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Federal appeals court rejects EPA water rules for coal plant discharges
A federal appeals court yesterday rejected a Kentucky regulation for coal-mining discharges into waterways and ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to re-evaluate the rule.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit also rejected the EPA's approval of five other water pollution regulations. They included a rule dealing with how much pollution from a concentrated animal feeding operation may be discharged into some lakes, streams and rivers.
The decision sends the regulations back to the EPA to be rewritten.
The decision came as a result of a lawsuit filed in 2004 by the Kentucky Waterways Alliance, an environmental group. The alliance sued the EPA during the decade-long dispute over the Clean Water Act, saying the agency approved rules for Kentucky that had so many exemptions that they were practically useless.
The court is requiring the EPA to reconsider Kentucky's exemption for coal-mining discharges. The exemption allows coal mines to dump in areas with good water quality if the state finds a social and economic need for the dumping.
Kentucky's regulations also exempted a variety of pollution discharges into waters in which fish, shellfish and wildlife live.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell upheld the regulations in 2006.
The appeals court found that the EPA, in approving the exemptions, failed to explain why their effect would be insignificant.
The appeals court did uphold the EPA's approval of the method Kentucky uses to select waterways meriting special protection.
Judge Deborah Cook wrote for the majority of the three-judge panel that the state gave the EPA a letter saying how it planned to interpret the clean water regulations, a move that doesn't meet the requirements of the federal Administrative Procedures Act.
"This securing an informal commitment from a state agency rather than requiring the state to amend its regulations violates the federal approval procedure," Cook wrote.
Senior Judge Eugene Siler joined Cook in ordering the EPA to rework the regulations.
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The EPA is supposed to stand for Environmental Protection Agency. I think it should be changed to Environmental Plundering Agency.
"The appeals court found that the EPA, in approving the exemptions, failed to explain why their effect would be insignificant."
How convenient. Good to see courts standing up to this blatant disregard for our environment. A federal appeals court yesterday rejected a Kentucky regulation for coal-mining discharges into waterways and ordered the Environment... more -
Scarce water in Argentina threatened by Barrick gold mine
Tearing mountains apart, destroying indigenous lands, polluting scarce water sources, for what? A few pieces of shiny metal excavated in a greedy material world where the metal means more than the lives and environment ruined by it.
From the article:
For nearly a year and a half, local residents in the northwestern Argentine province of La Rioja have been blocking the road that climbs up to the Nevados de Famatina mountain to protest a gold mining project that they say will pollute the water in the country’s driest district.
"The mountain is our only source of water, and it regulates the region’s climate," said Marcela Crabbé, a shopkeeper in Chilecito, a city of 45,000 located 30 km from Nevados de Famatina. "One hundred years ago this was a mining zone, but that left the area neither gold nor progress, just a huge environmental debt," she told IPS.
Chilecito and Famatina -- a town of less than 8,000 people located 20 km from the mountain it takes its name from -- are in the northern part of La Rioja, in the foothills of the Andes mountains, some 1,200 km northwest of Buenos Aires.
More than 2,000 people took part in the latest protest against the mine, earlier this month.
Criss-crossed by dry river beds, and with virtually no surface water, La Rioja is Argentina’s most arid province. It obtains its water from wells more than 200 metres deep, and from mountains like the 6,250-metre Nevados de Famatina, which provide water during the thaw period. If this melt water is polluted, the very survival of the two nearby towns would be in danger.
La Rioja Governor Luis Beder Herrera himself acknowledged this month that the province’s biggest problem is the lack of water: "We are the only province which practically has no rivers; water means everything for us." Nevertheless, his administration has promoted mining activity.
"I don't understand people who say we are going to pollute," said the governor. "I don't know of a single case of people who have died of this famous pollution. They are trying to scare people, but we aren't going to bring this to a halt."
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Their only source of water. Tearing mountains apart, destroying indigenous lands, polluting scarce water sources, for what? A few pieces of shiny metal excavated ... more -
Drinking water of 41 million Americans contaminated with pharmaceuticals
An investigation by the Associated Press (AP) has revealed that the drinking water of at least 41 million people in the United States is contaminated with pharmaceutical drugs.
It has long been known that drugs are not wholly absorbed or broken down by the human body. Significant amounts of any medication taken eventually pass out of the body, primarily through the urine.
"People think that if they take a medication, their body absorbs it and it disappears, but of course that's not the case," EPA scientist Christian Daughton said.
While sewage is treated before being released back into the environment, and water from reservoirs or rivers is also treated before being funneled back into the drinking water supply, these treatments are not able to remove all traces of medications. And so far, the EPA has not regulated the presence of pharmaceuticals in drinking water, meaning that there are no laws in existence today that protect consumers from this increasingly dangerous chemical contaminant of the water supply.
Drugs given to animals are also entering the water supply. One study found that 10 percent of the steroids given to cattle pass directly through their bodies, while another study found that steroid concentrations in the water downstream of a Nebraska feedlot were four times as high as the water upstream. Male fish downstream of the feedlot were found to have depressed levels of testosterone and smaller than normal heads, most likely due to the pharmaceutical contamination in their water.
"It brings a question to people's minds that if the fish were affected ... might there be a potential problem for humans?" said EPA research biologist Vickie Wilson.
To determine the extent of drinking water contamination, an Associated Press investigative team surveyed the water providers of the 50 largest cities in the United States and 52 smaller communities, analyzed federal databases and scientific reports, and interviewed government and corporate officials.
The investigation found widespread evidence of drinking water contaminated with both over-the-counter and prescription drugs, including painkillers, hormones, antibiotics, anti-convulsants, anti-depressants, and drugs for cancer or heart disease. Of the 28 major cities that tested their water supplies for pharmaceuticals, only two said those tests showed no pharmaceutical contamination. In Philadelphia, 56 different drugs and drug byproducts were found in treated drinking water, and 63 were found in the city's watershed.
Of the 35 watersheds that had been tested, 28 were found to be contaminated. Deep-water aquifers near landfills, feedlots and other contaminant sources in 24 states were also found to contain pharmaceuticals. This means that even in rural areas where people get their water from wells, drinking water might still contain drugs. An investigation by the Associated Press (AP) has revealed that the drinking water of at least 41 million people in the United States ... more -
Water water everywhere, but what will we drink?
Many take water for granted, but as we all know we cannot live without it. However, much of it in the United States and other countries worldwide is polluted beyond human use. We have managed to pollute and toxify the very resource we need to survive, thereby reducing the amount of potable water in our world as our population continues to rise. This presents geopolitical issues as well as poverty, health, and social issues...especially as multi-nationals continue to buy up water for profit to control its distribution. Who decides who is worthy to have water? Who decides who is worthy to have clean potable water? Who decides who gets to live and who is to die? It is one thing to truly have water scarcity in the form of no water... but to see water all around you and not be able to drink or use it is truly a moral tragedy. Please do all you can to conserve this precious resource, and pass on to those in government that demanding corporate accountability for polluting our natural resources is something that should be more important than covering for their crimes. Climate change has now also been put into motion, so preserving the freshwater we have left is imperative to our continued survival.
Water is life.
Notice the ripples in the water as it moves constantly to the rhythm of life even as we kill it. This particular waterway was poisoned with Pcbs and dioxin to make Agent Orange during the Vietnam war. We don't see any fish here anymore.
Is this the legacy we are going to leave for the future? I sure hope not.
Thanks for listening to this. Many take water for granted, but as we all know we cannot live without it. However, much of it in the United States and other countrie... more -
Bacteria and nanofilters: the future of clean water technology
Bacteria often get bad press, with those found in water often linked to illness and disease. But researchers at The University of Nottingham are using these tiny organisms alongside the very latest membrane filtration techniques to improve and refine water cleaning technology.
These one-celled organisms eat the contaminants present in water. whether it is being treated prior to industrial use or even for drinking in a process called bioremediation.
The water is then filtered through porous membranes, which function like a sieve. However, the holes in these sieves are microscopic, and some are so small they can only be seen at the nanoscale. Pore size in these filters can range from ten microns ten thousandths of a millimetre to one nanometre a millionth of a millimetre.
These technologies can be developed into processes which optimise the use of water whether in an industrial system or to provide drinking water in areas where it is a scarce resource.
The research is led by Nidal Hilal, Professor of Chemical and Process Engineering in the Centre for Clean Water Technologies a world-leading research centre developing advanced technologies in water treatment.
Current membrane technology used in water treatment processes can decrease in efficiency over time, as the membranes become fouled with contaminants. By using bioremediation the membranes can be cleaned within the closed system, without removing the membranes. Researchers at the centre have developed the technology in partnership with Cardev International, an oil filtration company based in Harrogate.
As well as being highly effective in the water treatment process, transforming industrial liquid waste contaminated with metals and oils into clean water, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes have a useful side effect. The waste products have a very high calorific value, and can be used as fuel. Bacteria often get bad press, with those found in water often linked to illness and disease. But researchers at The University of Nott... more -
Take Action for Manatees!
Help Us Obtain Greater Enforcement
Of Boat Speed Zones
The Issue:
Cuts in state and federal funding have resulted in fewer on-water law enforcement officers in critical areas of Florida. The Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, created to safeguard manatees, is one such area. In July, a mother manatee was horribly injured in the bay by a speeding boat and subsequently died. Very recently, another manatee was also horribly injured by a speeding boat and died. Unfortunately, this scenario will continue to be repeated many times in areas heavily used by both boats and manatees unless law enforcement efforts are increased dramatically.
Although we don’t believe in gratuitously displaying manatee photos depicting disfiguring injuries, we have decided - after much soul-searching - to post some online photos of the poor manatee mother because a picture is worth a thousand words.
Warning: These photos are very graphic.
Click here to view photos: http://www.savethemanatee.org/cr_photos.htm
Our immediate goal is to get more officers on the water during times of peak use, even if it means Save the Manatee Club pays for them. We are also increasing boater awareness with a new poster featuring the message, “Navigate With Care, Manatees Are There.” And we will advocate to eliminate dangerous high speed areas.
What You Can Do:
Take action now by sending the following letter to Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and to Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist, asking them to immediately increase their on-water law enforcement presence throughout manatee habitat. And please send this alert to your friends and family and ask them to take action, too.
Take Action! Sign this petition PLEASE!
http://www.savethemanatee.org/actionalert.cfm?id=12 Help Us Obtain Greater Enforcement Of Boat Speed Zones The Issue: ... more -
Coca-Cola Fined over Contamination in Bogota
Industria Nacional de Gaseosas, a subsidiary of the biggest bottler of Coca-Cola trademark beverages in Latin America (Coca-Cola FEMSA), has been fined with a US$111,000 bill by the Bogota District Environmental Office for illegal spilling of industrial waste in Colombia's capital sewage system and wetlands.
According to the official communication from Bogota's Environmental Office (SDA, for its Spanish abbreviation), the problems with Industria Nacional de Gaseosas began in 2006, when the company's spilling permit for its plant located in Fontabon expired.
After the company requested a new permit, Colombia's Sewage System administrator presented a technical report which recommended the SDA not to concede it. The report said the company was spilling industrial waste in the sewage, which flowed into the Capellania wetland.
In May 2007 the SDA declared there were new key issues to evaluate the permit, and its Water Control and Quality Division registered the plant. It was then proved that the company's venue had five spilling points, four of them never declared and some of them discharging industrial waste without treatment.
Even though the company closed the illegal spilling points in January, which were redirected towards a water treatment plant, the SDA claimed this was done after a longer period of time than the established and that environmental damage had already been done, and therefore announced the fine.
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111,000 seems a paltry amount, of course I have it in for Coca-Cola for other offenses and would like to see them sued out of existence. I've boycotted Coca-Cola for several years, anyone else share my discretion? Industria Nacional de Gaseosas, a subsidiary of the biggest bottler of Coca-Cola trademark beverages in Latin America (Coca-Cola FEMSA... more -
America's Endangered Species Under Attack
The Bush administration is proposing new rules that would weaken species protections and eliminate independent scientific review of development projects that could threaten species habit.
The changes ("tweaks") that the President Bush and the Bush Administration are proposing would weaken Section 7 of the landmark Endangered Species Act.
For more than three decades, this key provision of the ESA has safeguarded imperiled species from the impacts of potentially harmful federal projects.
Key to the success of this provision has been the requirement for interagency consultation between "action agencies" that build dams or highways, issue oil and gas leases or timber cutting contracts, etc., and the "conservation agencies" that have the primary responsibility for protecting endangered species (the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service).
The conservation agencies have always had the opportunity and responsibility to take a second look at the projects proposed by the action agencies. As a result of taking that independent look, the conservation agencies have often been able to suggest project modifications that avoid harmful impacts to rare species.
The proposed regulatory changes would eliminate the requirement for an independent review by the conservation agencies. The result will almost certainly mean that both harmful impacts on rare wildlife, and opportunities to avoid those impacts, will be overlooked.
Conservation is not the mission of federal action agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Highway Administration, and others. To make sure that their projects (and the projects of many other federal agencies as well) do not cause needless harm to rare species, the existing requirement for independent review by federal conservation agencies should not be abandoned.
Please follow the link for the petition to President Bush. If these regulatory changes are made, it will be as if the Endangered Species Act does not exist... not to mention the horrific impact on the environment.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION!
http://action.edf.org/campaign/esa_action
I will be posting more news release on this issue. The Bush administration is proposing new rules that would weaken species protections and eliminate independent scientific review of de... more -
Shell rebuked for 'greenwash' over ad for polluting tar sands project
The Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell misled the public about the green credentials of a vastly polluting oil project in Canada, in an attempt to assure consumers of its good environmental record, a media watchdog will rule today.
In an embarrassing rejection of Shell's "greenwash", the Advertising Standards Authority said the company should not have used the word "sustainable" for its controversial tar sands project and a second scheme to build North America's biggest oil refinery. Both projects would lead to the emission of more greenhouse gases, the ASA said, ruling the advert had breached rules on substantiation, truthfulness and environmental claims.
Carried by the Financial Times on 1 February to accompany Shell's financial results, the company claimed: "We invest today's profits in tomorrow's solutions."
The advert continued: "A growing world needs more energy, but at the same time we need to find new ways of managing carbon emissions to limit climate change. Continued investment in technology is one of the key ways we are able to address this challenge, and continue to secure a profitable and sustainable future."
Shell explained it was harnessing its technical expertise "to unlock the potential of the vast Canadian oil sands deposits".
The WWF (formerly the Worldwide Fund for Nature) complained that extracting low-grade bitumen from sand was highly inefficient and destroyed huge tracts of virgin forest. In its defence, Shell maintained that new technology was reducing pollution from the Athabasca Oil Sands Project in Alberta in which it owns a 60 per cent stake.
Shell quoted a critical WWF report as rating its Muskeg River Mine one of the least damaging coal-tar sands projects because it sought to limit emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide and organic compounds.
Making its ruling, the ASA quoted Canada's independent National Energy Board that oil sand developments had considerable social and economic impacts on water conservation, greenhouse gas emissions, land disturbance and waste management.
David Norman, the WWF's director of campaigns, said: "The ASA's decision to uphold WWF's complaint sends a strong signal to business and industry that greenwash is unacceptable." The Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell misled the public about the green credentials of a vastly polluting oil project in Canada, in an at... more -
China's Changsha city plans to trade dust and CO2
The city of Changsha, the capital of Hunan province in south-central China, is preparing to launch an emissions trading scheme, its mayor said on Tuesday.
Changsha's plan is a local version of a tentative outline drawn up by the central bank, for a domestic emissions trading scheme that could cover everything from greenhouse gases to water pollutants, and speed China's push for greener growth.
Changsha would assign its local districts quotas for dust, carbon dioxide and chemical oxygen demand (COD), a measure of water pollution, Zhang Jianfei told a news conference.
"We are considering innovations like an emissions trading market," Zhang said, as he listed other pollution-reducing measures like taxation and pricing schemes.
Changsha will assign levels to each district and then fine them if they exceed the level or give incentives if they are under. They could then trade those quotas, Zhang said, estimating the system could be in place as early as next year.
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This may be the first dust trading market in the world! Companies will probably pump water from the local river and spray it on their factory roads to decrease dust. Nevertheless, kudos to the Chinese for getting with it and innovating in the world of pollution! The city of Changsha, the capital of Hunan province in south-central China, is preparing to launch an emissions trading scheme, its ma... more -
California attorney general cracks down on Nestle water bottling plant plans
Attorney General Jerry Brown on Tuesday said he will sue to block a proposed water-bottling operation in Northern California unless its effects on global warming are evaluated.
Nestle Waters North America wants to pump about 200 million gallons of water a year from three natural springs that supply McCloud, about 280 miles north of San Francisco. Brown's office said that's enough to fill 3.1 billion 8-ounce plastic water bottles.
The water would be bottled at a 350,000-square-foot facility on the outskirts of the former lumber town.
The Swiss-based company scaled back its plans in May after years of opposition from environmentalists and a group of McCloud residents. It originally sought to pump more than double the amount of water.
David Palais, Nestle's Northern California natural resource manager, said the company already was planning studies on air and water quality, hazardous materials, traffic conditions and climate change for a new environmental review of the bottling plant.
"We appreciate the attorney general's letter and share his commitment to ensuring that new projects in California do not negatively impact the environment," Palais said in a statement.
He said the company will conduct environmental studies over the next two or three years. Afterward, Siskiyou County will prepare a new environmental impact report for the project.
Brown said the company must put its revisions into a new contract with the town of McCloud. He wants proper study of the environmental consequences of the bottling operation, saying the previous draft review had "serious deficiencies."
He said it failed to include an examination of whether the operation will contribute to global warming through the production of plastic bottles, the operation's electrical demands and the diesel soot and greenhouse gas emissions produced by trucks traveling to and from the plant.
"It takes massive quantities of oil to produce plastic water bottles and to ship them in diesel trucks across the United States," Brown said in a statement. "Nestle will face swift legal challenge if it does not fully evaluate the environmental impact of diverting millions of gallons of spring water from the McCloud River into billions of plastic water bottles."
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This boggles my mind. California is in a drought in most of the state with more wildfires reported this year, and all Nestle can think of is pumping millions of gallons of water from a spring to put it in plastic bottles to make a profit from it? Another company without a moral center! Attorney General Jerry Brown on Tuesday said he will sue to block a proposed water-bottling operation in Northern California unless it... more -
Christian Century article on concerns over "acid" mines planned in Michi...
Above Photo of Lake Superior shoreline © Jim Kruger
Please read the Christian Century Article by Rev. Jon Magnuson on the "Acid Mine" that threatens Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
An ELCA Lutheran pastor, Rev. Magnuson is known across northern Michigan for creating numerous interfaith environment initiatives and other projects projects involving over 150 churches/temples, American Indian tribes, college students, at-risk teens, health care professionals and many others.
If this mine opens along Lake Superior, it could leak sulfuric acid into the Great Lakes.
It's the first of countless sulfide and uranium mines planned for Northern Michigan.
Besides unproven "new" technology, the mine will be open for only seven years - and create only about 150 short-term jobs. It's a drop in the bucket compared to the economic impact of the U.P.'s longstanding iron ore mines.
A lot of greed for a smattering of nickel and other minerals that will be sucked out of our precious soil.
The international mining company that wants to set up shop in Marquette County is Kennecott Minerals - an outfit with a dismal environmental record that has closed other acid mines without proper cleanup apparently finding it cheaper to fight in court than pay for the proper cleanup of the now vacent mine sites.
Photo of Lake Superior shoreline © Jim Kruger
Inland drilling: A debate over mining in Upper Michigan
http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=5020
Many fear that the aicd mines - that will be joined by uranium mines - are a death-knell for northern Michigan and its bread-and-butter tourism economy.
Who will want to visit an area dotted by hundreds of acid pits and possibly polluted rivers, lakes and streams.
There are recent swirling rumors that Kennecott took state officials on junkets and other allegations of wrongdoing as their deep pockets wooed local and state leaders.
If true, it would not be the first scandal involving the local operation named the Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company - as an important study critical of the mine were not made public by state officials until the information was leaked. Just an innocent oversight - the state claimed.
Do you hear the whirring sound? - it's Marquette's founding fathers are spinning in their graves.
For more information on the effort to stop the mines - visit Save the Wild UP website:
http://www.savethewildup.org Above Photo of Lake Superior shoreline © Jim Kruger ... more -
Appalachian residents have found the antidote to coal: Wind
If Senator Barack Obama ever needs a living symbol of change we can believe in, and a hopeful way to transcend the dirty politics of our failed energy policies, he should go and see the future of renewable energy in the Coal River Valley in West Virginia.
Yes, renewable energy in Appalachia.
Something historic is taking place in West Virginia this summer. Faced with an impending proposal to stripmine over 6,600 acres -- nearly 10 square miles -- in the Coal River Valley, including one of the last great mountains in that range, an extraordinary movement of local residents and coal mining families have come up with a counter proposal for an even more effective wind farm.
Mother Jones, the miners' angel, once declared: "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living."
Having witnessed the destruction of over 470 mountains and their adjacent communities in Appalachia, the Coal River Valley citizens are doing just that. On the frontlines of one of the most tragic environmental and human rights scandals in modern American history, the community-wide Coal River wind advocates have devised a blueprint to get beyond the divisive regional politics and break the stranglehold of King Coal on the central Appalachian economies.
The Coal River Wind Project is the first bottom-up community-based full scale assessment to directly counter the nightmare of mountaintop removal with a renewable energy and economy alternative prior to the actual mining.
We have a choice. It is not simply coal or no coal. Jobs or no jobs. The issue is how do we create jobs and clean energy forever, and begin the transition in Appalachia and America away from dirty coal.
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This is so wonderful. To see residents standing up to big coal to truly bring jobs and health to the Appalachians. Wind is the alternate energy source for this area, and I stand with them in getting this done. And if Barack Obama does care for change, he will stop touting "clean coal" and stand by these residents and their initiative to bring real clean energy and jobs to this part of the country that has been so devastated by the toxic legacy coal has left in its wake. If Senator Barack Obama ever needs a living symbol of change we can believe in, and a hopeful way to transcend the dirty politics of o... more -
Study shows air pollution doing serious harm to ecosystems
If you are living in the eastern United States, the environment around you is being harmed by air pollution. From Adirondack forests and Shenandoah streams to Appalachian wetlands and the Chesapeake Bay, a new report by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and The Nature Conservancy has found that air pollution is degrading every major ecosystem type in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States.
The report, Threats From Above: Air Pollution Impacts on Ecosystems and Biological Diversity in the Eastern United States, is the first to analyze the large-scale effects that four air pollutants are having across a broad range of habitat types (see inset). The majority of recent studies focus on one individual pollutant. Over 32 experts contributed to the effort; the prognosis is not good.
"Everywhere we looked, we found evidence of air pollution harming natural resources," comments Dr. Gary M. Lovett, an ecologist at the Cary Institute and the lead author of the report. "Decisive action is needed if we plan on preserving functioning ecosystems for future generations."
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This is the world our younger generation will inherit. They must begin to get serious about working to preserve it and to hold this generation accountable for leaving it sustainable. I have always been baffled at how we humans can know doing something is dangerous and toxic to the future and to the present regarding the quality of our air, water, and land, and yet we continue to do it. We cannot continue on this path. This is one of the most important challenges our younger generation will have to face, and I truly wish there was more of an urgency about it. Pollution is not a 'natural' occurence of nature, we are doing it, and only we can make it right. If you are living in the eastern United States, the environment around you is being harmed by air pollution. From Adirondack forests a... more -
Plastic bags kill up to one million sea creatures every year
"You can't leave the ocean to take care of itself," says a surfer interviewed in the remarkable film "Hawaii: Message in the Waves".
"One of the saddest signs of the times for me is seeing what the dolphins are playing with."
The toys that she is talking about are the detritus of our consumer society; the plastic bags, briefly used, thrown away and now clogging up our oceans.
Across the world more than 13 billion bags are issued every year to shoppers -- that's about 220 per person. On average they are used for 12 minutes before being discarded, but then they remain in the environment for thousands of years.
In Hawaii, due to the action of tides and currents, the bags congregate in the coastal waters, and "Message in the Waves" shows the horrendous consequences of our throwaway culture for the wildlife -- the turtles, sea birds, whales and dolphins tangled up and choking on the trash we throw away.
The world awash with plastic bags
Environment California estimate that plastic bags kill up to one million sea creatures every year, and the British Antarctic Survey have found them floating far north of the Arctic Circle, and as far south as the Falkland Islands.
In June 2006 a United Nations Environmental Program report estimated that there is an average of 46,000 pieces of plastic debris in every square mile of ocean.
There is an area of the Pacific the size of Texas known as the "trash vortex" or "plastic soup" where gyrating currents hold an estimated six kilos of plastic for every kilo of plankton, according to Greenpeace.
In April 2002 a dead minke whale was washed up on the coast of Normandy, France, with nearly a kilogram of plastic bags in her stomach that she had mistaken for food. The plastic also acts as a chemical sponge absorbing some of the worst pollutants in the sea and increasing its toxicity when swallowed. "You can't leave the ocean to take care of itself," says a surfer interviewed in the remarkable film "Hawaii: Mess... more -
Olympics Suck Up China's Already Scarce Water
Three years ago, local government officials told farmers in this village of 7,000 residents to stop using water from a reservoir near their wheat and corn fields. If they needed water, the farmers were told, they would have to dig a well.
"They said there wasn't enough water," Jia Jianguo, 60, recalled.
At their own expense, the farmers dug a 90-foot well. But even though the new irrigation system worked fine, the locals have been forced to pool their meager resources each year that the water recedes to keep their crops alive. The well is now 135 feet deep, and the groundwater is seeping away as fast as the province's increasingly scarce water supplies are being channeled some 100 miles southwest to the thirsty capital of 15 million inhabitants, Beijing.
The Changgucheng farmers were never told that their reservoir is one of four in the province tapped to meet the capital's demand for water leading up to and during the Olympic Games, which begin in August. The Games are expected to increase Beijing's water consumption by at least 5 percent, or 162,000 acre-feet, according to a recent report by Probe International, a Canadian environmental group. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons.
From south to north
The channel is needed not only to make more water available for Beijing, but to clean Olympic venues and to flush out the city's polluted canals and lakes.
It is part of a mammoth $25 billion diversion scheme to bring water from southern rivers to the arid north to bolster Beijing's water supply.
Ecologists say this is just another example of how the push to showcase a green Olympics is creating environmental problems in provinces outside Beijing. Major polluting factories have been shut down or moved out of the capital for the Olympics. Diverting Hebei's water is just one of many potentially problematic actions, experts say.
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Diverting scarce water from farmers just to put on a show for the world is sickening.
Another reason to boycott their sham along with their human rights abuses and their part in genocide. Three years ago, local government officials told farmers in this village of 7,000 residents to stop using water from a reservoir near ... more -
Hundreds of baby penguins found dead in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.
More than 400 penguins, most of them young, have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency in the resort city of Cabo Frio.
While it is common here to find some penguins — both dead and alive — swept by strong ocean currents from the Strait of Magellan, Pimenta said there have been more this year than at any time in recent memory.
Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes.
Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo, said he believed overfishing has forced the penguins to swim further from shore to find fish to eat "and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents."
Niteroi, the state's biggest zoo, already has already received about 100 penguins for treatment this year and many are drenched in petroleum, Muniz said. The Campos oil field that supplies most of Brazil's oil lies offshore.
Muniz said he hadn't seen penguins suffering from the effects of other pollutants, but he pointed out that already dead penguins aren't brought in for treatment.
Pimenta suggested pollution is to blame.
"Aside from the oil in the Campos basin, the pollution is lowering the animals' immunity, leaving them vulnerable to funguses and bacteria that attack their lungs," Pimenta said, quoting biologists who work with him. RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de... more -
U.S. Halts Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon
Uranium mining near the rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona was halted for three years by a 20-2 vote Wednesday in a US House of Representatives committee.
A recent surge in mining claims within five miles of Grand Canyon National Park sparked the action. The number of claims close to the park increased to more than 1,100 by January 2008 from only 10 in January 2003, according to government figures.
Almost all those claims are to mine uranium. Uranium prices have increased in recent years as demand has spiked to feed an increasing number of nuclear power plants across the globe, as well as potential new US plants.
"This emergency action will help prevent uranium mining from harming the Grand Canyon and polluting drinking water for millions," said Dusty Horwitt, public lands analyst at Environmental Working Group, which spearheaded the effort to block mining.
Horwitt said mining could pollute the Colorado River, source of drinking water for millions throughout the Southwest, including the Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas areas.
The world consumes about 180 million pounds (50 million to 55 million pounds in the United States) of raw uranium a year. (Reporting by Bernard Woodall; Editing by Braden Reddall)
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Good news... for now. Let's just hope the EPA doesn't allow a coal plant to be built there now. Uranium mining near the rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona was halted for three years by a 20-2 vote Wednesday in a US House of Repres... more -
McCain pushes destruction of the environment
Sen. John McCain proposed Wednesday to dramatically increase America's commitment to nuclear power, calling for a crash program to build 45 reactors by 2030 and a long-term goal of building 100 such plants across the country.
On the second day of a campaign swing devoted to energy security, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee also committed to spending $2 billion a year for research and development "to make clean coal a reality" in an effort to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
McCain has long been a proponent of nuclear power. But his speech here included unabashed support for an energy source and technology that has been suspect in many communities since the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979, the most serious commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history.
No nuclear power plant has been built in America in more than 30 years, and few U.S. companies have invested in the technology to build new plants. The nation draws about 20% of its electricity from 104 working commercial reactors, but many are nearing the end of the operating period allowed by their licenses.
"We will need to recover all the knowledge and skills that have been lost over three stagnant decades in a highly technical field," McCain told a forum at Missouri State University.
Missouri is considered a key battleground in the fall election, and the Arizona senator promised to return often to campaign in coming months. About two dozen antiwar protesters greeted his arrival here, and police escorted one youth from the auditorium after he loudly interrupted the speech.
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McCain did not explain how he would dispose of the radioactive waste from the dozens of new reactors he proposed, or how he would deal with the intense political passions the issue generates.
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John McCain, just another shill for industries trying to sell us a product as green that is far from it. And the truly frustrating part of all of this is that Barack Obama essentially shares the same viewpoint on nuclear being part of the solution as well as touting "clean coal." Forty five plants by 2030 is a death sentence for this environment. Notice McCain does not mention how long it would take to build these monstrosities or the CO2 and other gases expended in mining the uranium that will poison our land, waterways, and citizens in the process. Just ask Native Americans in New Mexico and Nevada about that.
And he doesn't tell us how he plans to do away with the toxic waste that is radioactive for thousands of years... nor does he tell us the BILLIONS that it would cost to build these monstrosities all while the Arctic and Greenland continue to melt. Nuclear is not the solution. It is simply a way for corporate sponsors of political candidates to keep the status quo and to continue to deflle this planet for profit under the guise of caring about it.
And once these plants were built they would also be mini nuclear bombs just waiting to be hit. No wonder so many agree with McCain in the Congress about this. This is also tied to the nuclear posture review and their attempt to look peaceful while continuing to build nuclear weapons. And it is sad because if the Democratic party actually had a candidate who had courage enough to come out against nuclear and coal they might actually look like a party that wants change. I can't even say I would vote for one over the other on this because they are basically the same. So it is the people who will have to look beyond their political partisanship to see the truth and hold all of their feet to the fire on this. Nuclear and clean coal are scams that need to be outted for what they are, and those politicians touting them regardless of party need to know that people will no longer tolerate business as usual. Sen. John McCain proposed Wednesday to dramatically increase America's commitment to nuclear power, calling for a crash program t... more -
Mccain, like Bush, calls for lifting US ban on coastal oil drilling
Arizona Senator John McCain plans to call today for lifting the ban that prevents offshore oil and gas drilling along much of the US coastline - but would give states like Florida veto power over opening up their shores.
McCain, who plans to unveil his proposal in detail today, said yesterday that lifting the decades-old moratorium should be a "very high priority" with gasoline prices soaring.
He said that allowing states to explore for gas and oil "and perhaps providing additional incentives for states to permit exploration off their coasts ... would be very helpful in the short term in resolving our energy crisis".
House Republicans are waging an increasingly aggressive push to lift both a congressional and a presidential ban that prevent exploration of the coastline. An effort to lift the ban was defeated along partisan lines Wednesday in a House subcommittee meeting, but its sponsor plans to try again this week.
Democrats assailed McCain's proposal. Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for Barack Obama, said McCain's "plan to simply drill our way out of our energy crisis is the same misguided approach backed by President Bush that has failed our families for too long and only serves to benefit the big oil companies".
Florida lawmakers have long opposed any efforts to open the coastline to drilling and Senator Bill Nelson said that "any approach to weaken the moratorium on coastal oil drilling is irresponsible".
"There isn't enough oil in the US to make even the smallest dent in world oil prices, which largely are being run up by unregulated traders and speculators, including the oil companies," the Democratic senator said.
Ken Lundberg, a spokesman for Senator Mel Martinez, a Republican who has worked with Nelson to fend off efforts to explore the coast, said Martinez was "very sympathetic to the desire to increase domestic production" and was interested in seeing the details of McCain's plan.
Congress has approved bans on offshore oil and gas leasing since the 1980s, allowing exploration only in the far western Gulf of Mexico and some parts of Alaska.
There's also a presidential ban on exploration or drilling, which lasts until 2012.
Facing similar pressure to open up more of the coastline to exploration, Florida's congressional delegation in December 2006 reached a compromise to give up eight million acres in the Gulf of Mexico in exchange for the state getting at least a 125-mile buffer zone from drilling.
House Republicans have pushed an effort to allow for drilling within 50 miles of the coastline; McCain said yesterday that the distance should be the "subject of negotiation and discussion".
"I'm not dictating to the states that they drill or they engage in oil exploration," he said at a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. "I am saying that the moratoria should be lifted so that they have the opportunity to do so."
McCain came under fire in Florida recently for opposing a national catastrophe insurance pool and voting against a bill that included money for restoring the Everglades, and his campaign stressed today to reporters that his push to open the coastline would allow states to make the call.
But he did not offer details on whether it would be up to state governors or legislatures. And it remains uncertain whether state officials would remain united in opposition to drilling, given the pressure.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who has endorsed McCain, sidestepped the issue last week when asked whether he would support oil drilling off Florida's coast.
"Number one, I don't like it," he said, "But nor do I like the price of gas and I don't think the people of Florida are enjoying it either." Arizona Senator John McCain plans to call today for lifting the ban that prevents offshore oil and gas drilling along much of the US c... more
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