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Mississippi Receding Faster Than Expected, Shippers Say
Posted by Bloomberg: Jim Snyder on December 26th, 2012
Bloomberg: Water levels in the Mississippi River south of St. Louis are falling faster than anticipated, requiring more urgent action to keep the nation’s busiest waterway open, according to a group of shipping companies.
Debra Colbert, senior vice president of the Waterways Council Inc., said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now projects river levels may fall to a point at which many tugboats can’t operate by Jan. 3 or Jan. 4. Previous estimates indicated that the river would remain navigable until at least...
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Beach Repairs After Sandy May Cost $8 Million a Mile
Posted by Bloomberg: Jim Snyder on November 2nd, 2012
Bloomberg: Superstorm Sandy washed away beaches and sent raw sewage and diesel fuel into waterways, leaving an environmental repair bill for New York and New Jersey exceeding $100 million.
The harm to wildlife and habitats probably will be extensive given the strength and duration of the storm, Larry Ragonese, press director for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, said yesterday in an interview.
“We’ve lost beaches,” Ragonese said. “We’ve lost dunes. We’ve lost wetlands. We’ve lost...
Five rare earths crucial for clean energy seen in short supply
Posted by Bloomberg: Jim Snyder on January 5th, 2012
Bloomberg: Limited supplies of five rare-earth minerals pose a threat to increasing use of clean-energy technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels, a U.S. Energy Department report found.
The substances -- dysprosium, terbium, europium, neodymium and yttrium -- face potential shortages until 2015, according to the report, which reiterates concerns identified in a report a year ago.
The 2011 report studied 16 elements and related materials, including nickel and manganese, which are used to make...