Engineer: California Delta problems ‘the worst damn mess I’ve ever seen’

By Mike Taugher, Contra Costa TimesPosted: 01/19/2011 04:05:56 PM PST Bob Bea has investigated such high-profile disasters as the Exxon Valdez spill, the Deepwater Horizon blast, Hurricane Katrina and the space shuttle Columbia, which exploded in 2003. But the UC engineer and associate director of the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management (CCRM) says the problems […]

Battle for boom became political after Gulf oil spill, officials say

By Jonathan TilovePublished: Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 12:34 PM WASHINGTON — Marcia McNutt, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, and retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, agreed Wednesday that the politics of boom overrode the logic of response during the effort to contain and clean up the BP oil spill. Allen, who was the National […]

Abandoned citrus groves increasing disease pressure on Florida trees

By Greg AllenJanuary 19, 2011 Florida is a national leader in orange and grapefruit production. But in the past few years, landowners have given up on more than 100,000 acres of citrus groves, which have become a threat to producers of the state’s signature crop. The abandoned groves are breeding grounds for pests and diseases. […]

Economists foretell of U.S. decline, China’s ascension – ‘The age of American predominance is over’

By Mark Felsenthal; editing by Maureen BavdekDENVER | Sun Jan 9, 2011 12:32pm EST (Reuters) – To hear a number of prominent economists tell it, it doesn’t look good for the U.S. economy, not this year, not in 10 years. Leading thinkers in the dismal science speaking at an annual convention offered varying visions of […]

Rising seas threaten North Carolina coast

By Bruce Henderson, Charlotte ObserverJanuary 16, 2011 MANNS HARBOR, N.C. — The sea that sculpted North Carolina’s coast, from its arc of barrier islands to the vast, nurturing sounds, is reshaping it once again. Water is rising three times faster on the N.C. coast than it did a century ago as warming oceans expand and […]

California begins ‘managed retreat’ from rising ocean

Higher ocean levels force Ventura officials to move facilities inland, an action that is expected to recur along the coast as the ocean rises over the next century. By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles TimesJanuary 16, 2011 At Surfers Point in Ventura, California is beginning its retreat from the ocean. Construction crews are removing a crumbling […]

Graph of the Day: Population Trends for Northern Shrimp and Key Predators Off Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, 1976-2000

Population trends for northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) and key predators off eastern Newfoundland and Labrador. The biomass series for shrimp (■, left Yaxis) is represented by the CPUE index for NAFO Division 2HJ3K. The biomass series for fish predators (♦, right Y-axis), obtained from published documents in most cases, are given as tons x 103 […]

99 percent of pregnant women in US test positive for multiple chemicals including banned ones

ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2011) — The bodies of virtually all U.S. pregnant women carry multiple chemicals, including some banned since the 1970s and others used in common products such as non-stick cookware, processed foods and personal care products, according to a new study from UCSF. The study marks the first time that the number of […]

Berms and boom were largely ineffective responses to Gulf oil spill, panel reports

By Jonathan Tilove Wednesday, January 12, 2011, 9:30 PM About of a third of the way through the National Oil Spill Commission’s 400-page report, there is a 43-page chapter on the oil spill response and containment efforts that suggests that berms and boom were pretty much a bust, collecting more headlines than oil. Along the […]

2010 hottest year on record for Canada

By Leah Schnurr; editing by Peter GallowayTue Jan 11, 2011 2:17 pm ET OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada had its warmest year on record in 2010, according to the country’s environmental agency, with the biggest impact seen in the Arctic region. The national average temperature for the year was 3 degrees Celsius above normal, based on […]

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