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Archive for June, 2010
Mapping the Deepwater disaster
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Guardian: Andy Lintner on Beowulfe.com is doing his part for the Deepwater disaster with a map mashup that compares the size of the slick to anywhere in the world. Transposed to the UK, the results are horrifying. Lintner created the map using data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which collates data from high-resolution satellite images that are tracking the spread of the slick in the Gulf on changing currents. The same site has the live video feed from the ...
BP plunges 15 percent as oil spill costs soar
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
AFP: BP revealed Tuesday that the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico had cost it almost a billion dollars, sparking a 13-percent plunge in its shares after the latest attempt to fix the leaking well failed. At its lowest point, the British energy giant's share price dropped nearly 17 percent on the day, but it recovered slightly to close at 430 pence, down 13.1 percent. The sell-off wiped more than 12 billion pounds (14.4 billion euros, 17.6 billion dollars) off its market value -- its ...
‘Noise pollution’ threatens fish
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
BBC: Sound matters to cichlids Fish are being threatened by rising levels of man-made noise pollution. So say scientists who have reviewed the impact on fish species around the world of noises made by oil and gas rigs, ships, boats and sonar. Rather than live in a silent world, most fish hear well and sound plays an active part in their lives, they say. Increasing noise levels may therefore severely affect the distribution of fish, and their ability to reproduce, ...
As speculative fever rages, China bursts bean bubble
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Reuters: Germany has banned naked short-selling and the United States may block banks from proprietary trading. But China has taken rules aimed at ensuring market stability to new, tastier lengths. It has launched a strike-hard campaign against speculators driving up vegetable prices. Investors are no strangers to Chinese produce, as witnessed last year when garlic was the country's top-performing asset. While soaring garlic prices troubled those looking to spice up their meals, ...
Gibbs: BP not forthcoming on spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Associate Press: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says BP was not forthcoming about the possibility oil could leak faster as a result of the latest attempt to contain the Gulf spill. White House Energy Adviser Carol Browner said over the weekend that cutting and capping the damaged oil riser could result in a temporary 20 percent increase in the flow, a figure Gibbs repeated Tuesday. BP has said it didn't expect a significant increase in flow from the cutting and capping plan. Gibbs ...
Persistent organic pollutants in large concentrations in Arctic areas: Fires spread environmental toxi
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
ScienceDaily: Persistent Organic Pollutants in Large Concentrations in Arctic Areas: Fires Spread Environmental Toxins Over the Arctic Forest fires and straw and stubble burning in North America and Eastern Europe are leading to record-high concentrations of the environmental toxin PCB over Svalbard. As a result of climate change, airborne pollution is thus becoming an increasing problem in the Arctic. For the last decades, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been found in large ...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Persistent organic pollutants in large concentrations in Arctic areas: Fires spread environmental toxiUkraine: Turtles and tortoises running riot in rivers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Telegraph: Millions of reptiles are brought into the country every year to satisfy the demand for unusual pets. But many owners quickly tire of them and decide to let them loose, causing environmental problems. Some experts are now suggesting that such imports should be banned. The British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the Animal Welfare Foundation are two organisations raising the issue. Peter Jinman, chairman of the BVA's ethics and welfare committee, told The Times: ...
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is now turning into a catastrophe
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Telegraph: Oysters were broiling, softshell crabs frying, seafood gumbo simmering and spirits being obstinately kept up at the Plaquemines Parish annual seafood festival at the weekend. But then the devastating news came through. Billy Nungesser, the rotund president of the Louisiana parish at the centre of the US fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico, was just getting up to speak when a BlackBerry message told him of the failure of the "top kill". It was BP's best chance of choking off the volcano of ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is now turning into a catastropheGulf Oil Spill: Can Sand Berms Save the Louisiana Coast?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Time Magazine: Pass Chaland is one of the most idyllic spots along the barrier islands off Louisiana's Gulf Coast. But the broad tidal flow of soft, white-capped waves, flowing inland through shell-tiled sands and tall bird-nesting grass, may also be an open door to the oil slick gushing relentlessly from British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon oil-rig spill roughly 50 miles away in the Gulf of Mexico. That toxic disaster threatens to swallow the fragile and ecologically critical bayou marshes beyond ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Gulf Oil Spill: Can Sand Berms Save the Louisiana Coast?Oil Effects on Endangered Species May Be ‘Mind-Boggling’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
LiveScience.com: The massive oil slick that is spreading throughout the waters of the Gulf of Mexico threatens the existence of a critically endangered sawfish, as well as other already threatened species that dwell there, scientists say. Louisiana's state bird is among the species that could take a hit from the oil. "You don't have to be a marine biologist to know that the Gulf oil spill is an environmental disaster of the first order," said Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of the FASEB ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Oil Effects on Endangered Species May Be ‘Mind-Boggling’