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Australia: Great Barrier Reef will be smothered with silt, because coal
Posted by Grist: John Upton on January 31st, 2014
Grist: Australia`s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park - a supposedly protected natural area containing thousands of reefs, which together are visible from space and attract nearly $6 billion a year in tourism - is a pretty terrible place to dump loads of silt. But it`s happening: The federal agency that governs the reef approved plans to dump up to 3 million cubic meters of silt that will be dredged from the marine park to help carve a superhighway for tankers ferrying coal to Asia.
It`s the final piece...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Australia: Great Barrier Reef will be smothered with silt, because coalFrackers banned from New York for at least another year
Posted by Grist: John Upton on January 30th, 2014
Grist: Good news, New Yorkers. Your state has staved off the creepy advances of environment-trashing frackers for at least another year.
While neighboring states have allowed oil and gas companies to frack freely in their Marcellus shale deposits, the Empire State declared a statewide moratorium in 2008, saying it needed time to study the impacts to water supplies and human health. The ban has attracted lawsuits from the energy industry, but fracking is so unpopular in New York that dozens of local governments...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Frackers banned from New York for at least another yearNorth Dakota’s top oil regulator is also its top oil promoter
Posted by Grist: John Upton on January 15th, 2014
Grist: In North Dakota, where an oil boom is leading to spills and explosions, the top oil regulator also serves as a cheerleader for the oil industry. And some Democrats think it`s time for the pom-poms to change hands.
The Forum News Service reports that state`s Senate and House minority leaders have asked the North Dakota Industrial Commission, which oversees industries including oil and gas, to separate the oil regulation and promotion responsibilities of the Department of Mineral Resources`s boss....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on North Dakota’s top oil regulator is also its top oil promoterTar-sands mining in Canada is unleashing mercury pollution
Posted by Grist: John Upton on January 3rd, 2014
Grist: Drilling for tar-sands oil in Alberta has long been recognized as a driver of climate change, helping to nudge the mercury up in thermometers around the world. Now, it appears that it`s also dousing the Canadian province with straight-up mercury pollution.
Canadian government researchers have discovered that oil-sands operations have puffed out mercury over 4.7 million acres of northeast Alberta, boosting levels to as much as 16 times higher than background levels. Mercury is a potent poison that`s...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tar-sands mining in Canada is unleashing mercury pollutionFirst oil shale mine in U.S. is coming to Utah
Posted by Grist: John Upton on December 24th, 2013
Grist: As if we didn`t already have enough filthy, inefficient, unconventional oil-extraction techniques in use in North America, here`s one more: oil shale mining.
A Utah company has received the go-ahead from the state’s water-quality department to begin operating the first commercial oil shale mine in North America.
Oil shale is not to be confused with shale oil, or shale gas, or oil sands. So what the hell is it? "Contrary to its name," explains Western Resource Advocates, "oil shale contains...
Scientists call for labeling tar-sands oil
Posted by Grist: John Upton on December 24th, 2013
Grist: For the past four years, European Union officials have been mulling a labeling system that would require fuel companies to tell their customers how much carbon pollution is produced by each of the products they sell.
The idea is deeply unpopular with oil companies, which don`t want their customers thinking about such things every time they fill up their tanks. It`s also deeply unpopular with Canada. That`s because the country`s tar-sands oil is particularly dreadful for the climate, something...
Fracking opponents win big in Pennsylvania
Posted by Grist: John Upton on December 23rd, 2013
Grist: Robinson Township in western Pennsylvania is home to a couple thousand residents and about 20 fracked wells. In a resounding victory for common sense and for local governments throughout the state, residents there and in six other towns won an epic court battle last week that will give them back the right to regulate or even evict the fracking operations in their midst.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday struck down elements of a state law that had prevented local governments from regulating...
Bankrupt fracking firm suing New York governor to end moratorium
Posted by Grist: John Upton on December 19th, 2013
Grist: Norse Energy is a failure when it comes to its core business — drilling for gas and oil. Despite America’s huge drilling boom, the company is bankrupt. Unable to turn a profit as a driller, the company has taken to suing governments and officials that limit fracking, blaming them for its undoing. Attorneys for the company’s trustees filed a lawsuit Tuesday against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and two state commissioners, claiming that the state’s fracking moratorium had brought about the company’s...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Bankrupt fracking firm suing New York governor to end moratoriumAustralia: Is the coal industry about to wreck the Great Barrier Reef?
Posted by Grist: John Upton on December 17th, 2013
Grist: Here`s a conundrum for you: Would it be better to protect Australia`s Great Barrier Reef, which is visible from space, attracts more than a million visitors every year, and is home to thousands of species of fish, sharks, and other marine animals? Or would it be better to build one of the world`s largest coal ports near the reef, dredge the area around the port, dump millions of tons of dredged mud and sand into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and then create a coal-shipping superhighway through...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: Is the coal industry about to wreck the Great Barrier Reef?Every “serious environmentalist” must support fracking? Seriously?
Posted by Grist: John Upton on December 15th, 2013
Grist: If you oppose fracking, then you are not a “serious environmentalist.”
So say U.C. Berkeley physics professor Richard Muller and his daughter Elizabeth Muller in a new opinion paper with a none-too-subtle title: "Why Every Serious Environmentalist Should Favor Fracking."
Until recently, Muller wasn`t much of an environmentalist himself. He was a prominent climate denier. But last year he wrote in The New York Times that he came to realize the error of his ways after an intensive review of the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Every “serious environmentalist” must support fracking? Seriously?