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Saturday, May 3, 2008
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TalkLeft is running video calling for unity in the Democratic party.
"2008 pres"
6:42:54 PM 
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TalkLeft: "t has been reported that unofficial initial results have Obama winning the Guam caucus by 7 votes, 2264-2257. I assume a recount may be in order though the delegate split is set. I doubt a 7 vote differential is going to sway the Guam superdelegates."
"2008 pres"
6:40:43 PM
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Here's an article about a prospecting for uranium in Weld County around Keota from The Greeley Tribune. They write:
A ghost town in northern Colorado could prove to be the battleground for another fight over uranium mining as a Grand Junction-based company prepares to launch its own campaign to extract the resource. According to Weld County records, Geovic Mining Corp. has signed mining leases with nearly 130 landowners near Keota in the past year in preparation to mine uranium...
Former Unocal employees who are now employed by Geovic first established there was uranium in the area in the 1970s, according to a 2007 earnings report released in early April. Exploratory drilling will be done to affirm the presence of the uranium before other studies are done, according to the earnings report...
In the report, officials indicated that the uranium deposits are in roll-front formations of sandstone 120-600 feet below the surface. That is similar to the Canadian-firm Powertech Uranium Corporation's uranium mine proposal for a mine near Nunn. Lilias Jarding, an outspoken opponent of that mine said Geovic's plan to mine is one of six proposed uranium mining operations in northern Colorado. It's been difficult for the public to find out anything about the projects, however, because Colorado law keeps nearly every aspect of a proposed mining operation secret, Jarding said. "Nobody knows about these exploration permits until they decide to tell somebody," Jarding said...
House Bill 1161 would require companies such as Powertech and Geovic to clean groundwater at their sites to pre-mining quality after a company finishes mining the radioactive material.
A second bill -- Senate Bill 228 [Concerning Increase Public Disclosure of the Contents of a Notice of Intent to Conduct Mining Operations (pdf)] -- would make prospecting for minerals a matter of public record while protecting the proprietary rights of mineral owners. That bill passed the state Senate on Monday and now heads to the House for consideration before the legislature adjourns next week.
More coverage of SB 08-228 from The Crested Butte News. They write:
A state bill designed to shed more light on the mining industry's prospecting activities in Colorado has passed the State Senate and is now before the Colorado House of Representatives. Senate Bill 228 would give the public access to information that's provided by mining companies to the State Department of Natural Resources when the companies file notices about prospecting, which is among the first steps in developing a mine.
Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass Village), who represents Gunnison County, is sponsoring the bill, along with Representative Kathleen Curry (D-Gunnison). Schwartz says the bill "came directly out of the concerns we heard from the Crested Butte community...I really want to compliment the community on how active they've been on this issue." Currently in Colorado, companies' prospecting information submitted to the state is held secret -- to the point that even an application that had been filed could not be released to the public. Senate Bill 228 would allow the public access to some information while still protecting items considered proprietary, such as the mineral deposit's location, size and nature and other information. Schwartz says it's a positive step forward. "This bill provides a level of transparency for the public where it is often not found," Schwartz says. "People deserve to know what's happening in their communities."[...]
Local environmental group High Country Citizens' Alliance (HCCA) is also supportive of the bill. In a press release, HCCA mineral resource director Bob Salter said, "If passed SB 228 would allow for public comment and specific environmental impact evaluation of exploratory and prospecting activities that sometimes result in adverse effects to land and water resources."
More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
"2008 pres"
10:12:00 AM
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From The Environment News Service: " Kansas will not have two new coal-fired power plants at Holcomb in the western part of the state. Late Thursday night, the Kansas House narrowly sustained the third veto of a bill to allow the plants by Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat. The vote in the House was 80-45, four votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the governor's veto. Closely watched as an indicator of the mood of the Midwest on coal power, the battle between the governor and the Republican controlled Statehouse over Sunflower Electric's bid to expand its Holcomb Generating Station has absorbed much of this legislative session."
"cc"
9:17:11 AM
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Lake Baikal, the earth's largest fresh water lake, is warming due to human induced climate change and the ecology is changing, according to The Environmental News Services. From the article:
The rising temperature of the world's largest lake - Lake Baikal in Siberia - shows that this icy region of Russia is changing due to global warming, Russian and American scientists have discovered. This lake was expected to be among those most resistant to climate change, due to its huge volume and unique water circulation, but long-term data collection reveals that warming is taking place. In their paper, the scientists detail the effects of climate change on Lake Baikal - from warming of its vast waters to reorganization of its microscopic food web - drawing on 60 years of research...
The data on Lake Baikal reveal "significant warming of surface waters and long-term changes in the food web of the world's largest, most ancient lake," write the researchers in their paper. "The conclusions shown here for this enormous body of freshwater result from careful and repeated sampling over six decades," said Henry Gholz, program director for the National Science Foundation's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis based at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He said, "Thanks to the dedication of local scientists, who were also keen observers, coupled with modern synthetic approaches, we can now visualize and appreciate the far-reaching changes occurring in this lake...Warming of this isolated but enormous lake is a clear signal that climate change has affected even the most remote corners of our planet," said study co-author ecologist Stephanie Hampton, who serves as deputy director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis.
Lake Baikal contains 20 percent of the world's fresh water, and it is large enough to hold all the water in North America's Great Lakes. It is the world's deepest lake as well as its oldest. At 25 million years old, it predates the emergence of humans. In 1996, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, declared Lake Baikal a World Heritage site because of its biological diversity. At least 2,500 plant and animal species inhabit the lake. Most of these species, including the freshwater seal, are found nowhere else in the world.
"cc"
9:13:13 AM
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From The Denver Post: "Conservationists are shifting the debate over oil and gas development across the West from the preservation of a single species here or there to the potential impacts that development could have on entire landscapes due to climate change...The climate change argument has spread from Montana and the Dakotas down to Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, and BLM officials acknowledged Thursday it's likely here to stay...The region sold every one of the parcels it offered during the April lease sale, but Herrell said the leases haven't been signed since the agency is still reviewing a protest filed by conservation group WildEarth Guardians. The group targeted all of the parcels, saying they should not have been offered since the agency's management plans don't address climate change as a potential result of greenhouse gas emissions from more oil and gas development. The protest also claims the agency skirted federal environmental laws by not considering new information about climate change from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the New Mexico Climate Change Advisory Group or other federal scientists."
"cc"
9:01:26 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 2:23:14 PM.
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