RSS Feed
Archive for July 29th, 2010
United States: EPA says Michigan spill appears contained
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Reuters: Oil spilled from a pipeline in Michigan does not present a threat to the Great Lakes and the spill has been contained on a river about 50 miles inland from Lake Michigan, federal officials said on Thursday. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials overseeing the cleanup of an estimated 820,000 gallons of oil (19,500 barrels) that spilled from an Enbridge Inc pipeline said they hoped to contain the damage at Morrow Lake, just east of Kalamazoo, Michigan. "We do not ...
Posted in 
Canadian oil sands profits jump amid green battle
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Reuters: Four of Canada's biggest oil sands companies posted higher profits on Thursday, on stronger oil prices, as controversy builds over the environmental costs of tapping North America's biggest crude reserves. Suncor Energy Inc (SU.TO), the country's biggest oil producer and refiner, No. 2 competitor Imperial Oil Ltd (IMO.TO) and Cenovus Energy Inc (CVE.TO), the third largest independent oil producer, raised their output in the second quarter and moved forward on major expansion ...
Judge Rejects Forest Service’s Plan on Fire Retardant
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
New York Times: A federal judge has ruled that the federal Forest Service's plan for using fire retardant to fight wildfires violates the law because it does not ensure protections for threatened and endangered species of fish and other animals. Dropped from airplanes and helicopters, reddish clouds of retardant are often the most visible tool used to fight wildfires, particularly in rugged areas of the West. Yet chemicals in the most common retardants can hurt wildlife, particularly when they miss ...
Chemicals washed into China river
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
BBC: Teams at eight stations on the river were working to collect the barrels Rescue teams in north-east China are working to retrieve 3,000 barrels of chemicals washed into a major river, state media say. Severe floods washed the barrels, from two chemical storage facilities, into the Songhua river in Jilin city. Around 400 barrels have been recovered so far by workers at eight stations on the river. Water quality was being checked and no chemicals had yet been found ...
China: City ready to combat flooding
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Shanghai Daily: SHANGHAI has completed construction of a 523-kilometer flood-control dike able to combat severe flooding, local officials told a disaster risk reduction forum in Shanghai yesterday, the 34th anniversary of the Tangshan Earthquake. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake which hit Hebei Province's Tangshan City in July 28, 1976, killed more than 242,000 people. The forum organizer, the DEVNET Pavilion at the World Expo, teamed up United Nations' agencies and local governments to gather ...
Upper Thames Reservoir: Wildlife habitats under threat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Guardian: Name of project Upper Thames Reservoir Describe the site currently, including details of protected or threatened habitat or species The four square mile development site is currently occupied by prime agricultural land, 70 per cent of which is very high quality productive farmland which is protected by national planning policy. Some studies have shown that Thames Water's proposals for the reservoir could create great environmental damage and habitat destruction on ...
Feds, farmers create habitats for migrating birds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Associated Press: Water gurgling from a well is flooding Craig Gautreaux's rice and crawfish fields, turning the farm into a wetland for migratory birds whose usual Gulf of Mexico wintering grounds are threatened by the oil spill. Across eight states, farmers such as Gautreaux are inundating fallow fields to provide an alternative for some of the tens of millions of ducks, geese and shorebirds that are beginning to make their way south on a flyway that stretches as far north as Alaska and ...
Water cut to north China city after chemical spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Reuters: Water supplies were cut in parts of the northeastern Chinese city of Jilin on Thursday, after a flood washed thousands of barrels of a dangerous chemical from a factory into the area's main river, state media said. After the accident tap water supplies were stopped in Jilin, the official Xinhua agency said, though residents reached by telephone on Thursday morning said water had been restored to some districts. Xinhua later confirmed water supplies had been restored, citing ...
Texas proposes new rules for shale gas drilling
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Associated Press: Texas environmental regulators have formally proposed beefing up regulations on oil and gas drilling, in an attempt to reduce air pollution caused when companies use new technology to extract natural gas trapped in deep shales. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality formally submitted the proposal on Wednesday, and the rules will enter a one-month public comment phase on Aug. 13. The new rules come after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was accused of having ...
China flood and oil spill response improves. Prevention? Not so much.
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: A string of disasters in China has highlighted the government's improved crisis response, but also the many challenges facing Beijing as it seeks to strike a balance between economic growth and protecting the environment. A large China oil spill near Dalian was followed on Wednesday by 3,000 chemical barrels being swept swept into a major river network in Jilin Province by flooding. The same day, authorities in Nanjing were struggling with the aftermath of a chemical explosion that ...