postMigrator

Bush Publishes Changes to Mountaintop Removal Rule

By postMigrator December 13, 2008 November 19, 2010 RT Newswire

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies against buffer zone changes at congressional hearing

by Ken Ward Jr.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Bush administration today will publish its final rule to revoke key water quality protections, a move that critics say helps to protect mountaintop removal coal mining from tougher restrictions.

The changes approved by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement are scheduled for publication in today’s Federal Register.

Last week, the White House and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency paved the way for the OSM to finalize its more than five-year effort to rewrite the 1983 stream “buffer zone” rule.

Climate, Precipitation, & Water Issues in the West

By postMigrator December 13, 2008 December 13, 2008 RT Newswire

Mass migration on the horizon. Expect lots of
cheap real estate, emptied highways.
Lance

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“The Las Vegas Valley gets 90 percent of its
drinking water from the river, which also
supplies tens of millions of people in Arizona,
California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and
Wyoming.

“The UNLV study is further evidence that climate
change has been affecting the river for some time.

“Its findings come on the heels of dire
predictions for the future of the Colorado.”
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Dec. 11, 2008

CLIMATE CHANGE: Study tracks river’s course
UNLV researchers: More rain, less snow

By HENRY BREAN

You don’t need a crystal ball to predict the
potential impacts of climate change on the

Colorado River. According to UNLV researchers,

what could happen to the river is happening

already.

Montana: Forest Service Struggles With New Climate

By postMigrator December 13, 2008 December 13, 2008 Uncategorized

Billings Gazette (Billings, Montana)
December 12, 2008.

Forest Service peers into future with climate change
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/12/12/news/state/27-climatechange.txt
By BRETT FRENCH Of The Gazette Staff

More weeds, loss of some plant and animal species
and more intense wildfires are some of the future
scenarios the U.S. Forest Service faces under the
looming threat of global climate change.

“We’re almost on the cusp of an ecosystem shift,”
said Faith Ann Heinsch, a University of Montana
professor of climatology. “If we don’t increase
our summer precipitation and our winter
precipitation falls as rain, we’ll be looking at
some interesting changes. Water issues will be
the big fight in the West again.”

CO2, Ca, and Rapid Change in Oceans

By postMigrator December 13, 2008 December 13, 2008 Uncategorized

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“As CO2 increases and weather patterns shift, the
chemical composition of our rivers will change,
and this will affect the oceans,” says co-author
Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution’s
Department of Global Ecology.

“What we learned from this work is that the ocean
system is much more sensitive to climate change
than we have previously appreciated,” says
Griffith.
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Science Daily
News Release

Climate Change Alters Ocean Chemistry
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081211141832.htm

ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2008) – Researchers have
discovered that the ocean’s chemical makeup is
less stable and more greatly affected by climate
change than previously believed. Researchers
report that during a time of climate change 13
million years ago the chemical makeup of the
oceans changed dramatically. The researchers warn
that the chemical composition of the ocean today
could be similarly affected by climate changes
now underway – with potentially far-reaching
consequences for marine ecosystems.