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Archive for March 13th, 2014
New Mexico nuclear repository mishap leaves Los Alamos waste quandary
Posted by Reuters: Joseph J. Kolb on March 13th, 2014
Reuters: The Los Alamos National Laboratory is evaluating how to meet a June deadline to permanently discard plutonium-tainted junk in light of a prolonged shutdown of a New Mexico nuclear waste dump after an accident there last month, a lab official said.
Los Alamos, one of the leading U.S. nuclear weapons labs, has been forced to halt shipments of its radioactive refuse some 300 miles across the state to the nation's only underground nuclear repository, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, near Carlsbad,...
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Beyond the hype, Keystone would yield few permanent jobs
Posted by Reuters: Alistair Bell on March 13th, 2014
Reuters: In the heated debate over whether to build the Keystone XL pipeline, the energy industry and lawmakers have predicted that the project could unleash an economic bonanza in the Midwest, and provide jobs for up to a half-million people.
Kansas pipeline worker Jeremy Rippe knows better.
"Short term, there will be jobs for everyone around here. Then, not many at all," said Rippe, who helps maintain a gas pipeline on the Nebraska-Kansas border.
Rippe saw TransCanada Corp - the company that hopes...
N Carolina environment agency worked with Duke Energy on coal ash spills
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2014
Associated Press: Internal emails between staff at North Carolina’s environmental agency show state regulators were coordinating with Duke Energy before intervening in efforts by citizens groups trying to sue the company over pollution leeching from its coal ash dumps.
The emails were provided on Thursday to the Associated Press by the Southern Environmental Law Center, which had filed notice in January 2012 of its intent to sue Duke under the Clean Water Act.
Within days, the emails show a Duke lobbyist contacted...
Oil Industry Gets An Earful As It Eyes Florida’s Everglades
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2014
National Public Radio: As oil production goes, Florida isn't much of a player. The state produced less than 2 million barrels last year, which is how much oil Texas pumps from its wells each day.
That's about to change as the revolution in oil drilling technology comes to Florida.
One of the areas targeted for oil drilling is at Jaime Duran's doorstep in the southwestern part of the state. A retired engineer, Duran lives in a cottage with his wife, Pamela, and the chickens they raise on a 5-acre plot. Last year,...