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HavenWorks.com/water/archive/2006 |
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- Water Archive
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ARCHIVES NEWS Water News History Archives Water Archives 2005 Water News Archive 2004 Water News Archive 2003 Water News Archive 2002 Water News Archive Water News |
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Global
- 
Climate
- 
Ocean
- 
Animal
- 
Food
- 
Environment
- 
Science
- 
People
- 
Business
- 
Politics
- "Some
happy that a family film flaunts dire facts." ...
"Michael Hirshfield has long struggled to get across his earnest but wonky
message: that global warming and overfishing are killing off the oceans'
food supply." ... "Then, along came the animated movie "Happy Feet" and,
voila, tens of millions of youngsters -- and their parents -- across the
country are suddenly aware that man-made problems are threatening the penguins
near the South Pole, and almost everything else in the South Seas." ...
"The blockbuster film, the top box-office hit for the past three weekends,
is about emperor penguins struggling to survive with a depleted food supply,
and one tap-dancing penguin's epic search to learn what is causing the
colony's fish to disappear." ... "A study published recently in the journal
Science predicted that if overfishing of depleted seafood populations continued
at current rates, the world would run out of commercial stocks by 2048."
-By John Donnelly
-Boston/Globe
Global
- Climate
- Ocean
- Science
- Censorship
- "White
House Said to Bar Hurricane Report: Government said
to be blocking hurricane report that attributes storms to global warming."
... "The Bush administration has blocked release of a report that suggests
global warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes,
the journal Nature reported Tuesday." ... "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration disputed the Nature article, saying there was not a report
but a two-page fact sheet about the topic." ... "Just two weeks ago, researchers
said that most of the increase in ocean temperature that feeds more intense
hurricanes is a result of human-induced global warming, a study one researcher
said "closes the loop" between climate change and powerful storms like
Katrina." ... "Not all agree, however, with opponents arguing that many
other factors affect storms, which can increase and decrease in cycles."
-By Randolphe E. Schmid
-AP via
-CBSNews
Water
- 
Texas
- World
- "Investors
Have A Big Thirst For Water: The Search For Clean
Water Has Become A Multibillion-Dollar Business." ... "Who says oil and
water don't mix? Not T. Boone Pickens. As CBS News correspondent Anthony
Mason reports, Pickens, a Texas billionaire who made his fortune in
black gold, is now investing in a blue liquid." ... "Pickens' new company,
Mesa Water, has been buying up ground water rights in Roberts County, Texas
— 200,000 acres in all. He says that over a 30-year period, he expects
to make more than $1 billion on his investment of $75 million." ... "Pickens
isn’t the only investor with a big thirst for water: GE has bought four
water companies. Water is now a $400 billion global industry — the third-largest
behind oil and electricity." ... "Water itself isn't scarce. But clean
water is. For investors, the lack of usable water around the world is making
it almost as valuable as oil."
-CBSNews
Mississippi
- Hurricane
Katrina - 
Homeowner- Disaster
- Business- 
Wind
- Water
-Weather
- "Katrina
storm surge damage not covered by homeowners insurance, judge rules."
... "A federal judge ruled Tuesday that an insurance company's policies
do not cover damage from wind-driven water in a decision that could affect
hundreds of upcoming cases related to property damage from Hurricane Katrina."
... "U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. ruled that a Mississippi Gulf
Coast couple cannot collect damages from storm surge caused by Katrina
because Nationwide Mutual Insurance's policies do not cover wind-driven
water damage." ... "Senter Jr. said Paul and Julie Leonard of Pascagoula
could be compensated for damage that they could prove was caused by high
winds." ... ""This reading of the policy would mean that an insured whose
dwelling lost its roof in high winds and at the same time suffered an incursion
of even an inch of water could recover nothing under his Nationwide policy,"
he wrote." -AP
via -USATODAY
California
- 
Elderly
- Disaster
- 
Energy
- Food
- 
Work
- Water
- Animal
- 
Oregon
- 
Wildfire
- "At
least 132 deaths likely linked to heat Calif. heat wave."
... "At least 132 deaths, mostly elderly residents, were likely linked
to a nearly two-week heat wave in California, county coroner's offices
reported Friday." ... "Both Northern and Southern California had been gripped
by triple-digit temperatures since July 16, with the Central Valley suffering
the most with temperatures as high as 115." ... "Before this week, the
utility's highest peak energy use was recorded at 5,661 megawatts. The
heat wave created a demand of 6,165 megawatts — shocking officials who
predicted usage wouldn't top 6,100 megawatts for another four years." ...
"In Northern California, a wildfire near the Oregon state line was threatening
major power transmission lines between California and the Pacific Northwest."
... "Farmers have been struggling as well, trying get work crews into the
fields in the early mornings to avoid the worst of the heat and running
water misters to keep cattle from dying. Vegetables, fruit and even wine
grapes could be affected." -By Olivia Munoz
-AP via -SFGate.com
Oil
- Industry
- 
Law
- Water
- Environmentalists
- 
Florida
- Tourism
- "Senate
approves expanded drilling in Gulf of Mexico." ...
"U.S. Senate leaders announced a compromise Wednesday that would expand
oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico by millions of acres, but keep
exploration at least 125 miles from Florida's western shoreline." ... "The
agreement was announced by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.,
Domenici, R-N.M., [Florida Republican Senator Mel] Martinez and lawmakers
from other coastal states. Frist said it tries to strike a balance by tapping
oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Mexico while also protecting Florida's
multibillion-dollar tourism industry." ... "But others were not so sure.
Environmentalists are against expanding any exploration in the Gulf. They
also note that the Senate plan would allow offshore development in an area
of the eastern Gulf known as Lease Sale 181, where government bans have
kept drilling off limits." ... "The House's energy-exploration bill that
passed last month is much more comprehensive than the Senate's, which focuses
on drilling only in the Gulf of Mexico. The House bill sets a 50-mile drilling
buffer throughout the entire U.S. coast, but would allow state Legislatures
to expand that barrier to 100 miles." -By Mark K.
Matthews -OrlandoSentinel
via -MercuryNews
World
- Fuel
- Ocean
- Animals
- Food
- Science
- Seattle
- 
Washington
- "High
acidity infiltrates the oceans." ... "Corals and
shelled sea creatures face an uncertain future in oceans made increasingly
corrosive by the industrial emissions that fuel global warming, a government
report warned Wednesday." ... "Human activities, chiefly the burning of
fossil fuels, have upset a natural balance in ocean acidity, concludes
the report called Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and
Other Marine Calcifiers: A Guide for Future Research." ... "From corals
to sea snails to microscopic plankton, the creatures affected underpin
many ocean food chains, say the authors of the report, a document reflecting
the views of 50 top experts in ocean chemistry. The research was sponsored
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other
federal agencies." ... ""We have very clear evidence, and there is no doubt
this is occurring," says report co-author Richard Feely of the NOAA Pacific
Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle [Washington]." -By
Dan Vergano -USATODAY
Fuel
- World
- Animals
- Ocean
- Science- 
History
- "Report
Warns about Carbon Dioxide Threats to Marine Life."
... "Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning are
dramatically altering ocean chemistry and threatening marine organisms,
including corals, that secrete skeletal structures and support oceanic
biodiversity. A landmark report released today summarizes the known effects
of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on these organisms, known as marine
calcifiers, and recommends future research for determining the extent of
the impacts." ... ""It is clear that seawater chemistry will change in
coming decades and centuries in ways that will dramatically alter marine
life," says Joan Kleypas, the report's lead author and a scientist at the
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. "But we are
only beginning to understand the complex interactions between large-scale
chemistry changes and marine ecology. It is vital to develop research strategies
to better understand the long-term vulnerabilities of sensitive marine
organisms to these changes."" ... "The report, "Impacts of Ocean Acidification
on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers," warns that oceans worldwide
absorbed approximately 118 billion metric tons of carbon between 1800 and
1994. Oceans are naturally alkaline, and they are expected to remain so,
but the interaction with carbon dioxide is making them less alkaline and
more acidic. The increased acidity lowers the concentration of carbonate
ion, a building block of the calcium carbonate that many marine organisms
use to grow their skeletons and create coral reef structures." ... ""This
is leading to the most dramatic changes in marine chemistry in at least
the past 650,000 years," says Richard Feely, one of the authors and an
oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL)
in Seattle." -UCAR.edu
World
- Animals
- Ocean
- Environment
- 
Health
- Fuel
- [9.5 MB PDF]
- "Impacts
of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers:
A Guide for Future Research." [+]
... "Research findings of the past decade have led to mounting concern
that rising atmo-spheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations will cause
changes in the ocean’s carbonate chemistry system, and that those changes
will affect some of the most fundamental biological and geochemical processes
of the sea. Thanks to the efforts of large-scale physical and biogeochemical
ocean programs such as WOCE, JGOFS, and OACES, ocean-wide changes in the
carbonate system are now well documented. Since 1980 ocean uptake of the
excess CO2 released by anthropogenic activities is significant; about a
third has been stored in the oceans. The rate of atmo- spheric CO2 increase,
however, far exceeds the rate at which natural feedbacks can restore the
system to normal conditions. Oceanic uptake of CO2 drives the carbonate
system to lower pH and lower saturation states of the carbonate minerals
calcite, arago-nite, and high-magnesium calcite, the materials used to
form supporting skeletal structures in many major groups of marine organisms."
-By Joan A. Kleypas, Richard A. Feely, Victoria J.
Fabry, Chris Langdon, , Christopher L. Sabine, Lisa L. Robbins and et.
al. -UCAR.edu
Government
- Water
- Science
- Clean
Water Act - Business
- 
Michigan
- Anthony
Kennedy
- "Clean
Water Act Reach Limited: U.S. Supreme Court Overview."
... "The U.S. Supreme Court limited the reach of the Clean Water Act, saying
it applies only to wetlands with a close connection to a river, lake or
some other major waterway." ... "The justices, voting 5-4, ordered a new
round of hearings for two sets of Michigan landowners whose efforts to
build on their property have been stymied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The majority was divided in its reasoning, with Justice Anthony Kennedy
refusing to join four other justices in putting even more restraints on
the federal regulators." ... "Kennedy's separate opinion now becomes the
controlling law. He established a new test, saying the Corps can regulate
only wetlands that have a ``significant nexus'' to a major waterway. He
also said that in both cases before the justices, the Corps had at least
some evidence of that type of connection." -By Greg
Stohr -Bloomberg
Karl
Rove
- Oil
- Industry
- Political
- Water
- Science
- Law
- "EPA
Rule Loosened After Oil Chief's Letter to Rove: The
White House says the executive's appeal had no role in changing a measure
to protect groundwater. Critics call it a political payoff." ... "A rule
designed by the Environmental Protection Agency to keep groundwater clean
near oil drilling sites and other construction zones was loosened after
White House officials rejected it amid complaints by energy companies that
it was too restrictive and after a well-connected Texas oil executive appealed
to White House senior advisor Karl Rove." ... "The new rule, which took
effect Monday, came after years of intense industry pressure, including
court battles and behind-the-scenes agency lobbying. But environmentalists
vowed Monday that the fight was not over, distributing internal White House
documents that they said portrayed the new rule as a political payoff to
an industry long aligned with the Republican Party and President Bush."
... "Environmentalists pointed to the Rove correspondence as evidence that
the Bush White House, more than others, has mixed politics with policy
decisions that are traditionally left to scientists and career regulators."
(1, 2)
-By Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten
-LAtimes
Gas
- 
Car
- Company
- Environment
- 
Alaska
- Water
- "Conflicting
Loyalties as Republicans Confront High Gas Prices."
... "Under pressure to deal with high gasoline prices, President Bush and
Republican leaders in Congress are struggling to marry a newfound zeal
for energy conservation with their traditional loyalty to big cars and
Big Oil." ... "Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are also renewing their
wish list for the oil industry — opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
[Alaska] for exploration and drilling, as well as millions of additional
acres in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic Coast. They are also
blocking calls for a windfall profits tax on the major oil companies."
... "The political pressures created by soaring gasoline prices have pulled
Republicans in Congress and the administration in different directions.
While blocking higher taxes on the oil industry, for example, the While
House and Senate Republicans are likely to try to eliminate or at least
cut back on $2 billion in tax incentives for oil and gas drilling that
Congress passed less than a year ago." ... "At the same time, unlike Democrats,
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly defeated proposals for higher fuel-economy
requirements on passenger cars. Indeed, in the 2004 presidential election,
they ridiculed such proposals as job-losing Democratic ideas." ... "In
five years, House Republicans have defeated three bills to raise the average
fuel efficiency of cars to 33 miles a gallon, from 27.5." -By
Edmund L. Andrews -NYTimes
Montana
- 
Colorado
- 
Wyoming
- Energy
- Economic
- Water
- Health
- Politics
- "Montana
Pollution Rules Draw Federal Objections." ... "Federal
energy officials are opposing new rules by Montana to force companies that
extract methane gas from underground coal beds to clean up the water pollution
caused by drilling operations, even as state officials cite an unreleased
2003 federal report that says cleanup costs are relatively inexpensive."
... "The Denver [Colorado] office of the Environmental Protection Agency
produced the report but never published it, saying it related to a proposed
drilling application that was dropped." ... "A Montana consulting firm
obtained a copy of the EPA report, however, and handed it over to Gov.
Brian Schweitzer (D). Last month, Montana's Board of Environmental Review,
citing the EPA paper and other economic studies, voted to force coalbed
methane companies to leave the state's streams as clean as they were before
drilling started, although the companies do not have to clean up existing
pollution." ... "The Energy Department and the Wyoming congressional delegation
are backing companies that are trying to block Montana's new rules, on
the grounds that they could hamper energy development." -By
Juliet Eilperin -WashingtonPost
Government
- Climate
- Fuel
- Air
- Ice
- Environment
- Science
- Politics-
"Rewriting
The Science." ... "As a government scientist, James
Hansen is taking a risk. He says there are things the White House doesn't
want you to hear but he's going to say them anyway." ... "Hansen is arguably
the world's leading researcher on global warming. He's the head of NASA's
top institute studying the climate. But this imminent scientist tells correspondent
Scott Pelley that the Bush administration is restricting who he can
talk to and editing what he can say. Politicians, he says, are rewriting
the science." ... "Asked if he believes the administration is censoring
what he can say to the public, Hansen says: "Or they're censoring whether
or not I can say it. I mean, I say what I believe if I'm allowed to say
it."" ... "What James Hansen believes is that global warming is accelerating.
He points to the melting arctic and to Antarctica, where new data show
massive losses of ice to the sea." ... "Those human changes, he says, are
driven by burning fossil fuels that pump out greenhouse gases like CO2,
carbon dioxide. Hansen says his research shows that man has just 10 years
to reduce greenhouse gases before global warming reaches what he calls
a tipping point and becomes unstoppable. He says the White House is blocking
that message." (1, 2,
3)
-Produced By Catherine Herrick and Bill Owens
-60
Minutes -CBSNews
US
- 
Iraq
- Emergencies
- Weather
- Water
- Wind
- Fire
- "Bush
Policies Are Weakening National Guard, Governors Say."
... "Governors of both parties said Sunday that Bush administration policies
were stripping the National Guard of equipment and personnel needed to
respond to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other emergencies."
... "In a recent report, the Government Accountability Office, an investigative
arm of Congress, said that "extensive use of the Guard's equipment overseas
has significantly reduced the amount of equipment available to governors
for domestic needs."" ... "Since 2003, the report said, the Army National
Guard has left more than 64,000 pieces of equipment, valued at more than
$1.2 billion, in Iraq. The Army has not kept track of most of this equipment
and has no firm plans to replace it, the report said." -By
Robert Pear -NYTimes
US
- 
United
Arab Emirates - Water
- Transportation
- Business
- 
Military
- 
Terrorism
- Politics
- "Coast
Guard: Intelligence gaps limited ports deal threat assessment."
... "The Coast Guard warned in December that the proposed takeover of some
U.S. port operations by a state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates
raised "intelligence gaps" that made it difficult to assess the deal's
possible threat to national security." ... "Because the government of the
United Arab Emirates owns DP World, and because the UAE had connections
to al-Qaida in the past, a political firestorm erupted earlier this month
over fears that the company might make U.S. ports vulnerable to terrorist
attack. The Bush administration says such fears are groundless and that
the UAE is now an ally in the war on terrorism." ... "The document, prepared
by the Coast Guard's Intelligence Coordination Center, said the intelligence
gaps included the security environment at DP World terminals, the backgrounds
of company personnel and whether there was any foreign influence in the
company's operations." -By William Douglas and James
Kuhnhenn -KnightRiddervia
-MercuryNews
US
- United
Arab Emirates - Iraq
- Military
- Texas
- Water
- "Lawmakers
have military concerns at ports." ... "Military officials
said Thursday they weren't concerned that a subsidiary of a United Arab
Emirates-owned company could soon be working with tons of military shipments
to Iraq through Texas ports, but several lawmakers said it raises security
questions for U.S. troops." ... "One congressman estimated 50 percent of
the equipment from Fort Hood goes through the ports of Beaumont and Corpus
Christi to Iraq. The Department of Defense said those figures were still
being calculated, but that there is no reason to be alarmed." -By
Steve Quinn with contributions by Wendy Benjaminson, Liz Austin, April
Castro, and Suzanne Gamboa -AP
via -DallasNews.com
US
- United
Arab Emirates - Water
- Hurricane
Katrina - Government
- Money-
"UAE
gave $100 million for Katrina relief." ... "The United
Arab Emirates gave the Bush administration $100 million to help victims
of Hurricane Katrina weeks before a state-owned company there sought U.S.
approval for its ports deal." ... "Robert Kimmitt, deputy secretary at
the Treasury Department, told senators Thursday that Dubai Ports World
first approached U.S. officials Oct. 17 to discuss a proposed purchase
of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which runs
significant operations at six large U.S. ports." ... "The United Arab Emirates
sent its $100 million Katrina donation on Sept. 21 using an electronic
transfer to an account at the State Department, the White House said."
-By Ted Bridis -AP
via -SeattlePI
US
- United
Arab Emirates - Water
- Transportation
- 
Nuclear
- Terrorism
- "FACTBOX-UAE
in focus amid port security concerns." ... "The planned
management takeover by state-backed Dubai Ports World of several major
U.S. seaports is raising national security concerns among U.S. lawmakers,
even as top administration officials defend the United Arab Emirates as
a strong ally in the war on terrorism." ... "* The International Atomic
Energy Agency has said Dubai, a member of the United Arab Emirates, was
the headquarters of the nuclear black market run by disgraced Pakistani
scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The Khan network supplied centrifuge technology
to countries including Libya and North Korea."
-Reuters
US
- World
- Water
- Transportation
- Nuclear- Terrorism
- Politics
- "White
House Defends Port Sale to Arab Co.." ... "The Bush
administration on Thursday rebuffed criticism about potential security
risks of a $6.8 billion sale that gives a company in the United Arab Emirates
control over significant operations at six major American ports." ... "Four
senators and three House members asked the administration Thursday to reconsider
its approval. The lawmakers contended the UAE is not consistent in its
support of U.S. terrorism-fighting efforts." ... "U.S. lawmakers said the
UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components
sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist, Abdul Qadeer
Khan. They also said the UAE was one of only three countries to recognize
the now-toppled Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government." ... "Critics
also have cited the UAE's history as an operational and financial base
for the hijackers who carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." (1, 2)
-By Ted Bridis and Devlin Barrett
-AP via -WashingtonPost
US
- United
Arab Emirates - Water
- Transportation
- Terrorism
- 
New
York - 
New-Jersey
- 
Maryland- 
Louisiana
- Florida
- 
Pennsylvania
- "United
Arab Emirates Firm May Oversee 6 U.S. Ports." ...
"A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant
operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale, leaving a
country with ties to the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers with influence over
a maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism." ... "The $6.8
billion sale could be approved Monday and would affect commercial port
operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore [Maryland], New Orleans [Louisiana],
Miami [Florida] and Philadelphia [Pennsylvania]." -By
Ted Bridis -AP
via -WashingtonPost
