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Obama Orders Higher Flood Risk Standard for Federal Projects
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 30th, 2015
Environment News Service: Considering the risk of rising sea levels due to climate change, President Barack Obama today issued the nation`s first Federal Flood Risk Management Standard for taxpayer-funded projects. He described the Standard as "a flexible framework to increase resilience against flooding and help preserve the natural values of floodplains."
The new flood standard will apply when federal funds are used to build, retrofit or repair structures and facilities in and around floodplains to ensure that those...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Obama Orders Higher Flood Risk Standard for Federal ProjectsU.S. Senate Votes Force Keystone XL Pipeline Approval
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 30th, 2015
Environment News Service: The new Republican-controlled Senate today voted for the first time to force U.S. approval of the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Proposed by TransCanada, the pipeline would carry diluted bitumen from the Alberta tar sands to TransCanada`s existing pipeline in Nebraska for transfer to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
The Republican-controlled House has already passed a similar bill in this new session of Congress and passed dozens of versions of the measure in the previous session....
Blizzard Spares New York, Buries Boston, Into Canada
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 28th, 2015
Environment News Service: The powerful storm that brought heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions to the Northeast on Monday persisted Tuesday as heavy snow and blizzard conditions paralyzed travel from eastern Long Island to Maine. Snow and strong winds began tapering off from south to north Tuesday night into Wednesday morning as the blizzard system slowly moves northeast into eastern Canada.
While the National Weather Service has posted blizzard warnings for eastern New Hampshire and Maine overnight, and periods of heavy...
Earth Heating Up: 2014 Warmest Year in Modern Record
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 18th, 2015
Environment News Service: The year 2014 ranks as Earth's warmest since record keeping began in 1880, according to two separate analyses by scientists with two U.S. agencies -- the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.
The 10 warmest years on record, with the exception of 1998, have now occurred since 2000. This trend continues a long-term warming of the planet, according to an analysis of surface temperature measurements by scientists at NASA's Goddard...
Earth’s ‘Planetary Boundaries’ Disrupted by Human Activities
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 16th, 2015
Environment News Service: Human activities have "dangerously compromised" four of the nine processes that are crucial to maintaining the stability of the planet, warns an international team of researchers .
In a study published online today, the 18 authors, from universities and research institutes around the world, provide new evidence of changes to the systems which regulate the resilience of the Earth, placing current and future societies at risk.
Climate change, the loss of biosphere integrity, land-system change,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Earth’s ‘Planetary Boundaries’ Disrupted by Human ActivitiesObama’s Proposed Methane Emissions Cuts Ignore Existing Sources
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 15th, 2015
Environment News Service: The Obama Administration today announced a new goal to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025, and a set of actions to put the United States on a path to achieve this goal.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will initiate a rulemaking effort to set standards for emissions of methane and volatile organic compounds from new and modified oil and gas production sources, and natural gas processing and transmission sources, but not for existing...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Obama’s Proposed Methane Emissions Cuts Ignore Existing SourcesRetail Investors Snap Up World Bank Green Growth Bonds
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 14th, 2015
Environment News Service: The first equity index-linked World Bank Green Bond available to retail investors just closed, and it was a big hit, raising more than US$91 million to support environmental solutions, the bank has announced.
The World Bank Green Growth Bond was the first Green Bond linked to an equity index designed for retail investors in Belgium and Luxembourg. It turned out to be the largest public offer subscription for a non-Euro equity index-linked bond in those two countries last year.
A total of 10...
Nebraska Court Upholds Keystone XL Pipeline Route
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 9th, 2015
Environment News Service: TransCanada`s proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline now has a legal route through Nebraska that would take the controversial pipeline through the sensitive Sand Hills region and across the Ogallala aquifer.
The Nebraska Supreme Court Friday reversed a lower court decision that struck down the 2012 law used to approve the route across the state for the $8 billion proposed pipeline that would carry diluted bitumen from Alberta`s tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
The Nebraska Supreme...
First U.S. Coal Ash Rule Disappoints Environmental Groups
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on December 21st, 2014
Environment News Service: The first national regulations to provide for the safe disposal of the ash left after burning coal to produce electricity were announced Friday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
After years of delaying action on issuing a coal ash rule, the EPA was under a court order to issue new safeguards by December 19. On that date, the final rule for coal combustion waste was issued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
The National Resources Defense Council, NRDC, and other environmental...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on First U.S. Coal Ash Rule Disappoints Environmental GroupsNew York State to Ban Fracking: ‘Reckless to Proceed’
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on December 18th, 2014
Environment News Service: As of early next year, New York State will be permanently off-limits to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for oil and gas. The decision follows the release Wednesday of a long-awaited Department of Health report that details adverse health and environmental effects from exposure to the process. Fracking involves horizontal drilling and the fracturing of underground shale rock with pressurized water and chemicals to release deposits of gas and oil. New York lies over the Marcellus shale formation,...