Measuring Fugitive Methane Emissions from Fracking

EcoWatch: A Cornell study released last year, lead by Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology Robert Howarth, was the first of its kind to study the global warming impact of natural gas extraction from shale deposits. The conclusion was that fracking releases up to 8 percent of the extracted methane directly into the atmosphere, and reports that all methane will contribute to 44 percent of global warming. Photo Andrew Michler In recent days, news reports and blog posts have highlighted the problem...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/fugitive-methane-emissions-fracking/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/methane.jpg

Enbridge to Spend $400M to Expand Alberta-to-U.S. Pipeline Capacity

Canadian Press: Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB) and its U.S. affiliate plan to spend $600 million to expand two pipelines on either side of the Canada-U.S. border. One $400-million project involves increasing capacity on Enbridge's Canadian mainline between Hardisty, Alta. and the border. The other, with a pricetag of $200 million, would expand part of the Lakehead system between Neche, N.D., and Superior, Wisc. Both projects would boost pipeline capacity by 230,000 barrels per day by increasing pumping horsepower,...

URL: http://www.timescolonist.com/business/enbridge-to-spend-400m-on-expanding-capacity-of-alberta-to-us-pipeline-1.39672

Ending the Silence on Climate Change

Bill Moyers: What should President Obama say about climate change during his State of the Union address? That`s the question tackled by scientist Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, in a preview clip from the next Moyers & Company. On the show, Leiserowitz describes for Bill his efforts to do what even Hurricane Sandy couldn't - galvanize people to take action on what's arguably the greatest single threat facing humanity. A specialist in the psychology of risk...

URL: http://billmoyers.com/episode/preview-ending-the-silence-on-climate-change/
Enclosure: http://av.vimeo.com/50510/952/136962720.mp4?aktimeoffset=0&aksessionid=0443a2a08a8a24a2f0ca10a048f08eed&token=1357448125_ba8cca150fad8dd3edbe9c491c595dba

New York state buildings ordered to improve energy efficiency by 20 per cent

BusinessGreen: New York state agencies have been ordered to increase the energy efficiency of their buildings by 20 per cent over the next seven years. Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a state order in the last week of 2012, accompanied by a new implementation programme called "Build Smart NY", which he branded "a financial and environmental win-win for New Yorkers". Drawing on energy use data for state buildings, the plan prioritises projects that will deliver the largest energy savings per dollar invested....

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2233791/new-york-state-buildings-ordered-to-improve-energy-efficiency-by-20-per-cent?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=New+York+state+buildings+ordered+to+improve+energy+efficiency+by+20+per+cent

Floods blamed for 2.4M gallons of spilled crude, feds say

Associated Press: Pipeline spills caused by flooding and riverbed erosion dumped 2.4 million gallons of crude oil and other hazardous liquids into U.S. waterways over the past two decades, according to a new report from federal regulators. The Department of Transportation report to Congress was crafted in response to a 2011 spill into Montana`s Yellowstone River. The spill highlighted gaps in federal pipeline rules that require lines to be buried just 4 feet below riverbeds -- scant cover that can quickly be scoured...

URL: http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/01/03/floods-to-blame-for-2-4m-gallons-of-spilled-crude-feds-say/
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Andean glacier melt threatens floods, then drought

AlertNet: As glaciers melt in the Andes, western areas of South America can expect a period of repeated, extreme flooding that will later give way to drought conditions, creating new challenges for millions of people, researchers warn. Tropical Andean glaciers and high-altitude ecosystems are vital to the economies of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia. The 8 million inhabitants of Peru's capital Lima depend on them for drinking water. The Bolivian capital, La Paz, takes 30 to 40 percent of its drinking...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/andean-glacier-melt-threatens-floods-then-drought
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Obama Administration, Key Congress Members Standing by Plans to Drill Offshore in the Arctic

Anchorage Daily News: Critics want a halt to offshore Arctic drilling in the wake of Shell's latest mishap in the waters off Alaska but there's no sign the Obama administration and key members of Congress are backing off their support for drilling in the sensitive region. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar let Shell begin preparatory drilling in Alaska's Arctic waters this summer, the first time in two decades. Environmental groups on Thursday called for the administration to immediately stop all permitting for Arctic...

URL: http://www.adn.com/2013/01/03/2741562/shells-foundering-ship-has-some.html

Congress Extends Incentives for Biodiesel Industry

New York Times: The Congressional budget deal brokered this week kept tax breaks in place for a variety of industries, but biodiesel got something even better: a retroactive reinstatement of a dollar-a-gallon credit going back to January 2012, when it lapsed. The retroactive portion of the credit, which will run through the end of 2013, represents a benefit to the blenders of about $1 billion. And the $1 per gallon of biodiesel amounts to roughly one-quarter of the fuel's current wholesale price. With the credit...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/business/energy-environment/congress-extends-incentives-for-biodiesel-industry.html

Lisa Jackson’s Departure and the Irrelevance of the EPA to the Obama Team

EcoWatch: U.S. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson`s imminent departure from her position was a non-event in Washington D.C. in much the same way that the EPA has been an afterthought on the American political scene for at least a generation. I am far from an objective observer of the EPA. I worked for the agency in the late 1970s and early 1980s and worked as a consultant to the EPA for many years since then. It is a great agency filled with talented and dedicated people, but as Administrator Jackson`s departure...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/lisa-jacksons-departure/

House Republican Marks Climate Change As Top Priority In Farewell Speech

CleanTechnica: Sometimes the truth really does reach the surface, no matter your political allegiance, leanings, or levels of brain-washing. In his farewell address on Tuesday, an outgoing Republican from California, David Dreier, listed climate change as a top problem facing the US. Thank goodness for Republicans with common sense. I knew they existed! Dreier told the House floor that climate change "is a fact of life" and something that must be confronted. In fact, he went so far as to say that climate...

URL: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/01/04/house-republican-marks-climate-change-as-top-priority-in-farewell-speech/

Looking to sky to fight climate change

San Francisco Chronicle: One afternoon last fall, Armand Neukermans, a tall engineer with a sweep of silver bangs, flipped on a noisy pump in the back corner of a Sunnyvale lab. Within moments, a fine mist emerged from a tiny nozzle, a haze of salt water under high pressure and heat. It didn't look like much. But this seemingly simple vapor carries a lot of hope - and inspires a lot of fear. If Neukermans' team of researchers can fine-tune the mechanism to spray just the right size and quantity of salt particles into...

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Looking-to-sky-to-fight-climate-change-4170475.php

Latest Shell Debacle in Alaska Part of a Larger Pattern of Risk and Failure

Huffington Post: Shell Oil's string of failures in its Arctic Ocean drilling attempts continued into the New Year. One of the company's drill rigs ran aground near Alaska's Kodiak Island with 150,000 gallons of diesel fuel and other petroleum products onboard. In the face of a winter storm, all four of its tow vessel's engines failed. Then the tow line failed, and repeated efforts to reattach lines and tow the rig clear of danger failed, as well. One storm thwarted Shell's plans to haul its rig to Seattle for...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frances-beinecke/latest-shell-debacle-in-a_b_2405385.html

Bans and New Rules Make Gas Drilling’s Future Uncertain in New York

New York Times: In three decades of drilling, John C. Holko said, his oil and gas business has never faced such a hostile environment. Years after he negotiated leases for gas drilling in upstate New York, strict rules on hydraulic fracturing that state environmental officials proposed threaten to put 20 percent of that land off limits, he estimated. And local drilling bans adopted by town boards could put him out of business altogether, he said. "Why should I put money in the ground if any one of the towns can...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/nyregion/bans-and-new-rules-make-gas-drillings-future-uncertain-in-new-york.html
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Deepwater Horizon Owner to Pay $1.4 Billion for Gulf Spill

New York Times: The driller whose floating Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew out in 2010, causing a massive oil spill, has agreed to settle civil and criminal claims with the federal government for $1.4 billion, the Justice Department announced Thursday. The Deepwater Horizon exploded, burned and sank in April 2010. Eleven men were killed and millions of gallons of oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico and fouled the shores of coastal states. The well, known as Macondo, was owned by British oil giant BP, which settled...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/business/energy-environment/transocean-settles-with-us-over-oil-spill-in-gulf-of-mexico.html

Battle Over Wind Subsidy Leaves Industry Bruised

National Journal: The battle to get Congress to renew the wind-energy production tax credit before year's end strained relationships among utilities, splintered support within the industry's biggest trade group, and is setting up the industry—and its supporters in Congress—for a 2013 even more contentious than 2012. Many utilities, environmental groups, and lawmakers from both parties are cheering the news that the production tax credit was extended by one year as part of the fiscal cliff deal. But the bruising...

URL: http://insideclimatenews.org/todaysnews/20130104/battle-over-wind-subsidy-leaves-industry-bruised?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+solveclimate%2Ftodaysclimate+%28Today%27sClimate+-+Today%27s+climate+news+headlines%29

What “Happy Feet Two” Star Matt Damon Taught Me About Fracking

Mother Jones: Promised Land Focus Features 106 minutes If Matt Damon & Co. really wanted to make a movie that would scare American audiences off of fracking for good, they should have just made a movie dramatizing fracking's potential threat to America's beer. Instead, what we get is a quaint love story wrapped in a conspiracy movie, draped in a toothless political polemic, festooned with mawkish aimlessness. It didn't have to be this way. Promised Land's script was originally developed with Dave...

URL: http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2012/12/film-review-promised-land-matt-damon-gus-van-sant-fracking
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8 Reasons Why Shell Can’t be Trusted in the Arctic

EcoWatch: Shell`s most recent "mishap" a few days ago was not the first setback the oil giant has suffered in its plans to drill for oil in the Arctic. In fact, it`s the eighth in a growing list of reasons why Shell should not be trusted in the Arctic. 1. Shell has no idea how much an oil spill clean-up would cost In March 2012, in response to questions from the UK`s Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee, Peter Velez, Shell's head of emergency response in the Arctic admitted that Shell had not...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/shell-cant-be-trusted-arctic/
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Malaysia: Floods due to global warming, says Najib

Star: The recent floods are not only due to the monsoon season but also due to global warming, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. He said the Government and other parties should not be blamed for the disasters as they were facing a phenomenon which was out of their abilities to tackle effectively. "Floods are not something unusual in Malaysia as well as other advanced countries like the United Kingdom and the United States. "One factor is generally the monsoon season which brings...

URL: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/1/5/nation/20130105145025&sec=nation

Scientists link climate change and gray snapper

PhysOrg: NOAA scientists continue to develop and improve the approaches used to understand the effect of climate change on marine fisheries along the U.S. east coast. Their latest study projects that one common coastal species found in the southeast U.S., gray snapper, will shift northwards in response to warming coastal waters. In a study published online December 20 in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and the University of North Florida developed projections...

URL: http://phys.org/news/2013-01-scientists-link-climate-gray-snapper.html
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Grid Problems Curb India’s Electric-Vehicle Appetite

New York Times: In early 2012, after years of experimentation, an Indian start-up called Ampere developed an electric motorcycle that people would actually buy. It wasn`t a sleek, shiny bike for the urban hipster - the company had tried that and failed. It was the Angel, a heavy, clunky converted Chinese bicycle that goes only 15 miles an hour but can carry extremely heavy loads. The customers were farmers and small tradesmen in the southern countryside who liked the fact that the bike could take a beating, cost...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/grid-problems-curb-indias-electric-vehicle-appetite/?src=twrhp
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Bridge To Nowhere? NOAA Confirms High Methane Leakage Rate Up To 9% From Gas Fields, Gutting Climate Benefit

ThinkProgress: Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have reconfirmed earlier findings of high rates of methane leakage from natural gas fields. If these findings are replicated elsewhere, they would utterly vitiate the climate benefit of natural gas, even when used to switch off coal. Indeed, if the previous findings - of 4% methane leakage over a Colorado gas field - were a bombshell, then the new measurements reported by the journal Nature are thermonuclear: ... the...

URL: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/01/02/1388021/bridge-to-nowhere-noaa-confirms-high-methane-leakage-rate-up-to-9-from-gas-fields-gutting-climate-benefit/?mobile=nc

GE and Citi join Californian solar gold rush

Business Green: California's solar industry has received its second major boost of the year, after EDF Renewable Energy announced it had sold a majority stake in its 143MW Catalina Solar project to a group of high-profile investors, including GE and Citi. The move -- which comes in the same week as Warren Buffett's investment vehicle MidAmerica Solar announced it will shell out at least $2bn to acquire two solar farms from SunPower Corp -- completes financing arrangements for the project and should ensure construction...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2233790/ge-and-citi-join-californian-solar-gold-rush

Matt Damon and John Krasinski star in 'Promised Land'

Christian Science Monitor: Matt Damon plays a corporate salesman for Global, a multibillion-dollar fracking company, in "Promised Land," which he also co-wrote and produced. He's the villain of the piece, at least ostensibly, but it's clear he's on the road to a Capra-esque redemption. Directed by Gus Van Sant, the film is best when it lays out the woes of the depressed Pennsylvania farm community infiltrated by Damon's Steve Butler and his wised-up business partner Sue (well-played by Frances McDormand). Steve is there...

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2013/0104/Matt-Damon-and-John-Krasinski-star-in-Promised-Land
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Will Biomimcry Offer a Way Forward, Post-Sandy?

New York Times: As neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane Sandy begin drafting plans for reconstruction, some progressive architects and urban planners are arguing that the emerging science of biomimicry offers a way forward. The notion is that the next generation of waterfront designs could draw inspiration from the intricate ways that plants and animals have adapted to their situations over hundreds of millions of years. Kapok trees, honeycombs and mangroves are just a few of the naturally occurring features...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/will-biomimcry-offer-a-way-forward-post-sandy/?partner=rss&emc=rss
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Effects of climate change could alter eating habits, experts warn

Gulf News: Changes in global temperature could alter the eating habits of Filipinos, particularly their fondness for eating rice, a lawmaker warned citing findings of international experts. According to Senator Loren Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, Filipinos' love affair with the staple cereal could end eventually if they do not take necessary steps. "Filipinos are rice-loving citizens because that's our staple food and we find it harder to resist eating rice than any other kind...

URL: http://gulfnews.com/news/world/philippines/effects-of-climate-change-could-alter-eating-habits-experts-warn-1.1127979

Scientists urge immediate climate action to limit costs

BusinessGreen: Waiting to tackle emissions until 2020 when a global agreement is due to be in place will be far more costly than taking action today, according to new research published this week. Keeping to the internationally agreed target of 2°C of average warming by 2050 will be much more difficult to achieve if action is delayed, risking floods, heatwaves, drought and rising sea level, the report concludes. Keywan Riahi, study co-author and energy program leader at the International Institute for Applied...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2233876/scientists-urge-immediate-climate-action-to-limit-costs?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Scientists+urge+immediate+climate+action+to+limit+costs

Methane leaks cast doubt on shale gas climate credentials

BusinessGreen: US scientists have once again warned large amounts of methane could be leaking from new onshore gas drilling projects, challenging claims the fuel can offer a lower emissions alternative to coal. Around nine per cent of the potent greenhouse gas methane produced by a gas field in Utah was shown to be escaping into the atmosphere, according to preliminary results published in Nature by a team comprising researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2233930/methane-leaks-cast-doubt-on-shale-gas-climate-credentials?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Methane+leaks+cast+doubt+on+shale+gas+climate+credentials

How one small sentence kicked up a storm of climate controversy

Grist: When Charles Darwin wrote, "Multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die," do you think he thought to himself, "Dude, I`m about to piss a bunch of people off"? Or when Copernicus and Galileo forwarded the idea that the Earth revolves around the sun, and not the other way around, do you think they were trying to ruffle Vatican feathers? Well, OK, maybe these guys saw trouble brewing. But another, contemporary scientist didn`t. In the mid-1990s, Benjamin Santer authored a chapter in...

URL: http://grist.org/climate-energy/how-one-small-sentence-kicked-up-a-storm-of-climate-controversy/
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United Kingdom: Fracking's risks and benefits

BBC: The UK government recently lifted its moratorium on the controversial process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The technique involves pumping fluids into a well to recover natural gas from shale rock. However, fracking has been linked to some minor earthquakes, and there are concerns about its possible environmental impact. So what benefits could hydraulic fracturing bring, and how concerned should we be? During the recent debate on fracking technology in the UK, we may have been...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20758673
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Mending the Bird Preserves Hit by Sandy

New York Times: Conservationists fear that damage in places like Reeds Beach in New Jersey left almost no sand for the spring spawning of horseshoe crabs, on whose eggs birds like the red knot, center, feed during their migration. Conservationists are warning that swift action is needed to repair mid-Atlantic bird refuges that were badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy. In a report issued on Thursday, researchers at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences said...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/a-plea-for-bird-preserves-hit-by-sandy/?partner=rss&emc=rss
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/01/03/blogs/knot/knot-blog480.jpg

Climate change threatens Tahoe's snow levels, lake clarity

Mercury News: Lake Tahoe is "the fairest picture the whole earth affords," Mark Twain once wrote. Its crystal blue waters, surrounded by stunning snowy mountains, define one of California's crown jewels as an American landmark. It attracts 3 million skiers, boaters, campers, hikers and other visitors each year. But it could look very different in 100 years. Climate change could profoundly affect the Tahoe area, scientists say, taking the snow out of the mountains and the blue out of the water. Last winter's...

URL: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_22307260/climate-change-threatens-tahoes-snow-levels-lake-clarity?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
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Met Office: 2012 was UK's second wettest year on record

BBC: The past 12 months were the second wettest on record in the UK, according to data released by the Met Office. The total rainfall for the UK during 2012 was 1,330.7mm (52.4in), just 6.6mm short of the record set in 2000. Most areas were affected by the extreme weather, with thousands of homes flooded and farmers struggling to grow crops in the saturated soil. The latest data comes as analysis says the frequency of extreme rainfall in the UK may be increasing. Continue reading the main...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20898729
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64920000/jpg/_64920910_64920909.jpg

Bad weather prompting more British farmers to consider GM use

Guardian: The extreme weather of 2012 has turned British farmers on to genetically modified crops, with calls from farming leaders to start using the technology as a way to help combat the effects of climate change. England's wettest year on record, and the UK's second wettest, which had begun with one of the worst droughts for decades, has persuaded an increasing number of farmers that the development of crop varieties with engineered resistance to extreme weather conditions is now a priority. Farming...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/04/bad-weather-farmers-gm
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United States: Experts Advise Cuomo on Disaster Measures

New York Times: Two panels of experts charged with studying how New York can better prepare for disasters like Hurricane Sandy said Thursday that the state should create a strategic fuel reserve, require some gas stations to install generators and update its building codes. The commissions, which Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo appointed in November shortly after the storm hit, offered preliminary recommendations so that the governor could consider including some of them in his State of the State address on Wednesday. The...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/nyregion/experts-offer-cuomo-recommendations-on-disaster-preparedness.html

United States: Climate-change assemblies this week at area schools

Press-Republican: Following its North Country premier at the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit last November, the Alliance for Climate Education will return to the area for a "blitz week." Monday through Friday this week, the Alliance for Climate Education will hold school-wide assemblies at 14 high schools, reaching more than 4,000 students. The Alliance for Climate Education is a national nonprofit dedicated to educating America's high-school students about the science behind climate change and inspiring them...

URL: http://pressrepublican.com/new_today/x1525002770/Climate-change-assemblies-this-week-at-area-schools

'Rural development schemes should attain greening objectives'

Indo-Asian News Service: The rural development ministry should have a dedicated cell to attain "greening objectives" through its various schemes in villages, said a report released Friday. The report "Greening Rural Development in India", released jointly by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Ahluwalia, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, has examined six flagship programmes of the government and suggested measures to achieve greening outcomes. Prepared with support...

URL: http://india.nydailynews.com/business/b6c916b6944d23f1c0d0318621642073/rural-development-schemes-should-attain-greening-objectives

An Antidote for Climate Contrarianism

New York Times: I would guess a few Green readers had the experience, over the holidays, of arguing yet again about global warming with a parent or brother-in-law who thinks it's all a big hoax. Maybe there's some undiscovered substance in roast turkey that makes people want to pick fights around the dinner table. Fortunately, the M.I.T. climate scientist Kerry Emanuel has provided us with a solution to this problem: an updated edition of "What We Know About Climate Change," his 2007 book explaining the science...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/an-antidote-for-climate-contrarianism/?partner=rss&emc=rss

United Kingdom: Could more extreme weather speed coastal erosion?

EDP24: Following one of the wettest years on record, the Met Office has warned of more extreme rainfall events in future -- which could speed the erosion of our already-fragile coastline. According to the nation's official weather forecasters, the UK experienced its second wettest year on record in 2012, with warnings that we face a future of increasingly intense downpours. Analysis published by the Met Office this week shows that the country is experiencing more "extreme rainfall" events, and suggests...

URL: http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/farming-news/could_more_extreme_weather_speed_coastal_erosion_1_1783349
Enclosure: http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/farming-news/could_more_extreme_weather_speed_coastal_erosion_1_1783349#

United Kingdom: Weather: Could every cloud have a sinister lining?

Independent: When it came to weather, my parents were like those two little figures who alternate in emerging from the barometrically sensitive model house. My mother was the gloomy one, ever-armed with umbrella (and Pac-a-mac, for good measure), ever-ready with gloomy forebodings ("Sun before seven, rain by 11" was a favourite way to greet a cheery morning). My father was the sunny type, able to discern patches of incipient blue in the most leaden skies and who would describe each fall of rain, however prolonged...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/weather-could-every-cloud-have-a-sinister-lining-8439673.html

Thousands flee wildfires in southern Australia

Agence France-Presse: Thousands of people fled wildfires raging on the Australian island of Tasmania that have destroyed at least 80 properties amid fears that at least one man died in the blaze, police said. The fires flared on Friday as much of the country suffered a summer heatwave that pushed temperatures above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Tasmania, a southern island state known for its cooler climate. One of the worst affected areas was the small community of Dunalley, some 55 kilometres (34 miles) east of...

URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jttDvAfrJ8GazkH0OWl0EToHjiAA
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UK calls for speedier GMO approvals

Reuters: Britain's Farming and Environment Minister Owen Paterson on Thursday called for an acceleration in the EU's approval process for genetically modified (GMO) crops which he said offered benefits including less pesticide use. "I think we need to work with like-minded partners to move the [GMO] legislation along at a European level because it is going grindingly slowly and we are getting further and further behind," he told reporters at the Oxford Farming Conference. There has been strong public opposition...

URL: http://www.news24.com/Green/News/UK-calls-for-speedier-GMO-approvals-20130103
Enclosure: http://cdn.24.co.za/files/Cms/General/d/2142/6589c6fd2cea40ff8de5f29dd4945dc2.jpg

Climate change won't wait

LA Times: Societal change usually happens slowly, even once it's clear there's a problem. That's because, in a country as big as the United States, public opinion moves in leisurely currents. Change often requires going up against powerful, established interests, and it can take decades for those currents to erode the foundations of our special-interest fortresses. Think civil rights, gay marriage, equal rights for women. Even facing undeniably real problems -- say, discrimination against gay people --...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mckibben-climate-20130106,0,6917040.story
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Work restarts on China's biggest nuclear power plant: Xinhua

Reuters: Work on China's largest planned nuclear facility has restarted, state media said on Saturday, a sign that the thaw in the country's nuclear industry is gaining pace after it was frozen in response to Japan's Fukushima atomic crisis in 2011. Building of the Shidao Bay nuclear plant in coastal Shandong province, eastern China, resumed on December 21, Xinhua news agency reported. Beijing - in common with many governments worldwide - suspended work on nuclear projects after the Japanese earthquake...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/05/us-china-nuclear-construction-idUSBRE90405U20130105?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

The era of the Superstorm

CNN: They hover above our heads, out of sight, zooming in and taking pictures. They aren't interested in the latest celebrity wedding or covert military operation. And the images they take aren't going to make the front page of any magazine or website. But maybe they should. That's because the data collected by these powerful satellites have helped save countless lives by allowing meteorologists to warn people about dangerous storms -- sometimes a week before they strike -- with pinpoint accuracy....

URL: http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/04/us/us-superstorm-threat/index.html
Enclosure: http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/121029073013-03-sandy-sat-horizontal-gallery.jpg

Nebraska environment report favors revised Keystone XL pipeline plan

Reuters: The controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline received a boost on Friday when Nebraska regulators said its proposed new route would avoid many of the ecologically-sensitive areas that led the U.S. government to block it last year. The new route for the $5.3 billion Alberta-to-Nebraska pipeline, backed by TransCanada Corp, would avoid the ecologically sensitive Sand Hills region but would still cross part of the massive Ogallala aquifer, the Nebraska environment regulator said. If built, Keystone...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/04/us-transcanada-keystone-nebraska-idUSBRE9030JC20130104

Extreme weather a peril for vulnerable

Sydney Morning Herald: Australia's most vulnerable people are at greater risk of injury and death because community organisations cannot cope with extremes of weather, says the country's peak social services group. The Australian Council of Social Service has found a poor level of preparation for extreme weather among community organisations, with the likelihood many would permanently collapse. Such an outcome would leave society's most disadvantaged people, including the elderly, mentally ill and the homeless, ''at...

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/extreme-weather-a-peril-for-vulnerable-20130105-2c9zk.html
Enclosure: http://images.smh.com.au/2013/01/05/3932894/art-perils-620x349.jpg

German solar power installations at record high in 2012

Reuters: New solar power installations in Germany hit a record high last year but tapered off in the fourth quarter as subsidies were cut to curb costs to consumers, Environment Ministry data showed on Saturday. Capacity grew by more than 7.6 gigawatt (GW), breaking the previous records of 7.5 GW in 2011 and 7.4 GW in 2010, and far above the 2.5 to 3.5 GW Berlin would like to see each year. The solar boom has been encouraged by generous feed-in tariffs, which are guaranteed to generators for 20 years...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/05/us-germany-solar-idUSBRE90406C20130105?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Frantic fight to save frogs from killer fungus

Washington Post: In moist, mossy rooms, rows of glass aquariums bathed in an eerie light shelter the last of the last of the frogs. It is a secure facility, for here reside the sole survivors of their species, rescued from the wild before a modern plague swept through their home forests and streams in a ferocious doomsday event that threatens these amphibians with extinction. Time is running out. In what may be the greatest disease-driven loss of biodiversity in recorded history, hundreds of frog species around...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/frantic-fight-to-save-frogs-from-killer-fungus-8439854.html
Enclosure: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article8439804.ece/BINARY/original/v206-franticfightfrogs-gt.jpg

Demand Response: Embrace It or Get Run Over


Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, delivered a powerful message to some 3,000 people attending the keynote session last month at POWER-GEN International in Orlando, Fla. His message to the nation's power sector was essentially a warning for power generators to adapt to a world of greater efficiency and meager con

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/01/demand-response-embrace-it-or-get-run-over?cmpid=rss

Australia: Man feared dead, at least 80 properties lost in Tasmanian bushfires

Sydney Morning Herald: AT LEAST 80 homes have been lost and one man is feared killed by a bushfire that swept down onto the Tasmanian town of Dunalley, less than 60 kilometres from Hobart, in catastrophic conditions. The bushfire sent hundreds fleeing and was on Friday night still burning down the Tasman Peninsula, taking more properties as it went. The Tasmania Fire Service acting district officer, Andrew McGuinness, said people should prepare for the worst. ''We've lost a lot of property down there.'' Smoke...

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/man-feared-dead-at-least-80-properties-lost-in-tasmanian-bushfires-20130104-2c9c4.html
Enclosure: http://images.smh.com.au/2013/01/04/3931377/art-firestasmania-620x349.jpg

Why a project-based approach to REDD+ implementation is inappropriate

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URL: http://www.unredd.net/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=9093&Itemid=53
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Delaying Climate Action To Later Is More Costly: Study - CleanTechnica

IPS: Delaying Climate Action Too Later More Costly: Study ↓ Menu ↓ Home Our Team About CleanTechnica Sponsor Us Use of Content Contact Us Local Solar Discounts CleanTechnica Clean Tech News & Views: Solar Energy News. Wind Energy News. EV News. & More. Home Menu ↓ Skip to primary content Skip to secondary content Consumer...

URL: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/01/03/delaying-climate-action-to-later-is-more-costly-study/
Enclosure: http://climateark.org/shared/alerts/img/india_justice2_lg.jpg

The Force: Cellulosic Biofuels Tax Credit Is Back, but Is It Necessary?


So, the fiscal cliff was averted in a last minute-deal by DC lawmakers. Sort of. For now. Or so we're told. We think.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/01/the-force-cellulosic-biofuels-tax-credit-is-back-but-is-it-necessary?cmpid=rss

Is Your Utility Ready? New Report Says Local Solar Could Power 10% of Country in 10 Years


Within a decade, more than 35 million buildings may be generating their own solar electricity (without subsidies) at prices lower than their utility offers, sufficient to power almost 10% of the country.   That's the powerful headline from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's latest report, Commercial Rooftop Revolution.  Despite the opportunity

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/01/is-your-utility-ready-new-report-says-local-solar-could-power-10-of-country-in-10-years?cmpid=rss

Philippines Government Pushes Geothermal, Strong 2013 Outlook


Geothermal development in the Philippines looks to continue strong in 2013, and if its government, including the DoE's geothermal energy management division, has its way the Philippines will be the largest producer of geothermal energy in just a few years. Currently only the United States produces more geothermal energy than the Pacific nation.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/01/philippines-government-pushes-geothermal-strong-2013-outlook?cmpid=rss

SolarWorld Sees EU Imposing China Solar Dumping Duties in May or June


Solarworld AG, the German solar-panel maker that led a group of manufacturers in complaints against unfair competition from China, expects the European Union to announce anti-dumping duties as early as May.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/01/solarworld-sees-eu-imposing-china-solar-dumping-duties-in-may-or-june?cmpid=rss

U.S. Gauging Interest in New York Offshore Wind Farm Projects


The Obama administration is gauging interest in wind power development off the coast of New York, after a state agency proposed an offshore project 11 nautical miles south of Long Beach.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/01/u-s-gauging-interest-in-new-york-offshore-wind-farm-projects?cmpid=rss

Foreign Banks Cool to China Solar Energy, Beijing Steps In


A few of the latest headlines reflect a cooling appetite by foreign banks for funding solar energy related projects, creating a worrisome vacuum that Beijing may need to fill as it seeks to stop struggling sector from sinking further still. Two of the latest such headlines look like particular cause for worry, with Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) tak

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/01/foreign-banks-cool-to-china-solar-energy-beijing-steps-in?cmpid=rss

Wind Power Looking Strong in 2013


Wind in the Americas has tremendous opportunity for growth, particularly in Latin America. By 2025, the region is expected to reach 46 GW of total installed wind capacity, according to the IHS Emerging Energy Research study, "Latin American Wind Power Markets and Strategies: 2010 – 2025." Brazil is expected to lead the Latin American region with 31.6 GW of installed capacity by 2025, followed by Mexico with about 6.6 GW. Brazil is predicted to house 69 percent of the total Latin American installed wind capacity in 2025, positioning the country as a leader for development, turbine manufacturing and wind turbine component supply chain assembly.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/01/wind-power-looking-strong-in-2013?cmpid=rss

ElectraTherm Commissions Two Green Machines in Czech Republic Manufacturing Plant.

The manufacturing plant operates four 250kW internal combustion engines for onsite power. ElectraTherm's Green Machines run in parallel with two of the engines, supplied by hot water from the jacket water and exhaust systems of the engines at 88-95C. The machines are cooled by a cooling tower the facility already uses for their chemical process.

URL: http://green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips113/jan13002.html

Nostalgia for the Hippie Building Heyday

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Today's green building movement traces back its roots (in part) to the improvised shelters built by back-to-the-land hippies in the 1970s

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A discredited theory of embryonic development held that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" — in other words, that the the developmental stages of an embryo (its ontogeny) mimic the stages of evolutionary development experienced by the species (its phylogeny). One piece of evidence supporting the theory: in early stages of development, a human embryo has a tail.

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/nostalgia-hippie-building-heyday

Methane Leak Data Highlights Concerns About Natural Gas Drilling

Yale Environment 360: Yale Environment 360: Methane Leak Data Highlights Concerns About Natural Gas Drilling e360 digest 03 Jan 2013: Methane Leak Data Highlights Concerns About Natural Gas Drilling A pair of ongoing studies show unexpectedly high methane leakage from some oil and gas fields in the U.S., findings that underscore concerns that the climate benefits of the natural gas boom may be overstated. Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder say new data indicates that as much as 4 percent...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/methane_leak_data_highlights__concerns_about_natural_gas_drilling/3730/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Fracking can be done safely in New York state: dept report

Reuters: The natural gas drilling process known as fracking would not be a danger to public health in New York state so long as proper safeguards were put into place, according to a health department report that environmentalists fear could help lift a moratorium on the controversial technique. Governor Andrew Cuomo is weighing the economic benefits of hydraulic fracturing - commonly known as fracking - against the environmental risks from a technology that could unlock a vast domestic energy supply but...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/03/us-usa-fracking-newyork-documents-idUSBRE9020RT20130103?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130103&t=2&i=690794094&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE9021TVR00

Global Warming-El Nino Link Stronger but Still Not Proven

Climate Central: The natural climate cycle known as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) would wreak havoc even if humans weren't warming the planet. During its El Niño phase, the Americas get floods and torrential rains while Asia suffers drought. When it swings over to the La Niña phase, it's the opposite. But humans are warming the planet, and a report published Thursday in Science says that both phases of ENSO have become more intense over the past century, suggesting that as warming continues, ENSO may become...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/global-warming-el-nino-link-stronger-but-still-not-proven-15427?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/1-3-13-Mike-ENSO-states-505x308.jpg

Hydrofracking Safe, Says N.Y. Health Dept. Analysis

New York Times: The state's Health Department found in an analysis it prepared early last year that the much-debated drilling technology known as hydrofracking could be conducted safely in New York, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times from an expert who did not believe it should be kept secret. The analysis and other health assessments have been closely guarded by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and his administration as the governor weighs whether to approve fracking. Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, has long delayed...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/nyregion/hydrofracking-safe-says-ny-health-dept-analysis.html

Transocean to pay $1.4 billion in Deepwater spill

Reuters: Transocean Ltd has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle U.S. government charges arising from BP Plc's massive 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The settlement unveiled by the Department of Justice includes $1 billion in civil penalties and $400 million in criminal penalties. The company had set aside a total of $1.95 billion in potential losses related to the spill, including $1.5 billion for its anticipated settlement with the DoJ. Shares of Transocean were up 7 percent...

URL: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/03/16327489-transocean-to-pay-14-billion-to-settle-federal-charges-in-deepwater-horizon-oil-disaster?lite

From the Mouth of Babes: President Obama, End Mountaintop Removal Now

EcoWatch: In Appalachia, children are 42 percent more likely to have birth defects if they live near a mountaintop removal coal mine. More people are likely to die from cardiovascular disease, and 50 percent are more likely to die of cancer--if they live near one of these sites of utter destruction. What if those were your loved ones? That is the question posed in a new video released today by Appalachian Voices with a strong message to President Obama: No more excuses. End mountaintop removal now. ...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/mouth-of-babes-obama-end-mtr/
Enclosure: http://youtu.be/3WH5suYWAw8

Rig owner pays $1.4bn to settle over Deepwater

Guardian: Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig at the centre of BP's Gulf of Mexico blowout, has reached a $1.4bn settlement with the Department of Justice to settle criminal and civil charges. The Swiss-based rig operator has been in the dock since April 2010 saw the worst spill in American history. The $1bn in civil penalties and $400m in criminal ones is in line with what the company was expecting. A formal statement had not been released on Thursday night but sources in the US confirmed...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/03/rig-owner-settles-deepwater-charges
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Business/Pix/cartoon/2013/1/3/1357239829493/Deepwater-008.jpg

Transocean To Pay $1.4 Billion In Gulf Oil Spill Settlement

National Public Radio: Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig where 11 men died in April 2010, has agreed to pay $1.4 billion in criminal and civil penalties to resolve Justice Department allegations over its role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. A Transocean subsidiary also agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal misdemeanor charge for violating the Clean Water Act. Federal authorities blamed the company for acting negligently when the rig's crew proceeded with maneuvers to the deep-sea well in the face...

URL: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/03/168551216/transocean-to-pay-1-4-billion-in-gulf-oil-spill-settlement?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/01/03/102021162_sq-b2cf694288d08544a5eb18edb87a56fdbebedca1-s2.jpg

New Tree Blockade Halts Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline

EcoWatch: Late last night, blockaders set up two "dump platforms" in trees outside of Diboll, Texas which would otherwise be cleared to make way for TransCanada`s Keystone XL toxic tar sands pipeline. These special "dump platforms" are shielded by an unprecedented 80-100 foot perimeter of life-lines arranged, which if disturbed would certainly dump the two blockaders nested in them roughly 50-60 feet in the air. The blockaders are sitting in soldarity with the now global Idle No More campaign for First Nation`s...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/tree-blockade-halt-keystone-xl/
Enclosure: http://youtu.be/g2f69tHx99k

Fears over carbon emissions after permit prices dive

Independent: The global carbon market shrank by more than a third to EUR61bn (£49bn) in 2012, the lowest level in its five-year history, fuelling concerns that key permit schemes designed to force down CO2 emissions are proving ineffective. The amount that energy-intensive companies were forced to pay to compensate for their CO2 emissions tumbled by 36 per cent last year, as the value of the permits they need to buy once their carbon footprint hits a certain level dived from a worldwide average of EUR11.20...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/fears-over-carbon-emissions-after-permit-prices-dive-8437705.html

Louisiana cemeteries sinking, washing away

Associated Press: As a young adult, Kathleen Cheramie visited her grandmother's grave in a tree-lined cemetery where white concrete crosses dotted a plot of lush green grass just off Louisiana Highway 1. Now, the cemetery in Leeville is a skeleton of its former self. The few trees still standing have been killed by saltwater intruding from the Gulf. Their leafless branches are suspended above marsh grass left brown and soggy from saltwater creeping up from beneath the graves. "It was a beautiful place to visit,"...

URL: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/la-cemeteries-sinking-washing-18119557#.UOVgD7aWGwQ

Climate coverage still down from past years

Courier-Journal: Extreme weather, drought and melting polar ice helped drive media coverage of climate change in 2012, but overall, the amount of coverage declined 2 percent, according to an analysis by The Daily Climate`s Douglas Fischer. In a report published today, found here, Fischer writes: Widespread drought, super-storm Sandy, and a melting ice cap failed to revive the media`s interest in climate change in 2012, with worldwide coverage continuing its three-year slide, according to a media database maintained...

URL: http://blogs.courier-journal.com/watchdogearth/2013/01/02/climate-coverage-still-down-from-past-years/
Enclosure: http://blogs.courier-journal.com/watchdogearth/files/2013/01/climatelogo.jpg

Has the Kyoto protocol done more harm than good?

New Scientist: Fifteen years after its painful birth in Kyoto, Japan, the world's first legally binding agreement to limit emissions of greenhouse gases ended this week. For some it is a victorious conclusion. The 37 industrial nations that stuck with the protocol after the US pulled out in 2005 say they exceeded their promises, cutting their emissions for the period from 2008 to 2012 to an average of 16 per cent below 1990 levels, compared with the 4.7 per cent promised in the agreement. But the protocol...

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23041-has-the-kyoto-protocol-done-more-harm-than-good.html?cmpid=RSS%7CNSNS%7C2012-GLOBAL%7Cclimate-change

At current CO2 concentrations, sea level set to rise about 30 feet during the next few centuries

Summit Voice: Even if atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were to be stabilzed at today`s levels of about 400 parts per million, sea levels would gradually increase by about 30 during the next few centuries, according to researchers who calibrated CO2 levels against sea level for the past 40 million years. The study sought to pinpoint the 'natural equilibrium` sea level for CO2 concentrations ranging between ice-age values of 180 parts per million and ice-free values of more than 1,000 parts per million....

URL: http://summitcountyvoice.com/2013/01/03/global-warming-at-current-co2-concentrations-sea-level-set-to-rise-about-30-feet-during-the-next-few-centuries/
Enclosure: http://summitvoice.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/co2_trend_mlo.png?w=468

Models Show That Internet Produces Vast Amount Of Greenhouse Gas

RedOrbit: Not only does the Internet produce a vast amount of information, but also an equally vast amount of greenhouse gas. Now, researchers are busy working up new models of emissions and energy consumption that could help reduce the carbon footprint of the web. A report of this work is published in Environmental Science & Technology, the journal of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Researchers from the Center for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET) and Bell Labs explain that industry behind...

URL: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112756793/internet-produces-greenhouse-gas-010313/
Enclosure: http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2013/01/internetrecycle.jpg

Critics: Accident shows folly of Arctic drilling

Associated Press: There's no indication of a fuel leak from a petroleum drilling ship that ran aground on a remote Alaska island, the Coast Guard says, but the maritime accident has refueled debate over oil exploration in the U.S. Arctic Ocean. The Royal Dutch Shell PLC ship was being towed to a Pacific Northwest shipyard for maintenance when it went aground during a vicious storm New Year's Eve. "There are still no signs of any sheen or environmental impact and the Kulluk appears to be stable," Coast Guard...

URL: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/03/16324744-critics-accident-shows-folly-of-arctic-drilling?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/130103-shell-oil-rig-1024a.photoblog600.jpg

United Kingdom: Prince of Wales: countryside is "as precious as an ancient cathedral"

Telegraph: In an impassioned speech to the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC), the Prince also said the countryside is threatened by flooding, drought and the outbreak of plant disease such as ash dieback. He said the only way to protect Britain's rural landscape is to support the farmers responsible for maintaining fields, buildings and businesses - especially small family farms struggling to survive. "It is the people and what they do that creates the beating heart of our countryside -- the vitality that comes...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9778669/Prince-of-Wales-countryside-is-as-precious-as-an-ancient-cathedral.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02442/princeCharlesCount_2442112b.jpg

Greenhouse Gas Associated With High Sea Levels Over Past 40 Million Years

RedOrbit: Researchers based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, have found that greenhouse gas concentrations similar to the present – almost 400 parts per million -- were systematically associated with sea levels at least 30 feet above current levels by comparing reconstructions of atmospheric CO2 concentrations and sea level over the past 40 million years. The study, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), determined that the "natural equilibrium"...

URL: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112757014/greenhouse-gas-associated-with-high-sea-levels-over-past-40-million-years/
Enclosure: http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2013/01/tide.jpg

Transocean agrees oil spill fine

BBC: Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, has agreed to a settlement with the US government. The Swiss-based company will pay $400m (£248m) in criminal penalties and a $1bn civil fine after pleading guilty to violating the Clean Water Act. The rig, which was leased by BP, exploded on 20 April 2010, killing 11 workers. The oil spill damaged the Gulf of Mexico coast causing one of the biggest environmental disasters in US history. In November, BP agreed a settlement with the...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20905472#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64440000/jpg/_64440644_64439232.jpg

Coldest weather in decades hits India; group says 107 dead

Reuters: The coldest weather in northern India for at least 44 years has killed more than 100 homeless people, an aid group said on Thursday. The capital New Delhi saw a maximum temperature of 9.8 Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday - the lowest since records began in 1969. Fog forced cancellation of flights and trains. Low temperatures over the next several days are expected to be 3 to 4 Celsius (37-39 Fahrenheit). Anti-poverty charity ActionAid said it knew of 107 people who had died in northern states...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/03/us-india-cold-idUSBRE9020HW20130103?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Transocean to pay $1.4 billion for role in BP oil spill

Reuters: Offshore rig contractor Transocean Ltd has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle U.S. government charges arising from BP Plc's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The settlement unveiled on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice includes $1 billion in civil penalties and $400 million in criminal penalties. The company had set aside $1.95 billion in potential losses related to the Macondo well disaster, including $1.5 billion for its anticipated DoJ settlement. Still looming...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/03/us-usa-transocean-settlement-idUSBRE9020H720130103?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130103&t=2&i=690737941&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE9021HII00

United Kingdom: Extreme rainfall on the rise, is climate change to blame?

The Week UK: BRITAIN endured its second wettest year on record in 2012 and the Met Office has warned that "extreme rainfall" is becoming more frequent, something that could be connected to climate change. Although the first few months of last year were dry, the rest of 2012 was a washout, and by the end of December the total rainfall stood at 1330.7mm, just 6.6mm off the record set in 2000. Four of the five wettest years since records began in 1910 have occurred since the turn of the century. "Changes in...

URL: http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/weather/50809/extreme-rainfall-rise-climate-change-blame
Enclosure: http://cdn.theweek.co.uk/sites/theweek/files/styles/theweek_article_main_image/public/120924rain.jpg

United Kingdom: Floods 'made worse by failure to clear water courses'

Telegraph: The Met Office has confirmed that last year was the second wettest on record for the UK, just a few millimetres short of the record in 2000. The national forecasters also said that extreme rainfall has become more common in the last few decades, possibly as a consequence of climate change. Floods caused damage to thousands of properties, as well as destroying crops and causing transport chaos. Mr Paterson said a number of people have complained to him that failure to clear out rivers and...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/9778874/Floods-made-worse-by-failure-to-clear-water-courses.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02442/floodUk_2442244b.jpg

Drought persists in U.S. Plains; slight improvement in Midwest

Reuters: Snowfall in parts of the Plains last week had little impact on historic drought gripping the region, but parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and the Southeast showed slight improvement, weather experts said. A weekly report issued Thursday by a consortium of federal and state climatology experts said that as of January 1, 42.05 percent of the contiguous United States was in severe to exceptional drought, down from 42.45 percent the previous week. Parts of the central Plains received snow in the last...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/03/us-usa-drought-idUSBRE9020GZ20130103?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Rig accident shows need to pause Arctic drilling: Green groups

Reuters: Opponents of Royal Dutch Shell's ambitious Arctic oil program have called on the Obama administration to put offshore drilling plans in the region on hold after one of the company's oil rigs broke away from tow boats in high seas and ran aground off Alaska. The Natural Resources Defense Council and The Wilderness Society on Thursday said the accident involving Shell's Kulluk oil rig is new evidence that oil companies are not prepared to safely manage the extreme conditions of the Arctic. The...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/03/us-alaska-ship-opponents-idUSBRE9020N320130103?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130103&t=2&i=690738326&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE9021JSB00

Canada minister says Northern Gateway line can still go ahead

Reuters: Proponents of the planned Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta's oil sands to Canada's West Coast can still carry the day even though the project has generated a wave of opposition, the country's natural resources minister said. "I am still of the belief that we can get this done, on the assumption, of course, that it passes regulatory muster," Joe Oliver told Postmedia News in an interview published on Thursday. "If the conclusion is this project can be safe for Canadians, safe for the environment...

URL: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/canada-minister-says-northern-gateway-line-still-ahead-174139443--finance.html?_esi=0

Do EVs Make Good Cents or Sense?


David Herron of Torque News stated in his article "60 kWh Tesla Model S rated at 208 mile electric driving range by EPA:  "The 85 kilowatt-hour Model S, $77,400 for 265 miles range, or $292/mile of range. The 60 kilowatt-hour Model S, $67,400 for 208 miles range, is $324/mile of range. The other electric cars cost a lot more per mile of driving ran

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/01/do-evs-make-good-cents-or-sense?cmpid=rss

2013 Geothermal: Last-Minute PTC Revision Sparks a New Hope


The renewable energy industry had quite a bit to celebrate this week as 2013 rang in a PTC extension that many had feared would never come to fruition. Though the extension to January 1, 2014 greatly benefits the wind industry, whose PTC was set to expire at the end of 2012, it also included a provision that could be huge for geothermal development. This provision states that projects under construction by January 1, 2014 would quality for the PTC, rather than the previous rule that required projects to be completed and operational.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/01/2013-geothermal-last-minute-ptc-revision-sparks-a-new-hope?cmpid=rss

BP and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power Announce Full Commercial Operation of the Flat Ridge 2 Wind Farm In Kansas.

It is the largest, single-build wind farm in the history of the U.S. wind industry.

URL: http://green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips113/jan13001.html

What I’m Hoping for in the New Year

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Among my wishes: a carbon tax, increased awareness of resilience, and more of us leaving the car at home

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With snow gently falling as the holiday season winds down, I find myself reflecting on the New Year and what we might hope for. World peace of course, and solving the poverty conundrum would be great.

But what about energy and the environment? Here are some thoughts:

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/what-i-m-hoping-new-year

Top 10 Biofuels Predictions for 2013


As 2013 begins, here at the Digest we resist the holiday temptation to look back over the challenges and highlights of the year gone by, and instead once again roll the dice as we list the Digest's 10 Top Biofuels Predictions for 2013.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/01/top-10-biofuels-predictions-for-2013?cmpid=rss

Concentrated Solar Power: Next-Generation Technologies Poised to Ramp up Utility-Scale Production


As 2013 begins, the concentrated solar power (CSP) industry in the U.S. is on the brink of a major turning point. After years of hesitancy to invest in CSP due to required increases in efficiency and cost reductions, a wide market acceptance of solar thermal power plants is knocking at the door, driven by the development of next generation technologies in thermal storage, heat transfer and plant components. These developments, along with the current U.S. political and solar power market, will drive lower costs and make utility-scale CSP commercially viable for the first time.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/01/concentrated-solar-power-next-generation-technologies-poised-to-ramp-up-utility-scale-production?cmpid=rss

N.Y. boardwalk wrecked by Sandy to be razed

MSNBC: Workers will begin to demolish a famed boardwalk in Long Beach, New York on Saturday, city officials announced Wednesday. The more than two-mile stretch of wood and concrete along the beachfront was badly damaged by Superstorm Sandy, and Long Beach's city council decided to tear down the entire structure last month. "It looks like King Kong came in and ripped up the whole place," said Barbara Herr, who has visited Long Beach for 15 years. An American flag and a holiday wreath hang on a pile...

URL: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/03/16322857-legendary-new-york-boardwalk-wrecked-by-sandy-to-be-razed?lite

Year In Review: 11 Clean Energy Stocks for 2012


For the fourth year in a row, my model portfolio of clean energy stocks has beaten the clean energy sector as a whole, this year by 23.8%. Unfortunately, this was mostly due to another year of poor performance by my industry benchmark, the widely held Powershares Clean Energy (PBW) ETF, which lost 16.4% for the year.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/01/year-in-review-11-clean-energy-stocks-for-2012?cmpid=rss

IDE Technologies to help build largest U.S. desalination plant

Reuters: Israel's IDE Technologies will help construct and run a nearly $1 billion desalination plant along the coast of southern California to help alleviate the region's water shortage. The facility, expected to begin operations in 2016, will produce 54 million gallons (204,412 cubic meters) of potable water each day, making it the largest sea water desalination plant in the United States, IDE said in a statement on Thursday. IDE said it signed a contract with Kiewit Shea Desalination to design and...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/03/us-ide-technologies-desalination-idUSBRE90208L20130103?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

PTC Extension: Another Squeaker for Clean Energy


Well, 'The Fiscal Cliff' theater was played out in Washington, and Congress included renewable energy in the final bill. According to the Renewable Fuels Association, the deal includes one-year tax-credit extensions for cellulosic biofuels, biodiesel, renewable diesel and algae-based fuel. The cellulosic bonus depreciation, which allows biofuel companies to expense up to half of their eligible capital costs in their first year, was also given a one-year extension. These advanced biofuels applications are critical for the U.S. to evolve its biofuels reliance onto non-foodstuff sustainable biomass – both wastes and non-arable land crops.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/01/ptc-extension-another-squeaker-for-clean-energy?cmpid=rss

Arctic rig salvage effort delayed

BBC: Attempts to rescue a Shell drill rig grounded off the Alaskan coast have been delayed because of high seas and strong winds. The rig, named Kulluk, ran aground on Monday after drifting in stormy weather as it was being towed. The rig is grounded on the south-east side of Sitkalidak Island. The US Coast Guard said the rig, carrying about 143,000 gallons of diesel and about 12,000 gallons of other oil products, appears stable. A Coast Guard plane and helicopter flew over the Kulluk on Tuesday...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20887995#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/65038000/jpg/_65038096_65038091.jpg

Iberdrola says 'au revoir' to French wind farms in €350m deal

BusinessGreen: Energy giant Iberdrola has sold 32 French onshore wind farms in a deal worth at least EUR350m to a consortium of investors consisting of EDF, Munich Re and General Electric (GE). The deal, announced on Monday, will see Iberdrola sell more than 320MW of operational wind farm capacity, as part of its ongoing strategy to boost its balance sheet through the sale of assets in "non-core" businesses. GE's Financial Services arm and MEAG, the asset manager of Munich Re and ERGO, will each own 40 per...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2233414/iberdrola-says-au-revoir-to-french-wind-farms-in-eur350m-deal?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Iberdrola+says+%27au+revoir%27+to+French+wind+farms+in+%E2%82%AC350m+deal

Extreme rainfall in UK 'increasing'

BBC: The frequency of extreme rainfall in the UK may be increasing, according to analysis by the Met Office. Statistics show that days of particularly heavy rainfall have become more common since 1960. The analysis is still preliminary, but the apparent trend mirrors increases in extreme rain seen in other parts of the world. It comes as the Met Office prepares to reveal whether 2012 has been the wettest year on record in the UK. The study into extreme rain is based on statistics from the...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20896049#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

Tax break extension breathes new life into U.S. wind power

Reuters: The U.S. wind industry is powering up once again after Congress extended a critical tax credit that wind companies say will save tens of thousands of domestic jobs and allow more clean energy projects to ramp up this year. About half of the sector's 75,000 jobs in the United States had been expected to disappear if the wind production tax credit had been allowed to expire at the end of last year, according to trade group the American Wind Energy Association. "There will be a lot of activity...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/03/us-usa-fiscal-greentech-idUSBRE90201020130103?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Meet Anthony Ingraffea—From Industry Insider to Implacable Fracking Opponent

EcoWatch: Why, exactly, is high-volume slickwater hydraulic fracturing such a devastating industry? How best to describe its singularity--its vastness, its difference from other industries and its threat to the planet? When I interviewed Dr. Anthony Ingraffea--Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering, Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow at Cornell University and president of Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy, Inc., I realized that his comments were perhaps the clearest, most compactly...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/industry-insider-to-fracking-opponent/
Enclosure: http://youtu.be/mSWmXpEkEPg

Fiscal fiasco bright spot: 2013 will be a huge year for wind

Grist: You have probably heard by now that Congress has voted through a bill that will avert the absurdly named "fiscal cliff." I`ll leave it to other blogs to get into the details. (Suzy Khimm has a nice rundown.) I`ll also leave it to others to lament the absurd way in which this country is governed. I just want to focus on one bright spot that hasn`t gotten much coverage. Part of the bill was a one-year extension of several stimulus tax credits. Among them was the production tax credit (PTC) that...

URL: http://grist.org/climate-energy/fiscal-fiasco-bright-spot-2013-will-be-a-huge-year-for-wind/
Enclosure: http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/wind_turbines_1_4632.jpg?w=250&h=145

Grounded Alaskan oil ship shows no sign of leakage

Associated Press: Two aircraft have flown over an oil drilling ship that ran aground in a severe Alaskan storm and saw no sign that the vessel was leaking fuel or that its hull had been breached. The Royal Dutch Shell ship, the Kulluk, which was used in the Arctic last summer, ran aground on Monday on a sand and gravel shore off an uninhabited island near Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska. The ship appeared stable, according to US federal on-scene response co-ordinator Captain Paul Mehler. "There is no sign...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/02/no-leakage-alaskan-oil-ship
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2013/1/2/1357120987729/The-Kulluk-oil-drilling-s-008.jpg

'Fiscal Cliff' Deal Gives Wind Energy Tax Credit 1-Year Lifeline

Desert Sun: A one-year extension of a key tax credit for the wind industry made it into the fiscal cliff deal the U.S. Senate and House passed on Tuesday. The tax credit, which has been a major driver for wind development across the U.S. over the past two decades, is worth 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour of energy produced by new wind installations for their first 10 years of operation. A White House news release confirmed that the production tax credit extension is included in the Senate package that the...

URL: http://www.mydesert.com/article/20130101/BUSINESS01/301010039/-Fiscal-cliff-deal-includes-extension-tax-credit-wind-industry
Enclosure: http://cmsimg.gdn.mydesert.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=J1&Date=20130101&Category=BUSINESS01&ArtNo=301010039&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&-Fiscal-cliff-deal-includes-extension-tax-credit-wind-industry

California carbon trading scheme gets underway

BusinessGreen: The United States' first legally-binding emissions cap-and-trade scheme kicked off in California on Tuesday, with campaigners hoping the state could provide a model the rest of the country could follow as it attempts to tackle carbon emissions. The scheme officially came into effect on January 1, establishing a state-wide limit on total emissions of 162.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and imposing emission allowances on around 350 companies generating more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2233441/california-carbon-trading-scheme-gets-underway?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=California+carbon+trading+scheme+gets+underway