Showing posts with label Ecology. Show all posts
Russian 'Disney-style' theme park to replace polluting factory near Lake Baikal
 |
| Baikal Pulp Mill (RIA Novosti) |
The shores of the world’s largest lake will soon open doors to a new Disney-themed amusement park and a surrounding nature reserve. It will be built on the site of the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill which was once a major polluter of the lake.
The park will be called 'Sacred Russia’ and will feature a nature reserve, and in the center an amusement park, Izvestia reports. An education center, hotel complex, academic and research center, and historical Russian architectural monuments- for example the Moscow Kremlin and the Kazan Cathedral- will also be erected.
It is anticipated the new project will boost tourism by 2 million visitors per year.
The bidding for construction of the park is expected to be begin soon, and the project must be approved this year, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources. The complex is slated for completion by 2017.
The Baikal amusement park complex will be financed through Vnesheconombank, a state-owned bank, but the amount of investment is still unknown.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited the town of Baikalsk, situated on the southeastern shore of the lake last week. He explained to a local audience the park will create about 2,500 jobs and draw in tourist dollasr, thus neutralizing any negative economic effects of the plant closing.
"The Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill will be closed, and there is no turning back," said Medvedev in the Irkutsk region.
 |
| View of Lake Baikal. (RIA Novosti/Anton Denisov) |
Medvedev assured local residents it wouldn’t be a case of ‘good for the environment, bad for me’. “People need normal jobs and normal salaries. The factory guaranteed work and money, but now, the overall development task is to make the Baikal region an economic, as well as a tourist zone. This is our joint task,” Medvedev said at the gathering.
The government will allocate about $91.7 million (3 billion roubles) for environmental clean up of the pulp and paper plant and restore the surrounding area, and another $428 million (14 billion roubles) will be used to close the plant.
The bankrupt mill
In 1961, the same year Khrushchev famously declared that communism would be built in 20 years, construction of the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill began and it successfully produced bleached pulp for over 40 years.
The paper mill became known as one of the largest pollutants of the pristine Lake Baikal.
In 2008, at the request of regional authorities, production of bleached pulp was suspended and the mill switched to producing less profitable unbleached pulp using closed-water cycle technology that didn’t release any sewage into the lake. After the switch, the plant became highly unprofitable.
On February 27, 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich announced the decision to close the mill, and to move production to other plants. In 2010, the Lake Baikal plant was on the verge of bankruptcy, and in 2013, Alfa Bank bought the company's debt, along with Oleg Deripaska, owner of Basic Element, an energy asset group. Deripsaska said he doesn't plan to invest in the project.
Environmentalists are pleased at the prospect of replacing the old mill with the theme park, as they estimate the plant generated over 40,000 tonnes of chemical waste in its lifetime.
The decision to close the plant is supported by UNESCO, who are concerned with efforts to preserve the lake.
Obama's environmental speech indicates Keystone XL pipeline to be approved
 |
| US President Barack Obama (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan) |
President Barack Obama’s environmental speech outlined his second term plans to reduce carbon emissions and boost renewable fuels, but the controversial Keystone XL pipeline may soon be approved.
The president’s address at Georgetown University detailed his agenda to tackle global warming, but environmental activists may be disappointed to hear Obama's plan on the obscure pipeline project that has triggered rallies and protests from environmentalists across the US and Canada.
A YouTube video preview of the president’s speech depicts an oil refinery, not a coal-fired plant. Obama then announces his upcoming “national plan to reduce carbon pollution.” Obama will put the Environmental Protection Agency in charge of drafting a plan to set carbon emission limits on US power plants by June 2014. The EPA would also be in charge of finalizing plans for carbon limits on new power plants..
“We already set limits for arsenic, mercury and lead, but we let power plants release as much carbon pollution as they want,” one official told Reuters.
The White House is expected to issue its final verdict regarding the Keystone pipeline in September or October. Today Obama said that building the pipeline will only serve US interests if it doesn't significantly exacerbate problem of carbon pollution. Given the State Department's recent conclusion that the Keystone XL would have small impact on climate and tar sands, Obama's words seem to hint that the project will be approved soon.
The Keystone XL pipeline would transport oil sands bitumen from Canada to the Gulf Coast, stretching through the entire United States. Critics warn that constructing the pipeline would lead to drilling in Canada’s oil sands, thereby releasing large quantities of carbon dioxide that would further harm the atmosphere. Former NASA researcher and climate scientist James Hansen told the New York Times that the Keystone pipeline would be “game over for the climate.”
There has been speculation that the president would sign off on the project, despite the extensive opposition against it and his plans for clean energy. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson allegedly told anonymous sources that the president would sign off on it in the spring, but he has not publicly made a decision on it. Some Republicans and businesses argue that the pipeline would create jobs and help the economy, and a recent Pew Research survey found that 66 percent of Americans who know about the pipeline support its construction.
But climate activists say it would make little sense for the president to approve the pipeline, since it would counter his plans for clean energy
“I do think that if they’re serious about carbon, and then they let Keystone go, it’s pretty hard to figure out what’s going on because the two are so in conflict,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told Politico.
Some environmentalists remain hopeful that the president will disapprove of the pipeline, despite his recent lack of discussion on it.
“The president is a logical man, and hence it would seem so odd to take two steps forward and then two back,” anti-Keystone activist Bill McKibben told Politico. “And I’m certain he understands that KXL is the environmental fight of our time, the place where he’ll be finally judged.”
A senior administration official told Reuters that a decision on Keystone has not been made, but the president’s lack of comment on it may indicate that his decision may go against the will of environmentalists.
Possible new leak at Hanford State, higher radioactivity levels detected
 |
| A view looking over the world's largest environmental cleanup project at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is seen 30 June, 2005 near Richland, Washington. (Jeff T. Green/Getty Images/AFP) |
A tank containing highly radioactive waste may be leaking into the soil at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation (the US’s most contaminated nuclear site) in Washington state, employees have told media. State and federal officials are investigating reports that workers detected elevated radioactivity levels under tank AY-102 during a routine inspection on Thursday. According to technician Mike Geffre, who works for contractor Washington River Protection Solutions, an inspection was made of a pit under the tank. Its water samples had an 800,000-count of radioactivity and a high dose rate, which means that workers must reduce time spent in the area. "Anything above a 500 count is considered contaminated and would have to be disposed of as nuclear waste," Geffre explained. "Plus, the amount of material we've seen from the leak is very small, which means it's a very strong radioactive isotope." If the waste escapes the tank and gets into the soil, it may reach groundwater and potentially the Columbia River. "This is really, really bad. They are going to pollute the ground and the groundwater with some of the nastiest stuff, and they don't have a solution for it," Tom Carpenter, executive director of the Seattle-based advocacy group Hanford Challenge, a watchdog group that conducts environmental sampling to monitor for radioactive and chemical contamination, told AP.
 |
| A sign is seen as you enter the world's largest environmental cleanup project at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation 30 June, 2005 near Richland, Washington. (Jeff T. Green/Getty Images/AFP) |
There are 177 tanks holding up to 56 million gallons of waste, 149 of which are single-shell. Six of those tanks were discovered in February to be leaking at a rate of about 1,000 gallons annually. AY-102 is one of Hanford's 28 tanks with two walls, which was installed when single-shell tanks began leaking and some of the most radioactive liquid in those tanks was pumped into the sturdier double-shell tanks. The tanks are now beyond their intended life span. Two radionuclides comprise much of the radioactivity in Hanford's tanks: cesium-137 and strontium-90. While both take hundreds of years to decay, exposure to either can increase the risk of cancer. Officials say that leaking tanks pose no immediate threat to the environment or public health, with the closest communities being several miles away. "These last few months just seem like one body blow after another," said Ken Niles of Oregon's Energy Department. "It's true this is not an immediate risk, but it's one more thing to deal with among many at Hanford." “The Energy Department has been actively monitoring double-shell tank AY-102 since it was discovered to have a slow leak from the primary tank,” the department said in a statement. “Workers detected an increased level of contamination during a routine removal of water and survey of the leak detection pit.” Additional testing is expected to take several days, though the state will demand an accelerated plan to deal with all the waste at Hanford, said Washington Governor Jay Inslee, adding that the potential leak "raises very troubling questions."
 |
| 55-gallon drums containing transuranic (TRU) waste are prepared for shipment at the Waste Receiving and Processing facility (WARP) on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, 30 June, 2005 near Richland, Washington. (Jeff T. Green/Getty Images/AFP) |
An engineering analysis team will conduct additional sampling and video inspection to determine the source of the contamination, Spokeswoman Lori Gamache said. The Energy Department announced last year that AY-102 was leaking between its two walls, but gave reassurances then that no waste had escaped. However, Seattle’s KING5 television station has reported that the cleanup contractor and the department knew a year earlier that the tank was leaking. At the height of World War II, the federal government created Hanford as part of a secret project to create the atomic bomb. The site ultimately produced plutonium for the world's first atomic blast and for one of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan; it continued production through the Cold War. These days, it has a reputation as the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, with a cleanup expected to take several decades. It costs up to US$2 billion annually and has already set taxpayers back US$40 billion, with US$115 billion more expected to be needed. The biggest challenge thus far has been removing highly radioactive waste from the 177 aging underground tanks and constructing a plant to treat that waste, which will be encased in glasslike logs for permanent disposal. Workers designing and building the unique plant have encountered numerous technical problems, however, as well as delays and rising costs. The plant is unlikely to begin operating before 2019, far beyond the original 2011 deadline.
Singapore smoke hits life-threatening levels, authorities attempting to ‘seed’ clouds (PHOTOS)
 |
Singapore health officials have warned that air pollution is at hazardous, record-high levels due to peatland wildfires in neighboring Indonesia. In a bid to quell a diplomatic row, Jakarta has sent helicopters to ‘seed’ rainclouds over the blaze. Smoke from the raging fires in Indonesia is choking millions of Singaporeans, whose daily life has been disrupted by a thickening blanket of haze that has resulted in record-high air pollution in the city-state. An air quality monitor say the pollution is now life-threatening for the seriously ill and the elderly. Two Indonesian helicopters were sent from the capital Jakarta and Borneo Island to Riau province, where they will attempt to ‘seed’ clouds and cause rainfall over hundreds of hectares of burning peatland. The move was announced Friday morning after an emergency meeting the previous night in which Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered disaster officials to "immediately mobilize all the country's resources" to extinguish the fires. Earlier on Tuesday, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono said the success of the effort would depend on whether there are clouds present above the wildfires.
 |
| Indonesian motorists travel under a blanket of haze in Pekanbaru city, capital of Riau province on Sumatra island on June 20, 2013. (AFP Photo) |
The Indonesian government pledged to punish those responsible for spreading the fire: "Since the fires are happening mostly on plantation lands, we believe there are plantation companies involved. The president has already put together a team to investigate who owns the plantations," Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. ‘Slash-and-burn’ agriculture is used in Indonesia to claim land for palm oil farms. The government blamed eight companies on Friday for the ongoing wildfires, at least two of which are Singapore-based, senior presidential aide Kuntoro Mangkusubroto told Reuters. Hospitals in Riau province reported an increase in the number of patients complaining of asthma, lung, eye and skin problems, Indonesian health officials said.
 |
| A combination of pictures shows (top) a view of the city skyline shrouded by haze in Singapore on June 20, 2013 and a file picture (bottom) showing the same view on a clear day taken on April 13, 2012. (AFP Photo) |
Singapore environmental guidelines say there is danger to human life if the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) is above 400 for 24 consecutive hours, which took place Friday morning. In a similar crisis in the city in September 1997, which was also caused by fires in Indonesia, PSI levels spiked as high as 226. Health officials in Singapore have advised citizens to remain at home and refrain from physical exertion. Food deliveries have also been canceled, and the army has suspended all training. Local drug stores are reporting shortages of breathing masks as people rush to deplete the stocks. The crisis has sparked an escalation of tensions between Singapore and Jakarta. Minister Agung expressed irritation at neighbors’ demands to address the situation, lashing out at Singapore on Thursday for acting “like a child.” The haze is also affecting areas of Malaysia near Singapore, where local authorities closed down schools due to the air pollution.
 |
| A general view shows part of the city shrouded by haze in Singapore on June 20, 2013. (AFP Photo) |
 |
| Haze covers the Johor–Singapore Causeway in Johor Bahru, southern Malaysia on June 20, 2013 as acrid odour of burnt wood and grass could be smelled in living rooms and bedrooms across Singapore as well as inside the air-conditioned trains of Singapore's metro system. (AFP Photo) |
EPA refuses to finalize study blaming fracking for water pollution
 |
| Denise Truong, 21, (L) and Elizabeth Lerer, 51, protest against fracking in California, in Los Angeles May 30, 2013. (Reuters) |
The US Environmental Protection Agency has dropped its plans to further investigate whether or not fracking led to the contamination of a Wyoming aquifer, and the agency no longer plans to write a report on the matter. The EPA in 2011 released a draft report, which revealed that hydraulic fracturing fluids used at a shale gas drilling site had likely contaminated groundwater in Pavillion, Wyoming. Oil and gas companies have long argued that fracking poses no water contamination risks, but the EPA’s results demonstrated otherwise. Critics of the findings, including Wyoming state officials and drilling advocates, argued that the EPA conducted a poor and inaccurate study, which could ultimately harm the industry. Despite the initial wave of criticism in 2011, EPA officials planned to resume the study and continue making assessments regarding the influence of fracking on groundwater. But the EPA on Thursday abandoned those plans, announcing that state officials will instead take over the investigation into Pavillion’s water pollution and draw up a conclusion in 2014. "We think this is the most pragmatic, quickest way to help the residents of Pavillion. We're going to work hand in hand with the state to make sure this investigation moves forward," EPA spokesman Tom Reynolds announced in Washington, D.C. Wyoming will receive a $1.5 million grant from Encana Corp.’s US oil and gas subsidiary, which owns the Pavillion gas field in question. The state plans to issue a final report about its findings in late 2014. Industry officials and drilling proponents have praised the decision to hand over responsibility of the study to Wyoming state officials. "EPA has to do a better job, because another fatally flawed water study could have a big impact on how the nation develops its massive energy resources," Erik Milito, from the Washington, D.C.-based American Petroleum Institute, said in a news release. “The EPA has been on a witch hunt to shut down hydraulic fracturing,” Sen. David Vitter, the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, told Reuters. Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead said in a news release that letting state officials run the investigation is “in everyone’s best interest”, since it would lead to “an unbiased, scientifically supportable conclusion.” But Mead, a known advocate of drilling, has made no attempts to hide his own biases. Last September, Mead asked the Interior Department to abandon fracking rules, claiming that it was unnecessary to request companies to disclose the chemicals they inject down well bores. He has long opposed having any federal fracking rules, and urges lawmakers to let states make their own decisions. And the Native Americans who live around the fracking site may not even take part in the study, despite the fact that contaminated groundwater has the greatest impact on their tribe. The Northern Arapaho Tribe, which lives on a reservation surrounding Pavillion, has long sought to maintain a role in the investigation. But a tribal official told AP that the EPA has stopped consulting with the community."They have a legal duty to consult with the tribe and that didn't happen as part of their dialogue with the governor," Ronald Oldman, co-chairman of the tribe's business council, said in a statement. It is unclear why the EPA abandoned the study, but with state officials – many of which are fracking proponents – leading the investigation, the results could look very different from the 2011 draft report that linked fracking chemicals to groundwater contamination.
Tag :
Biology,
Conflict,
Ecology,
Global economy,
Health,
Politics,
Scandal,
Science,
USA,
World News
Polluting to death: China introduces execution for environmental offenders
 |
| Workers sort waste plastic bottles at the Xiejiacun waste collection market in the Changping district of Beijing.(Reuters / China Daily) |
China has introduced “harsher punishments” for breaking the nation’s environmental protection laws: reckless violators of pollution standards in the world’s biggest and fastest-growing economy now face execution. A new judicial interpretation taking effect on Wednesday has tightened Chinese “lax and superficial” enforcement of environmental protection laws, Xinhua reported citing a government statement.
The government is set to introduce a “precise criteria for convictions and sentencing” while the “judicial explanation provides a powerful legal weapon.” Law enforcement should take environmental regulations seriously and “all force should be mobilized to uncover law-breaking clues of environmental pollution in a timely way,” the statement reads.
 |
| Household garbage and construction waste are placed next to a residential area in Beijing.(Reuters / Jason Lee) |
Earlier this month the cabinet approved new measures to combat air pollution as social discontent over the air quality in urban centers continues to rise.
To help tackle the environmental danger, Beijing has promised to focus more on solar energy, despite ongoing trade disputes with the United States and Europe.
 |
| Polluted waters are seen at an industrial area of Wenzhou, in Zhejiang.(Reuters / Carlos Barria) |
The State Council approved 10 anti-pollution measures aimed at reducing emissions from the industries which contributed to the country’s economic miracle of the last three decades.
Cutting emissions per unit of GDP in key industries by at least 30 percent by the end of 2017 is one of the main objectives alongside curbing the growth of high-energy-consuming industries such as cement, steel, glass and aluminum.
Among other key measures on the table is to strengthen enforcement of penalties that firms pay based on their emissions scale. China also promised legal action for those industries that fail to upgrade pollution controls and introduce emissions standards.
 |
| A resident walks on the banks of a polluted river filled with dumped garbage at a suburban area of Taiyuan, Shanxi province.(Reuters / Stringer) |
The battle for the environment became the new leadership’s top agenda when the country underwent its once in a decade power transition. The previous leadership started the effort but enforcement has often been lacking.
According to a report published in April 2010 by Global Burden of Disease Study, air pollution in China was a contributing factor to 1.2 million premature deaths in 2010, almost 40 percent of the global total. Researchers equate that figure to 25 million healthy years of life from the population.
In March, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development stated that “urban air pollution is set to become the top environmental cause of mortality worldwide by 2050”, estimating that up to 3.6 million people could die prematurely from air pollution each year, mainly in China and India.
The Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning in March said that cost of environmental degradation equated to some 3.5 percent of the 2010 GDP or $230 billion.
 |
| Visitors take pictures on Tiananmen Square during a foggy day in central Beijing, January 29, 2013. China issued a blue-coded alert on Sunday as foggy weather forecast for the coming two days will cut visibility and worsen air pollution in some central and eastern Chinese cities, Xinhua News Agency reported.(Reuters / China Daily) |
In winter of 2013 Beijing was experiencing the worst environmental data on record. Levels of dangerous particles less than 2.5 micrometres across, known as PM2.5s, were 22 times what the World Health Organization considers safe. In response to the widespread public anger, authorities introduced emergency measures to thin traffic and shut down polluting industries. Rallies also erupted in May in the city of Kunming as thousands flooded the streets to protest against the planned production of a chemical at a refinery.
Problems related to pollution are also reaching China’s vast countryside, the Ministry of Environmental Protection acknowledged early June.
“With industrialisation, urbanisation and the modernisation of agriculture, the situation for the rural environment has become grim," the ministry said. Crucial aspects emanate from an “increase in pressure from mining pollution and severe pollution from the raising of livestock and poultry.”
Fracking ignites fights over water in drought-stricken regions
 |
US states suffering a drought are facing a dire water crisis
exacerbated by hydraulic fracturing. The procedure consumes vast amounts
of water, which has driven up prices and depleted certain aquifers and
rivers. In drought-stricken regions, fracking is taking a serious toll on
the water availability of local communities, in some cases
turning water into a scarce and expensive resource. The procedure
powerfully blasts water, fine sand and chemicals into the ground
to shatter rock formations and release oil or gas. Fracking is occurring in several counties in Arkansas, Colorado,
New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, which are
currently suffering a severe drought, the Associated Press
reports. Although the procedure requires less water than farming
or overall residential uses, it contributes to the depletion of
an already-scare resource. Some oil and gas companies manage to drain states of their water
supply without spending any money, by depleting underground
aquifers or rivers. But when unable to acquire the resource for
free, the corporations can purchase large quantities at hefty
prices. “There is a new player for water, which is oil and gas,”
Colorado farmer Kent Peppler told AP, noting that he is fallowing
some of his corn fields because he can’t afford to irritate them.
“And certainly they are in a position to pay a whole lot more
than we are.” Peppler, president of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, said that
the price of water has skyrocketed since oil companies have moved
in. The Meade, Colo. Farmer said he used to pay $9 to $100 per
acre-foot of water at city-held auctions, but that energy
companies are now buying the excess supplies for $1,200 to $2,900
per acre-foot. Last year, the city of Aurora sold 2.4 billion gallons of sewer
water to the oil company Anadarko for $9.5 billion, AP reports. With oil and gas companies willing to spend large sums of money
on excess sewer water, the cost of this valuable resource has
risen across several drought-stricken states. Some local farmers,
unable to afford crucial irrigation for their fields, say they
are praying for rain. “I was going to bed every night and praying to the good Lord
that we would get just one rain on the crop,” West Texas
cotton farmer Charlie Smith told AP, noting that he is selling
some of his groundwater to drillers, since it is not enough to
irrigate his crops. “I realized we’re not making any money
farming, so why not sell the water to the oil companies? Every
little bit helps.” Environmental activists are calling for limitations on drilling
in drought-stricken regions. “We don’t want to look up 20 years from now and
say, ‘Oops, we used up all our water,” said Jason Bane of the
Western Resources Advocates. Last summer’s record-breaking drought,
which was the worst since the 1930’s Dust Bowl, resulted in a
crop shortages that raised prices in US grocery stores. With a
lack of water to irrigate crops across the US this year,
Americans may once again find rising prices of both water and
food.
