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Archive for the ‘Water Conservation’ Category
US proposes rule to limit gas ‘flaring’ at drilling sites
Posted by Sun Times: None Given on January 22nd, 2016
Sun Times: The effort is part of President Barack Obama's broader climate change strategy based on executive actions, which includes a goal to reduce oil and gas sector methane emissions by up to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025. They would require oil and gas producers to limit the amount of gas they vent or burn off - known as flaring - as well as replace aging equipment, periodically inspect their oil and gas sites for leaks, which they are not now required to do.
"I think most people would agree that...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on US proposes rule to limit gas ‘flaring’ at drilling sitesClimate change raises a troubling question: Who gets to eat?
Posted by InsideClimate: David Hasemyer on January 22nd, 2016
InsideClimate: Policymakers on Capitol Hill got a dire warning that climate change threatens food production, safety and affordability.
That stark message came in a briefing by the American Meteorological Society to congressional staff members, climate scientists and federal regulators that linked climate change to a host of troubling scenarios involving worldwide food availability.
Wednesday's briefing drew on a peer-reviewed study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture released during the Paris Climate Conference...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change raises a troubling question: Who gets to eat?Obama Administration to Propose New Rules to Halt Methane Leaks
Posted by Reuters: Valerie Volcovici on January 22nd, 2016
Reuters: The Obama administration is expected to propose new rules as soon as Friday to curb methane leaks from oil and natural gas production, its latest attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy production under its control, sources familiar with the plan said. The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to limit venting and flaring natural gas at wells on public land, practices that let methane into the atmosphere. Methane is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas after...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Obama Administration to Propose New Rules to Halt Methane LeaksJudge in climate suit tells feds to re-examine coal mine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 22nd, 2016
Associated Press: Federal officials must re-examine a 117 million-ton expansion of an eastern Montana coal mine after a judge sided with environmentalists who sued over the project's potential to make climate change worse and cause other environmental damage. U.S. District Judge Susan Watters gave the Interior Department nine months to look again at the proposal for the Cloud Peak Energy's Spring Creek mine near Decker, Montana, along the Wyoming border. In its prior review, the agency "failed to take a hard look"...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Judge in climate suit tells feds to re-examine coal mineWhy Everyone Should Be Worried About Calif Gas Leak Disaster
Posted by Huffington Post: Matt Ferner and Lydia O'Connor on January 21st, 2016
Huffington Post: Call it a canary in a natural gas storage zone. The enormous volume of natural gas spewing from a broken well here should serve as a wake-up call that more catastrophes are waiting to happen at similar facilities nationwide, conservationists warn. Aging infrastructure, industry negligence and scant state regulations are all factors that led to the enormous Aliso Canyon methane leak now plaguing the affluent Porter Ranch community, and they are common problems across California and the nation, according...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Why Everyone Should Be Worried About Calif Gas Leak Disaster2015 Was The Hottest Year On Record, This Year Is Likely To Be Even Hotter
Posted by International Business: None Given on January 21st, 2016
International Business: It’s official. 2015 was the planet’s hottest year on historical records dating back to 1880, shattering the previous mark set in 2014 by 0.13 Celsius (0.23 degrees Fahrenheit), scientists at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed Wednesday.
The latest data provides further evidence that most of the warming due to climate change -- driven largely by human-made greenhouse gas emissions -- has occurred in the past 35 years, with 15 of the 16 warmest years on...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on 2015 Was The Hottest Year On Record, This Year Is Likely To Be Even HotterFlint water crisis: emails reveal governor Snyder informed of problems a year ago
Posted by Guardian: Ryan Felton and Nicky Woolf on January 21st, 2016
Guardian: Michigan governor Rick Snyder was informed of water quality issues in the city of Flint’s supply as early as February 2015, according to emails released to the public on Wednesday, but his administration struck a dismissive tone, saying the problems would eventually “fade in the rearview”.
Related: How Michigan's Flint River is poisoning the city's residents
A background memo sent to the governor on 1 February dismissed the pleas of Flint’s then-mayor Dayne Walling for state assistance, saying...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Flint water crisis: emails reveal governor Snyder informed of problems a year agoVictorian farmers call for pipelines save region from climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 21st, 2016
Guardian: Record dry weather in the usually wet farming regions of south-west Victoria has forced farmers to queue for water from a community bore, and led to calls for infrastructure that will future-proof the region in relation to climate change.
Two winters with little rain, followed by completely dry springs and summers have left livestock producers in the west Wimmera and southern Grampians with record low levels of water storage, Tim Leeming, a farmer and regional chair of the Southern Australia Meat...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Victorian farmers call for pipelines save region from climate changeSnow Soaks Up Pollutants, Says New Study from Montreal
Posted by Nature World News: None Given on January 20th, 2016
Nature World News: Snow. Is it paying for our environmental sins?
That is, like all things next to roadways and in urban environments, snowflakes are picking up pollutants from the air in cities. But they're doing it in a particularly efficient way, like a pollution sink, says a recent study. In fact, those findings from snow-capital Montreal, Canada indicate that, while "snow ice cream" and downing a part of the potential snowman are both appealing, snow is not for eating.
That is, the study team found that...
This Winter Storm Could Set Coastal Flood Records
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on January 20th, 2016
Climate Central: The chatter about this weekend’s snowstorm has reached a fever pitch. And while snow total maps are de rigueur for any weather site worth its road salt, it’s the coastal flood impacts that could also go down in the record books and drive major damage. Areas north and west of Washington, D.C. are under a blizzard watch from Friday afternoon through late Saturday. The National Weather Service is warning of “potential life threatening conditions” due to strong winds and heavy snow. Parts of the Washington,...