing Tight: U.S. Oil Now 10 Percent of World Supply
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on March 28th, 2014
Climate Central: The U.S. now contributes more than 10 percent of the total global crude oil supply as of the end of 2013, a result of the advances in hydraulic fracturing and drilling technology that are driving the oil and gas boom in Texas, North Dakota and other Western states, new U.S. Energy Information Administration data show.
The drilling frenzy in the West's oil fields is mainly about one thing: "tight" crude.
Most of the easiest oil to drill in the U.S. has been in decline, so energy companies over...