The North Dakota shale boom is an exciting spectacle to behold. I traveled there last spring and was amazed by the new opportunities and tremendous amount of activity. As I drove into Williston, I was amazed to see so much growth. So many new construction projects, service companies, oil & gas operations, and services to accommodate the oil field workers that have sprung up in response to the Bakken Shale play.
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North Dakota shale play driving demand for environmental due diligence
Researchers team up with Google to map global deforestation
It’s a familiar story we have all been hearing for years: global deforestation is increasing at an alarming rate. Decades of unsustainable logging in Malaysia has depleted timber stocks and crippled traditional forest management, leaving 15% of the world’s oldest rainforests cut down. Increased logging activity in Indonesia has nearly doubled its annual loss to 20,000 square km in the past year. The world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon, has seen deforestation increase by 1/3 in the same amount of time. With all of these figures, it is difficult to form an image of what all of this data means.
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Posted in Aerial photography, Environmental data, Geomapping, GIS
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ASTM E 1527-13 has landed
The revision to ASTM E1527 standard was published this month putting a few new immediate changes into effect. ASTM standard E1527-05 is now listed as a historical standard; it is superseded by the 2013 revision. In a previous blog post, I provided a full rundown of all of the changes. This post will focus on the new records review requirements.
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Posted in Environmental data, Phase I ESA
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Aerial gondolas: The next great (urban) transportation device?
Have you ever sat in traffic and wished your car could rise to the air and fly past everyone else? I have. That is why I feel compelled to bring you, what is in my opinion, the next great leap for the urban commuter – aerial gondolas.
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Cheers from a few of us at The Banks Group in Austin!
Posted in Austin
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Update: Texas drought conditions and Proposition 6
The splash of recent rains in the Central Texas area was a welcome respite, but did it have any impact on the enduring drought?
In a recent article in the Austin American-Statesman, Bob Rose, meteorologist with the LCRA had this to say:
“Overall drought conditions have really improved because of the rain. The rain has recharged much of the soil moisture, vegetation is really responding, creek and streams have been flowing and fire danger has decreased. The last thing to recover is lake levels.” Continue reading
Posted in Groundwater, Surface water, TX
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