Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Energy policy: Oil shale Denver Business Journal: "The two biggest natural resource industries in Colorado could be setting up for a battle over the state's future. The Front Range Water Council -- made up of the utilities that supply water the people who live on the Front Range -- has asked the Bureau of Land Management to extend its deadline for comments on a draft plan for developing oil shale on Colorado's Western Slope... The current deadline is March 20, but the letter from the council -- signed by Dave Little, the chief planner for Denver Water, the state's largest water utility -- asks for an extension to May 19. An extension at this point, less than two days before the original deadline, is unlikely, said BLM spokeswoman Heather Feeney." More Coyote Gulch coverage here. "2008 pres" 7:08:44 PM     Climate Change: The earth is a beautifully complex system Glaciers are melting rapidly worldwide, shrinking water supplies, while scientists are losing an important record of past local weather conditions. Here's a report from The Environment News Service. From the article: European glaciers are among the hardest hit, but most of the world's glaciers are melting at a record pace as global warming accelerates, the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, announced today. Data from close to 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicate that between the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled. Since 1980 there has been a total reduction in thickness of ice of just over 11.5 meters, or almost 38 feet. The findings come from the UNEP-supported World Glacier Monitoring Service based at the University of Zurich. It has been tracking the condition of glaciers for over a century. Continuous data series of annual mass balance, expressed as thickness change, are available for 30 reference glaciers since 1980. "The latest figures are part of what appears to be an accelerating trend with no apparent end in sight," said World Glacier Monitoring Service Director Professor Wilfried Haeberli. The Service calculates thickening and thinning of glaciers in terms of "water equivalent." The estimates for the year 2006 indicate that further shrinking took place equal to around 1.4 meters of water equivalent compared to losses of half a meter in 2005. On average, one meter water equivalent corresponds to 1.1 meters in ice thickness, indicating a further shrinking in 2006 of 1.5 actual meters. "This continues the trend in accelerated ice loss during the past two and a half decades and brings the total loss since 1980 to more than 10.5 meters of water equivalent," said Dr. Haberli. Some of the most dramatic shrinking has taken place in Europe, with Norway's Breidalblikkbrea glacier thinning by close to 3.1 meters during 2006 compared with a thinning of 0.3 meters in the year 2005. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, "Millions if not billions of people depend directly or indirectly on these natural water storage facilities for drinking water, agriculture, industry and power generation during key parts of the year...There are many canaries emerging in the climate change coal mine," he said. "The glaciers are perhaps among those making the most noise and it is absolutely essential that everyone sits up and takes notice." "cc" 7:27:57 AM

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