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Archive for the ‘Water Conservation’ Category
Rhino poaching stats ‘don’t reflect facts’
Posted by IOL: None Given on January 24th, 2016
IOL: The minister of environmental affairs described it as "great cause for optimism". But for rhino expert Tom Milliken, the slightly reduced rhino statistics reveal only how deeply poaching is entrenched.
On Thursday, the minister, Edna Molewa, announced that poachers had slaughtered 1 175 of the animals last year -- marginally down from the record 1 215 in 2014. This was the first decline in rhino poaching figures since 2007.
But Milliken, of Traffic, the global wildlife trade monitoring network,...
Massive blizzard paralyzes New York and Washington, 19 dead
Posted by Reuters: Barbara Goldberg and Idrees Ali on January 24th, 2016
Reuters: Millions of residents, business owners and workers began digging out on Sunday from a massive blizzard that brought Washington, New York and other northeastern U.S. cities to a standstill, killing at least 19 people in several states.
The storm was the second-biggest in New York City history, with 26.8 inches (68 cm) by midnight Saturday, just shy of the record 26.9 inches set in 2006, the National Weather Service said.
Thirteen people were killed in weather-related car crashes in Arkansas,...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Massive blizzard paralyzes New York and Washington, 19 deadRegulators approve health study on huge California gas leak
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 24th, 2016
Reuters: Regional air quality regulators in California voted on Saturday to require the utility responsible for a ruptured underground pipeline in the Los Angeles area to underwrite an independent study on the health effects of a huge methane leak from the site.
The natural gas leak in Aliso Canyon, just outside the Los Angeles neighborhood of Porter Ranch, began on Oct. 23 and ranks as the worst ever in California.
Odorized methane fumes sickened scores of people and led to the temporary relocation...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Regulators approve health study on huge California gas leak?Stalled construction costs 30 Meter Telescope millions
Posted by Pacific Business: None Given on January 24th, 2016
Pacific Business: The team behind the $1.4 billion telescope project planned for Mauna Kea has invested $170 million to date for construction and manufacturing, according to Stone.
“We spent eight years now getting the permit, and on Dec. 2 it was invalidated,” he said. “We went through the process, did everything we were asked to do, and it turned out that that was evidently not the right process, so now we’re waiting on what the process needs to be.”
The Hawaii Supreme Court decided last month that the TMT...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ?Stalled construction costs 30 Meter Telescope millionsTMT official: Fate of project rests with state
Posted by Hawaii Tribune: JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER on January 24th, 2016
Hawaii Tribune: The executive director of the embattled Thirty Meter Telescope said Friday he wants to move forward with the project but is waiting to hear from state agencies about how to proceed after the Hawaii Supreme Court invalidated a key construction permit.
The $1.4 billion project has been in limbo since April, when throngs of protesters opposed to building the telescope atop Mauna Kea-- held sacred by many Native Hawaiians -- blocked construction crews. Protesters showed up in force again in June during...
Climate change, flooding topics of concern at Aquarium of the Pacific panel
Posted by Press Telegram: Greg Yee on January 23rd, 2016
Press Telegram: About 200 Long Beach residents got a close look at how climate change is affecting the local area Saturday morning. The League of Women Voters, Long Beach Area, organized a presentation on climate change, water use, flooding, El Niño and other climate-related issues at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Speakers included Jerry Schubel, the aquarium’s president and CEO; Timu Gallien, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Juliette Hart of USC’s Dornslife/Sea Grant Program; John D.S. Allen, Director...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change, flooding topics of concern at Aquarium of the Pacific panelCalifornia gas leak spotlights shoddy regulation of nation aging underground infrastructure
Posted by Reuters: Nichola Groom on January 23rd, 2016
Reuters: Long before a natural gas storage well sprung a disastrous leak near Los Angeles, utilities and national industry groups were raising alarms about the danger of aging underground storage infrastructure.
The leaking well`s owner, Southern California Gas Co. warned state utility regulators in 2014 of "major failures" without a rate hike to pay for comprehensive inspections of 229 storage wells.
Twenty-six of its wells were "high risk" and should be abandoned -- even though they complied with...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California gas leak spotlights shoddy regulation of nation aging underground infrastructureNew York Nears Record Snowfall After Blizzard Pummels City, East Coast
Posted by NY Magazine: Chas Danner on January 23rd, 2016
NY Magazine: The Latest • As of midnight Saturday, a light snow is still falling in New York City, where a total snowfall of as much as 30 inches was forecast from the powerful storm. Regardless, it has already become the second biggest snowstorm in the city's recorded history (since 1869). Snowfall in Central Park had reached 26.8 inches as of midnight, just one tenth of an inch short of matching the all-time record, which the storm will still likely break. In addition, Saturday was already the snowiest single...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New York Nears Record Snowfall After Blizzard Pummels City, East CoastBlizzard of 2016 lives up to the hype, and then some
Posted by Mashable: None Given on January 23rd, 2016
Mashable: Call it what you want to: The Blizzard of 2016, Winter Storm Jonas or Snowzilla. The fact is that for tens of millions of people from New York to the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky and West Virginia, this storm lived up to -- and even exceeded -- the days of hype leading up to it.
In New York City, for example, millions of residents went to bed on Friday night expecting to wake up to a few inches of snow, only to find a raging blizzard outside. The storm is the No. 2 snowstorm on record in...
United Kingdom: Guernsey and 3M in legal fight over fire extinguisher chemicals
Posted by Telegraph: Marion Dakers on January 23rd, 2016
Telegraph: A dispute over pollution from fire extinguishers has brought the island of Guernsey into a court battle with 3M, the conglomerate best known for making Post-it notes and Scotch tape. The States of Guernsey this week argued in the High Court in London that two decades of using 3M’s firefighting foam at its airports contaminated the groundwater. The island has spent millions of pounds treating soil and water after a fire in 2005 led to tests that showed signs of Perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS),...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Guernsey and 3M in legal fight over fire extinguisher chemicals