NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City urged state lawmakers on Wednesday to ban natural gas drilling in its watershed, saying the process used to extract the shale gas threatened the city's drinking water. U.S. | Green Business Shale gas trapped deep underground is considered one of the most promising sources of U.S. energy, and the biggest city in the United States has joined environmentalists and small-town neighbors of drilling operations in trying to limit its exploitation. The drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," involves blasting through rock with a mixture of water, sand and a proprietary list of chemicals that are used to split the shale formation and free trapped gas. "Based on the latest science and available technology, as well as the data and limited analysis presented by the state, high-volume hydrofracking and horizontal drilling pose unacceptable threats to the unfiltered fresh water supply of nine million New Yorkers," the city's acting Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner, Steven Lawitts, said in a statement. "These activities cannot be permitted in the watershed. The risks are simply not worth it," Lawitts said, putting the city at odds with the gas industry, which considers shale drilling completely safe.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City urged state lawmakers on Wednesday to ban natural gas drilling in its watershed, saying the process used to extract the shale gas threatened the city's drinking water.
U.S. | Green Business
Shale gas trapped deep underground is considered one of the most promising sources of U.S. energy, and the biggest city in the United States has joined environmentalists and small-town neighbors of drilling operations in trying to limit its exploitation.
The drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," involves blasting through rock with a mixture of water, sand and a proprietary list of chemicals that are used to split the shale formation and free trapped gas.
"Based on the latest science and available technology, as well as the data and limited analysis presented by the state, high-volume hydrofracking and horizontal drilling pose unacceptable threats to the unfiltered fresh water supply of nine million New Yorkers," the city's acting Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner, Steven Lawitts, said in a statement.
"These activities cannot be permitted in the watershed. The risks are simply not worth it," Lawitts said, putting the city at odds with the gas industry, which considers shale drilling completely safe.
ASUNCIÓN, Dec 23 (IPS) - It all started with a warning on the quality of bottled water in Paraguay. But concern has now spread about the extent of pollution of the country's underground water reserves.The Patiño aquifer "can no longer be recommended as a source of bottled water, because it no longer meets the conditions for water quality," Félix Villar, a member of the Paraguayan Association of Water Resources and a professor at the National University engineering school's groundwater department, told IPS. According to the National Office on Environmental Health, 40 percent of this land-locked South American country's population of 6.1 million uses water from the Patiño aquifer, which lies below Greater Asunción. The aquifer stretches for 173 square kilometres beneath the capital, which is in the most densely populated and urbanised Central department (province), and under part of the Paraguari department, in the southwest of the country. The water quality problem hit the headlines when the National Food and Nutrition Institute (INAN) issued a press release in late November on the results of tests it had carried out on mineral water from 11 bottled water companies, saying faecal coliform bacteria had been found in some of the samples. The statement caused a commotion, with consumer groups demanding that the agency, which is under the Public Health Ministry, release the names of the firms that had been monitored. But INAN refused to provide the names of the companies, and downplayed the issue, saying it involved isolated incidents and that the firms had already corrected the problems.
BERLIN -- Joschka Fischer, the former student radical, Green Party leader, German foreign minister and Princeton professor, is aware of the irony in his latest career move: strategic consultant for a transnational pipeline. But as he often did with his previous positions, Mr. Fischer is mixing a bit of idealism with a heavy dose of realism.Mr. Fischer is convinced that Europe's energy shortages last January, caused by a pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas, were the turning point for the new European gas pipeline. Called Nabucco and stretching for 2,050 miles, the new pipeline is expected to cost 8 billion euros ($11.4 billion). Europe cannot wait for another crisis to begin to diversify its suppliers, he argues, as another cold wave grips the Continent.Beyond the imperative of supplying energy, however, Mr. Fischer sees immense strategic implications in Nabucco for the European Union, and especially its relations with Turkey -- a NATO member and candidate to join the bloc -- as well as its eastern neighbors Azerbaijan and Iraq, where Nabucco hopes to buy its gas.
BERLIN -- Joschka Fischer, the former student radical, Green Party leader, German foreign minister and Princeton professor, is aware of the irony in his latest career move: strategic consultant for a transnational pipeline.
But as he often did with his previous positions, Mr. Fischer is mixing a bit of idealism with a heavy dose of realism.
Mr. Fischer is convinced that Europe's energy shortages last January, caused by a pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas, were the turning point for the new European gas pipeline. Called Nabucco and stretching for 2,050 miles, the new pipeline is expected to cost 8 billion euros ($11.4 billion). Europe cannot wait for another crisis to begin to diversify its suppliers, he argues, as another cold wave grips the Continent.
Beyond the imperative of supplying energy, however, Mr. Fischer sees immense strategic implications in Nabucco for the European Union, and especially its relations with Turkey -- a NATO member and candidate to join the bloc -- as well as its eastern neighbors Azerbaijan and Iraq, where Nabucco hopes to buy its gas.
CAMBRIDGE, UK, December 22, 2009 (ENS) - Sea pigs, giant sea spiders, ice fish, octopus, rare rays and basket stars that live in the seas of Antarctica's continental shelf are revealed in a series of new photographs released today by the British Antarctic Survey. A research team from across Europe, the United States, Australia and South Africa onboard the BAS Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross sampled and photographed marine creatures from the Bellingshausen Sea, West Antarctica - one of the fastest warming seas in the world. Research cruise leader Dr. David Barnes of British Antarctic Survey said, "Few people realize just how rich in biodiversity the Southern Ocean is - even a single trawl can reveal a fascinating array of weird and wonderful creatures as would be seen on a coral reef." "These animals are potentially very good indicators of environmental change as many occur in the shallows, which are changing fast, but also in deeper water which will warm much less quickly," said Dr. Barnes. "We can now begin to get a better understanding of how the ecosystem will adapt to change." "Our research on species living in the waters surrounding the BAS Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula shows that some species are incredibly sensitive to temperature changes," he said. Marine algae distribution and sea ice retreat are two of the strongest impacts of climate change measured in the region to date.
A research team from across Europe, the United States, Australia and South Africa onboard the BAS Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross sampled and photographed marine creatures from the Bellingshausen Sea, West Antarctica - one of the fastest warming seas in the world.
Research cruise leader Dr. David Barnes of British Antarctic Survey said, "Few people realize just how rich in biodiversity the Southern Ocean is - even a single trawl can reveal a fascinating array of weird and wonderful creatures as would be seen on a coral reef."
"These animals are potentially very good indicators of environmental change as many occur in the shallows, which are changing fast, but also in deeper water which will warm much less quickly," said Dr. Barnes. "We can now begin to get a better understanding of how the ecosystem will adapt to change."
"Our research on species living in the waters surrounding the BAS Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula shows that some species are incredibly sensitive to temperature changes," he said.
Marine algae distribution and sea ice retreat are two of the strongest impacts of climate change measured in the region to date.
I researched this subject in a very particular way. I deliberately chose not speak directly to any climate experts or leading scientists in the field. I used only publicly available web sources. Why? Because I wanted to simulate what it's like for people trying to learn about climate change online. My conclusion is "what a nightmare". I was generally shocked and appalled by how difficult it was to source counter arguments. The data was often tucked away on extremely ancient or byzantine websites. The key counter arguments I often found, 16 scrolls down, on comment 342 on a far flung realclimate.org post from three years ago. And even when I found an answer, the answers were excessively jargonized or technical.
I researched this subject in a very particular way. I deliberately chose not speak directly to any climate experts or leading scientists in the field. I used only publicly available web sources.
Why? Because I wanted to simulate what it's like for people trying to learn about climate change online.
My conclusion is "what a nightmare". I was generally shocked and appalled by how difficult it was to source counter arguments. The data was often tucked away on extremely ancient or byzantine websites. The key counter arguments I often found, 16 scrolls down, on comment 342 on a far flung realclimate.org post from three years ago. And even when I found an answer, the answers were excessively jargonized or technical.
One possibility is that the situation will get so bad (either politically or economically) that the papers will be published openly.
Anyway, I keep hearing that most climate change research is based on incredibly complicated models that are entirely secret to the begin with - it's only the data from such models that are published.
Actually that's not the case. The code for the models (many of them) is available. You might want a supercomputer...
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/data-sources/#GCM_code
