NOAA Says World in 2013 Was Fourth Hottest on Record

PhysOrg

Sunset. PLT photo.

The average world temperature was 58.12 degrees (14.52 Celsius) tying with 2003 for the fourth warmest since 1880, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday. Full story here.

More Oil Spilled From American Trains in 2013 Than in Previous 4 Decades, Federal Data Show

McClatchy Washington Bureau

A Canadian National freight, as seen from a Via Rail passenger train, parked on a siding. These "close encounters" are a common occurrence in Canada, where passenger trains need to yield the right-of-way to the freights. (PLT movie.)

More crude oil was spilled in U.S. rail incidents last year than was spilled in the nearly four decades since the federal government began collecting data on such spills, an analysis of the data shows. Details here.

Sochi Residents Blame Games for Ecological Damage

(Reuters) - The first warning of the problems that eventually swept away Irina Vorochkova's house near Russia's Olympic city of Sochi came when the garden began shifting, then the ground slid away downhill towards a river. Details here.

The Insurance Industry Licks its Wounds in the Wake of Catastrophic Storm Damage in the Year Just Passed

Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog

Earth set a new record for billion-dollar weather disasters in 2013. Full story here.

Southern Alberta, summer, 2013.

Alberta Leads the Country in "Exploiting" Natural Places

iPolitics

While this may not come as a shock to Neil Young, who’s compared the oil sands to Hiroshima, a national study suggests that Alberta has disturbed more natural landscape than any other province. The analysis by Global Forest Watch adds that Wild Rose Country also has two of the three areas in Canada where the rate of disturbance is the highest. Those disruptions included everything from roads to seismic lines to clearcuts to croplands. “This is a simple monitoring analysis that should be done and could very easily be done by the feds,” the report’s author Peter Lee said Monday. “(But) they’re not doing it.”

It's Hitting the Fan Over Sewage in Manitoba (Again)

Winnipeg Free Press

Opponents outraged as St. Clement's lagoon OK'd. Details here.

Related: 

• The Rural Municipality of Shell River, Manitoba, Scraps Plans for a New Sewage Lagoon at a Controversial Location
• "Born of the Stump"