Monthly Archives: September 2010
Interior Issues New Offshore Drilling Rules, Holds Firm on Moratorium
Greenwire: The Obama administration today imposed new offshore drilling safety regulations, a move needed to end its moratorium on deepwater exploratory drilling, but it gave no indication of when that ban would be lifted. Instead, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar promised the industry would face a "dynamic regulatory environment" in the weeks and months to [...]
Posted in 33052 Comments closed
CLIMATE SPECTATOR: Woodside’s carbon challenge
Business Spectator: The provocative research and articles from Paul Gilding and Phil Preston published on Climate Spectator in the past two weeks have generated considerable comment — not just on this website, but in the mainstream investment community. So much so that Elaine Prior and Craig Sainsbury, two analysts from Citi, the world`s largest [...]
Posted in 33055 Comments closed
Geoengineering May Represent Earth’s Best “Plan B”
Inter Press Service: Beyond Copenhagen and Cancún, a different climate debate has been brewing. The outcome of this debate, however, will affect far more than the climate, and that is precisely why it is so contentious. As many countries continue to refuse to cap their greenhouse gas emissions and climate change-induced emergencies become increasing [...]
Posted in 33057 Comments closed
Canada forms panel to probe oil sands pollution
Reuters: Canada’s environment minister has formed a scientific panel to examine whether Alberta’s oil sands projects are polluting the Athabasca River as charged by an influential water ecologist. Environment Minister Jim Prentice said on Thursday the panel, led by a former United Nations Environment Program director, will advise him on the state of environmental [...]
Posted in 33059 Comments closed
BP unit to pay $15 million for pollution violations
Reuters: A unit of BP Plc has agreed to pay $15 million to settle Clean Air Act violations related to fires and a leak at its Texas City refinery in 2004 and 2005, the Obama administration said on Thursday. The penalty addresses violations from two fires at the Texas refinery in March 2004 and [...]
Posted in 33061 Comments closed
BP to pay record 15-million-dollar US air-pollution fine
AFP: British energy giant BP has pledged to pay a record 15-million-dollar fine to the US government for releasing pollutants into the air at its Texas refinery, officials said Thursday. The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a joint statement that BP Products North America, a US subsidiary of the [...]
Posted in 33063 Comments closed
Early humans lived in PNG highlands 50,000 yrs ago
Reuters: Archeologists have uncovered evidence suggesting that early humans braved cold temperatures to occupy highlands in Papua New Guinea 50,000 years ago in search of food. Working on five archeological sites about 2,000 meters above sea level, researchers from Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand found charred nut shells from the pandanus tree [...]
Posted in 33065 Comments closed
Sen. Bingaman Pushes to Pass Energy Bills in Lame Duck
Greenwire: The chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has a laundry list of energy measures he wants to see approved this fall and is pressing Senate leaders to schedule votes during the short legislative session after the November election. Top on Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s (D-N.M.) wish list for the lame-duck session [...]
Posted in 33067 Comments closed
New York can safely boost wind power sixfold by 2018: grid
Reuters: New York could reliably boost power generation from wind from the current 1,275 megawatts to 8,000 MW by 2018, according to a new study by the state grid operator on Thursday . New York needs more wind power to reduce carbon emissions to fight global warming and help meet its goal of having [...]
Posted in 33069 Comments closed
U.S. Sets Tougher Rules For Offshore Drilling
AP: The Obama administration on Thursday announced new rules requiring that operators of offshore drilling rigs certify they have working blowout preventers and standards for cementing wells. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the new rules for oil and gas operations will improve safety and reduce the chance of catastrophic blowouts such as the one [...]
Posted in 33071 Comments closed
UK renewable energy production falls for second time in 2010
Guardian: The UK has suffered a second fall in renewable energy production this year, raising concern about the more than £1bn support the industry receives each year from taxpayers. The drop in electricity generated from wind, hydro and other clean sources in the first half of 2010 could also be a setback to the [...]
Posted in 33073 Comments closed
Indian science academies rebuked in Bt brinjal debate
SciDev.Net: An attempt by India’s science academies to contribute to the heated debate on genetically modified (GM) crops appears to have backfired after the country’s environment minister rejected their controversial report. The inter-academy report, published last week (24 September), has been swiftly followed by a note of apology from the country’s leading science academy [...]
Posted in 33075 Comments closed
Canada: Scientists to review oil sands pollution of waterways
AFP: Canada’s environment minister on Thursday appointed a scientific panel to review waterways monitoring near the Alberta oil sands, in response to growing concerns over pollution from tailings. "We are determined to develop Canada’s oil sands in a manner that it sustainable and environmentally sensitive," Environment Minister Jim Prentice said. "This independent review [...]
Posted in 33077 Comments closed
Good To Know: Skeptic’s Reversal On Climate Change
CBS: The floods are in the news, and something seems amiss. Springtime is flooding time. All this rain in the fall is unusual. Don Shelby says that’s why they call it global climate change. Even global climate change skeptics don’t argue that the planet is changing. Science shows the place is getting warmer and [...]
Posted in 33079 Comments closed
Natural Gas Drillers Protest Nomination of Fracking Critics for EPA Review Panel