Trends in number of global freeflowing rivers greater than 1,000km in length Trends from pre-1900 to the present day and estimated to 2020 (line), in comparison with the number of rivers dammed over time (bars). WWF, 2006 The rapid development of water management infrastructure – such as dams, dykes, levees, and diversion channels – have […]
[Not a surprise to Desdemona readers.] By Erin Hale, www.guardian.co.uk15 May 2012 Twenty years on from the Rio Earth summit, the environment of the planet is getting worse not better, according to a report from WWF. Swelling population, mass migration to cities, increasing energy use and soaring carbon dioxide emissions mean humanity is putting a […]
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune2 May 2012 A week after he was arrested by the FBI, a federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted former BP engineer Kurt Mix on two counts of obstruction of justice in relation to the 2010 Gulf oil spill. Mix is accused of deleting hundreds of text messages from his iPhone […]
Watch Gulf Still Grapples With Massive BP Oil Leak 2 Years Later on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour. [Sorry for the ad.] 20 April 2012 (PBS) – Two years after the largest oil leak in U.S. history, the Gulf of Mexico region still struggles with its impact. Jeffrey Brown, David Valentine of the University […]
By JOHN M. BRODER17 April 2012 WASHINGTON – Members of the presidential panel that investigated the 2010 BP oil rig explosion and spill sharply criticized Congress on Tuesday for refusing to act on any of its recommendations and gave the Obama administration and the oil industry mixed marks. Their report [pdf] said that federal regulators […]
By JEFF BARNARD8 April 2012 TULELAKE, California – Dave Mauser walked the edge of a mudflat, peering underneath the dried brown rushes where one coot after another had gone to hide and then die. “Now the coots are getting the worst of it,” said Mauser, head biologist on the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, the […]
By Harry R. Weber and Michael Kunzelman, from Associated Press wire2 March 2012 NEW ORLEANS – BP agreed late Friday to settle lawsuits brought by more than 100,000 fishermen who lost work, cleanup workers who got sick and others who claimed harm from the oil giant’s 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst offshore oil […]
There’s a common saying in Appalachia: what we do to the land, we do to the people. Recently, 21 peer-reviewed scientific studies have confirmed the truth of those words. Not only has mountaintop removal permanently destroyed more than 500 Appalachian mountains, but people living near the destruction are 50% more likely to die of cancer […]
By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku21 February 2012 Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) has begun the process of drilling a relief well to seal the Funiwa 1A natural gas well. According to a statement by the company, the relief well is being drilled to extinguish a fire that began January 16 at the original well, located approximately six miles […]
By John Nielsen-Gammon 13 February 2012 The University of Texas’s new Center for Integrated Earth System Science is hosting its first public event today: a water forum entitled “Texas Drought 2012 — Are We Prepared?” The morning talks featured status reports from various state and regional agencies, while the afternoon featured water research tools and capabilities […]
