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The Toxic Trail - Superfund Program

Tue, 2014-03-25 18:48 — Kathy Gilbeaux

       

The landmark Superfund program is supposed to clean up the country’s toxic waste. But as one site in Silicon Valley shows, it’s leaving behind its own legacy of environmental problems.

theguardian.com - by Susanne Rust and Matt Drange, The Center for Investigative Reporting, and the Guardian US Interactive Team - March 17, 2014

Below some of the world’s most expensive real estate, in the heart of Silicon Valley, pipes and pumps suck thousands of gallons of contaminated water every hour from vast underground toxic pools.

Giant industrial filters trap droplets of dangerous chemicals at the surface, all in the hope of making the water drinkable again and protecting the workers of tech giants such as Google and Symantec from toxic vapors.

But that costly journey to the surface is only the start of a toxic trail with no clear end.

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Environment
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West Virginians Raise Alarm as Research Links Coal Mining to Cancer, Birth Defects

Mon, 2014-03-24 22:54 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

A home is nearly surrounded by the Hobet mountaintop-removing coal mine in Boone County, W.V.
Photo by Vivian Stockman

Recent studies suggest that coal mining affects the health of everyone who lives nearby—not just those who work in the mines.

yesmagazine.org - by Erin L. McCoy - February 26, 2014

. . . In recent years, research has drawn new links between coal mining and health problems in the areas where that mining takes place. In response, local groups are working to support further research and boost awareness of these problems. The chemical leak that left 300,000 West Virginians without water for more than a week in January, the 108,000-gallon slurry spill on Feb. 11, and another slurry spill just days ago have brought national attention to the issue. Local advocates hope that this attention, in combination with new research, will translate into a more open dialogue on the health dangers of coal mining.

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Energy
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Why the Exxon Valdez Spill Was a Eureka Moment for Science

Mon, 2014-03-24 00:02 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

An oiled murre passes the darkened shoreline near Prince William Sound, Alaska, less than a month after the March 1989 spill.  Erik Hill/Anchorage Daily News/MCT/Landov

npr.org - by Elizabeth Shogren - March 22, 2014

On March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into the pristine water. At the time, it was the single biggest spill in U.S. history. In a series of stories, NPR is examining the lasting social and economic impacts of the disaster, as well as the policy, regulation and scientific research that came out of it.

Twenty-five years of research following the Exxon Valdez disaster has led to some startling conclusions about the persistent effects of spilled oil.

When the tanker leaked millions of gallons of the Alaskan coast, scientists predicted major environmental damage, but they expected those effects to be short lived. Instead, they've stretched out for many years.

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United States
US - Alaska
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Ecosystems
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Oceans
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Barge Leaking Oil in Galveston Bay After Collision

Sun, 2014-03-23 14:54 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

A barge loaded with marine fuel oil sits partially submerged in the Houston Ship Channel. The bulk carrier Summer Wind, reported a collision between the Summer Wind and a barge, containing 924,000 gallons of fuel oil, towed by the motor vessel Miss Susan.  Photo: U.S. Coast Guard

Dike, ports closed after barge collides with ship

galvestondailynews.com - by Wes Swift, T. J. Aulds and Kevin M. Cox - March 23, 2014

TEXAS CITY — A collision between a barge and a ship Saturday near the Texas City Dike spilled 160,000 gallons of heavy oil into Galveston Bay.

The accident forced authorities to evacuate the dike and surrounding areas — and to close the Houston Ship Channel.

Authorities also suspended operations of the ferry between Galveston and Port Bolivar.

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ALSO SEE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IN LINKS BELOW

http://time.com/34630/barge-leaking-oil-in-galveston-bay-after-collision/

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US - Gulf Coast
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Energy
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What does the biggest free trade deal in history mean for the environment?

Sun, 2014-03-16 15:51 — Maeryn Obley

“No standard in Europe will be lowered because of this trade deal; not on food, not on the environment, not on social protection, not on data protection,” EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said in February, before meetings this week in Brussels to negotiate the details of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Photograph: Georges Gobet/AFP

Image: “No standard in Europe will be lowered because of this trade deal; not on food, not on the environment, not on social protection, not on data protection,” EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said in February, before meetings this week in Brussels to negotiate the details of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Photograph: Georges Gobet/AFP

theguardian.com - March 14th, 2014 - Karl Mathiesen

Both the EU and US are adamant TTIP will not affect both regions’ environmental protection standards. But green groups, forewarned by past experiences of free trade agreements, are incredulous.

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U.S. Agrees to Allow BP Back Into Gulf Waters to Seek Oil

Thu, 2014-03-13 23:44 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A BP cleanup crew shovels oil from a beach on May 24, 2010 at Port Fourchon, Louisiana (Getty/AFP/File, John Moore)

nytimes.com - by Clifford Krauss - March 13, 2014

HOUSTON — Four years after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, BP is being welcomed back to seek new oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

An agreement on Thursday with the Environmental Protection Agency lifts a 2012 ban that was imposed after the agency concluded that BP had not fully corrected problems that led to the well blowout in 2010 that killed 11 rig workers, spilled millions of gallons of oil and contaminated hundreds of miles of beaches. . .

. . . Under the agreement, BP will be allowed to bid for new leases as early as next Wednesday, but only as long as the company passes muster on ethics, corporate governance and safety procedures outlined by the agency.

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United States
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Ohio Officials Tight-Lipped on Fracking, Monday’s Earthquakes

Wed, 2014-03-12 23:10 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

dispatch.com - by Will Drabold - March 12, 2014

While geologists raised questions yesterday about whether a northeastern Ohio fracking operation caused a series of earthquakes in Mahoning County on Monday, state officials refused to provide any answers.

On Monday, Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials ordered Texas-based Hilcorp Energy to shut down an active well at the Carbon Limestone Landfill near Lowellville after four temblors were recorded in the area.

“It’s an area which (before 2011) had no history of earthquakes,” said John Armbruster, a retired Columbia University geology professor who had worked with Ohio officials to monitor a recent series of earthquakes tied to a fracking-waste injection well near Youngstown.

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Earthquake
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Next Fracking Controversy: In the Midwest, a Storm Brews Over Frac Sand

Tue, 2014-03-11 17:24 — Kathy Gilbeaux

       

A truck dumps a load of sand at the loading terminal for Modern Transport Rail in Winona, Minn.  Andrew Link/Winona Daily News/AP/File

yahoo.com - csmonitor.com - by Richard Mertens - March 9, 2014

Sand is used in the fracking process, and there's plenty of it to be mined in the upper Midwest. As a sand-mining boom has emerged, residents are divided over whether it's lifting or ruining their communities.

. . . Sand has become a valuable – and deeply divisive – commodity in the upper Midwest. Hydraulic fracturing, a method of extraction also known as fracking that has boosted oil and natural gas production across the United States, requires sand, and there's plenty of it here. . .

. . . A big question about sand mining is the risk to public health from dust.

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While America Waits On Keystone Decision, A Different Tar Sands Pipeline Just Got Approved

Sun, 2014-03-09 22:44 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

The route of Enbridge’s Line 9, which would connect to a tar sands pipeline in Alberta on one side, and to Montreal on the other. The Montreal connection eventually goes to the eastern coast of Canada.  CREDIT: National Energy Board

thinkprogress.org - by Emily Atkin - March 7, 2014

While all eyes in America were turned to President Obama’s looming decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, Canadian regulators on Thursday approved their own, smaller version — a pipeline that would for the first time directly connect Alberta’s tar sands to Montreal.

Canada’s National Energy Board have approved a proposal by Enbridge Inc. to allow the reversal and expansion of their Line 9 pipeline. . .

. . . With the reversal and expansion approved, environmentalists say the controversial tar sands oil can now be pumped almost to the New England border.

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Senator Boxer's Statement: The Keystone Pipeline and the Threat to Human Health

Mon, 2014-03-03 21:33 — Kathy Gilbeaux

                  

epw.senate.gov

Senator Barbara Boxer
Keystone Pipeline and the Threat to Human Health
February 26, 2014
(As prepared for delivery)

We are here today to share dramatic new information that will shine a spotlight on the health impacts of tar sands oil - health impacts that are already being felt in communities exposed to one of the filthiest kinds of oil on our planet.

The Keystone XL pipeline will allow 830,000 barrels of tar sands oil every day to flow through our nation - an initial increase of 45 percent compared to what is being imported today - and this project could just be the beginning. In the long term, it is projected that Canada would produce almost 300 percent more tar sands oil by 2030.

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