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Archive for August 4th, 2011
Niger Delta left with $1bn oil pollution clean-up bill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2011
Independent: Oil pollution in the Niger Delta has gone further than previously thought and a clean-up will take 20 years and cost over $1bn (£614.6m), the UN said.
Half a century of oil production has had a "disastrous impact" on the swamps, mangroves and creeks of the south eastern Nigerian region of Ogoniland, forcing residents to breathe contaminated air and drink polluted water, according to a study by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
"Since average life expectancy in Nigeria is less than 50 years,"...
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United States: Tests: Oil spill’s most toxic compounds dissipated
Posted by Associated Press: Matt Volz on August 4th, 2011
Associated Press: The most toxic compounds in the estimated 50,000 gallons of oil that spilled into the Yellowstone River evaporated quickly after the pipeline break last month, leaving gobs of sticky crude that pose no threat to human health, federal officials said Thursday.
There were no surprises in the recently released results of air, water and soil samples taken after the July 1 pipeline break near Laurel, said Steve Merritt, the on-scene cleanup coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Samples...
Nigerian oil pollution may need world’s biggest clean-up: UN
Posted by AFP: Ola Awoniyi on August 4th, 2011
AFP: Decades of oil pollution in Nigeria's Ogoniland region may require the world's biggest ever clean-up, the UN environmental agency said Thursday as it released a landmark report on the issue.
The United Nations Environment Programme also called for the oil industry and the Nigerian government to contribute $1 billion to a clean-up fund for the region that activists say has been devastated by pollution.
Restoration of the region could take up to 30 years, UNEP said.
Activists reacted to the...
Famine spreads: 29,000 young children perish
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2011
Mongabay: Famine spreads: 29,000 young children perish
As the UN announces that famine has spread in Somalia to three additional regions (making five in total now), the US has put the first number to the amount of children under 5 who have so far perished from starvation in the last 90 days: 29,000. Nearly half of the total population of Somalia is currently in need of emergency food assistance. Yet, the al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabab, which controls parts of Somalia, has made bringing assistance to many...
Nigeria’s Ogoniland needs biggest ever oil clean-up: U.N
Posted by Reuters: Camillus Eboh and Felix Onuah on August 4th, 2011
Reuters: A U.N. report has criticized Shell and the Nigerian government for contributing to 50 years of pollution in a region of the Niger Delta which it says needs the world's largest ever oil clean-up, costing an initial $1 billion and taking up to 30 years.
The United National Environment Programme (UNEP) analyzed the damage oil pollution has done in Ogoniland, a region in the oil-rich labyrinthine creeks, swamps and waterways of the Niger Delta, the heartland of Africa's largest oil and gas industry....
UN: Widespread oil damage found in Nigeria delta
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2011
Associated Press: A United Nations report says there is widespread ecological damage from oil spills in a region of Nigeria's crude-rich southern delta.
The U.N. report, released Thursday, describes oil destroying crops and seeping into drinking water supplies in Ogoniland, a region of the Niger Delta. In one case, the U.N. found one village where drinking water was polluted with benzene 900 times more than the international limit.
The U.N. also found one region where an oil spill 40 years ago hadn't been cleaned....
Midwest more prone to flooding from climate change, report says
Posted by Desmoines Register: None Given on August 4th, 2011
Desmoines Register: A protected area near Hamburg in southwest Iowa was threatened by the floodwaters of the Missouri River in mid-June. This view is the levee as it heads to the north. The Natural Resources Defense Council's report on climate change and health threats is available at www.nrdc.org/climatemaps The Midwest, including Iowa, is facing higher risks of flood and more heat in an era of climate change, a new analysis by the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council shows.
That adds to health threats that...
Niger delta oil spill clean-up will take 30 years, says UN
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2011
Guardian: Cleaning up a succession of oil spills in a region of the Niger delta that have occurred over five decades will cost $1bn and take up to 30 years, according to a major UN report into oil contamination in the region.
The United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) will announce on Thursday that Shell and other oil companies have for half a century systematically contaminated and failed to clean up a 1,000 square kilometre area of Ogoniland with devastating consequences for human health and wildlife....
In Arid South African Lands, Fracking Controversy Emerges
Posted by Yale Environment 360: todd pitock on August 4th, 2011
Yale Environment 360: In Arid South African Lands,
Fracking Controversy Emerges
The contentious practice of hydrofracking to extract underground natural gas has now made its way to South Africa’s Karoo, a semi-desert known for its stark beauty and indigenous plants. But opposition is growing amid concern that fracking will deplete and pollute the area’s scarce water supplies.
On a cool day in May, Jonathan Deal, the 52-year-old owner of an ecotourism farm called Gecko Rock, strikes up a steep kopje at a pace...
Record breaking spring due to warm weather
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2011
Telegraph: The Woodland Trust survey of 40,000 volunteers found that the traditional signs of spring were on average 17 days earlier because of the hot weather in April.
The orange-tipped butterfly was spotted almost a month early on 13th April, the earliest sighting since records began in 1891. The horse chestnut, dog rose and purple lilac also broke records for coming into leaf early.
Most of the species only have records going back to 2001,
The survey recorded the earliest leafing this century for...