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Archive for July 5th, 2011
Exxon has yet to craft Montana pipeline fix plan
Posted by Reuters: Kristen Hays and Erwin Seba on July 5th, 2011
Reuters: Exxon Mobil Corp does not have a definite repair plan yet for the ruptured Montana crude oil pipeline that it shut over the weekend, and company and government officials are still trying to determine the cause of the spill, a top executive said on Tuesday.
The company and state and federal investigators are "working in parallel, looking at both the investigation, trying to determine what happened, as well as possible repair plans," Gary Pruessing, president of Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company, told...
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Exxon Yellowstone River oil spill disrupts ranches, farms
Posted by Reuters: Emilie Ritter on July 5th, 2011
Reuters: Environmental officials scrambled on Tuesday to assess the extent of contamination from a weekend oil spill that has fouled water supplies and ranch lands along a scenic and otherwise pristine stretch of the Yellowstone River in Montana.
An Exxon Mobil pipeline ruptured on Friday night about 150 miles downstream from Yellowstone National Park near the town of Laurel, Montana, just southwest of Billings, dumping up to 1,000 barrels, or 42,000 gallons, of crude oil into the flood-swollen river....
Cleanup Of Montana Oil Spill Complicated By Flooding
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2011
National Public Radio: A ruptured Exxon-Mobil oil line has spewed an estimated 42,000 gallons of crude oil into Montana's Yellowstone River. While company officials are still trying to figure out the extent of the spill, high flood waters and mountain runoff are spreading the oil beyond the river's banks, complicating the cleanup efforts. Melissa Block speaks with Rob Rogers, who has been covering the story for the Billings Gazette.
Yellowstone river oil spill spreads
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2011
Guardian: ExxonMobil clean-up crews work to collect oil from along side the Yellowstone river in Montana. Flooding is preventing them reaching the broken pipeline.
Oil from a ruptured ExxonMobil pipeline on the famed Yellowstone spread at least 15 miles beyond the initial leak – further than the oil company's original estimates.
Clean-up crews have yet to reach the break in the 12-inch pipeline because of historic flooding on the river, which is projected to peak on Tuesday.
Montana's governor, Brian...
More Rain, Less Snow Leads To Faster Arctic Ice Melt
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2011
redOrbit: Rising air temperatures in the Arctic region have led to an increase in rainfall and a decrease in snowfall, making the sea ice more susceptible to melting, a new study has revealed. The research was presented today by Dr James Screen from the University of Melbourne at the XXV International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics General Assembly in Melbourne. The Arctic region is warming more rapidly than anywhere else on Earth. Dr Screen of the University’s School of Earth Sciences, who led the research,...
Argentina Hopes for a Big Payoff in Its Shale Oil Field Discovery
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2011
New York Times: Just east of Argentina’s Andean foothills, an oil field called the Vaca Muerta — “dead cow” in English — has finally come to life. In May, the Argentine oil company YPF announced that it had found 150 million barrels of oil in the Patagonian field, and President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner rushed onto national television to praise the discovery as something that could give new impetus to the country’s long-stagnant economy. “The importance of this discovery goes well beyond the volume,” said...
Record low Danube levels cut down bird populations: WWF
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: The record low levels of the Danube this summer have caused a drastic drop in bird populations along the Bulgarian and Romanian stretch of the river, environmental group WWF said Tuesday. A week-long WWF bird watching expedition at the end of June counted 3,145 pairs of nesting birds -- herons, cormorants, spoonbils and ibises -- 500 fewer pairs than last year, it said in a statement. The number of birds was also lower compared to another WWF census in 2006. When the river levels are low, water...
New Study Implicates Environmental Factors in Autism
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2011
New York Times: A new study of twins suggests that environmental factors, including conditions in the womb, may be at least as important as genes in causing autism.
The researchers did not say which environmental influences might be at work. But other experts said the new study, released online on Monday, marked an important shift in thinking about the causes of autism, which is now thought to affect at least 1 percent of the population in the developed world.
"This is a very significant study because it confirms...
United States: Yellowstone River Oil Spill Spreads over 40 Miles Downstream
Posted by Yahoo!: Charles Simmins on July 5th, 2011
Yahoo!: An oil pipeline under the Yellowstone River just upstream from Laurel, Mont., ruptured Saturday. The pipeline's operators reacted quickly and shut down the flow but not before at least 10,000 barrels, 42,000 gallons, of crude oil spilled into the river. The pipeline runs from Silver Tip, Mont., to a refinery in Billings, Mont..
The Yellowstone is slowly receding from severe flooding conditions in the late spring. Just upstream from the break, the Edgar MT river gauge shows the water down a foot...
Thawing Arctic opens up new shipping routes on the ‘roof of the world’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2011
Guardian: Cold is the new hot in shipping circles as melting sea ice opens up prospects for trade between China and the west to move across the roof of the world.
An increasing amount of seaborne traffic is beginning to move on the so-called Northern Sea Route which traverses the Siberian coast. There are also hopes of opening up more of the North West Passage above Canada.
The attraction of the voyage is that it is one-third of the distance of more traditional routes through the Suez Canal. This means...