Category: Environmental

What a great plan

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Big Rig

This whole “let’s inject chemicals into the earth and we’ll worry later about the results”:

Range Resources on Tuesday disposed of Marcellus shale drilling sludge in West Virginia that was deemed too radioactive for a Washington County landfill.

The Cecil-based company sent two roll-off boxes of material from a well pad in Smith Township in Washington County to Meadowfill Landfill in Bridgeport, W.Va., spokesman Matt Pitzarella said. On March 1, representatives from Arden Landfill in Chartiers turned the material away after it tripped radioactivity monitors.

“It’s incredibly rare that you get hits for any radiation that all landfills cannot accept,” Pitzarella said, noting that hospital materials and municipal waste also contain radiation. “This same scenario exists in every single industry.”

Range Resources returned the material to the work site to be tested before finding a place to dispose of it. No residents or workers were at risk, said John Poister, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Good news

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Coal power plant and oilseed rape

Even if it is somewhat like locking the barn door after the horse is out. But still!

President Obama is expected to announce a series of executive actions and agreements on Friday morning that will advance solar power and energy efficiency in the United States, part of his pledge to tackle climate change without having to go through a gridlocked Congress…the initiatives will represent an 850-megawatt increase in solar power deployed, or enough to power 130,000 homes. They will also lead to more $2 billion in energy efficiency investments in Federal buildings, $26 billion in savings for businesses on energy bills, and a 380 million metric ton decrease in carbon pollution — the equivalent of taking about 80 million cars off the road for a year, the statement said.

Freedom!

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

viloniadamage

This is where that nasty government regulation comes in handy. If only tornadoes didn’t happen so much in the states with the most minimal building codes, where they consider regulation to be an infringement on their freedom:

VILONIA — The National Weather Service (NWS) reports there has been speculation about why the Arkansas tornado received a EF-4 rating despite the fact that numerous homes were removed from their foundations with only slabs remaining.

“Years ago, that might be justification for an F5 rating on the original Fujita scale,” a writer on the NWS website explains. “These days, the quality of the construction is examined before a rating is assigned. One of the factors determining the rating is the use of anchor bolts.”

As shown in the picture, the home to left in the Vilonia (Faulkner County) area had cut nails instead of anchor bolts to fasten the structure to the foundation.

In fact, according to the article, in Vilonia (Faulkner County), there was little indication of anchor bolts where homes once stood.

At a subdivision to the southwest of town, the official survey results read,”Houses completely destroyed; only slabs remaining at several places. No anchor bolts used in foundations.”

So what does this mean?

While the article points out using cut nails to secure homes to the foundation is widely practiced and the minimum standard in most of the building codes – Dr. David Prevatt, Associate Professor of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida says they may not provide enough security in high winds.

“It is my opinion that cut nails can only be considered a temporary connection while installing a wall,” Dr. Prevatt says. “They are in no way, shape or form have the capacity to resist the sliding loads or the uplift loads reduced by high winds that impact the walls of a building.”

Which means, without those anchor bolts, it took less wind to sweep houses away in Vilonia. This explains the EF4, and not EF-5, rating the NWS ultimately gave.

Oh, stop

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

A15-Fukushima Dai-ichi Sakae Nuclear Plant/Fukushima Dai-ichi Power Station Shrine

I’m sure it’ll all be fine:

A government-backed plan for a frozen underground wall to limit water contamination at the wrecked Fukushima atomic station needs further vetting for potential risks to the environment, an adviser to the plant’s operator said.

The plan, which is intended to keep groundwater from seeping into the basements of the plant’s damaged reactor buildings, may not function as intended because it’s based on untested assumptions about the site’s hydrology, said Dale Klein, who chairs Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee.

“Are there any unintended consequences?” Klein asked at a press conference today in Tokyo. “We’re concerned about safety and environmental protection.”

Thanks to Kush Arora.

A breath of fresh air?

~ susie

Grey smokestacks, grey sky

This is a pleasant surprise:

In a victory for environmentalists and the Obama administration, the Supreme Court today ruled to uphold the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule set by Obama’s EPA in 2011. The rule requires 28 states to reduce power plant emissions that can negatively affect the air quality in neighboring states. 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion in the case.

The Court ruled 6-2 in favor of the rule with Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagen, Roberts and Kennedy joining Ginsburg in supporting the EPA mandate. Justices Anton Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented from the majority, arguing that the court’s decision ”feeds the uncontrolled growth of the administrative state at the expense of government by the people.”

While Thomas and Scalia may support the right of one state’s power plants to pollute downwind states with pollutants that cause respiratory illnesses and increase the risk of heart attacks for the downwind residents, the courts other justices disagreed. The Court majority determined that the EPA rule was a reasonable mandate consistent with the EPA’s mission, and that upholding the rule would improve the air quality for the American people. 

The states of Texas, Ohio, and Michigan opposed the ruling. Some companies that operate coal-fired power plants including Xcel Energy and American Electric Power Company, also opposed the court’s decision. Environmentalists and proponents of clean air on the other hand were pleased with the outcome. Fred Krupp, speaking on behalf of the Environmental Defense Fund, applauded the ruling, stating: 

The Supreme Court’s decision means that our nation can take the necessary steps to ensure healthier and longer lives for the 240 million Americans at risk from power plant smokestack pollution near and far.

Massive tornado outbreak

~ susie

Massive damage and at least 18 dead through Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma last night. Tornado warnings issued this morning in Tennessee and here we are, waiting to see what this imaginary global warming will inflict on the rest of the country this week:

At least 31 tornadoes ripped through the Plains and South on Sunday, leaving at least 18 people dead and forecasters warning that the worst may be yet to come.

Rescuers in Arkansas searched through the rubble overnight in suburban Little Rock where a tornado that was up to half a mile wide touched down just west of the city on Sunday, flattening homes and flipping cars and trucks in its path.

At least 16 people were killed in the state as the twister touched down at dusk and left behind a miles-long path of destruction. Deaths were also reported Oklahoma and Iowa.

“It is utter and sheer devastation”

The towns of Mayflower and Vilonia in Arkansas’ Faulkner County — which has population of just above 100,000 — were hardest hit, with at least 10 dead and dozens of homes destroyed.

“What I’m seeing is something that I cannot describe in words,” Sheriff Andy Shock told NBC News. “It is utter and sheer devastation.”

He said rescue crews were trying to be optimistic, but expected the death toll could climb once daylight hits.

“We’re praying not but there’s no telling,” he said, adding local landmarks were leveled and that at a “bare minimum” 150 homes were destroyed.

By the way, they’re predicting ice on Lake Superior into June. That’s the new normal!

Oil exec: Fracking technology is ‘dangerous and untested’

~ susie

Barton Moss Fracking Test Well

See, this guy actually believes that the truth has something to do with these decisions. Isn’t that cute?

“In a message “straight from the horse’s mouth,” a former oil executive on Tuesday urged New York state to pass a ban on the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, saying, ‘it is not safe.’

“Making fracking safe is simply not possible, not with the current technology, or with the inadequate regulations being proposed,” Louis Allstadt, former executive vice president of Mobil Oil, said during a news conference in Albany called by the anti-fracking group Elected Officials to Protect New York.

Up until his retirement in 2000, Allstadt spent 31 years at Mobil, running its marketing and refining division in Japan and managing Mobil’s worldwide supply, trading and transportation operations. After retiring to Cooperstown, NY, Allstadt said he began studying fracking after friends asked him if he thought it would be safe to have gas wells drilled by nearby Lake Otsego, where Allstadt has a home. Since that time, he’s become a vocal opponent of the shale oil and gas drilling technique.
“Now the industry will tell you that fracking has been around a long time. While that is true, the magnitude of the modern technique is very new,” Allstadt said, adding that a fracked well can require 50 to 100 times the water and chemicals compared to non-fracked wells.

He also noted that methane, up to 30 times more potent of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, is found to be leaking from fracked wells “at far greater rates than were previously estimated.”

No big deal

~ susie

B31

Just move along, nothing to see here:

Scientists are monitoring an iceberg roughly six times the size of Manhattan — one of the largest now in existence — that broke off from an Antarctic glacier and is heading into the open ocean.

NASA glaciologist Kelly Brunt said on Wednesday the iceberg covers about 255 square miles (660 square km) and is up to a third of a mile (500 meters) thick. Known as B31, the iceberg separated from Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier last November, Brunt added.

“It’s one that’s large enough that it warrants monitoring,” Brunt said in a telephone interview, noting that U.S. government organizations including the National Ice Center keep an eye on dozens of icebergs at any given time.

The iceberg’s present location is not in an area heavily navigated by ships.

“There’s not a lot of shipping traffic down there. We’re not particularly concerned about shipping lanes. We know where all the big ones are,” she said.

Scientists are especially interested in this iceberg not only because of its size but because it originated in an unexpected location.

Frack you, too

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Natural Gas Rig

This certainly cheered me up!

A family claiming they were sickened because of pollution from hydraulic fracturing operations near their home should be awarded $2.95 million for their troubles, a jury ruled on Tuesday.

The Parr family had sued Aruba Petroleum Inc. in 2011, alleging the oil and gas producer exposed them to hazardous gases, chemicals and industrial waste that seeped into the air from 22 wells drilled near the family’s 40-acre plot of land, which sits atop the Barnett Shale.

The jury returned a 5-1 verdict saying Aruba “intentionally created a private nuisance,” awarding $275,000 for losses on property value, $2 million for past physical pain and suffering, $250,000 for future physical pain and suffering, and $400,000 for mental anguish.

“They’re vindicated,” David Matthews, one of the Parr’s attorneys, wrote on his firm’s blog Tuesday. “I’m really proud of the family that went through what they went through … It’s not easy to go through a lawsuit and have your personal life uncovered and exposed to the extent this family went through.”