The Environment

• Natural Gas Seeps May Contribute Significantly to Greenhouse Gas Levels

  Natural gas in underground rock layers can seep to the surface—sometimes in quantities abundant enough to produce “eternal flames.”Researchers say much remains to be learned about these conditions and their contributions to atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.A team of geologists recently studied a little-known but spectacular flame behind a waterfall in Chestnut Ridge Park in western New YorkAt the New York site, the researchers identified numerous “micro seeps” of gas, apparently from the same source that fuels the eternal flame. This suggests that such seeps, if they are numerous and widespread, could make a significant contribution to atmospheric concentrations of…

• Fish Embryos Reveal that Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Still Lingers

  After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, crude oil toxicity continued to sicken a sentinel Gulf Coast fish species for at least a year or more, new research shows.The researchers found that Gulf of Mexico killifish embryos exposed to sediments from oiled locations in 2010 and 2011 show developmental abnormalities, including heart defects, delayed hatching, and reduced hatching success.Killifish exposed to sediments from oiled sites affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill continue to show health defects, three years after the spill. (Credit: Andrew Whitehead/UC Davis)The killifish is an environmental indicator species, or a “canary in the coal mine,” used to predict…

• Politics Still Rules the Climate Change Debate in the US

  US residents who believe in the scientific consensus on global warming are more likely to support government action to curb emissions, regardless of political party. But, there’s still a divide.A political split remains on the existence of climate change despite the fact that the vast majority of scientists believe it is real, says Aaron M. McCright, associate professor in Lyman Briggs College and the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University.The study, in the journal Climatic Change, is one of the first to examine the influence of political orientation on perceived scientific agreement and support for government action to reduce…

• PERU: Environmental Authorities Get Serious

  Bottom Line: Peru is taking tough action against oil and gas companies over poor environmental practices following an oil spill earlier this month, halting operations and imposing fines. There’s more of this to come as the government investigates other violations. Analysis: Last week, the government of Peru declared a 90-day environmental emergency in the Pastaza Amazon region after an oil spill from drilling operations managed by Pluspetrol.  Operations will be halted for three months at Pluspetrol’s site on the Rio Pastaza, near the border with Ecuador, and some 900km north of Lima. Peru’s Environmental Evaluation and Prosecution Agency (OEFA) has…

• Climate Change Debate Heats Up, Threatens Shale Boom

  Whether or not you believe that global warming is real, there is no disputing that the rhetoric over the issue is heating up again.Case in point:  Hollywood has thrown its latest incendiary bomb at the oil and gas industry:  Greedy Lying Bastards. a documentary by an activist filmmaker who claims to have exposed a cabal of fossil industry conspirators including oil and gas interests (usual suspects the Koch brothers, ExxonMobil) who bankroll climate "denial" campaigns and the politicians who purportedly shill for industry in the same way (Bush 43, Sen. James Inhofe [D-OK]). Related article: The Beijing Syndrome: China Begins…

• Exxon Oil Spill in Arkansas, Keystone Spoiler?

  The rupture of an Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) pipeline on 29 March in Mayflower, Arkansas, just northwest of Little Rock, adds to Keystone XL’s woes as the public tallies recent oil spills and So far, Exxon has managed to collect around 12,000 barrels of oil and contaminated water from the spill, but not before some 22 homes were evacuated. Exxon’s Pegasus pipeline carries up to 96,000 barrels a day, running from Patoka, Illinois to Nederland, Texas.The Arkansas spill adds to the tally of 364 spills last year alone from US pipeline ruptures. In total, some 54,000 barrels of oil…

• The Beijing Syndrome: China Begins to Care for the Environment

  As the term “China syndrome” has already been taken, I am terming what is happening in the country these days the “Beijing syndrome,” for China’s capital seems to be shaping up as the epicenter of a great upheaval to come. A “syndrome” is a group of symptoms that, when taken together, point to a more serious underlying disease; which, of course, is what we see emerging in the contention between China’s rapid growth and its environment.Thirty-five years ago, after China got over its bout of “cultural revolutions” and “great leaps forward” to become serious about economic growth, numerous reforms were…

• The Time has Arrived for China to Take Responsibility for the Environment

  This is another fine mess China got herself into.  On March 16, 2013, Huffington Post reported in “Dead Pig Count In China’s Waters Near Shanghai Spikes”:“The number of dead pigs retrieved from waters in and near China’s financial hub of Shanghai has reached 12,566.”“Authorities in Shanghai plucked 611 dead pig carcasses Saturday from Huangpu river, which provides drinking water to the city’s 23 million residents. In total, 8,965 dead pigs have been found in the river since March 8.”“Jiaxing — where small hog farms are prevalent — had recovered 3,601 dead pigs from its streams, according to state media.”“….. there…

• Highlighting Global Trends in Carbon Emissions

  It is rather easy to get swept up in the ‘holier than thou’ mindset when it comes to lower carbon emissions in the US. Granted, the US is making progress on this front: 2012 levels were about 13% below those seen in 2005.But it would be remiss to ignore the impact of the crippling recession kicked off in 2008, which significantly aided in crimping productivity, and hence pollution. And secondly, it would be misleading to claim that the changing dynamics in domestic energy consumption were an altruistic decision: they were not.For the precipitous fall in natural gas prices has only…

• Snowball Earth: Lessons for Climate Change

  About 635 million years ago, the Earth was covered by ice from pole to pole in what is being described as “Snowball Earth”, which is now becoming a trendy new topic in the polarized climate change debate. During “Snowball Earth”, the global mean temperature would have been about -50 degrees Celsius (-74 degrees Fahrenheit) as the sun’s radiation was reflected back into space by the icy surface.  In simpler terms, let’s call it life on Mars. The scientific research suggests this ice age was brought on by a lowering of atmospheric greenhouse gases to near-present levels through tectonically-mediated rock weathering,…