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‘A millennium’s worth of earthquakes’: What are states going to do?
Posted by Monitor: Kelsey Warner on January 10th, 2016
Monitor: A spike in seismic activity over seven years, a flurry of reports, and then last week, more earthquakes.
Last Wednesday night, in an area where drilling for oil and gas occurs, a community in northwestern Oklahoma was hit with two quakes that registered 4.7 and 4.8 on the Richter scale, and 22 more tremors were logged throughout the area over a 13-hour period.
The panhandle state experienced 585 quakes in 2014. In 2015 there were 842, according to data from the National Earthquake Information...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on ‘A millennium’s worth of earthquakes’: What are states going to do?What Does El Niño Precipitation Mean Calif Drought?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 10th, 2016
National Public Radio: It's finally raining in California, but will the El Niño storms be enough to refill the state's reservoirs? Can the water be collected? Alice Walton of the LA Times talks with NPR's Rachel Martin.
Fracking shakes American west: ‘a millennium’s worth of earthquakes’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 10th, 2016
Guardian: Increasingly tied to tremors shaking the west, fracking for natural gas is creating alarm and division around western states that until recently enjoyed a boom in jobs and revenue.
In Oklahoma, seismologists have warned that significant temblors last week could signal a larger, more dangerous earthquake to come in a state where drilling is destabilizing the bedrock.
Last Wednesday night two earthquakes, measuring 4.7 and 4.8 on the Richter scale, struck rural northern Oklahoma, beneath a major...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fracking shakes American west: ‘a millennium’s worth of earthquakes’Chemicals in Melbourne’s Yarra River created a health risk, says report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 10th, 2016
AAP: A toxic cocktail of chemicals and herbicides has been washed into Melbourne’s Yarra River, killing trees and creating a public health risk, according to a Parks Victoria report.
An internal incident and hazard summary report on Parks Victoria operations between January and October 2015 has revealed toxic chemicals were flowing into the Yarra from a wash-down facility in the Warrandyte state park, located next to popular swimming spot Pound Bend.
The report said the “wash-down facility used...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Chemicals in Melbourne’s Yarra River created a health risk, says reportHere’s How Software Could Save Salt Marshes
Posted by Climate Central: Sharon Ashworth on January 10th, 2016
Climate Central: It's a mild and sunny summer day on the tidal salt marshes at Barn Island Wildlife Management Area, which sits across Little Narragansett bay from Stonington, Conn. Walking through a wide, dry stretch of marsh, Chris Elphick, a conservation biologist at the University of Connecticut, focuses a spotting scope on a group of little brown birds hidden among the thigh-high grasses.
Elphick identifies the rare saltmarsh sparrow by the yellow shading on its face and the crisp dark streaks on its breast....
Global Warming Could Take Its Toll Down The Shore Sooner Than Many Expect
Posted by CBS: David Madden on January 10th, 2016
CBS: A Florida based geologist has some dire warnings about climate change. Among them, many of the barrier islands along the Jersey shore could be under water in as little as 50 years.
Professor Harold Wanless chairs the Geological Sciences Department at the University of Miami. He suggests the feds are grossly underestimating the rate at which sea levels are rising because the polar ice caps are melting so rapidly.
His advice? Towns along the shore should start preparing now.
"As sea level...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Global Warming Could Take Its Toll Down The Shore Sooner Than Many ExpectLA-area residents implore officials approve plan to mitigate gas leak
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 10th, 2016
Reuters: Residents of a southern California community on Saturday implored air quality officials to force a gas company to take steps to mitigate a natural gas leak that has reportedly caused health issues and damaged property since it began three months ago.
The five-member hearing board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District fielded comments from residents of the Los Angeles' Porter Ranch neighborhood, home to about 30,000 people, near a Southern California Gas Co natural gas storage well...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on LA-area residents implore officials approve plan to mitigate gas leak‘Strong’ El Nino cause low rainfall Malaysia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 10th, 2016
Bernama: Malaysia's rainfall intensity is expected to reduce by 20 to 60 percent starting this month, following the El Nino phenomenon currently sweeping the country. Meteorological Department director-general Che Gayah Ismail said the current El Nino level was categorised as 'strong' and the country's temperature is expected to rise between 0.5 to two degrees Celsius. She said the strong impact of El Nino would continue until April with the northern states in the peninsula starting to feel its effects....
Can Ohio avoid North Dakota’s fracking problems?
Posted by Sandusky Register: John Hageman on January 9th, 2016
Sandusky Register: The extensive Bakken oil play in North Dakota has been underway for about 10 years. Their small towns have experienced a variety of well-documented incidents and ongoing problems. While our states certainly differ with respect to geography, number of towns and population, will we be spared the same social and environmental problems as horizontal fracking operations expand here? While nuisance littering, pollution, animal poisonings and poaching are transient, other actions could leave permanent...
Climate Change Could Cause Power Blackouts Worldwide
Posted by TakePart: None Given on January 9th, 2016
TakePart: The record heat waves and devastating droughts that accompany climate change could also hurt the world’s electricity production, according to a new study.
As temperatures warm and drought periods grow longer and more severe over the next 50 years, the water levels in rivers and lakes are expected to fall.
For 98 percent of the world’s power plants, that’s a problem that could result in a 30 percent decrease in electricity production in some months at most power stations.
Natural water flow...