Posted by VicPlough on May 20, 2012 in
Environment Story By: by Christopher Joyce
Rocks on the shore of the Lackawanna River in Duryea, Pa., are discolored by iron oxide and sulfur compounds â pollutants left behind by past coal mining in the state.
Explore key components of the natural gas production process â and the questions scientists are asking.
Andrew Gavin (left) of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission checks the readings from a device set up to monitor water quality at Gray’s Run stream, near Williamsport, Pa.
So scientists are trying to see for them. One of them is a hydrologist, Andrew Gavin. He works for the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, and the day I met up with him, he was at a very nice trout stream called Gray’s Run. It’s surrounded by forest â and a frack site. As we pulled on waders, Gavin explained what the commission was up to.
“What we’re doing in this monitoring project is really establishing what the general health is of the streams, so we can measure if there any changes in the quality of the water.”
Gavin and his team regularly take “grab samples” of stream water near fracking sites. The commission has also planted battery-powered monitors in over 50 streams. If something unusual gets in the stream, their computers in Harrisburg alert them. There are other groups in the state monitoring stream water around frack sites as well, employing both volunteers as well as scientists.
Over the past four years, the water used for fracking has won more protection. But scientists say they need to be vigilant. Frack water chemistry, for example, can be surprising. Water engineer Jeanne VanBriesen at Carnegie Mellon University points out that bromide in frack water behaved in an unexpected way when it went through public water treatment plants. It reacted with chlorine to create compounds that were potentially hazardous.
“We’re not omniscient,” she says of water scientists. “We can’t see everything, and sometimes there are downstream effects, particularly ones that involve the waste systems that interact with each other.”
VanBriesen also wonders about what happens to all the frack water that’s left underground. Pennsylvania is already a pin cushion. Oil and gas drilling has gone on for over a century here, long before fracking arrived.
“There are lots of holes in Pennsylvania,” she says. “Knowing where the old ones are is very important when you’re putting in a new one.”
George Jugovic Jr., who runs the environmental group PennFuture, says the location of a lot of those wells is unknown. “We have over 300,000 oil or gas wells that have been abandoned,” he says, “that are out there somewhere, that have not been properly plugged and that can serve as conduits for contamination to migrate up into existing groundwater.”
Brian Grove of Chesapeake argues that it’s unlikely that the water left behind in the Marcellus shale layer could ever contaminate groundwater â it would have to travel upward at least a mile through rock. But a study by the Ground Water Protection Council of fracking water in Texas and Ohio found that water used in drilling has in fact come back up through old, unplugged wells.
Yoxtheimer, the Penn State hydrologist, says fracking has been a “lightning rod” for the nation’s environmental movement. And he says Pennsylvania, like it or not, has been a case study for other states, like New York, that are weighing whether to allow hydraulic fracturing. “I think it’s been very interesting to watch the industry change its practices because of public pressure,” he says.
Pennsylvania’s government appears to be listening. There’s a new law that charges a fee for each well drilled. The fee is not as high as some wanted, but it should generate millions of dollars for Pennsylvania and the counties where drilling takes place. And the state has also raised the bond amount that companies must post to cover the costs of cleanup once they’ve left.
Posted by VicPlough on May 17, 2012 in
Environment
BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) – EU nations should pledge that funds from paying for airline emissions will help poor countries deal with global warming, the bloc’s climate chief said on Tuesday, after finance ministers stopped short of a firm commitment.
Crisis in Greece and the euro-zone topped the agenda at the ministers’ talks in Brussels, but they also agreed to text on climate funding, which only promised hard cash until the end of the year.
A solution for the longer term would be to “give this modest revenue back into climate financing,” Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard told Reuters’ Global Energy and Environment Summit, referring to cash from the airlines’ contribution to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
It could also deflect vehement international criticism of the EU’s law, which requires all airlines using EU airports to buy allowances under the ETS.
“Some thought we were just taking this money and saying it was a tax,” Hedegaard said.
“Financial ministers have started this discussion by saying it could go into this (climate funding), but through national budgets.”
The European Union re-committed to providing 7.2 billion euros ($9.4 billion) for a pot of climate money referred to as “fast-track financing”, covering the period 2010-12.
After that, a Green Climate Fund will be seeking to channel funds of up to $100 billion per year by 2020. The fund’s design was agreed at U.N. talks in Durban, South Africa, last year, but environmental campaigners say it is an empty shell.
EU economic and finance ministers on Tuesday could only agree to “work in a constructive manner towards the identification of a path for scaling up climate finance from 2013 to 2020″.
Further debate on where the funds might come from is expected at U.N. climate talks in Germany this week and next.
NATIONAL PREROGATIVE
The EU finance ministers’ text mentioned a variety of sources, both public and private, as well auctions of aviation allowances in the EU ETS.
It added it was up to each member state to determine “the use of public revenues in accordance with national budgetary rules”.
Within the EU, so far only Germany has come up with legislation to earmark ETS cash – which derives from utilities and heavy industry, as well as airlines – for environmental purposes.
The funds associated with the law requiring all flights in and out of EU airports to participate in the EU ETS are so far relatively modest as carbon allowances have sunk to record lows and initially, many are being handed out for free.
The fiercest opponents of the EU law – India and China, whose airlines missed a March 31 deadline to submit emissions data – are fighting over principle, not just cost.
India has argued the carbon charge sets a dangerous precedent and analysts have said the emerging powers are opposed to being treated on a level with developed nations, which have polluted for decades.
To resolve the row over the airline emissions law, the EU is looking to the U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization to come up with a global scheme for curbing the rise in emissions from aircraft, which would give the EU reason to modify its law.
The EU only came up with its carbon law because years of talks at ICAO had failed to deliver a solution for aviation emissions. Still Hedegaard said she stood by the ICAO as the way out of the current dispute.
“In politics, you should never have a B plan,” she said. “You would never get your A plan through.”
(Editing by David Gregorio)
Posted by VicPlough on May 17, 2012 in
Environment Story By: by Sabri Ben-Achour
John Odenkirk holds up a snakehead. The fish can survive for long periods of time out of water as long as they’re kept moist. They breathe air by gulping it, so they don’t need to stay submerged.
In a mixing bowl combine the following:
1 1/2 tablespoon paprika
3/4 tablespoon granulated garlic (or 1
tablespoon garlic powder)
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
This spice works great with all fish, game and poultry for blackening and smoking.
It can also be stored for quite some time.
1 pineapple
1 can cream of coconut
1/2 of a bunch of cilantro
1 habanero pepper (optional)
Peel the pineapple and discard the skin. Slice the pineapple lengthwise into slices about 1/4-inch thick. Dice the pineapple into 1/4-inch squares. Place pineapple squares into a mixing bowl.
Remove leaves from cilantro and roughly chop, then add them to the mixing bowl with the pineapple squares.
Pour the cream of coconut into a separate bowl and stir with a fork until smooth; it should be white in color. Set bowl aside. Combine 6 tablespoons of the cream of coconut with the pineapple cilantro mixture. If you’d like it spicy, add 1 diced habanero pepper. Place salsa in refrigerator.
1 snakehead fillet, skinned and cut into 4 pieces
1 avocado
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
With a dry towel pat the flesh to remove excess moisture. Coat each piece of fish on one side with a generous amount of blackening seasoning. Place a tablespoon of cooking oil into a cast-iron skillet or saute pan and place over high heat. Once the pan has heated (you’ll know its hot when the oil is about to smoke and slides freely across the pan), place each piece of fish â seasoned side down â on the pan and press gently with a spatula.
Allow the fish to sear for approximately 3 minutes.
Gently turn fish over and sear for 1 minute. Place the fish in the oven and cook until desired temperature is reached (about 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the filet).
Slice avocado and place on a plate; gently season the avocado with kosher salt. Place pina colada salsa on the center of the plate, then put blackened snakehead on top of the pina colada salsa. Garnish with roasted red pepper and strawberries.
— Maryland Department of Natural Resources
More people on the East Coast are acquiring a taste for snakehead, an exotic fish that’s moved here from Asia. But the fish are still multiplying and spreading.
Snakehead came to Maryland almost 10 years ago. The so-called “Frankenfish” looks like its namesake and has multiple rows of teeth. Someone released it here â and then there was a documentary and an unbelievably bad movie.
Creating A Market
Now, fast-forward a decade. Carrie Kennedy, a fisheries scientist for Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources, is getting married. Like most weddings, hers will have a buffet of chicken and fish.
“But the fish we’re going to have is going to be snakehead,” she says.
Kennedy notes the fish is an invasive species. “We want it to go away, so we’re trying to create a market,” she says.
Their strategy may be working. Business in Maryland is almost booming.
“We got a couple hundred pounds yesterday, and all this fish will be gone this weekend,” says John Rorapaugh of Profish, a wholesaler in Northeast Washington, D.C.
He’s standing over crates of iced, giant snakeheads. The ravenous appetites of the fish are legendary. Rorapaugh and others have found batteries, mice, birds’ feet and baby turtles in the bellies of the fish.
“Anything that swims past them that’s living, they’ll eat,” he says.
And the fish are delicious. “When you bite into it, it almost feels like it falls apart because it’s so tender,” Rorapaugh says.
Beyond The ‘Initial Hysteria’
This fish is mostly just available in restaurants right now, and it’s kind of pricey. Plus, it’s called “snakehead” and looks like Jacques Cousteau’s nightmares. As a result, there are a lot of them still swimming around out there.
John Odenkirk is a biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. He’s standing on a boat on the Occoquan River, surveying the snakehead population by using an electric current in the water.
The electric generator goes on, and fish fly everywhere. Glints of silver flash as fish of all types start to spasm to the surface. Then three snakeheads â about 3 feet long â emerge from the depths.
“It’s awesome when you hit ‘em like that,” Odenkirk says.
He measures the fish and tags them.
“It’s got a unique number on it. It says ‘Remove tag, report location and kill fish,’ ” he says.
Then he throws them back into the river.
Odenkirk says it looks like the snakeheads aren’t turning out to be the ecological disaster people feared.
“We still don’t know. We don’t have enough information to make that call yet and probably won’t for several more years,” he says, “but it does look like some of the initial hysteria was probably overstated â not probably, it was almost surely overstated.”
Still, the fish are considered a threat to the ecosystem. Back onshore, Kennedy is trying a sample for her wedding.
“It’s really good. The best thing would be if it wasn’t around at all, but, you know what, if you have lemons you might as well make lemonade,” she says.
Or at least lemon wedges for a nice garnish.
Posted by VicPlough on Apr 18, 2012 in
Environment Story By: All Things Considered
The early spring has been great for recreation and those with cabin-fever, but it’s been a headache for farmers and other growers. In Wisconsin, orchard and vineyard owners have trees and vines in early bloom, but are now up at night battling frost.
Posted by VicPlough on Mar 31, 2012 in
Environment
Thu Mar 29, 2012 6:47pm EDT
<span class="articleLocatio
n”>(Reuters) – Auto supplier Eaton Corp will get a $2 million grant for work to reduce the costs of fuel cell components, the U.S. Department of Energy said on Thursday.
The three-year project will seek to boost the performance of fuel cells for vehicles and stationary devices while reducing costs, the department said.
“Advancing hydrogen and fuel cell technology is an important part of the Energy Department’s efforts to support the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, helping to diversify America’s energy sector and reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement.
Eaton, which makes electrical control systems, auto and truck components, is headquartered in Cleveland. The fuel cell work will be done at its site in Southfield, Michigan in suburban Detroit.
An Eaton spokesman said that work on the project will begin in the second half of this year. No new jobs will be created initially, he said.
Fuel cells convert a fuel, usually hydrogen or natural gas, into electricity which can then used to power cars and trucks. They are a minor player in the automotive industry’s effort to find alternatives to gasoline-fueled engines. However, some see zero-emission fuel cells one day being a viable alternative if, in part, costs decrease and efficiency and durability increase.
The DOE targets fuel cell durability of 5,000 hours, which it says is equal to 150,000 miles of driving, and a cost of $30 per kilowatt hour, by 2017.
(Reporting By Bernie Woodall; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
Posted by VicPlough on Mar 9, 2012 in
Environment Story By: by Nicole Cohen
If you head to Yosemite National Park this time of year and stop by Horsetail Fall at just the right time, you might see something spectacular: As the sun sinks low in the sky, the waterfall glows with streaks of gold and yellow â and it looks just like molten lava.
Photographers like Michael Frye flock to the park every February to try to capture the phenomenon. Frye, author of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, describes the sight to NPR’s Audie Cornish.
“It’s this narrow ribbon of water falling from this high cliff, the eastern buttress of [the El Capitan rock formation],” he says. “Just that narrow little ribbon of water is lit and everything else around it is dark. And with the right light, that water can turn orange or even red.”
According to Frye, what makes Horsetail Fall so unique is its topography: The waterfall is perched high on an open cliff where it can catch light from the sunset â but not just any sunset.
“It’s this brief window of light around the third week of February where the sun sets at just the right angle to light Horsetail Fall just as it’s sinking,” Frye says.
On very rare occasions, the light of a setting moon can create the same fiery effect as that of the setting sun.
That said, the right conditions for photographing the phenomenon can be hard to come by. According to Frye, who teaches workshops on shooting the falls, there has to be enough water coming down the waterfall and a clear sunset to the west.
“You probably would also want to use a telephoto lens, because it’s a pretty distant view of the fall and you have to watch your exposure,” he says. “It’s very easy to overexpose the waterfall because the surrounding area â the cliffs around it â [is] completely dark.”
After years of shooting the phenomenon, Frye knows all the tricks â from the best parking spots to the best place to set up your tripod. But he says it isn’t the resulting prints so much as the experience that he’s come to cherish.
“The photographs of Horsetail Fall are spectacular, but actually witnessing this event in person is much more amazing.”
Posted by VicPlough on Mar 7, 2012 in
Environment Story By: by Amy Standen
Rancho Corral de Tierra Park in Northern California recently became part of the National Parks System. Now dogs are required to be on leash, angering some community members.
- Peggy Bechtell, dog owner
- Howard Levitt, Golden Gate National Recreation Area Spokesperson
“This is a very, very special plant,” she says. “It’s only found in two places in the whole world.” It’s called Hickman’s potentilla. It’s not just a pretty plant, it’s also a botanical mystery. Scientists studied this flower for years and they still don’t know how it pollinates and spreads.
“So, it’s a real plant that we’d like to focus some management on,” Bennett says.
This is a big and delicate project. The Park Service will have to pull out invasive plants, and encourage bees and other insects. It’s not hard to see why a bunch of local dogs could get in the way of that process, which forces the question, who are national parks for anyway?
“We have, on the one hand, the mandate of the National Park Service to protect resources for the future,” Howard Levitt, spokesman for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, says.
“At the same time, parks are there to be enjoyed by people, and so creating a balance between protecting resources and allowing people to enjoy the areas that house those resources is always a challenge,” he says.
That’s a bit of an understatement. The park received 5,000 letters over its proposed dog policy. Levitt says the Park Service is now considering letting people bring their dogs off leash in this part of the park.
Posted by VicPlough on Mar 5, 2012 in
Environment
By Jeff Coelho
LONDON |
Sat Mar 3, 2012 8:23am EST
LONDON (Reuters) – The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is making little headway on market-based measures to curb carbon dioxide emissions from international shipping, putting it on a policy collision course with the European Union, observers said.
A committee of the 170-member United Nations shipping body was unable to make “tangible progress” after a week of talks that ended late on Friday, a delegate told Reuters.
An IMO spokeswoman said discussions on market-based measures, such as a levy on CO2 emissions and a cap-and-trade scheme, will resume in October when the Marine Environment Protection Committee meets again.
International shipping accounts for around 3 percent of the world’s emissions of the greenhouse gas that is widely blamed for global warming, and this share could go to 18 percent by 2050 if regulation is not in place, according to the IMO.
The European Union executive of the 27-nation European Union bloc has threatened to enforce its own shipping regulations if the IMO fails to act, as it has with aviation.
“While we have a clear preference for global action on measures to reduce emissions from shipping, we don’t see the IMO on track to deliver reductions consistent with the globally accepted maximum two degrees Celsius objective,” a Commission spokesman said, referring to a threshold many scientists say is needed to avert runaway climate change.
The Commission has recently started a public consultation on four policy options, including a compensation fund, an emissions trading system, a fuel or carbon tax and a mandatory emission reduction per ship. It runs through early April.
The consultation will be followed by an impact assessment and drafting of a Commission proposal between April and June, with a final proposal to be presented in the fourth quarter, said Commission spokesman Isaac Valero-Ladron.
IMO HITCH
IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu has called for an impact assessment study on nine different market-based proposals and to finalize it by 2013.
“Let us work together and set ourselves the challenge of completing all of the work on the establishment of a market-based measure by a target year of 2015,” he said in his opening speech on Monday.
But the talks were bogged down by a debate about technical cooperation and technology transfer in relation to an agreement on an energy efficiency design index reached last year, delegates said.
Last July, forty eight countries voted in favor of adopting a mandatory energy efficiency design index (EEDI) for new ships and a voluntary energy efficiency management plant for all ships.
“There is bad feeling as a result of that,” said John Maggs, policy advisor at Seas At Risk, a European association of non-governmental environmental organizations.
“Those who didn’t support adoption of the EEDI last year are now causing difficulties for further progress on greenhouse gas measures.”
The talks were also held back by a debate about the appointment of a steering group to oversee the commissioning of the impact study, he said, adding “which as a result of developing country lobbying is now a necessary precursor to making any further progress.”
(Editing by Keiron Henderson)