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Algae blooms cover the lower Chesapeake Bay.
This summer's hot weather combined with sporadic but powerful rainstorms created ideal conditions for algae blooms. Their dark webs cover significant parts of the lower Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, a stretch from Norfolk to Mathews County and beyond. From: Newport News Daily Press. 2010-08-15T09:00-05:00 In the Russian wildfires, will Putin get burned?
Between hundreds of wildfires in Russia and record-breaking heat, this has been the worst summer in Russian memory. Officials report that the death rate in Moscow has doubled from its customary levels. Thousands of homes and dachas have been destroyed, with direct losses estimated at $15 billion and rising. From: Washington Post. 2010-08-15T09:00-05:00 West Virginia's 1st district: Old King Coal.
In the upper portion of West Virgina, around 5,000 people work directly in the coal industry. It is well paid work, but still dangerous. The list of mining disasters reads like the battle honours of an infantry regiment. From: Economist. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Urban farming for cash gains a toehold in San Francisco.
Even as the hype around urban agriculture and the local-food movement has exploded, laws governing land use are still stuck in another era, one that frowned on farming in the city, especially in residential areas, experts in urban planning say. From: New York Times. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Pakistan floods, Haiti earthquake: Unprecedented 1-2 punch for US aid.
This is shaping up to be an exceptional year in terms of the US response to natural disasters, and the reason ? at least until this month ? could be found in one word: Haiti. From: Christian Science Monitor. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Coalition to redirect $400m from clean coal projects.
A Coalition government would strip $400 million from the carbon capture program and redirect the funds to revitalise small-cap minerals explorers and clean coal technologies, Tony Abbott has announced. From: Sydney Morning Herald. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 So far, 2010 is the world's hottest year on record, NOAA data show.
So far, this has been the hottest year in recorded history. Although NOAA experts say global climate change isn't the only reason 2010 has been so hot, they said it's still the most important reason. From: Washington Post. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Ohio's business climate 'a disaster,' Kasich says.
John Kasich, the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio, outlined a general approach to pulling Ohio's business climate out of what he says is a "disaster" under the present governor in a public forum sponsored Friday by the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce. From: Toledo Blade. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Voters go green in key Australian seats as knife-edge election looms.
Australia's small Greens party is polling more than 12 per cent across the nation, putting it on course to secure the balance of power in the upper house Senate and become kingmaker on policies such as a new mining tax and carbon trading, say opinion polls. From: Edinburgh Scotsman. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Election debate turns to coal.
The federal opposition has taken the knife to funding to clean up coal, as climate change re-enters the election campaign. From: Australian Associated Press. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Gillard launches carbon credit scheme for farmers.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has visited a farm on the New South Wales north coast to launch a new climate change initiative. From: Sydney ABC News. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 'Crown jewels' of Britain's landscape could be sold off.
The Lizard peninsula is one of Britain's romantic and evocative places: home to some of the rarest and most protected wildlife. But if government plans are pushed through, it could one day theoretically be owned and managed by a big supermarket like Sainsbury's or Tesco, an oil company or a local community. From: London Guardian. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Energy funds went unspent, U.S. auditor says.
The recession is lingering, and so is the unspent stimulus money that was meant to help end it. The latest example is the $3.2 billion that Congress voted as part of an economic stimulus package to simultaneously provide jobs and improve energy efficiency through block grants to states and cities. From: New York Times. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Aubertine voted against hydrofracking moratorium over worries about lease holders.
Darrel Aubertine was one of only nine state senators to vote last week against a bill to block New York from permitting a controversial natural gas drilling technique until mid-May. From: Syracuse Post-Standard. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Gas industry petitions for lower initial tax rate.
The natural gas industry is lobbying lawmakers to tax production at a lower rate during a well's early years of production. From: Hazleton Standard-Speaker. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 BP spill may cause sea change for energy industry.
The massive leak is complicating the belief that the Gulf of Mexico is the nation's best source of oil and natural gas. Experts predict that production will slow while regulation and deep-water drilling costs will increase. From: Los Angeles Times. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Did the BP oil spill curb your petroleum habit?
It takes less than a day for this country to go through the 205 million gallons of oil that poured into the Gulf over three months. So did all those videos of oil-slicked animals and beaches and horror stories from Gulf residents prompt us all to action? From: MarketPlace. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Analysis: Senate ready for round 2 on drilling regulation.
Lingering concern among voters about BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico means that efforts to tighten regulations on offshore drilling will continue in the U.S. Congress even with the well plugged and the oil dissipated. From: Reuters. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Reject the rejection.
Global warming is an issue that demands responsible executive leadership, not legislative rhetorical clap-trap. From: Louisville Courier-Journal. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 They're safe for our children, right? No!
Outdated regulations ensure that most of the tens of thousands of chemicals that populate our lives are untested, their potential impact on our health unknown. When it comes to industrial chemicals, federal law begins with the assumption that any substance is safe, both for humans and the environment. From: Miami Herald. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Ballot measures: Trying to shed light on a shadowy figure in Proposition 23 battle.
The Adam Smith Foundation in Missouri has donated $498,000 to support the ballot measure that would suspend the state's climate-change law, but attempts to ferret out the real sources prove futile. From: Los Angeles Times. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Blame widespread in failure to pass a climate change bill.
Climate legislation has been introduced and failed in almost every Congress since 1988. It?s time to acknowledge some of the deeper reasons for the continued failure. From: Eugene Register Guard. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 In the Everglades, the miracle that wasn't.
For the Everglades, might there have been a better result with a little less faith and a little more reason? From: New York Times. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Update ethanol subsidies to pressure OPEC.
Although America?s pro-ethanol policies are far from ideal, they should not be eliminated. Instead, they should be modernized to keep the competitive pressure on OPEC while improving urban air quality and reducing the environmental footprint of ethanol production. From: Janesville Gazette. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Senate should pass climate legislation.
Last month's announcement that comprehensive climate legislation will not be acted on by the Senate comes as a huge disappointment for those of us who believed the days of lobbyists' control over Washington, D.C., were over. From: Daytona Beach News-Journal. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 We need good alternatives to natural gas.
The era of cheap and plentiful gas in Southcentral Alaska is over. From: Anchorage Daily News. 2010-08-14T09:00-05:00 Can 'green cement' make carbon capture and storage obsolete?
A growing number of companies and investors are betting on technologies that will separate and then trap carbon emissions in a series of "beneficial products" that can be shipped to markets and sold at a profit, thus avoiding the need for much of the carbon capture and storage infrastructure. From: ClimateWire. 2010-08-13T09:00-05:00 Oil spill shows difficulty the Coast Guard faces as it balances traditional tasks with post-9/11 missions.
Since the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, investigations into oversight gaps have focused on systemic problems within the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service. But the Coast Guard, which shared oversight with MMS, has largely escaped scrutiny. From: Washington Post. 2010-08-13T09:00-05:00 How long to pass an oil spill bill? Try 18 months.
An epic oil spill covers the sea, damaging wildlife and walloping the local economy. Congress demands changes to prevent similar disasters. But political arguments erupt and legislation stalls. From: Greenwire. 2010-08-13T09:00-05:00 Federal task force reasserts the need for a price on carbon.
Yesterday, the agencies delivered their report to the White House: They said the carbon capture and storage goal will require a price on carbon and substantial federal incentives. From: ClimateWire. 2010-08-13T09:00-05:00 |
