By TOSHIO TADA10 December 2012 (Asahi Shimbun) – The government will order eight companies to end an illegal dispatch arrangement that allowed a subcontractor to instruct workers to labor under dangerous conditions at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. The labor ministry has already called on plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Tokyo Energy & […]
By James M. O’Neill, staff writer9 December 2012 (The Record) – The price of protecting New Jersey from rising sea levels and the devastation of future storms is breathtaking, making it seem at times that the problem is insurmountable. Some options that have been floated include $7.4 billion to buy all 13,300 structures in the […]
[This is a very interesting bit of research, but it strikes Desdemona as a case of the broken window fallacy, writ large.] 8 December 2012 (The Economist) – When Superstorm Sandy roared ashore in late October and the lights of lower Manhattan went out, New Yorkers were given a stark vision of a possible future. […]
LONDON, 29 November 2012 (ClimateWire) – More than 1,100 homes across the United Kingdom have had to be evacuated after being flooded over the past week as persistent and at times torrential rains falling on already sodden ground have followed the country’s wettest summer on record. Four wet weather fronts in a row in just […]
By JOHN FLESHER, AP Environmental Writer 27 November 2012 ONEKAMA, Michigan (AP) – For more than a century, easy access to Lake Michigan has made Onekama a popular place for summer visitors and a refuge for boaters fleeing dangerous storms. Now the community itself needs a rescue, from slumping lake levels that threaten its precious […]
By Alan Bjerga27 November 2012 (Bloomberg) – Mississippi River barge traffic is slowing as the worst drought in five decades combines with a seasonal dry period to push water levels to a near-record low, prompting shippers to seek alternatives. River vessels are cutting loads on the nation’s busiest waterway while railroads sign up new business […]
By MARTIN FACKLER25 November 2012 AIZU-WAKAMATSU, Japan (The New York Times) – As cold northerly winds sprinkle the first snow on the mountains surrounding this medieval city, those who fled here after last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster are losing hope that they will ever return to their old homes. The mayor of Okuma, a town […]
By John Homans 4 November 2012 The calm before the storm was much too calm, which should have been a clue. Forecasters had been talking about a potential Halloween hurricane—the Frankenstorm was its headline-ready name—for two weeks. They thought it might be bigger than the hurricane of 1938; its barometric pressure was already a few […]
TOKYO, 3 November 2012 (AP) – Four members of a Japanese government team that sets atomic reactor safety standards received funding from utility companies or nuclear manufacturers, raising questions about their neutrality in the wake of last year’s tsunami-triggered disaster. The Nuclear Regulation Authority said Friday that Nagoya University Professor Akio Yamamoto received 27.14 million […]
By GEOFF MULVIHILL and MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press1 November 2012 LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) – In its tear of destruction, the megastorm Sandy left parts of New Jersey’s beloved shore in tatters, sweeping away beaches, homes, boardwalks and amusement parks. The devastation left the state a blank canvas to redevelop its prized vacation towns. […]
