tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23166506027038574262024-02-20T11:22:23.119-05:00Environmental Responsibility NewsEnvironmental Responsibility News. Environmental News.
Recent news regarding the environmental impact of world companies, tactics and solutions.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-27617398952266726792016-07-18T12:08:00.001-04:002016-07-18T12:08:41.842-04:00Jury hits U. of C. hospital with $53 million malpractice verdict<span style="color: #999999;">Original Story: chicagotribune.com</span><br />
<br />
A
Cook County jury has awarded $53 million to a 12-year-old Hickory Hills
boy and his mother in a 2013 lawsuit filed against the University of
Chicago Medical Center, where he was born with a serious brain injury. A
<a href="http://www.primerus.com/chicago-il-medical-malpractice-lawyer/lane-lane-llc-chicago-illinois-il.html" target="_blank">Chicago medical malpractice lawyer</a> said this will help to pay for the boy's future healthcare.<br />
<br />
The
jury's award to Lisa and Isaiah Ewing includes $28.8 million for future
caretaking expenses, according to a copy of the jury verdict form
provided by their lawyers, Geoffrey Fieger of suburban Detroit and Jack
Beam of Chicago. Isaiah has severe cerebral palsy, is in a wheelchair,
and needs his mother to feed and clothe him.<br />
<br />
It was the biggest birth injury verdict ever in Cook County, said John Kirkton, editor of Jury Verdict Reporter in Chicago.<br />
<br />
Their
lawsuit outlined about 20 alleged missteps by doctors and nurses after
Ewing arrived about 40 weeks pregnant at the hospital and was
experiencing less movement by her baby. The mistakes, the lawsuit
alleged, included the failures to carefully monitor mother and baby,
perform a timely cesarean section, follow a chain of command, obtain
accurate cord blood gases, and be aware of abnormal fetal heart rate
patterns that indicated distress to the baby, including hypoxia, or a
drop in the supply of oxygen. "The University of Chicago has been, for
the last 12 years, completely unapologetic, and even though the evidence
was overwhelming that they caused Isaiah's brain damage, they refused
to accept responsibility," Fieger said at the news conference Thursday.
Ewing hadn't had any problems during her pregnancy, he added.<br />
<br />
Before the case went to the jury, the hospital filed for a mistrial.<br />
<br />
Fieger's
"closing argument shattered the line between zealous advocacy and
improper prejudicial comments, rendering it impossible for defendant to
receive a fair trial," the hospital's lawyer said in a court filing. "He
also prejudicially argued that the defendant's case was built on a
falsehood and proceeded to equate defendant's conduct and testimony of
its witnesses with the propaganda techniques notoriously and
unmistakably associated with Nazi Germany."<br />
<br />
Hospital
spokeswoman Lorna Wong said the hospital had "great sympathy" for the
family but "strongly" disagrees with the jury's verdict.<br />
<br />
"Judge
Kirby declined to enter judgment on the verdict, as there are pending
motions for mistrial based on assertions of Mr. Fieger's improper
conduct," she said, noting that it wouldn't be the first overturned
verdict involving Fieger.<br />
<br />
She said Isaiah and his
mother were treated for infection, which can cause cerebral palsy.
"Isaiah was born with normal oxygen blood levels," and the "injury
occurred before the care Mr. Fieger criticized."<br />
<br />
After the news conference, Fieger said he expected the judge to confirm the verdict. "The jury has spoken," he said. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/chicago-il-brain-injury-lawyer/lane-lane-llc-chicago-illinois-il.html" target="_blank">Chicago Brain Injury Lawyer</a> said this is usually how this procedure occurs.<br />
<br />
The
jury decided the case in four hours, Fieger said. A list of the damages
also includes $7.2 million for future medical expenses. The document
was signed by 12 jurors.<br />
<br />
Fieger disputed that Isaiah had an infection.<br />
<br />
"All
of the medical records at the University of Chicago neonatal clinic
showed that Isaiah had been suffocated at birth, that he had suffered
hypoxia, lack of oxygen, yet the University of Chicago and its lawyers
came to court and tried to tell the jury that their own records were
false, that their own records were mistaken and that Isaiah really had a
phantom infection that infected his brain that they could never have
known about," Fieger said during the news conference.<br />
<br />
Ewing
said at the news conference that she has to bathe Isaiah and help him
go to the bathroom. She lives in a two-story town home, so she must
carry him up and down the stairs.<br />
<br />
She said the verdict will help ensure that Isaiah is taken care of after she dies.<br />
<br />
<br />Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-4488124707412780082016-07-15T16:26:00.001-04:002016-07-15T16:26:39.036-04:00Exploding Fire Consumes Oil Field in San Juan Basin; Cause UnknownOriginal Story: IndianCountryTodayMediaNetwork.com <br />
<br />
A fire that consumed <a href="http://www.costanzasalm.com/" target="_blank">chemical storage tanks</a> at an oil field in New Mexico is slowly burning out, and a WPX Energy spokesperson has apologized to dozens of Navajo Nation citizens who had to evacuate their homes.<br /><br />“We’re deeply sorry for the lives interrupted,” said WPX Energy spokesperson Kelly Swan, after 55 homes had to be evacuated. “The Navajo Nation is an important stakeholder.”<br /><br />The fire broke out in a series of explosions on Monday, July 11 at 10:15 pm at WPX Energy’s West Lybrook six-well-pad unit, a five-acre oil production site on Highway 550 near Nageezi, New Mexico, in San Juan County.<br /><br />As of 7:30 a.m. on July 14 the fire, which WPX officials had hoped would burn itself out in a matter of hours, was ongoing, according to San Juan County spokesperson Michele Truby-Tillen.<br /><br />“Fire department personnel are on the scene this morning working on a plan,” Truby-Tillen said, adding that while some evacuees had been allowed home, others will have to wait. “Evacuees will be allowed to return to their homes when fire chief Craig Daugherty feels that its safe for them to go back.”<br /><br />All of the 36 storage tanks, 30 holding oil and six a mix of water and hydrocarbon, caught fire and burned, according to Swan. Chemical foam was the only alternative to letting the fire burn itself out, but the decision was made not to use it “because of the great risk to responders, and because foam could carry oil products outside of the perimeter,” Swan said.<br /><br />Personnel from five local agencies are monitoring the fire, though Rosalita Whitehair, director of emergency management for the Navajo Nation, said that her office is currently not one of them. WPX said it has “mobilized environmental contractors to conduct air screenings with FLIR infrared cameras and photo ionization detectors.”<br /><br />Full environmental impacts on air and water quality will be assessed once the fire has burned out and the site has cooled off, officials said.<br /><br />“WPX Energy will have to remediate the area once the fire has stopped, in accordance with federal and state regulations,” said Beth Wojahn, New Mexico Oil Conservation Department’s media spokeswoman. NMOCD, which approved WPX’s application to develop the site last September, will monitor remediation.<br /><br />The company does not know how much oil burned off.<br /><br />“That will be part of the investigation,” Swan said. “Our priority is public safety.”<br /><br />The environmental group Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment (Diné CARE) said the incident was proof that fracking has no place on Navajo land.<br /><br />“The event demonstrates the increasing dangers of modern fossil fuel development, highlights the environment damage of the industry, and serves as a sobering reminder of the urgent need to build safe, clean renewable energy in place of fossil fuels,” the group said in a statement.<br /><br />The New Mexico Environment Department said it is keeping abreast of developments.<br /><br />“Protecting the quality of that air that we breathe and notifying New Mexicans of dangerous conditions is a top priority for the New Mexico Environment Department,” said New Mexico Environment Department spokesperson Allison Scott Majure.<br /><br />But many on the Navajo Nation do not feel that that is the case.<br /><br />“For years, our community has dealt with the impacts of this industry—the noise, the light, the air pollution, and knowing that each well drilled locks in years of climate changing pollution,” said Samuel Sage, Counselor Chapter Community Services Coordinator, in the Diné CARE statement. "But today, we reached the end of our rope as we watched the biggest disaster yet pollute the skies and blacken the earth.”<br /><br />Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-20411480661380150782016-07-05T10:57:00.001-04:002016-07-05T10:57:47.137-04:00Biomimicry Institute announces winners of second food systems ChallengeOriginal Story: gizmag.com<br /><br />The Biomimicry Global Design Challenge has announced the winners of its 2016 competition, the second challenge centered on food systems and how biomimicry can help improve them. The 10 winning teams will receive cash prizes and some will get the chance to bring their project to market and compete for an additional cash prize from the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/denver-co-environmental-lawyer/zupkus-angell-pc-denver-colorado-co.html" target="_blank">Denver environmental lawyer</a> thinks this is a great project.<br /><br />The winning teams were chosen from a list of 86 submissions from 18 countries, with the projects assessed by 50 judges, including biologists, business leaders, venture capitalists and agricultural specialists.<br /><br />Over the two years of the Challenge, the focus of the initiative has been on key food and agriculture issues, such as waste, packaging, agricultural pest management, food distribution, energy use, and others.<br /><br />Student Category winners<br /><br />The first prize went to a team of high school girls from Ontario, Canada. They won the top spot with a water capture device called Stillæ, which was inspired by organisms that can survive in water-scarce regions.<br /><br />It was on the Socotra archipelago in the Indian Ocean that the all-girl team found its muses: the Socotra desert rose whose bulbous trunk provided the model for the holding tank of the Stillæ, and lichen, another local organism that inspired the team with its ability to absorb moisture in the air directly through its cell walls. A beetle variety provided the concept of catching water between blades.<br /><br />The device captures water from the air with solar-powered spinning blades. Then, a cooling system is used to condense air particles on the surface of the blades. Water is then collected at the base of the design, which can be utilized for personal and agricultural use.<br /><br />The second prize went to a team at Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan for The Home Food Garbage Decomposer, an aerobic decomposer for home use. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/haddonfield-nj-environmental-lawyer/thomas-paschos-associates-pc-haddonfield-new-jersey-nj.html" target="_blank">South Jersey Environmental Lawyer</a> thought this was the best project.<br /><br />The team wants to reduce food waste in their city and mitigate the environmental side-effects it causes. Inspiration came from various sources, including cockroaches' respiratory system, termites' nest air circulation systems, and the structure of cocoons and honeycombs.<br /><br />The compost honeycomb-like unit works in a cyclic system, where the mature manure is transferred to upper planting units and a new cycle starts from the emptied unit. Each compost unit bears its own date, so the Decomposer would work like a sort of home calendar farm.<br /><br />The third prize was given to EcoFruitainer, devised by a team from the Universidad Panamericana, Mexico City, Mexico. It is a transportable container to keep food fresh and avoid waste. <br /><br />Tree bark inspired the spiral cooling towers to keep the interior cool and the air flowing. The roof of the container is inspired by the green birdwing butterfly's light-reflecting ability. The food is put inside waterproof sacks that farmers would have been previously supplied with, made with absorbent fabric. Inside, a spiderweb-like material absorbs impact to protect the integrity of food produce.<br /><br />EcoFruitainer is made with recycled materials and runs without electricity, so its impact is kept at a minimum. <br /><br />Open Category winners<br /><br />The seven winners in this category will receive a $2,000 cash prize and an invitation to enter the 2016/17 Biomimicry Accelerator, which culminates in the $100,000 Ray C. Anderson Foundation Ray of Hope Prize. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/san-antonio-tx-environmental-lawyer/thornton-biechlin-segrato-reynolds-guerra-lc-san-antonio-texas-tx.html" target="_blank">San Antonio environmental lawyer</a> was impressed by all of the entries.<br /><br />Here's a rundown on the winning projects:<br /><br />Happy Soil, from Woodland in California, is a system to replenish soil and was inspired by nature's capacity to recycle everything. It is meant as a low-cost addition to a farming operation and consists of a soil replenishment innovation to create a healthy soil microbiome and increase water retention.<br /><br />Happy Soil is a natural time-release, dissolvable application embedded with dried mycorrhizae (fungi) and bacteria that are very efficient at getting rid of weeds (almost 100 percent) while encouraging the desired crop to grow. Seeds for the incoming year are incorporated into the blanketing process to give them a microbial jumpstart for the coming crop cycle. This makes for stronger seedlings and plants.<br /><br />b-all, from Bogota in Colombia is an edible food packaging system to maintain the integrity of produce during its journey from farmer to consumer. The idea is to create an organic protective peel coating, a foam-like layer covered with an impermeable varnish and packed as a complete meal in an external package. It was inspired by the fruit from the the Pittosporum Undulatum tree and the Elytra beetle variety with its hard shell, double layer and foam structure.<br /><br />ANSA, from UC San Diego, California, is a hydroponic growing system inspired by cyanobacteria and its synthesizing inner membrane. It allows growers to extract nutrients from compost through several filters where the nutrients are then used to feed their multi-layer, polyculture hydroponic unit.<br /><br />The unit is a tower divided into several compartments and powered with solar and LED lights. A pump moves water from the bottom of the tower and directs it to each crop compartment above. To avoid non-organic fertilizers, it uses permeable membranes and specific microbes as well as beans, alfalfa or peas to provide nitrogen to crops in the central unit. Organized waste is filtered and metabolized into complex, plant-ready inorganic matter before being introduced into the central unit. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/pittsburgh-pa-environmental-lawyer/rothman-gordon-pittsburgh-pennsylvania-pa.html" target="_blank">Pittsburgh environmental lawyer</a> hope this type of project can help to feed those in need around the world.<br /><br />Slant is an app inspired by ants, specifically the way they influence each other's behavior, in a bid to reduce food waste. The user can tell the app what food item they want and the app can show where the best local option is, which the user can then review. This food source is marked like a pheromone (a chemical factor ants exude to trigger a social response), a temporary geo-reference signal. The app uses signals from other users to map out the best food choices near the user.<br /><br />Concept(non)Restaurant is a restaurant where customers cannot eat more than they need. The concept was inspired by bees, bacteria and monkeys to foster an ethos of solidarity and participation. Food in this conceptual restaurant is always seasonal and local. A screen shows how resources decrease as customers choose their meals. If the choice is sustainable, resources will go down at a rate that allows others to eat and keep the restaurant working. Otherwise, fewer people will eat and the restaurant will have a shorter lifespan.<br /><br />Next Loop is rainwater collection system. It is designed into modules that would initially be retrofitted on multi-story buildings to collect rainwater to be distributed to a hydroponic cultivation system. Individual modules integrate water storage and collection while mycorrhisal networks of fungi maintain plant hydration by transporting fluid between the root systems of neighboring plants. This means that they may not need to use <a href="http://www.augustafiberglass.com/chemical-holding-storage-tanks.html" target="_blank">chemical holding tanks</a>.<br /><br />GetFresh was inspired by how animals choose preys to devise a solution to bring health food to "food deserts" in Baltimore in the US. The idea is to access excess fresh produce from local farmers that meets needs and desires of local people in the city. GetFresh would would provide a consistent supply of fresh food in stations placed in corner shops in order to create a health food habit through easy and adequate availability. <br /><br />The upcoming accelerator program will be the second one the Biomimicry Institute has run as part of the annual competition. Currently, the first accelerator teams are finalizing their prototypes and business plans in preparation for the Ray C. Anderson Foundation Ray of Hope Prize award event, to be held at the Bioneers conference in San Rafael, California, on October 22, 2016.<br /><br />"This is our first cohort of finalists to produce working prototypes, which makes them trailblazers," says Beth Rattner, executive director of the Biomimicry Institute. "Doing biomimicry is hard, submitting practical and inspired design concepts is far harder, and making them actually work and solve the problem is extraordinary. We are immensely proud of these teams and I believe we will being seeing at least a few of them make it all the way to market."<br /><br />Looking ahead<br /><br />The Ray C. Anderson Foundation has pledged $1.5 million over four years to support the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge. Having started in 2016, the two organizations will award the $100,000 prize to the most viable prototype that best encapsulates the principles of biomimicry. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/royal-oak-mi-environmental-lawyer/demorest-law-firm-pllc-royal-oak-michigan-mi.html" target="_blank">Royal Oak environmental lawyer</a> hope that many other will join in to make these types of visions a reality.<br /><br />A new round of the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge will open in October with a focus on climate change. Once again, teams will be able to compete for the $100,000 Ray of Hope PrizeBlog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-56405530645643109362016-07-01T14:54:00.002-04:002016-07-01T14:54:32.193-04:00Hanford workers report illnesses linked to chemical vaporsOriginal Story: tri-cityherald.com<br />
<br />
Dave Klug walked
out of a Hanford tank farm control room on a cold, calm night in January
2010 into air that took his breath away.<br /><br />“Immediately, I had tightness in my chest. I lost feeling in my face. My heart rate was going crazy,” he said.<br /><br />Klug,
a longtime Hanford tank farm worker, was one of several workers who
talked about their experiences with chemical vapors at a forum Wednesday
night in Pasco. Was this coming from a <a href="http://www.augustafiberglass.com/chemical-holding-storage-tanks.html" target="_blank">chemical storage tank</a> nearby?<br />
<br /><br />Klug was off work for 11 months after that night and now has 30
percent permanent, partial disability for reactive airway disease and
occupational asthma, he said.<br /><br />Those who talked at the forum kept
coming back to two types of illnesses they believe are caused by
chemical vapors — breathing problems, as Klug described, and
neurological issues, including a brain disease called toxic
encephalopathy. This could involve a <a href="http://www.primerus.com/baton-rouge-la-toxic-torts-lawyer/degan-blanchard-nash-plc-baton-rouge-louisiana-la.html" target="_blank">Baton Rouge toxic torts lawyer</a> for assistance.<br /><br />Toxic
encephalopathy is what Barbara Sall said led to the dementia and death
of her husband, a Hanford carpenter who died at the age of 57. This
could have been solved by a good <a href="http://www.augustafiberglass.com/chemical-holding-storage-tanks.html" target="_blank">chemical holding tanks</a> with proper seals.<br /><br />The
forum — organized by Hanford Challenge, union Local 598 and state
Attorney General Bob Ferguson — drew about 200 people. The two agencies
and the state of Washington have filed a federal lawsuit seeking better
protection from chemical vapors for Hanford workers.<br /><br />The
Department of Energy, the target of the lawsuit along with its tank farm
contractor, has said that all air samples analyzed from the breathing
zones of workers since 2005 have not found chemicals in concentrations
above the occupational limits set to protect workers.<br /><br />In recent
months, about 53 workers have received medical checks for possible
exposure to chemical vapors at Hanford, but all have been cleared to
return to work when no symptoms were detected, according to DOE. Blood
tests also have come back clear.<br /><br />But such statements have been met with skepticism.<br /><br />One
worker at the meeting said it seemed that the tank farm contractor,
Washington River Protection Solutions, did not care about sick workers
when it recently pointed out that it had the second-best safety record
in the nationwide DOE cleanup complex. Will these workers need a <a href="http://www.primerus.com/new-orleans-la-toxic-torts-lawyer/degan-blanchard-nash-plc-new-orleans-louisiana-la.html" target="_blank">New Orleans toxic torts lawyer</a> for help?<br /><br />“They
are going to eat those words” when they lose the lawsuit, said James
Hart, national president of the Metal Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.<br /><br />Mike Lawrence, the DOE Hanford manager from 1984-90, said he has been following the issue closely.<br /><br />A
significant number of workers have experienced health effects or
symptoms, Lawrence said. There could be a correlation between the
illnesses and toxic fumes from chemicals in <a href="http://www.augustafiberglass.com/chemical-holding-storage-tanks.html" target="_blank">chemical storage tanks</a>.<br /><br />But DOE says it cannot measure chemicals in vapors at levels that current occupational standards say would cause a problem.<br /><br />“Obviously people are hurting, people are sick and something needs to be done,” Lawrence said.<br /><br />He
proposed that an independent, experienced and qualified third party,
chosen jointly by DOE and the state of Washington, collect data.<br /><br />Although
a team of experts led by the Savannah River National Laboratory
prepared the latest report on Hanford tank vapors, the report has no
credibility to some because the lab is part of the DOE system, Lawrence
said. This story has caught the attention of a <a href="http://www.primerus.com/jackson-wy-personal-injury-lawyer/gary-l-shockey-pc-jackson-wyoming-wy.html" target="_blank">Jackson toxic exposure lawyer</a>.<br /><br />He suggested the University of Washington School of Public Health as a possible independent agency for the work.<br /><br />Unless DOE can prove that workers are not being exposed to chemical vapors, protective gear should be worn, he said.<br /><br />Supplied
air respirators are required if Hanford officials suspect conditions
that could cause the release of chemical vapors. The Hanford Atomic
Metal Trades Council has demanded that supplied air respirators be
mandatory for any worker in the tank farms, and in some cases workers
near the farms.<br /><br />Klug said the tank farm contractor just needs to
fix the problem. Work to raise discharge stacks from the tanks so they
are farther from worker’s noses is not enough, he said.<br /><br />It has to
be DOE’s responsibility to keep workers safe, said Steven Gilbert,
director of the nonprofit Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological
Disorders in Seattle and a Hanford Challenge board member.<br /><br />“It’s a witches brew of chemical in the tanks,” he said.<br /><br />Exactly
which chemicals workers are exposed to is not known, Gilbert said. But
he can say that inhaled chemicals can cause problems. The chemicals can
go from the lungs to the brain quickly. They wonder if there was proper
use of a <a href="http://www.augustafiberglass.com/chemical-holding-storage-tanks.html" target="_blank">chemical holding tank</a>.<br /><br />People
have different sensitivities to chemical vapors, said Rick Jansons, a
former Hanford worker who is running for the state Legislature.
Incumbent Brad Klippert also was at the meeting.<br /><br />Jansons has been
exposed three times and has developed no symptoms, but it is obvious
that other people are getting sick, he said.<br /><br />Diana Gegg, a former
heavy equipment operator at Hanford, said she was 600 yards away from a
reported vapor cloud in 2007 when she was exposed. Within a week she
developed flu-like symptoms, plus vision problems diagnosed as muscle
dysfunction.<br /><br />She eventually had to stop driving and has been
diagnosed with toxic encephalopathy and neurotoxicity, she said. Hanford
officials have denied she was injured.<br /><br />“My life ended that day as I knew it,” she said.<br /><br />Hart,
the national union official, said he has looked at the cause of death
for Hanford workers represented by Local 598 back to 1988 and sees a
pattern of deaths caused by cancer and respiratory illness for workers
not yet 65 years old. This is the type of research that a <a href="http://www.primerus.com/jackson-wy-personal-injury-lawyer/gary-l-shockey-pc-jackson-wyoming-wy.html" target="_blank">Jacksonville toxic torts lawyer</a> would have to do.<br /><br />Younger workers at the tank farms are afraid to speak up about their concerns, Klug said.<br /><br />Any
worker under the union umbrella of the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades
Council who raises tank vapor concerns will have the full protection of
the AFL-CIO’s national Metal Trades Council, Hart said.<br /><br />“We are all fighting for the people in this room,” he told the crowd.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-6092172744052343522016-06-30T17:13:00.001-04:002016-06-30T17:13:21.239-04:00Stopping tank corrosion in the transportation sector<span style="color: #999999;">Original Story: energyglobal.com</span><br />
<br />
Thousands of chemicals, petroleum products, and corrosive elements like salt water brine are transported by tanker truck, railcar and distributors, as well as processed in <a href="http://www.augustafiberglass.com/chemical-holding-storage-tanks.html" target="_blank">chemical storage tanks</a> at facilities and refineries, every day.<br />In these venues, carbon steel corrosion can require early tank replacement and maintenance, as well as pose a safety risk in terms of potential leaks, spills, and even fire and explosion, so effective corrosion protection is a must.<br /><br />“We clean just about any tank hauling product or waste on the road or rail,” said Joe Svehlak, Facility Manager at DFW Tank Cleaning, a Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas-based full service tank cleaning facility that specialises in chemical cleaning. “Protecting against corrosion is vital in such tanks, as it is in our facility flush tanks.”<br />According to Svehlak, effective corrosion resistance is essential in the <a href="http://www.augustafiberglass.com/chemical-holding-storage-tanks.html" target="_blank">chemical holding tanks</a> because they hold the wastewater from the first flushes of tanks that the company cleans, which can include residual chemicals, until it is treated. This amounts to thousands of different residual chemicals held in the flush tanks annually – from petroleum products and salt-water brine to fluoride, caustic soda, and a variety of acids.<br /><br />Against such tank corrosion challenges, traditional polymer paints and rubber type coatings have long been used as physical barriers to keep corrosion promoters such as water and oxygen away from steel substrates. This works until the paint is scratched, chipped, or breached and corrosion promoters enter the gap between the substrate and coating.<br />However, truck or rail tankers hauling waste, including sand and sediment, can be particularly prone to scratches, chips, or breaches. Then the coating can act like a greenhouse – trapping water, oxygen and other corrosion promoters – which allows the corrosion to spread. While stainless steel can be used for tanks to resist corrosion, it can be up to six times more costly than carbon steel, as well as challenging to weld, fabricate, and maintain.<br /><br />Now a new generation of anti-corrosion coating, called Chemically Bonded Phosphate Ceramics, is poised to stop such corrosion, improve safety, and extend tank life in the transportation industry and beyond while minimising maintenance and downtime.<br /><br />Rugged anti-corrosion protection<br /><br />“Our corrosion protection for our 10 000 gal. flush tanks has to be particularly rugged because we mix the wastewater so it does not stratify, and sand, rocks, and even metal shavings can be present from the waste trailers we service,” said Svehlak. “The corrosion protection also has to withstand the high-temperature, high pressure water we often work with.”<br /><br />To control corrosion, the <a href="http://www.augustafiberglass.com/chemical-holding-storage-tanks.html" target="_blank">chemical storage tank </a>cleaning facility chose to have Ennis, Texas-based DC Metal Construction, a privately owned company specialising in steel construction and industrial plant building projects, coat the inside of two flush tanks. The flush tanks were coated with a spray applied inorganic coating called EonCoat® from the Raleigh, NC-based company of the same name. EonCoat represents a new category of tough, Chemically Bonded Phosphate Ceramics (CBPCs) that can stop corrosion.<br /><br />In contrast to traditional polymer coatings that sit on top of the substrate, the corrosion resistant coating bonds through a chemical reaction with the substrate, and slight surface oxidation actually improves the reaction. An alloy layer is formed. This makes it impossible for corrosion promoters like oxygen and humidity to get behind the coating the way they can with ordinary paints. The corrosion barrier is covered by a ceramic shell that resists corrosion, fire, water, abrasion, chemicals, and temperatures up to 400°F.<br /><br />Although traditional polymer coatings mechanically bond to substrates that have been extensively prepared, if gouged, moisture and oxygen will migrate under the coating’s film from all sides of the gouge.<br /><br />By contrast, the same damage to the ceramic-coated substrate will not spread corrosion because the carbon steel’s surface is turned into an alloy of stable oxides. Once the steel’s surface is stable (the way noble metals like gold and silver are stable) it will no longer react with the environment and corrode.<br /><br />Visible in scanning electron microscope photography, EonCoat does not leave a gap between the steel and the coating because the bond is chemical rather than mechanical. Since there is no gap, even if moisture was to get through to the steel due to a gouge, there is nowhere for the moisture to travel. The only spot that can corrode is the scribe line itself, which eliminates the possibility of the corrosion migrating.<br /><br />“Unlike traditional methods, the corrosion resistant coatings for mild steel have a double layer of protection,” said Bobby Hobbs, a DC Metal Construction job foreman. “The tough, outside ceramic coating will not chip like paint and takes sandblasting to remove. The chemically bonded layer stops corrosion and will not allow corrosion promoters to spread.”<br /><br />“EonCoat has stood up really well to everything from chemicals and salty brine to abrasion, high-pressure water and heat,” added Svehlak. “I believe it will double the life of our tanks while significantly lowering maintenance costs and downtime.”<br /><br />According to Svehlak, the coating’s rugged anti-corrosion properties could also benefit a wide range of transportation-related businesses.<br />“Tanker truck and rail operations can benefit from the anti-corrosion coating’s reliability,” said Svehlak. “Its abrasion resistance would be a big plus to wastewater haulers or super sucker truck operators with vacuum tanks that may encounter metal chips, glass shards, etc. when cleaning out sumps. It would also resist tank corrosion when transporting petroleum products or even used restaurant waste such as oil, fat, or grease.”<br /><br />For transportation companies looking to reduce costs, there are additional advantages to CBPC coatings beyond corrosion resistance. This includes quick return to service that minimises equipment downtime, as well as no VOCs or HAPs, and a flame spread rating of zero which improves safety.<br /><br />For corrosion protection projects using typical polymer paints such as polyurethanes or epoxies, the cure time may be days or weeks before the next coat of traditional ‘three part systems’ can be applied, depending on the product. The cure time is necessary to allow each coat to achieve its full properties, even though it may feel dry to the touch.<br /><br />In contrast, a corrosion resistant coating for carbon steel utilising the ceramic coating in a single coat requires almost no curing time. Return to service can be achieved in as little as one hour. This kind of speed in getting a tank, tanker truck, or railcar operating again can save significantly in reduced downtime.<br /><br />“After appropriate tank preparation, we found that if we spray EonCoat in the morning the tank can be returned to service the same day because it applies in one coat and dries quickly,” said Hobbs.<br /><br />EonCoat consists of two, non-hazardous components that do not interact until applied by a plural spray system like those commonly used to apply polyurethane foam or polyurea coatings. Since the coating is inorganic, there are no VOCs, no HAPs and no odour. This means that the coating can be applied safely, even in confined spaces.<br /><br />“Since the corrosion resistant coating has no VOCs, HAPs or odour we were able to spray during work hours, so work next to the tanks could continue while we coated them,” concludes Hobbs. “For any tank, facility, or transportation-related operation with corrosion issues, it is well worth considering.”Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-65637720704959966802016-06-22T11:15:00.001-04:002016-06-22T11:15:53.327-04:00Hot Mess: How Radioactive Fracking Waste Wound Up Near Homes And Schools <span style="color: #999999;">Original Story: wkms.org</span><br />
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The energy that lights up, turns on, cools and heats our lives leaves a trail of waste. Natural gas is no exception. The waste from the gas drilling known as “fracking” is often radioactive. The gas industry produces thousands of tons of this “hot” waste and companies and state regulators throughout the Ohio River valley and Marcellus Shale gas region struggle to find safe ways to get rid of it. One option to consider is <a href="http://www.augustafiberglass.com/chemical-holding-storage-tanks.html" target="_blank">chemical holding tanks</a>.<br />
<br />
Last August a convoy of trucks carrying a concentrated form of this waste traveled from northern West Virginia to Irvine, Kentucky. The small town in Estill County lies near the Kentucky River, where Appalachian hills give way to rolling farm country.<br />
<br />
The trucks were headed for a municipal waste facility called Blue Ridge Landfill. Just across Highway 89 from the landfill is the home where Denny and Vivian Smith live on property where their ancestors have lived since the 1800s. This may need a <a href="http://www.primerus.com/tulsa-ok-environmental-lawyer/james-potts-and-wulfers-inc-tulsa-oklahoma-ok.html" target="_blank">Tulsa Environmental Lawyer</a> to sort things out.<br />
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“This is our home place,” Vivian Smith said from her sun porch. “This is roots for us.”<br />
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From their sun porch, facing east, the Smiths can see the entrance to Blue Ridge Landfill. From their front door, facing west, they can see Estill County High School and Estill County Middle School, with a combined enrollment of about 1,200 students.<br />
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The trucks that arrived in Irvine last summer left more than 400 tons of low-level radioactive waste in a facility that was not engineered or permitted to accept that sort of material. That has left the community, the parents of schoolchildren, and especially the Smiths with a lot of questions and concerns. -- “We are getting older and we feel like we’re kind of vulnerable to illnesses with what’s going on at the landfill,” Vivian Smith said. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/haddonfield-nj-environmental-lawyer/thomas-paschos-associates-pc-haddonfield-new-jersey-nj.html" target="_blank">South Jersey Environmental Lawyer</a> is watching the case closely.<br />
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The question now reverberating through Irvine and the state agencies investigating the incident: How did this happen?<br />
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The answer, in part, lies in the weak federal oversight and patchwork of state regulations regarding this type of waste.<br />
<br />
A report from the Center for Public Integrity calls the radioactive waste stream from horizontal oil and gas operations “orphan waste” because no single government agency is fully managing it. Each state is left to figure out its own plan. Ohio, for example, hasn’t formalized waste rules, while New York, which banned fracking, still allows waste disposal “with little oversight,” according to the Center.<br />
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Antero Resources petroleum engineer Tom Waltz points to eight, green, 16,000-gallon above-ground storage tanks at the edge of a drilling pad in Doddridge County, West Virginia.<br />
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“They hold produced water that the producing wells make,” he explained.<br />
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Produced water is one form of drilling waste. It’s salty water laced with chemicals, metals, and naturally occurring radioactive elements that come up thousands of feet along with the gas and oil. Antero is the country’s eighth-largest gas drilling company and operates hundreds of sites like this, producing hundreds of thousands of barrels of waste.<br />
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The easiest way to get rid of wastewater is to inject it back into the ground, but that can lead to pollution and even earthquakes. One of Antero’s lead civil engineers, Conrad Baston, says processing the wastewater – separating it into salt, sludge, and water – is becoming more attractive.<br />
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No Easy Solutions<br />
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Antero is spending $275 million to construct a wastewater facility in West Virginia which is scheduled to begin operation in September, 2017. At its peak, the facility could see up to 600 trucks a day, processing 60,000 barrels of wastewater.<br />
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A filtering system would recover about two-thirds of the water, which could be reused in drilling. But that filtration system leaves behind thousands of tons of salt and hundreds of tons of sludge from the sediment, which concentrates the radioactive materials. Baston said that sludge — as much as 180 tons a day — will be disposed of elsewhere.<br />
<br />
“Given some of the flux in the regulatory environment with regard to those sludges,” he said, “we’ve elected to take those sludges to a landfill that’s currently licensed to accept it.”<br />
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Baston couldn’t say which facilities or where, but he said Antero is exploring options across the country. West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection said no approved facilities exist in the state. That would mean the waste will have to cross state lines. An Antero spokesperson said waste from their facility will go only to approved and vetted landfills.<br />
<br />
The Center for Public Integrity report shows that regulators acknowledge that this waste is effectively being “shopped around” by companies hoping for affordable disposal. Antero officials maintain that industry has no other choice. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/denver-co-environmental-lawyer/zupkus-angell-pc-denver-colorado-co.html" target="_blank">Denver Environmental Litigation Lawyer</a> says this step is critical.<br />
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Records filed with the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health show that a company Antero had contracted with to process its wastewater, Fairmont Brine, was the source of the waste that wound up in Blue Ridge Landfill in Irvine, Kentucky. Antero officials said their company is not responsible for how that waste was disposed of. Officials at Fairmont Brine did not respond to requests to comment for this story.<br />
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Waiting for Answers<br />
<br />
Since reporters at the Louisville Courier-Journal first reported on the improper dumping of fracking waste in Kentucky, community leaders in Irvine have been asking for answers. The landfill is under investigation by multiple state agencies for accepting the waste.<br />
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“Knowing that there was nothing going on to protect us,” Vivian Smith said, “I think it’s like the henhouse was not guarded and the fox got in.”<br />
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The Smiths have had their share of illnesses and they wonder what effect the radioactive waste might have on them or on the children who attend school nearby. This low-level radioactive waste is not as hazardous as the wastes from nuclear power. But according the the Environmental Protection Agency, the radioactive materials in drilling waste do present risks. Radioactive dust is potentially harmful and it would be bad if the radioactive leachate, or liquid that oozes out from the landfill, were to contaminate groundwater over time. Radioactive waste can last centuries — far longer than the engineered lifespan of the liners in many landfills. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/san-antonio-tx-environmental-lawyer/thornton-biechlin-segrato-reynolds-guerra-lc-san-antonio-texas-tx.html" target="_blank">San Antonio Environmental Lawyer</a> may need to be contacted.<br />
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Officials with Blue Ridge Landfill’s parent company, Advanced Disposal, declined to comment while under investigation. The Smiths hope that investigation will shed light on any risks they might be living with because of the hot mess left next door.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-54545914525625347152016-06-21T17:59:00.001-04:002016-06-21T17:59:16.588-04:00Persian Gulf War Veterans Still Suffering Serious Health Problems<span style="color: #999999;">Original Story: huffingtonpost.com</span><br />
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This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Persian Gulf War.<br /><br />It was fought in late 1990 through early 1991 by a U.S.-led coalition of 34 countries against Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. Was there a problem with a <a href="http://www.augustafiberglass.com/chemical-holding-storage-tanks.html" target="_blank">chemical storage tank</a> leaking?<br /><br />It also was the first U.S. war to be waged after the advent of the 24-hour cable television news cycle.<br /><br />The conflict was accompanied by memorably intense and round-the-clock coverage on CNN.<br /><br />But there’ve been few recognitions of the war’s 25-year milestone on the cable news networks, let alone in broadcast or print media.<br /><br />For David Winnett, a Gulf War combat veteran who climbed the ranks from private to captain during his 20-year career in the U.S. Marines, it’s just the latest in a succession of insults to the men and women who served in this largely forgotten war. This may need the services of a <a href="http://www.primerus.com/los-angeles-ca-toxic-torts-lawyer/law-offices-of-lawrence-s-eisenberg-associates-los-angeles-california-ca.html" target="_blank">Los Angeles Toxic Torts Lawyer</a>.<br /><br />“It’s no surprise that many people could easily forget ‘our war.’ It was far too fast by any historical measure,” Winnett told Healthline. “Perhaps things would be different had we continued our advance all the way to Baghdad, but the fact is, we didn’t. So regardless of whether or not we think our war has been unfairly set aside in the history books, it is what it is.”<br /><br />Toxic Aftermath<br /><br />While ground combat in the Persian Gulf War only lasted days, Winnett said, the toxic legacy of the war has been just as devastating for the postwar health of Gulf War veterans as the defoliant Agent Orange has been for those who served in Vietnam.<br /><br />Winnett is just one of hundreds of thousands of Gulf War vets who suffer from Gulf War Illness (GWI), also known as Gulf War Syndrome, the panoply of chronic and often debilitating symptoms reported by veterans of that conflict.<br /><br />The acute symptoms, which for many veterans never go away, include extreme fatigue, neurological issues, insomnia, migraines, joint pain, persistent coughing, gastrointestinal issues such as diarrhea and constipation, skin problems, dizziness, respiratory disorders, and memory problems.<br /><br />The National Academy of Sciences estimates that as many as 250,000 of the 700,000 U.S. troops who served in the Persian Gulf War have been affected by GWI, which studies have shown is the result of a litany of toxic exposures that troops like Winnett endured while serving.<br /><br />Troops were exposed to toxic smoke from the fires of thousands of military burn pits in the war zone. The fires involved tires and other things that contain harmful chemicals.<br /><br />There was also sarin and other toxic chemicals dropped on U.S. troops.<br /><br />Two peer reviewed scientific research studies released in 2012 concluded that weather patterns carried massive toxic chemical cloud that fell on U.S. troops. The cloud was created by the U.S. bombing of Iraqi chemical weapon storage facilities<br /><br />The first study concluded that nerve and blister agents, which were supplied to Iraq by the U.S. before the Gulf War when Hussein was an uncomfortable ally, were bombed by U.S. forces. The toxic substances were swept into the atmosphere and subsequently dropped on U.S. troops.<br /><br />The second study confirmed the number of GWI reports was in fact higher at the places where the sarin fell.<br /><br />“Our peer reviewed scientific findings bring us full circle by confirming what most soldiers believed when they heard the nerve gas alarms. The alarms were caused by sarin fallout from our bombing of Iraqi weapons sites,” James Tuite, who led the first study, said in a statement.<br /><br />The VA’s Position<br /><br />Despite the scientific evidence and a mandate from Congress that Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recognize several of the symptoms as connected to service in the Gulf War, the VA maintains that there are no definitive scientific studies that link symptoms and diseases associated with GWI to toxic exposures during the war.<br /><br />According to a 2015 report, about 80 percent of Gulf War veterans who file disability claims citing presumptive chronic multisymptom illnesses connected to toxic exposures are denied by the VA.<br /><br />A written statement from the VA’s Post-Deployment Health Services team to Healthline stated that in the past few years the VA has “ramped up educational efforts to VA providers on Gulf War Illness.” However, the statement read, “there are times when referral to a psychiatrist is indicated due to a co-morbid condition such as severe depression or another severe mental health condition.”<br /><br />In another email to Healthline, VA officials said a claim could be denied for a number of reasons, including the belief an ailment was caused by something other than military service or the ailment could be “less than 10 percent disabling.”<br /><br />Most often, say multiple sources for this story, veterans who say they have these symptoms are sent to the psychiatric departments of VA centers, where they are typically given psychotropic drugs that don’t help them, and in many cases make things worse.<br /><br />The VA acknowledges the following in a statement on its website: “Rockets filled with sarin and cyclosporine mixes were found at a munitions storage depot in Khamisiyah, Iraq, that had been demolished by U.S. service members following the 1991 Gulf War cease-fire. An undetermined amount of these chemicals was released into the atmosphere. The Department of Defense concluded about 100,000 Gulf War Veterans could have been exposed to low levels of these nerve agents.”<br /><br />The VA also adds that “research doesn’t show long-term neurological problems from exposure to low levels of sarin. A low level of sarin is an amount that doesn’t cause noticeable symptoms during the exposure.”<br /><br />Regarding the burn pits, a VA statement on its burn pits registry page reads, “At this time, research does not show evidence of long-term health problems from exposure to burn pits.”<br /><br />Did the Gulf War Cause Cancer, Too?<br /><br />Benjamin Krause is a Gulf War veteran who went to law school after he retired from the military, and dedicates his practice to helping his fellow veterans.<br /><br />He told Healthline that burn pit exposures are associated with an increasing number of diseases, including cancer.<br /><br />“There’s growing evidence showing a link between burn pits and certain cancers like pancreatic cancer, for example,” Krause said. “VA is working to create a registry to help with service connection and health benefits for these veterans, but history has shown us that such initiatives take much longer to perfect while sick veterans die.”<br /><br />Compounding the problem, Krause said, are non-VA healthcare providers who are simply unaware of the health risks of military service.<br /><br />“They don’t ask the right questions and risk deadly misdiagnosis of symptoms because of a lack of awareness of the harms of burn pits, among other things,” Krause noted. “Veterans are getting sick and dying now. We need our VA to pick up the pace before more veterans get sick and die from burn pit exposure related illnesses.”<br /><br />Congress Steps In<br /><br />Anthony Hardie, a staff sergeant in the Army who served in combat deployments in the Gulf War and Somalia, has worked for years to get laws passed that set the framework for Gulf War veterans’ healthcare, research, and disability benefits.<br /><br />The director of Veterans for Common Sense and chair of the programmatic panel of directors for the Gulf War Illness Research Program, Hardie’s work with fellow veteran advocates on both sides of the aisle led to the passage of the Persian Gulf War Veterans Act of 1998 and the Veterans Programs Enhancement Act of 1998.<br /><br />Hardie told Healthline that these laws gave Gulf War veterans hope for new treatments and recognition by the VA that their persistent symptoms were related to their service.<br /><br />“But when veterans suffering from Gulf War Illness walk through the door at VA centers and clinics in 2016,” he said, “there are still no evidence-based treatments for them. And most of them are just shuffled off to psychiatric care.”<br /><br />Winnett added that while Congress deemed three symptoms to be “presumptive” to service in the Gulf War, the VA continues to largely ignore that.<br /><br />“The most widely reported symptoms of Gulf War Illness are profound fatigue, excruciating bodywide muscle pain, and chronic GI problems,” said Winnett. “The VA, despite its own regulations that are supposed to give the benefit of the doubt to veterans with symptoms considered ‘presumptive’ to service in the Persian Gulf War, instead continue as an organization to view Gulf War Illness as a psychosomatic illness.”<br /><br />Winnett explained that if a veteran can’t get their symptoms rated as service-connected, “their chance of receiving medical care relative to their symptoms is slim to none. This is a national tragedy of the highest order.”<br /><br />Reasons for Optimism<br /><br />Despite the frustrations, every veteran advocate interviewed for this story said there is reason for optimism.<br /><br />For one thing, Congress recently decided to continue funding GWI treatment research at $20 million for the next year.<br /><br />“[This] is just what we asked for,” said Hardie. “It shows that Congress continues to take Gulf War veterans’ health issues far more seriously than the Department of Defense or the VA.”<br />In addition to the two House hearings earlier this year, the Senate has also taken up the GWI issue.<br /><br />Last month, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, announced that reforms and investments she fought for to improve veterans’ care were passed by the Senate as a part of the fiscal year 2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs funding bill.<br /><br />Among Baldwin’s priorities stated in the bill is “better treatment for veterans suffering from Gulf War Illness.”<br /><br />Baldwin’s provisions, which have received virtually no media coverage, would “improve the approval rates of veterans’ disability claims; enhance ongoing studies and research into the causes of and treatments for Gulf War Illness; and strengthen the membership and work of the Research Advisory Committee, which oversees the government’s research agenda.”<br /><br />A spokesperson for the VA told Healthline, “The Department of Veterans Affairs is currently working on responding directly to Senator Baldwin, and will include relevant post-deployment health information.”<br /><br />Promising New Science<br /><br />The science surrounding GWI also continues to progress.<br /><br />Two major, four-year, $5 million treatment development research projects at Nova Southeastern University and Boston University are about halfway completed and are expected to break new ground for possible GWI treatment recommendations.<br /><br />And while there are no evidence-based treatments yet for GWI, some natural supplements have been shown in studies to effectively lessen some of the symptoms.<br /><br />Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, concluded a few years ago that 19 of the most common GWI symptoms improved after taking supplements.<br /><br />“We found in our research that there was significant benefit to the veterans’ physical function,” Beatrice Golomb, professor of medicine at the school and principal investigator on the study, told the Bergmann & Moore veterans law firm. “And that is a huge issue with these veterans, whose physical functions often decline. Some of them used to run 20 miles. Now they can’t jog a couple of blocks.”<br /><br />About 80 percent of veterans with GWI who took coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) saw improved physical function, and the improvement correlated to higher levels of CoQ10 found in the blood, according to research published in Neural Computation.<br /><br />“This is not a cure, but we think maybe if we give the veterans more of a mitochondrial cocktail they will see an even greater benefit,” Golomb said.<br /><br />Forgotten After 9/11<br /><br />Winnett said he felt a “moral obligation” to help his fellow vets after making a 2008 trip to Washington for a VA hearing on Gulf War veterans’ health.<br /><br />“I was taken aback by the physical condition of the veterans I saw there,” Winnett recalled. “I was older than most Gulf War veterans because I had 16 years of service under my belt when the war began. In Washington, I saw veterans in their 40s who couldn’t walk without assistance. Some were in wheelchairs.”<br /><br />Winnett said that after 9/11, many people in America, including legislators, just forgot about the fact that many thousands of 1991 veterans were sick.<br /><br />“We moved on as a country following 9/11 to more pressing matters,” he said. “I would guess that Korean War veterans experienced a similar phenomenon as the Vietnam War ramped up in the mid 1960s. There comes a time when you’re no longer the flavor of the day.”<br /><br />Thomas Bandzul, an attorney and veterans advocate who’s testified numerous times before Congress on Gulf War health issues, said the American public to this day simply does not have a good understanding of the effects the Gulf War had on the troops.<br /><br />“The VA has downplayed the significance of Gulf War Illness and has successfully delayed the research that help veterans with their physical ailments,” Bandzul said. “VA still refuses to treat or allow these veterans a disability claim. The unspecific term of ‘general illness’ is still applied to most Gulf War veterans, and their claims are usually denied. This callous and capricious manner in dealing with veterans is a shame.”<br /><br />Veterans Have Each Other’s Backs<br /><br />But what stands out most among the Gulf War veterans who agreed to talk to Healthline for this piece is their relentless support of each other.<br /><br />Last year, Larry Cockrell, a combat veteran who served with the 7th Marines in Task Force Ripper during the first Gulf War, was rated 100 percent disabled by the VA and retired from a successful career as an investigator for several Fortune 500 companies.<br /><br />Cockrell has several serious health issues as a result of his service, but he’s dedicated his life to assisting his fellow combat veterans as well as their families on their ranch in Lake Mathews in Southern California.<br /><br />“We assist combat veterans with file claims or file disagreements with VA,” he told Healthline. “Honestly, the Gulf War was forgotten when the parades ended. We fought the largest tank battles, birched the largest minefields, and injected our troops with experimental vaccines, all while fighting on the most contaminated battlefield in the history of warfare.”<br /><br />Cockrell said “everyone dropped the ball” when Gulf War veterans came home and could not get the healthcare they needed. But he said he has gotten new strength and has never felt a stronger sense of purpose than he does now by helping his fellow veterans on his ranch.<br /><br />“We love having the spouses and partners here enjoying the ambience and horses and giving their kids rides,” he said. “Ironically, I’ve only had a few veterans jump on a horse and ride. But as Winston Churchill once said, ‘the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man.’ Just being around them assists veterans. It’s a given that our health issues are not going to get better as we get older. It’s time to give these combat veterans a 100 percent disability rating and a chance to manage their disabilities.”Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-82556903159087475082016-06-15T10:05:00.001-04:002016-06-15T10:05:35.905-04:0050k Pounds Of Potatoes Across I-77 Shuts Down Traffic<span style="color: #999999;">Original story: wsoctv.com</span><br />
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. —<br />A
portion of Interstate 77 was shut down for hours Friday after a
tractor-trailer crashed, spilling thousands of potatoes across the
highway. It is likely that a <a href="http://www.primerus.com/charlotte-nc-truck-accidents-lawyer/charles-g-monnett-iii-associates-charlotte-north-carolina-nc.html">Charlotte truck accident lawyer</a> will be contacted.<br /><br />A
Channel 9 photographer was traveling behind the truck and witnessed the
crash around 2 a.m. in the southbound lanes of I-77 near West
Boulevard.<br /><br />The impact was so violent that the engine flew out of the big rig.<br /><br />Two
other drivers who were following the truck jumped out and rescued the
truck driver, who was rushed to Carolinas Medical Center. Officials said
he'd be OK.<br /><br />“Maybe he fell sleep, and sadly hit the guard rail,” said rescuer Garrett Bonacci. “Thank the Lord he's all right.”<br /><br />"We
stopped immediately and saw a guy try to crawl out of the cab,” said
Grant Wales. “Saw a lot fire going on, so I ran to him. His leg was
pinned, tried pulling him out.”<br /><br />The two rescuers and state troopers told Channel 9 that the driver said he fell asleep behind the wheel. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/charlotte-nc-trucking-lawyer/charles-g-monnett-iii-associates-charlotte-north-carolina-nc.html">Charlotte trucking lawyer</a> says that this unfortunately happens more than we would like to think.<br /><br />No other vehicles were involved in crash, which damaged about 20 feet of guard rail and concrete barrier.<br /><br />Officials
said the interstate would be closed through the morning rush hour while
crews worked to clean-up the 50,000 pounds of potatoes that scattered
for hundreds of yards across the road.<br /><br />Some potatoes were soaked
in diesel fuel and clean-up crews had to separate the clean potatoes
from the one's contaminated with fuel and oil.<br /><br />Thousands of clean potatoes were hauled into trucks to be taken to a landfill.<br /><br />Lee
Shank, who is the president of Carolina Environmental, the company
called to help clean up, said it could take days before they decide what
to do with the potatoes mixed with fuel and oil.<br /><br />"You basically
had diesel fuel and oil petroleum products that are mixed with some of
the potatoes," he explained. "Some of the potatoes we had to either
clean or will be disclosed as off-spec food product food waste. It
sounds simple but we actually go through them (the potatoes) and see
where the diesel fuel stopped, and all the potatoes passed that are
clean."<br /><br />Drivers were advised to take the following detour: From
I-77 south, take Exit 11 (I-277), follow I-277 and take exit 1-B to get
back on I-77 south.<br /><br />Clean-up crews initially hoped to have one
lane open by 5 a.m. and all lanes open by 8 a.m. but DOT officials said
all the lanes would not reopen until at least noon.<br /><br />The far left lane was reopened just before 8 a.m. and a second lane was reopened around 11:30 a.m. <br /><br />All lanes were reopened around 4 p.m.<br /><br />Highway Patrol has not identified that driver but said he is expected to recover. <br /><br />Sgt. Jeff Nash said they will decide later if he will be charged. If a <a href="http://www.primerus.com/charlotte-nc-truck-accidents-lawyer/charles-g-monnett-iii-associates-charlotte-north-carolina-nc.html">Charlotte truck crash lawyer</a> is involved then charges were made.<br /><br />“I'm sure you've got failure to maintain lane control. Why he ran off the roadway, we're still investigating that,” Nash said.<br /><br /><br /><br />Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-27702975789560767592016-06-15T09:56:00.002-04:002016-06-15T09:56:25.043-04:00Iowa City Resident Killed In Tractor Vs. Semi Accident<span style="color: #cccccc;">Original Story: press-citizen.com</span><br />
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A collision Thursday between a semi-truck and a tractor killed an Iowa City resident and injured a Tipton resident.<br /><br />The
fatal collision took place at 12:15 p.m Thursday just northwest of
Morse in rural Johnson County, near the intersection of Morse Road
Northeast and Vincent Avenue Northeast, according to crash report from
the Iowa State Patrol. An <a href="http://www.primerus.com/iowa-city-ia-truck-accidents-lawyer/carney-appleby-law-iowa-city-iowa-ia.html">Iowa truck accident lawyer</a> is looking into the case.<br /><br />The
John Deere tractor was traveling eastbound while the semi was traveling
westbound on Morse Road when the tractor started turning left,
according to the crash report. The semi hit the tractor and the tractor
driver was ejected from the vehicle.<br /><br />The driver of the tractor was not wearing a seat belt, the report said.<br /><br />The
report did not release the names of those involved in the accident, but
the driver who was killed was reported to be 55 years old and from Iowa
City. The driver of the truck, who was injured and taken to the
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, was 69 and from Tipton. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/des-moines-ia-truck-accidents-lawyer/carney-appleby-law-des-moines-iowa-ia.html">Des Moines truck accident lawyer</a> may be called onto the case.<br /><br />There was no additional information on the truck driver's injuries.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-42574848379885363572016-05-25T10:54:00.000-04:002016-05-25T10:54:13.666-04:00Dozens of Women Vanish on Canada’s Highway of Tears, and Most Cases Are Unsolved<span style="color: #cccccc;">Original Story: NYTimes.com</span><br />
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SMITHERS, British Columbia — Less than a year after her 15-year-old cousin vanished, Delphine Nikal, 16, was last seen hitchhiking from this isolated northern Canadian town on a spring morning in 1990.<br /><br />Ramona Wilson, 16, a member of her high school baseball team, left home one Saturday night in June 1994 to attend a dance a few towns away. She never arrived. Her remains were found 10 months later near the local airport.<br /><br />Tamara Chipman, 22, disappeared in 2005, leaving behind a toddler. “She’s still missing,” Gladys Radek, her aunt, said. “It’ll be 11 years in September.”<br /><br />Dozens of Canadian women and girls, most of them indigenous, have disappeared or been murdered near Highway 16, a remote ribbon of asphalt that bisects British Columbia and snakes past thick forests, logging towns and impoverished Indian reserves on its way to the Pacific Ocean. So many women and girls have vanished or turned up dead along one stretch of the road that residents call it the Highway of Tears.<br /><br />A special unit formed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officially linked 18 such cases from 1969 to 2006 to this part of the highway and two connecting arteries. More women have vanished since then, and community activists and relatives of the missing say they believe the total is closer to 50. Almost all the cases remain unsolved.<br /><br />The Highway of Tears and the disappearances of the indigenous women have become a political scandal in British Columbia. But those cases are just a small fraction of the number who have been murdered or disappeared nationwide. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have officially counted about 1,200 cases over the past three decades, but research by the Native Women’s Association of Canada suggests the total number could be as high as 4,000.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-45557228996259509072016-03-14T11:56:00.002-04:002016-03-14T11:56:48.581-04:00AT $2 MILLION A DAY, PORTER RANCH RESIDENTS GET TO KEEP THEIR TEMPORARY HOUSING<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: latimes.com</span><br />
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Southern California Gas Co. will have to continue paying for temporary accommodations for Porter Ranch residents who do not believe it is safe to move home in the wake of the largest methane leak in U.S. history, an appeals court ruled Wednesday. A <a href="http://www.jpwlaw.com/tulsa-oil&gas-litigation-lawyer-attorney-tulsa-oklahoma.html" target="_blank">Tulsa oil and gas lawyer</a> represents clients in energy matters of oil and gas.<br />
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The California 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the gas company's argument that residents should immediately vacate their hotels and other temporary homes now that the gas leak has been fixed.<br />
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Customers will now have until March 18 to move home.<br />
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The Aliso Canyon gas leak was first reported Oct. 23. Residents in Porter Ranch and surrounding communities complained of headaches, nausea and nosebleeds, symptoms that health officials believe were caused by odorants added to the methane to help detect a leak. A <a href="http://www.jpwlaw.com/tulsa-energy-lawyer-attorney-tulsa-oklahoma.html" target="_blank">Tulsa energy lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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Those health concerns and the temporary closure of two public schools prompted thousands of households to voluntarily relocate out of the area.<br />
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Crews sealed the leak Feb. 18. Residents had eight days to move home before the gas company would stop paying for their accommodations. But some residents complained that they did not believe it was safe to move home, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors sought a temporary restraining order to give customers more time before moving back.<br />
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Last week, an attorney for the gas company said relocation efforts cost the utility $2 million a day.<br />
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“While we are disappointed with the court's decision because it conflicts with independent scientific analysis and creates further uncertainty for the community, SoCal Gas will continue to comply with the decision to provide continued relocation for those who choose to stay relocated,” according to a statement from the utility. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/los-angeles-ca-environmental-lawyer/greenberg-glusker-los-angeles-california-ca.html" target="_blank">Los Angeles environmental attorney</a> is reviewing the details of this case.<br />
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Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, the interim director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, has said it is safe for residents to return to the area if they do not smell fumes or feel ill.<br />
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Some who have returned home after the leak was sealed said they continued to suffer from maladies.<br />
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Health department officials do not expect there to be long-term health effects related to the leak, Gunzenhauser said.<br />
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The court case doesn't affect displaced residents who leased homes and apartments until as late as April 30.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-76432061654862834352016-01-28T11:26:00.003-05:002016-01-28T11:26:43.120-05:00COMMISSION PROBING PERMANENT CLOSURE OF ALISO CANYON GAS FIELD AMID MASSIVE LEAK<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: latimes.com</span><br />
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The California Public Utilities Commission is studying the effects of permanently shutting down the Aliso Canyon natural gas field near Porter Ranch, an indication the agency is uncertain about the future integrity of the storage system that supplies 11 million customers in Southern California.<br />
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The commission wants to know whether Southern California Gas Co. can find alternative storage sites and delivery systems to make up for a possible shortfall of gas should the 3,600-acre field be taken off-line in the future. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/los-angeles-ca-environmental-lawyer/greenberg-glusker-los-angeles-california-ca.html" target="_blank">California environmental lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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Edward Randolph, energy division director at the PUC, said the regulatory agency is studying the issue for several reasons, “including that, with several investigations underway, policymakers in California want to know all possible short- and long-term options.”<br />
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“Until there are definitive answers on the future of Aliso Canyon, we want to do everything we can to assure reliability knowing that Aliso Canyon is not going to be able to provide the levels of service it historically has,” Randolph said.<br />
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A week ago, Timothy Sullivan, executive director of the PUC, ordered the utility to work with government agencies to develop alternatives to reliance on Aliso Canyon.<br />
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Gas company spokeswoman Stephanie Donovan declined to comment on the issue, except to say, “We’re not going to try to speak for the CPUC.” A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/harrisonburg-va-environmental-lawyer/wharton-aldhizer-weaver-plc-harrisonburg-virginia-va.html" target="_blank">Virginia environmental lawyer</a> has experience with multiple industry types and implications of detrimental environmental practices.<br />
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Sustaining energy reliability without the 3,600-acre facility would be daunting. Existing pipelines lack the capacity to make up such a shortfall, according to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, and other storage facilities in the region are too small or too far away to provide gas quickly enough when needed.<br />
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Disruption of gas service requires technicians to visit homes and businesses to relight pilot lights on furnaces and water heaters — a process that could take weeks if the interruption is widespread. Curtailing gas for electric power generation could trigger blackouts during peak demand periods in summer.<br />
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Commission safety officials say their top priorities are stopping the leak that has displaced thousands of residents since it began spewing mostly methane Oct. 23 and ensuring that it never happens again.<br />
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“We hear loud and clear that many members of the local community want Aliso Canyon permanently taken out of service,” Elizaveta Malashenko, director of safety and enforcement at the PUC, said in a report to her agency Jan. 21. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/baton-rouge-la-environmental-lawyer/montgomery-barnett-baton-rouge-louisiana-la.html" target="_blank">Baton Rouge environmental attorney</a> is reviewing the details of this case.<br />
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“First, we are working on analysis of how reliability issues can be addressed now and if Aliso Canyon is not operational during the upcoming summer,” Malashenko said. “Second, we are working on the analysis of how reliability issues can be addressed if Aliso Canyon is not operational next winter and beyond.”<br />
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Rep. Brad Sherman, a resident of Porter Ranch, said he does not believe the gas company has enough storage elsewhere to guarantee delivery to power generation plants during peak demands in the summer.<br />
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“If it is feasible, it ought to be shut down — but I’m not holding my breath,” Sherman said. “That’s because they’ve created a facility that is literally too big to fail.”<br />
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The gas company operates four underground storage fields in Southern California with a combined “working gas” capacity of about 136 billion cubic feet. Aliso Canyon is by far the largest, with a working gas capacity of 86.2 billion cubic feet. A <a href="http://www.branscombpc.com/texas-oil-gas-energy-lawyer-attorney-texas-tx/" target="_blank">Texas oil & gas lawyer</a> represents landowners in negotiating the terms of seismic permits, option agreements, oil and gas leases, and easements.<br />
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The leak rate of the ruptured well has dropped by two-thirds to 18,400 kilograms per hour since its peak Nov. 28. The decline was achieved by increasing withdrawals of gas from the storage reservoir, which reduced the pressure that is pushing the gas up the well and leaking out, the gas company said. As a result, the reservoir has gone from being 90% full before the leak to at most 37% full Jan. 10.<br />
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The PUC has been working with state agencies including the California Energy Commission and California Independent System Operator to determine how far the amount of gas stored at Aliso Canyon can be reduced while keeping homes heated and gas-fired power plants running.<br />
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PUC executive Sullivan recently ordered the gas company to reduce the level of working gas at the facility to 15 billion cubic feet, which he described as “the greatest extent possible, while ensuring energy reliability requirements so that customers are not left without heat and hot water and electricity outages do not occur.” A <a href="http://www.jpwlaw.com/tulsa-energy-lawyer-attorney-tulsa-oklahoma.html" target="_blank">Tulsa energy lawyer</a> represents clients in energy law matters.<br />
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The utility believes plugging the ruptured 1950s-era well known as SS-25 could take until late February. On Wednesday, the company said it will temporarily plug 18 vintage wells to inspect for signs of weakness, corrosion and mechanical damage. The Aliso Canyon facility has 115 wells in all.<br />
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Among those who believe Aliso Canyon has outlived its usefulness is Robert G. Bea, a retired professor of civil and petroleum engineering and co-founder of the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management at UC Berkeley.<br />
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“My big question is this: Why must we wait for a system to fail before we are galvanized into action?” Bea said. “The tragic result is always the same: Tick. Tick. Tick.”Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-65358898978847271612016-01-07T15:54:00.002-05:002016-01-07T15:54:34.631-05:00OKLAHOMA EARTHQUAKES ARE A NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: bloomberg.com</span><br />
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In the months after Sept. 11, 2001, as U.S. security officials assessed the top targets for potential terrorist attacks, the small town of Cushing, Okla., received special attention. Even though it is home to fewer than 10,000 people, Cushing is the largest commercial oil storage hub in North America, second only in size to the U.S. government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The small town's giant tanks, some big enough to fit a Boeing 747 jet inside, were filled with around 10 million barrels of crude at the time, an obvious target for someone looking to disrupt America's economy and energy supply. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/tulsa-ok-environmental-lawyer/james-potts-and-wulfers-inc-tulsa-oklahoma-ok.html" target="_blank">Tulsa environmental lawyer</a> provides professional legal counsel and extensive experience in many aspects of environmental law.<br />
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The FBI, state and local law enforcement and emergency officials, and the energy companies that own the tanks formed a group called the Safety Alliance of Cushing. Soon, guards took up posts along the perimeter of storage facilities and newly installed cameras kept constant surveillance. References to the giant tanks and pipelines were removed from the Cushing Chamber of Commerce website. In 2004, the Safety Alliance simulated a series of emergencies: an explosion, a fire, a hostage situation.<br />
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After the shale boom added millions of additional barrels to Cushing, its tanks swelled to a peak hoard of more than 60 million barrels this spring. That's about as much petroleum as the U.S. uses in three days, and it's more than six times the quantity that triggered security concerns after Sept. 11. The Safety Alliance has remained vigilant, even staging tornado simulations after a few close calls. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/north-dakota-nd-environmental-lawyer/oppegard-quinton-north-dakota-nd.html" target="_blank">North Dakota environmental attorney</a> is reviewing the details of this story.<br />
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Now the massive oil stockpile faces an emerging threat: earthquakes. In the past month, a flurry of quakes have hit within a few miles of Cushing, rattling the town and its massive tanks. According to the Oklahoma Geological Survey, more than a dozen quakes have registered 3.0 or higher on the Richter scale within a few miles of Cushing since mid-September. The biggest, registering at 4.5, hit about three miles away on Oct. 10.<br />
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This is all part of the disturbing rise in earthquakes in Oklahoma, which has corresponded to increased fracking activity and oil production in the state. Since 2008, Oklahoma has gone from averaging fewer than two earthquakes per year that measure at least 3.0 in magnitude to surpassing California as the most seismically active state in the continental U.S. This year, Oklahoma is on pace to endure close to 1,000 earthquakes. Scientists at the National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado recently published a paper (PDF) raising concerns that the welter of moderate-sized earthquakes around Cushing could increase the risk of larger quakes in the future. An <a href="http://www.branscombpc.com/austin-mineral-rights-royalties-lawyer-litigation-attorney-austin-tx.html" target="_blank">Austin mineral rights lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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Seismologists believe the quakes are the result of wastewater injection wells used by the fracking industry. Horizontal oil wells in Oklahoma can produce as many as nine or 10 barrels of salty, toxin-laced water for every barrel of oil. Much of that fluid is injected back underground into wastewater disposal wells. It is this water, injected near faults, that many seismologists—including those at the U.S. Geological Survey—say has caused the spike in earthquakes.<br />
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The role that fracking plays in the rise of earthquakes has been hugely controversial in Oklahoma, where one in five jobs is tied to the oil and gas industry. This year, as Bloomberg reported, seismologists at the Oklahoma Geological Survey were pressured by oil companies not to make a link between the earthquakes and fracking-related wastewater injection wells. Under the weight of mounting scientific evidence, Republican Governor Mary Fallin's administration in April finally acknowledged the role fracking played in earthquake activity. A <a href="http://www.jpwlaw.com/tulsa-oil&gas-litigation-lawyer-attorney-tulsa-oklahoma.html" target="_blank">Tulsa oil and gas lawyer</a> has a deep understanding of oil and gas laws, including laws involving fracking, natural gas production, and petroleum production.<br />
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In June, the Oklahoma Supreme Court said that a woman injured in an earthquake could sue an Oklahoma oil company for damages. That company, Tulsa-based New Dominion, is one of the pioneers of a new breed of high-volume wastewater injection wells that can suck down millions of barrels of water and bury it deep underground. In April, Bloomberg Businessweek profiled David Chernicky, its charismatic founder and chairman.<br />
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Now that quakes appear to have migrated closer to Cushing, the issue of what to do about them has morphed from a state issue to one of natural security. The oil in Cushing props up the $179 billion in West Texas Intermediate futures and options contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Not only is Cushing crucial to the financial side of the oil market, it is integral to the way physical crude flows around the country. As U.S. oil production has nearly doubled over the past six years, Cushing has become an important stop in getting oil down from the Bakken fields of North Dakota and into refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast. If even a couple of Cushing's tanks had to shut down, or a pipeline were damaged, the impact could ripple through the market, probably pushing prices up. That outcome is especially likely if a spill were to knock Cushing offline for a period of time—a scenario no less dangerous than a potential terrorist attack. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/new-orleans-la-environmental-lawyer/degan-blanchard-nash-plc-new-orleans-louisiana-la.html" target="_blank">New Orleans environmental lawyer</a> represents clients in environmental law matters.<br />
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"Induced seismicity is the most terrifying of all the fracking risks," said Kevin Book, managing director of Clearview Energy Partners, a Washington-based consultancy. The fact that more quakes appear to be getting closer to Cushing is "definititely concerning," said Book. "Anything that puts those tank farms at risk is very serious."<br />
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So far, no damage has been reported by companies that own the tanks. Michael Barnes, a spokesperson for Enbridge, a Canadian company that owns the largest tank capacity in Cushing, said employees checked for signs of damage around the facility after the Oct. 10 quake and found none. Enbridge has not made changes to its emergency or disaster plans in light of the quakes.<br />
The local fire and police departments have updated their emergency response plans to include information related to earthquake safety. "We're fairly new to earthquakes in Oklahoma," said Chris Pixler, Cushing's fire chief. "We've always been good at preparing for fires and tornados, and now we're making some changes we felt were necessary in terms of getting information out to citizens about earthquake safety."<br />
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Each tank in Cushing is surrounded by a clay-lined berm designed to contain the oil in the event of a rupture. Thousands of miles of pipelines stretch beneath Cushing, connecting it to distribution hubs all over the country. It's those arteries that we should be most concerned about getting damaged in an earthquake, said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital, a hedge fund that focuses on energy. "Losing some of that pipeline infrastructure could be devastating for a time," Kilduff said. If enough damage occurred, "It could prompt an energy crisis if oil couldn't flow the way we need it to."<br />
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State regulators are already taking action. Last month the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which oversees oil and gas, ordered wells within three miles to shut down entirely and those between three and six miles from the town to reduce their volume by 25 percent. On Oct. 19, the OCC put all wastewater injection wells within 10 miles of Cushing on notice. Getting to the bottom of the state's earthquake flurry poses a huge test for the embattled OCC, which is short on staff and has historically had close ties to the oil and gas industry it regulates. The regulator has typically dealt with environmental hazards such as oil spills, not issues of seismic activity. "They not only have to reassure their own constituents they are up to the job, but the federal government as well," said Book. "They're one big event away from a significant federal response."<br />
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The Obama administration has largely stayed out of the issue. Last month, however, the Environmental Protection Agency urged the OCC to "implement additional regulatory actions." The past week has been relatively calm around Cushing, with only a couple of minor rumblings that didn't hit nearby. For now, however, the threat of quakes has the city on higher alert than the threat of a terror strike.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-45320091254846029292016-01-06T10:40:00.000-05:002016-01-07T13:54:12.668-05:00UTILITY IS INSTALLING SCREENS TO CONTAIN OILY MIST AT LEAKING WELL NEAR PORTER RANCH<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: latimes.com</span><br />
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Southern California Gas Co. crews are erecting mesh screens around the utility's leaking natural gas injection well to prevent an oily mist from drifting off the site and across the nearby community of Porter Ranch, company officials confirmed on Monday.<br />
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The move comes as the company continues to fix a leaking natural gas well that has displaced thousands of residents, a process that is expected to take several more months. A <a href="http://www.branscombpc.com/texas-oil-gas-energy-lawyer-attorney-texas-tx/" target="_blank">Texas oil and gas lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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The structures under construction on the west side of the well head are designed to capture airborne droplets of a brine solution that “may have contained trace amounts of oil naturally occurring within the leaking well's reservoir,” said Trisha Muse, a spokeswoman for SoCal Gas.<br />
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<b>FOR THE RECORD:</b><br />
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An earlier version of this article said the mesh screens are 100 feet tall. The screens actually lie flat over the well site. The article also misidentified spokeswoman Trisha Muse as Tracy Muse. A <a href="http://www.jpwlaw.com/tulsa-oil&gas-litigation-lawyer-attorney-tulsa-oklahoma.html" target="_blank">Tulsa oil & gas attorney</a> represents their oil & gas clients in federal and state matters and in federal and state courts.<br />
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The mist, she said, “may have been carried by the wind to properties immediately adjacent to the facility, particularly when very strong winds blow in that direction.”<br />
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The gas company used a massive crane Sunday to install a 60-foot section of the mesh, said Don Drysdale, a spokesman for the state Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources.<br />
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The problem first arose Nov. 13, when SoCal Gas used an automated call system to advise local residents to stay indoors because fluids pumped into the well had returned to the surface and created a mist. The company issued an all-clear the following day.<br />
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Now, a mixture of brine water and oil is rising up into the gas company's natural gas storage zone, then traveling up the well and into the air. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/pittsburgh-pa-environmental-lawyer/rothman-gordon-pittsburgh-pennsylvania-pa.html" target="_blank">Pittsburgh environmental lawyer</a> is reviewing the details of this case.<br />
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As a result, local residents are finding droplets of dark brown residue on their homes, vehicles, fish ponds and gardens. Some are collecting samples on dinner plates, then forwarding photographs of the material to their lawyers.<br />
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On Dec. 21, the company posted an update on the massive gas leak that began Oct. 23, pointing out that it was spewing mostly methane, which is not considered to be toxic. It also acknowledged that some residents had asked about “dark brown spots on their property.”<br />
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“We sampled it and, according to our retained toxicologist and medical expert,” the company said, “the residue contained heavier hydrocarbons (similar to motor oil) but does not pose a health risk.”<br />
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The company has offered to provide cleaning services and reimburse property owners for cleanup costs.<br />
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SoCal Gas expects to have the leak fixed in about three months. Until then, the company is paying to relocate and house thousands of residents and pets sickened by fumes that health officials and independent experts say can cause headache, nosebleed, nausea and other short-term ailments but pose no long-term health risks.<br />
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On Monday, plaintiffs' attorneys sent a letter to state regulatory officials demanding that they issue an emergency order requiring SoCal Gas to stop all injections, including gas injections and water disposal injections, into the 3,600-acre Aliso Canyon field it acquired in the northern San Fernando Valley in 1972.<br />
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With capacity to store 86 billion cubic feet, it is one of the largest natural gas storage facilities in the United States. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/north-dakota-nd-environmental-lawyer/oppegard-quinton-north-dakota-nd.html" target="_blank">North Dakota environmental lawyer</a> provides professional legal counsel and extensive experience in many aspects of environmental law.<br />
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The attorneys also demanded that state regulators “explain what is happening with the petroleum now surfacing.”<br />
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“There is a complete lack of information in the well files,” their letter says, “to show where the gas and petroleum migrates underground and the risk for creating sink holes and geysers.”<br />
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Also on Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown met with members of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council.<br />
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“We told him we needed him to organize an oversight group of regulatory agencies that will address the most pressing issues with one voice — now and in the future,” Paula Cracium, president of the group, said.<br />
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Muse, the spokeswoman for SoCal Gas, said the new structure is one of several things the company is doing to “help minimize impacts to the community.”Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-86821661083067076822015-11-25T10:58:00.000-05:002016-01-07T13:54:33.364-05:00CANADA’S OIL PRODUCERS BRACE FOR LATEST TEST: HIGHER CARBON TAXES<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: wsj.com</span><br />
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CALGARY, Alberta—Canadian oil producers, pummeled by the prolonged slump in oil prices and a string of political setbacks, now face another challenge: higher carbon taxes. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/dallas-fort-worth-tx-oil-and-gas-lawyer/moses-palmer-howell-llp-dallas-fort-worth-texas-tx.html" target="_blank">Fort Worth oil & gas lawyer</a> is reviewing the details of this story.<br />
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The nation’s oil-sands developers have been hit particularly hard by lower oil prices, because they are among the most expensive oil plays in the world. Already facing a corporate tax hike and the possibility of higher royalty payments in Alberta—the province richest in oil sands—the industry was dealt another blow by the Obama administration’s rejection last week of the Keystone XL pipeline, which was designed to transport oil-sands output to Gulf Coast refineries.<br />
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All major oil-sands operators in recent weeks posted losses or steep declines in profit for the most-recent quarter, as shrinking revenue outpaced cost cuts. Some global giants are rethinking future development. Late last month Royal Dutch Shell PLC shelved an 80,000-barrel-a-day project, following similar moves by Total SA of France and Norway’s Statoil ASA.<br />
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Now, ahead of a United Nations climate-change conference in Paris starting Nov. 30, oil companies await the details of moves—including possible new taxes on carbon—pledged by new governments in Ottawa and Alberta to rein in greenhouse-gas emissions, making the oil sands a global test case for climate policy. A <a href="http://www.jpwlaw.com/tulsa-oil&gas-litigation-lawyer-attorney-tulsa-oklahoma.html" target="_blank">Tulsa oil and gas lawyer</a> represents clients in oil and gas transactions, mineral rights matters, and in royalty percentage contracts.<br />
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“Canada’s years of being a less-than-enthusiastic actor on the climate-change file are behind us,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who took office last week, said at a news conference on Oct. 20, the day after his Liberal Party won national elections. Mr. Trudeau promised to start working on a framework for regulating greenhouse-gas emissions within 90 days of the Paris summit.<br />
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Within weeks of taking power in May, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s government said it would double Alberta’s existing tax on carbon emissions by 2017, and has committed to additional measures in time for the U.N. conference in Paris. Ms. Notley is expected to release details of the proposals later this month. Alberta pioneered carbon taxes in 2007 when it introduced a levy of 15 Canadian dollars ($11.37) a metric ton. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/dallas-fort-worth-tx-energy-lawyer/moses-palmer-howell-llp-dallas-fort-worth-texas-tx.html" target="_blank">Dallas energy lawyer</a> provides professional legal counsel and extensive experience in many aspects of energy law.<br />
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Oil sands are among the highest-intensity greenhouse-gas producers of any oil fields in the world. Production from the oil sands has been growing at a steady clip in recent years under previous provincial and federal governments that played down climate-change risks and ignored calls from environmental groups and opposition politicians for tougher rules on carbon-dioxide emissions.<br />
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Canada’s environment ministry says the country’s CO2 emissions have continued to rise over the past five years and are expected to hit 781 million metric tons a year by 2020 if no reduction measures are taken. While oil sands account for just a fraction of that total, it is one of the fastest-growing contributors to the release of these gases. The government’s latest estimate projects oil sands-related emissions to nearly double to 103 million metric tons by 2020. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/greenville-sc-environmental-lawyer/roe-cassidy-coates-price-pa-greenville-south-carolina-sc.html" target="_blank">Greenville environmental attorney</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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Mr. Trudeau’s stance is a direct challenge to Canada’s oil-sands industry, but the country’s oil producers are divided on how best to cope with the push for stricter environmental regulations.<br />
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Some, including the nation’s No. 1 oil producer, Suncor Energy Inc., say they accept the tougher rules as inevitable, and can use them to help burnish their environmental reputations. Others, such as Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.—Canada’s biggest natural-gas producer and a major oil-sands leaseholder—are pushing back, warning the rules would make Canadian crude even less competitive.<br />
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The divide in the industry has surfaced in submissions by top energy companies to a government advisory panel of experts that will recommend new climate-policy measures in Alberta. A Detroit<br />
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“The time is right for a higher level of ambition in carbon policy stringency in Alberta,” Suncor said in its submission to the provincial panel.<br />
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Suncor Chief Executive Steve Williams has publicly championed new taxes on retail sales of energy such as electricity and gasoline, in addition to levies on large industrial emitters. “Every indication is that, on the road to Paris, Canada will start to take positions” to combat climate change, Mr. Williams told reporters late last month. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/detroit-mi-environmental-lawyer/cardelli-lanfear-pc-detroit-michigan-mi.html" target="_blank">Detroit environmental lawyer</a> represents clients in environmental matters.<br />
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Canadian Natural said in its submission that it objects to higher carbon taxes and other new government-mandated policies, and has called for allowing oil and gas producers to focus on new technology to cut emissions.<br />
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Its 34-slide Power Point presentation to the Alberta panel lays out the competitive challenges facing the industry and warns that tinkering with policies that directly affect oil and gas producers “is very difficult and more often than not has unintended consequences.” In a similar vein, oil-sands producer Husky Energy Inc. warns against making emission cuts deeper than in other countries such as the U.S.<br />
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“It would be politically suicidal for us to do a mea culpa and hang our neck out in a way that disadvantages the industry here,” Husky CEO Asim Ghosh said on a recent conference call.<br />
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The main industry lobby, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, is urging regulators to offset any additional cost from climate-policy changes with a cut in royalties owed to Alberta’s government from oil and gas output from provincial lands. Such a “revenue neutral” approach to reducing CO2 emissions has been backed by multinational oil giants with exposure to Canada’s oil-sands, such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Shell.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-39498134321469885022015-11-12T14:20:00.001-05:002015-11-12T14:20:28.025-05:00OIL SANDS BOOM DRIES UP IN ALBERTA, TAKING THOUSANDS OF JOBS WITH IT<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: nytimes.com</span><br />
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FORT McMURRAY, Alberta — At a camp for oil workers here, a collection of 16 three-story buildings that once housed 2,000 workers sits empty. A parking lot at a neighboring camp is now dotted with abandoned cars. With oil prices falling precipitously, capital-intensive projects rooted in the heavy crude mined from Alberta’s oil sands are losing money, contributing to the loss of about 35,000 energy industry jobs across the province. A <a href="http://www.jpwlaw.com/tulsa-oil&gas-litigation-lawyer-attorney-tulsa-oklahoma.html">Tulsa mineral rights lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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Yet Alberta Highway 63, the major artery connecting Northern Alberta’s oil sands with the rest of the country, still buzzes with traffic. Tractor-trailers hauling loads that resemble rolling petrochemical plants parade past fleets of buses used to shuttle workers. Most vehicles carry “buggy whips” — bright orange pennants attached to tall spring-loaded wands — to help prevent them from being run over by the 1.6-million-pound dump trucks used in the oil sands mines.<br />
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Despite a severe economic downturn in a region whose growth once seemed limitless, many energy companies have too much invested in the oil sands to slow down or turn off the taps. In addition to the continued operation of existing plants, construction persists on projects that began before the price fell, largely because billions of dollars have already been spent on them. Oil sands projects are based on 40-year investment time frames, so their owners are being forced to wait out slumps. A <a href="http://www.jpwlaw.com/tulsa-oil&gas-litigation-lawyer-attorney-tulsa-oklahoma.html">Tulsa oil and gas lawyer</a> represents gas and oil clients in federal and state matters and in federal and state courts.<br />
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“It really is tough right now,” said Greg Stringham, the vice president for markets and oil sands at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, a trade group that generally speaks for the industry in Alberta. “We see kind of a lot of volatility over the next four or five years.”<br />
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After an extraordinary boom that attracted many of the world’s largest energy companies and about $200 billion worth of investments to oil sands development over the last 15 years, the industry is in a state of financial stasis, and navigating the decline has proved challenging. Pipeline plans that would create new export markets, including Keystone XL, have been hampered by environmental concerns and political opposition. The hazy outlook is creating turmoil in a province and a country that has become dependent on the energy business.<br />
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Canada is now dealing with the economic fallout, having slipped into a mild recession earlier this year. And Alberta, which relies most heavily on oil royalties, now expects to post a deficit of 6 billion Canadian dollars, or about $4.5 billion. The political landscape has also shifted.<br />
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Last spring, a left-of-center government ended four decades of Conservative rule in Alberta. Federally, polls suggest that the Conservative party — which championed Keystone XL and repeatedly resisted calls for stricter greenhouse gas emission controls in the oil sands — is struggling to get re-elected in October. A <a href="http://www.jpwlaw.com/tulsa-oil&gas-litigation-lawyer-attorney-tulsa-oklahoma.html">Tulsa oil and gas attorney</a> is reviewing the details of this story.<br />
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“The pendulum has swung,” said Stephen Ross, the president of Devonian Properties, an Alberta development company that has built several residential and commercial properties in Fort McMurray.<br />
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Since the end of the World War ll, oil has made Alberta wealthy. The increase in oil sands development since the early 2000s had only intensified the province’s good fortune and turned obscure Fort McMurray into a boomtown and an outsize contributor to the entire Canadian economy.<br />
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When Mr. Ross first bought development land here in 2000, he paid about 27,000 Canadian dollars an acre. He stopped buying land long before it hit one million Canadian dollars an acre.<br />
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“The town has had huge growing pains,” Mr. Ross said. “It’s like something you’ve never seen.”<br />
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Operating oil sands plants quickly decreased budgets and cut services, like equipment cleaning, which were deemed optional. And as portions of construction projects are finished, construction workers are sent packing. The halt on new projects has left order books increasingly blank at a variety of suppliers, like engineering firms.<br />
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Since the price collapse, Teck Resources has delayed the start of its oil sands project by five years to 2026. Cenovus Energy substantially reduced budgets for its long-term developments. And Osum Oil Sands has set aside some of the expansion planned for a project it purchased from Shell last year. The Chinese-owned company Nexen, which had its oil sands production curtailed by regulators for about a month in August because of a pipeline leak, has deferred plans to build another upgrader facility, where tar-like bitumen of the oil sands is converted into synthetic crude oil, until the end of 2020.<br />
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These projects, and others that have begun over the last 15 years, have largely been built and operated by an itinerant work force. These workers fly into Fort McMurray’s new airport terminal and are bused to work camps up to two hours away. Their lives are a cycle of three straight weeks of long shifts interrupted by 10-day trips home.<br />
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That transient population has little or no connection to the city when working. When laid off, they become unemployment statistics, not in Alberta, but in the provinces of their hometowns. It’s also in those regions, more than Alberta, where the loss of once-large paychecks is most felt, having a ripple effect across the country. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/tulsa-ok-environmental-lawyer/james-potts-and-wulfers-inc-tulsa-oklahoma-ok.html">Tulsa environmental lawyer</a> provides professional legal counsel and extensive experience in many aspects of environmental law.<br />
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For Canadian oil executives, the significant shift in the province’s politics is of great concern. Rachel Notley, the new premier and leader of the New Democratic Party, has said that she would prefer more refining to take place in Alberta instead of shipping more oil sands production to the United States via Keystone XL. And speaking to the Alberta Chamber of Commerce last month, Ms. Notley told the energy industry that it must “clean up its environmental act.”<br />
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One executive and investor, who did not want to be named while the province is reviewing his industry, said growing sentiment that the industry does not pay Alberta enough in royalties and lags on environmental protections will kill new investments, even if prices start to rise.<br />
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“There’s never been a time when I’ve been less optimistic,” he said. “The general public doesn’t know how bad it is. It just hasn’t hit yet.”<br />
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He did, however, acknowledge that environmentalists had won the debate on Keystone XL as well as various other pipeline plans.<br />
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“I don’t know how the issue got away, but it’s obvious now that it did,” he said.<br />
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And the workers who have benefited from the boom are now realizing that their stretch of good luck might be over, permanently.<br />
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Réjean Godin, a truck driver and heavy equipment operator, began the long-distance commute from the Atlantic province of New Brunswick 13 years ago. Since then, he’s earned wages four or five times the rate of those back home, an area of high unemployment.<br />
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Standing near his well-worn Toyota RAV4 that still bears New Brunswick license plates, Mr. Godin, who lives in a work camp, recited all of the different projects in which hundreds of workers had been laid off — layoffs that he’d learned about over the previous few days. He fears that the days of high pay for delivering water to work camps and hauling their sewage away may be over for both himself and his 30-year-old son, who joined him in Alberta.<br />
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“I’m not sure if we’re going to come next year,” Mr. Godin said in the dusty yard of a trucking company in Fort MacKay, Alberta, a town down the Athabasca River from Fort McMurray. “What you hear everywhere is the price is low so we’ve got to cut this, we’ve got to shut that down a little bit. We go day by day because we never know.”Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-36816621941775379622015-11-12T09:44:00.000-05:002015-11-12T10:06:56.121-05:00TRANSCANADA SUSPENDS REQUEST FOR PERMIT TO BUILD KEYSTONE PIPELINE<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: nytimes.com</span><br />
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WASHINGTON — The company seeking to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline asked the Obama administration on Monday to suspend its yearslong review of the project, potentially bringing an abrupt halt to a politically charged debate that had become part of a broader struggle over President Obama’s environmental policies.<br />
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It was not immediately clear whether the administration would grant the request, which was swiftly denounced by environmental activists as a bid to dodge a near-certain rejection of the pipeline. Allowing the delay would push off a decision until after the 2016 presidential election. <a href="http://agilecanada.ca/" target="_blank">Parcel freight shipping software</a> continues to reduce transportation costs for small companies and multi-national global corporations.<br />
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The company’s request introduced a new element of uncertainty into the administration’s decision-making process, offering the potential to free Mr. Obama from a politically difficult choice that has hung over much of his presidency. But if anything, it appeared to intensify pressure on him from crucial Democratic constituencies to reject the pipeline or risk being blamed for punting to another president. A delay would keep the issue alive in the presidential campaign.<br />
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TransCanada, the Alberta company seeking to build the 1,179-mile pipeline, made its request in a letter to the State Department, which must approve cross-border projects and had been reviewing its application for a presidential permit.<br />
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The pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels a day of carbon-heavy petroleum from the Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast, and the question of its approval has weighed heavily on Mr. Obama as he has sought to build an ambitious legacy on climate change. <a href="http://agilecanada.ca/" target="_blank">Parcel freight shipping software</a> delivers best in class suite of shipment planning, execution, tracking, & settlement tasks all in one.<br />
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The White House had no comment on the request for a delay, which was made in a letter to John Kerry, the secretary of state, and the State Department said it was looking into it.<br />
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“We have just received TransCanada’s letter to Secretary Kerry and are reviewing it,” said Pooja Jhunjhunwala, a State Department spokeswoman. “In the meantime, consideration under the executive order continues.”<br />
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Many environmental advocates and liberal activists, who have made opposing the pipeline a cause célèbre in recent years, thought that the president might finally reject it this month, viewing the time as ripe as he prepares for a major United Nations summit meeting on climate change in Paris in December.<br />
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The president hopes to help broker an agreement committing every nation to enacting new policies to counter global warming, and rejecting the pipeline would be a powerful signal to world leaders that the United States is serious about the issue.<br />
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“TransCanada is losing, and they’re trying to preserve their options to be able to build the pipeline someday if they can get a climate denier in the White House,” Tiernan Sittenfeld, the senior vice president of government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, said in an interview. She called the request a “desperate and cynical” last-minute plea that was “ridiculous and absurd.”<br />
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“Given President Obama’s incredible leadership when it comes to climate change, we remain very confident that he will reject this dirty and dangerous pipeline once and for all,” Ms. Sittenfeld said.<br />
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In the letter to Mr. Kerry, TransCanada said it was asking the department to suspend its evaluation of the pipeline proposal until after the State of Nebraska had completed its own review of the project, which could take seven to 12 months. Opposition in Nebraska to a planned route through the state has delayed the process. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/texarkana-tx-environmental-lawyer/atchley-russell-waldrop-hlavinka-llp-texarkana-texas-tx.html" target="_blank">Texarkana environmental attorney</a> is reviewing the details of this story.<br />
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“In order to allow time for certainty regarding the Nebraska route, TransCanada requests that the State Department pause in its review of the presidential permit application for KeystoneXL,” said the letter to Mr. Kerry, which was signed by Kristine Delkus, the company’s general counsel. “This will allow a decision on the permit to be made later based on certainty with respect to the route of the pipeline.”<br />
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Before TransCanada announced its request, Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, withheld any judgment on when a decision might come on the pipeline.<br />
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“The president will make a decision before the end of his administration on the Keystone pipeline, but when exactly that will be, I don’t know at this point,” Mr. Earnest told reporters traveling with Mr. Obama.<br />
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Asked if it could happen this year, he said: “It’s possible. It’s also possible it could happen next year.”<br />
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TransCanada said there was precedent for obtaining a delay, given that the State Department put its evaluation on hold last year when the pipeline faced a legal challenge in Nebraska.<br />
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“I note that when the status of the Nebraska pipeline route was challenged last year, the State Department found it appropriate to suspend its review until that dispute was resolved,” Russ Girling, TransCanada’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. “We feel under the current circumstances a similar suspension would be appropriate.”<br />
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But opponents said the uncertainty over the route would not ultimately alter the pipeline’s effect. Instead of granting a delay, said Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist, Mr. Obama should “immediately reject” the pipeline.<br />
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Anthony Swift, the director of the Canada Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement: “Pause or no pause, we now know more than enough to do the right thing — reject the pipeline because it will worsen climate change. Altering its route through Nebraska isn’t going to change that. Keystone XL isn’t in the national interest, and the president should reject it.”<br />
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Republicans and the oil industry have demanded that the president approve the pipeline, arguing that it would create jobs and stimulate economic growth. Many Democrats, particularly those in oil-producing states, have also supported the project.<br />
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In February, congressional Democrats joined Republicans in sending Mr. Obama a bill to speed approval of the project, but he vetoed the measure, saying it impinged on the president’s authority to make the final decision.<br />
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Environmental activists have sought to block construction of the pipeline because it would be a conduit for petroleum from the Canada oil sands. The process of extracting that oil produces about 17 percent more greenhouse gases than the process of extracting conventional oil.<br />
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Still, State Department reviews have concluded that construction of the pipeline would have little impact on whether that type of oil was burned, because it was already being extracted and moving to market via rail and existing pipelines. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/amsterdam-nl-environmental-lawyer/russell-advocaten-bv-amsterdam-the-netherlands-nl.htmlz" target="_blank">Netherlands environmental lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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At the same time, both sides regard the decision on the pipeline as a major symbolic issue, an indicator of how willing Mr. Obama is to risk angering a bipartisan majority of lawmakers in the pursuit of his environmental agenda.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-1040102553015780352015-11-10T20:12:00.000-05:002015-11-11T09:52:23.493-05:00CITING CLIMATE CHANGE, OBAMA REJECTS CONSTRUCTION OF KEYSTONE XL OIL PIPELINE<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: nytimes.com</span><br />
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WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Friday that he had rejected the request from a Canadian company to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ending a seven-year review that had become a symbol of the debate over his climate policies.<br />
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Mr. Obama’s denial of the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline, which would have carried 800,000 barrels a day of carbon-heavy petroleum from the Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast, comes as he seeks to build an ambitious legacy on climate change. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/san-antonio-tx-environmental-lawyer/thornton-biechlin-segrato-reynolds-guerra-lc-san-antonio-texas-tx.html" target="_blank">San Antonio environmental lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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“America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change,” Mr. Obama said in remarks from the White House. “And, frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership.”<br />
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The move was made ahead of a major United Nations summit meeting on climate change to be held in Paris in December, when Mr. Obama hopes to help broker a historic agreement committing the world’s nations to enacting new policies to counter global warming. While the rejection of the pipeline is largely symbolic, Mr. Obama has sought to telegraph to other world leaders that the United States is serious about acting on climate change. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/salt-lake-city-ut-environmental-lawyer/prince-yeates-salt-lake-city-utah-ut.html" target="_blank">Utah environmental attorney</a> is reviewing the details of this story.<br />
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The once-obscure Keystone project became a political symbol amid broader clashes over energy, climate change and the economy. The rejection of a single oil infrastructure project will have little impact on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, but the pipeline plan gained an outsize profile after environmental activists spent four years marching and rallying against it in front of the White House and across the country.<br />
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Mr. Obama said that the pipeline has occupied what he called “an overinflated role in our political discourse.”<br />
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“It has become a symbol too often used as a campaign cudgel by both parties rather than a serious policy matter,” he said. “And all of this obscured the fact that this pipeline would neither be a silver bullet for the economy, as was promised by some, nor the express lane to climate disaster proclaimed by others.”<br />
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Republicans and the oil industry had demanded that the president approve the pipeline, which they said would create jobs and stimulate economic growth. Many Democrats, particularly those in oil-producing states such as North Dakota, also supported the project. In February, congressional Democrats joined with Republicans in sending Mr. Obama a bill to speed approval of the project, but the president vetoed the measure.<br />
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The rejection of the pipeline is one of several actions Mr. Obama has taken as he intensifies his push on climate change in his last year in office. In August, he announced his most significant climate policy, a set of aggressive new regulations to cut emissions of planet-warming carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/austin-tx-environmental-lawyer/downsstanford-pc-austin-texas-tx.html" target="_blank">Texas environmental lawyer</a> represents clients in many aspects of environmental law.<br />
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Both sides of the debate saw the Keystone rejection as a major symbolic step, a sign that the president was willing to risk angering a bipartisan majority of lawmakers in the pursuit of his environmental agenda. And both supporters and critics of Mr. Obama saw the surprisingly powerful influence of environmental activists in the decision.<br />
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“Once the grass-roots movement on the Keystone pipeline mobilized, it changed what it meant to the president,” said Douglas G. Brinkley, a historian at Rice University who writes about presidential environmental legacies. “It went from a routine infrastructure project to the symbol of an era.”<br />
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Environmental activists cheered the decision as a vindication of their influence.<br />
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“President Obama is the first world leader to reject a project because of its effect on the climate,” said Bill McKibben, founder of the activist group 350.org, which led the campaign against the pipeline. “That gives him new stature as an environmental leader, and it eloquently confirms the five years and millions of hours of work that people of every kind put into this fight.”<br />
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Environmentalists had sought to block construction of the pipeline because it would have provided a conduit for petroleum extracted from the Canadian oil sands. The process of extracting that oil produces about 17 percent more planet-warming greenhouse gases than the process of extracting conventional oil.<br />
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But numerous State Department reviews concluded that construction of the pipeline would have little impact on whether that type of oil was burned, because it was already being extracted and moving to market via rail and existing pipelines. In citing his reason for the decision, Mr. Obama noted the State Department findings that construction of the pipeline would not have created a significant number of new jobs, lowered oil or gasoline prices or significantly reduced American dependence on foreign oil.<br />
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“From a market perspective, the industry can find a different way to move that oil,” said Christine Tezak, an energy market analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington firm. “How long it takes is just a result of oil prices. If prices go up, companies will get the oil out.”<br />
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However, a State Department review also found that demand for the oil sands fuel would drop if oil prices fell below $65 a barrel, since moving oil by rail is more expensive than using a pipeline. An Environmental Protection Agency review of the project this year noted that under such circumstances, construction of the pipeline could be seen as contributing to emissions, since companies might be less likely to move the oil via expensive rail when oil prices are low — but would be more likely to move it cheaply via the pipeline. The price of oil has plummeted this year, hovering at less than $50 a barrel. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/malta-ma-environmental-lawyer/refalo-zammit-pace-advocates-valletta-malta-ma.html" target="_blank">Malta environmental lawyer</a> has managed a variety of environmental cases for a wide range of clients.<br />
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The recent election of a new Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, may also have influenced Mr. Obama’s decision. Mr. Trudeau’s predecessor, Stephen Harper, had pushed the issue as a top priority in the relationship between the United States and Canada, personally urging Mr. Obama to approve the project. Blocking the project during the Harper administration would have bruised ties with a crucial ally.<br />
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While Mr. Trudeau also supports construction of the Keystone pipeline, he has not made the issue central to Canada’s relationship with the United States, and has criticized Mr. Harper for presenting Canada’s position as an ultimatum, while not taking substantial action on climate change related to the oil sands.<br />
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Mr. Trudeau did not raise the issue during his first post-election conversation with Mr. Obama.<br />
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The construction would have had little impact on the nation’s economy. A State Department analysis concluded that building the pipeline would have created jobs, but the total number represented less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the nation’s total employment. The analysis estimated that Keystone would support 42,000 temporary jobs over its two-year construction period — about 3,900 of them in construction and the rest in indirect support jobs, such as food service. The department estimated that the project would create about 35 permanent jobs.<br />
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Republicans and the oil industry criticized Mr. Obama for what they have long said was his acquiescence to the pressure of activists and environmentally minded political donors.<br />
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“A decision this poorly made is not symbolic, but deeply cynical,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who leads the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “It does not rest on the facts — it continues to distort them.”<br />
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Jack Gerard, the head of the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies for oil companies, said in a statement, “Unfortunately for the majority of Americans who have said they want the jobs and economic benefits Keystone XL represents, the White House has placed political calculations above sound science.”<br />
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Russ Girling, the president and chief executive of TransCanada, said in a statement that the president’s decision was not consistent with the State Department’s review. “Today, misplaced symbolism was chosen over merit and science,” said Mr. Girling, whose company is based in Calgary, Alberta. “Rhetoric won out over reason.”<br />
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The statement said that the company was reviewing the decision but offered no indication if it planned to submit a new application. If a Republican wins the 2016 presidential election, a new submission of the pipeline permit application could yield a different outcome.<br />
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“President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline is a huge mistake, and is the latest reminder that this administration continues to prioritize the demands of radical environmentalists over America’s energy security,” said Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president. “When I’m president, Keystone will be approved, and President Obama’s backward energy policies will come to an end.”<br />
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As Mr. Obama seeks to carve out a substantial environmental legacy, his decision on the pipeline pales in import compared with his use of Environmental Protection Agency regulations. The power plant rules he announced in August have met with legal challenges, but if they are put in place, they could lead to a transformation of the nation’s energy economy, shuttering fossil fuel plants and rapidly increasing production of wind and solar.<br />
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Those rules are at the heart of Mr. Obama’s push for a global agreement.<br />
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But advocates of the agreement said that the Keystone decision, even though it is largely symbolic, could show other countries that Mr. Obama is willing to make tough choices about climate change.<br />
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“The rejection of the Keystone permit was key for the president to keep his climate chops at home and with the rest of the world,” said Durwood Zaelke, the president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, a Washington research organization.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-51371348530392799362015-10-27T17:04:00.000-04:002015-10-28T17:12:30.540-04:00IT’S ALL SET: MARYSVILLE POWER PLANT TO IMPLODE NOV. 7<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: freep.com</span><br />
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In less than two weeks, the Mighty Marysville power plant is coming down.<br />
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Public Safety Chief Tom Konik said the city granted a blast permit for Nov. 7 for the implosion of the former DTE Energy power plant. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/detroit-mi-environmental-lawyer/cardelli-lanfear-pc-detroit-michigan-mi.html" target="_blank">Michigan environmental lawyer</a> is reviewing the details of this case.<br />
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Konik announced the implosion date during the city’s Monday council meeting.<br />
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Crews began to dismantle the plant in spring 2014 to make way for new development at the site. Commercial Development Company purchased the plant from DTE Energy in May 2014.<br />
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The 12-story plant operated from 1932 through 2001. It was decommissioned in 2011.<br />
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Last week, Marysville unveiled conceptual plans for the site — plans that included a multi-floor hotel, condominium housing, shops, outdoor seating, a park and riverfront promenade. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/cleveland-oh-environmental-lawyer/schneider-smeltz-ranney-lafond-pll-cleveland-ohio-oh.html" target="_blank">Cleveland environmental lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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In September, the city set conditions that had to be met before the building could be imploded.<br />
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Konik said nearly all of those requirements have been met, and the remaining ones will be met prior to the implosion.<br />
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Conditions included an independent confirmation that hazardous material had been removed from the site, a model displaying post-blast dust dispersal, and safety assurances from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard.<br />
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Konik said experts have researched potential issues that might arise because of dust or vibrations created by the roughly 8.5-second implosion. While dust is unavoidable, Konik said, officials have mapped out areas that could be impacted and will spray water on the building and grounds to mitigate potential issues. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/greenville-sc-environmental-lawyer/roe-cassidy-coates-price-pa-greenville-south-carolina-sc.html" target="_blank">Greenville environmental lawyer</a> represents clients in all areas of general environmental law, including but limited to toxic torts and air pollution allegations.<br />
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Water trucks and other cleanup equipment will be standing by in the event of any issues.<br />
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Konik said the city’s water intake will be closed just prior to the implosion as a precaution, but he doesn’t expect the anticipated dust to affect downriver intakes.<br />
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“We’ve done all of the modeling of the potentials to show that none of those structures appear to have any risk,” Konik said.<br />
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“We’ve talked about planning for worse case scenarios and we think we’re prepared for the worse case scenario.”<br />
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The implosion is scheduled for 8 a.m. Nov. 7, but Konik said roadways will be shut down in the “exclusion zone” from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.<br />
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Gratiot Boulevard from Ravenswood Road to St. James Street will be shut down as part of the exclusion zone. Busha Highway from Gratiot Boulevard to Huron Boulevard also will be closed during that time.<br />
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Konik said, while the implosion is not a “spectator’s sport,” the best view of the implosion would be at Market Square on Gratiot Boulevard in Marysville, across the river in Canada, or by boat outside the exclusion zone on the St. Clair River.<br />
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Businesses within the exclusion zone _ Blue Water Aggregate, Linwood Bar, and All State Insurance – will make other accommodations during the implosion.<br />
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Residents within the exclusion area must either leave the area during that time or stay indoors as the noise of the blast will reach high levels.<br />
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Konik said Sitetech Inc. will have an area for residents in the exclusion zone to stay if they wish to leave their homes during the implosion.<br />
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Residents in the exclusion zone will be contacted before the implosion.<br />
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Mike Brehse, project manager with Sitetech Inc., said he expects the cleanup after the implosion to take about six months.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-90623054222790084202015-10-15T17:04:00.002-04:002015-10-15T17:21:28.165-04:00LIGHTNING STRIKES 10,000 GALLON UNDERGROUND FUEL TANK, CREATES GIANT CRATER<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: aol.com</span><br />
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FAIRFIELD, Oh. (WLWT) -- A giant crater was left behind after a lightning strike Monday evening caused an explosion of an underground fuel storage tank near Dixie Highway.<br />
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Police said told WLWT that lightning struck and ignited a 10,000 gallon underground fuel storage tank at the Gas Depot at 4871 Dixie Highway.<br />
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The blast left behind a crater 40 feet in diameter by 8 feet deep. Firefighters said there were two customers at the station when the bolt hit, but luckily no one was pumping gas at the time. <a href="http://www.augustafiberglass.com/custom-design-manufacturing-frp-pipe-duct-hood-products.html" target="_blank">FRP piping</a> is designed for aggressive chemical environments.<br />
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"Very loud! Like I said, the concussion when I was sitting there, it threw me back and I looked up and saw as soon as it came up there was an instant puff of black smoke that came up and I knew it was close," said Roger Tucker, who watched from his porch about a half a mile away.<br />
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Even seasoned firefighters were wowed after they say lightning hit the fill dome of a 10,000 gallon underground diesel fuel tank at Fairfield's Gas Depot.<br />
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"I can tell you in my 45 year career, I have never seen anything like this. Underground storage tanks are put there to reduce the potential for fire," said Fairfield Fire Chief Donald Bennett.<br />
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Fearing two other 10,000 gallon fuel tanks could be compromised, firefighters ordered evacuations for anyone in a 2,000 foot radius. An <a href="http://www.primerus.com/detroit-mi-environmental-lawyer/cardelli-lanfear-pc-detroit-michigan-mi.html" target="_blank">environmental lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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"We erred on the side of caution. Obviously, the training we have, we talk about what potentially could happen if 30 thousand gallons of diesel fuel and gasoline would go up. It's a fairly large fireball," Chief Bennett said.<br />
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Firefighters kept their distance and blanketed the blaze with foam. After an hour and a half, they let people back in their homes.<br />
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Staring at the aftermath just a stone's throw from her house, Chris Schluter said her nightmare came true on Monday afternoon.<br />
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"This is always your fear and now, you know, it kind of makes you a little nervous," Schluter said.<br />
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Firefighters said there was a slight diesel vapor still lingering on Monday night. Police were standing guard throughout the overnight hours. Firefighters said the two other tanks would be dug up on Tuesday to see if either was compromised.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-77616415543734972462015-10-15T16:51:00.002-04:002015-10-15T16:51:40.398-04:00 THE 10 MOST POLLUTED CITIES IN THE U.S.<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: marketwatch.com</span><br />
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More than 138 million people — nearly 44% of the U.S. population — live in areas where air pollution reaches dangerously high levels during parts of the year. While exposure to low quality air has declined in recent years, some cities still experience alarming levels of pollution. Based on “State of the Air,” a report released annually by the American Lung Association (ALA), 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 leading metro areas with the highest levels of year-round particle pollution. The report considers two types of pollution: ozone pollution and particle pollution, which can be measured both in short and long-term. Speaking to 24/7 Wall St., Janice Nolen, assistant vice president of national policy at the ALA, explained the three measures. Ozone is a gas formed in the atmosphere through heat, sunlight, and certain gases that can attack lung tissue. Particle pollution is tiny pieces of matter so small that they can bypass the body’s defenses and be inhaled into the lungs. The long-term particulate measure is the average, daily pollution generated by factories, fires, and transportation. Long term particle pollution is measured in micrograms per cubic meter (ug/M3). The short-term particulate measure represents how many days of extreme air pollution occur, and usually reflects how extreme conditions such as fire or drought are creating abnormally high levels of unhealthy particles.<br />
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These are America’s 10 most polluted cities.<br />
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10. Cleveland-Akron-Canton, Ohio<br />
Average year-round particle pollution: 12.5 ug/M3<br />
People with asthma: 339,464<br />
Population: 3,501,538<br />
High ozone days per year: 10.8<br />
Home to more than 3.5 million people, the Cleveland metro area has some of the most polluted air in the country. Cleveland was actually one of five cities that yielded its lowest yearly average particle pollution in the ALA’s 2015 report. Despite the improvement, the metropolitan area still had a much higher than acceptable level of particle pollution. Particle pollution is often the byproduct of the burning of fossil fuels in such places as factories, power plants, and personal vehicles. Manufacturing activity — a long time major economic engine in the Cleveland area — has certainly contributed to the city’s poor air quality. Nearly 340,000 Cleveland residents suffer from asthma, and 232,000 area adults have been diagnosed with COPD. Especially vulnerable to pollution related health risks are the area’s more than 1.3 million residents younger than 18 or older than 65.<br />
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9. Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, Penn.-Ohio-W.Va.<br />
Average year-round particle pollution: 13.4 ug/M3<br />
People with asthma: 256,406<br />
Population: 2,659,937<br />
High ozone days per year: 12.5<br />
During the golden age of steel production in Pittsburgh, the area was one of the most polluted cities in the U.S. By many accounts, between the factories and the smoke from the coal that was used to heat residents’ homes, the sky was black with smoke before 9 a.m. every morning. While Pittsburgh is a much less industrial city today and the air quality has improved somewhat, the city remains one of the most polluted cities in the country. According to Nolen, the biggest source of pollution in the area is the U.S. Steel plant. The city received failing grades in ozone pollution as well as in long-term and short-term particle pollution. More than a quarter of a million Pittsburgh residents have asthma, a condition which can be exacerbated by air pollution. Above, Randy Geracitano works on a home near the Mitchell Power Station, a coal-fired power plant built along the Monongahela River, 20 miles southwest of Pittsburgh in 2013. The plant has since been shut down. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/pittsburgh-pa-environmental-lawyer/rothman-gordon-pittsburgh-pennsylvania-pa.html" target="_blank">Pittsburgh environmental lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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8. Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.<br />
Average year-round particle pollution: 13.6 ug/M3<br />
People with asthma: 213,812<br />
Population: 2,196,629<br />
High ozone days per year: 12.2<br />
Like most cities with high particle pollution, the Cincinnati metro area also has a problem with severe ozone pollution. The greater Cincinnati area has been under several air quality advisories this past summer due to dangerously high ozone levels. Similar to California’s Central Valley, high traffic volumes in the Cincinnati area contribute to high pollution levels. In addition, the city is located in a valley, which, like the mountains surrounding Central Valley, helps trap emissions. Above, a coal plant on the Ohio River near Cincinnati.<br />
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7. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, Calif.<br />
Average year-round particle pollution: 13.8 ug/M3<br />
People with asthma: 744,481<br />
Population: 8,469,854<br />
High ozone days per year: 8.8<br />
The San Francisco Bay Area, which includes the cities of Oakland and San Jose, has the third-largest combined population at risk of illness due to air pollution, at close to 8.5 million. The metro area reported the most days with high particle pollution on record because of the addition of San Joaquin county to the region. The county was the only one in the metro area to fail the ALA’s test for ozone levels and short- and long-term particle pollution. San Joaquin county had an average of 54 days a year in either orange-level conditions, which are unhealthy for people with sensitive respiratory tracts, or in red conditions, which are unhealthy for everyone. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/san-francisco-ca-environmental-lawyer/buchman-provine-brothers-smith-llp-san-francisco-california-ca.html" target="_blank">San Francisco environmental attorney</a> represents clients in environmental law matters.<br />
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6. El Centro, Calif.<br />
Average year-round particle pollution: 14.3 ug/M3<br />
People with asthma: 15,439<br />
Population: 176,584<br />
High ozone days per year: 16.2<br />
Like many of the most polluted metro areas in California, El Centro residents suffer from high levels of both ozone and particle pollution. Located in Imperial County, El Centro residents have experienced an average of 16 high-ozone days a year, which is sixth-worst in the country. Known more commonly as smog, high ozone levels occur when fumes from burning fossil fuels are exposed to sunlight. Prolonged exposure to high ozone levels can exacerbate existing respiratory conditions and contribute to early death. More than 15,000 El Centro residents live with asthma, and 5,700 adult residents have been diagnosed with COPD. Above, the Naval Air Facility in El Centro.<br />
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5. Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif.<br />
Average year-round particle pollution: 15.1 ug/M3<br />
People with asthma: 1.6 million<br />
Population: 18.4 million<br />
High ozone days per year: 117.7<br />
Los Angeles port’s cargo volume this past July was the highest ever in its over 100-year history. According to the EPA, high traffic through the port creates higher emissions that contribute to poor air quality throughout the region. High concentrations of power plants, including numerous oil and gas, petroleum, and electricity plants, release tens of millions of metric tons of carbon emissions each year. While the area is among the nation’s most polluted, Los Angeles reported its lowest pollution levels since the ALA started producing this report. Still, in Los Angeles, residents have experienced an average of 117.7 days of high ozone levels each year, the most of any U.S. metropolitan area. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/los-angeles-ca-environmental-lawyer/greenberg-glusker-los-angeles-california-ca.html" target="_blank">Los Angeles environmental lawyer</a> provides professional legal counsel and extensive experience in many aspects of environmental law.<br />
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4. Modesto-Merced, Calif.<br />
Average year-round particle pollution: 15.7 ug/M3<br />
People with asthma: 69,027<br />
Population: 788,719<br />
High ozone days per year: 22.3<br />
Modesto residents have experienced an average of 22 high ozone days per year. Only seven metro areas in the country had a greater number of high ozone days. Located almost directly in the center of California’s Central Valley, an area surrounded on three sides by mountains that limit wind and annual rainfall, polluted air stagnates in Modesto. The city was one of six in the country that failed to meet federal air quality standards and where particle pollution worsened since last year’s report. Nearly 70,000 Modesto residents suffer from asthma, and over 25,000 area adults have been diagnosed with COPD.<br />
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3. Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, Calif.<br />
Average year-round particle pollution: 17.0 ug/M3<br />
People with asthma: 52,749<br />
Population: 605,103<br />
High ozone days per year: 82.7<br />
Visalia is located almost directly in between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The city had an average of nearly 83 high-ozone days a year, the second highest rate in the country. The Visalia metro area was one of six California metros to break the top 10 for ozone pollution, ranking second in the nation despite this year reporting the fewest days of unhealthy ozone levels in its reporting history. On the other hand, the city, like many other valley cities, experienced its worst year for particulate pollution.<br />
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2. Bakersfield, Calif.<br />
Average year-round particle pollution: 17.3 ug/M3<br />
People with asthma: 75,406<br />
Population: 864,124<br />
High ozone days per year: 69.7<br />
Bakersfield residents have endured nearly 70 high-ozone level days a year, the third highest rate compared with other U.S. cities. Still, this was a considerable improvement for the area when compared with years past since the ALA began reporting on air quality. As in other California metro areas, however, particularly those in the state’s Central Valley, annual particle pollution worsened last year, partly due to the severe drought conditions in the region. Also, the topography and industrial composition of the Valley is conducive to air pollution problems. Adding to the region’s especially poor air quality is pollution generated by cars and trucks traveling through the region’s major thruways and the toxic gases from manure on the millions of acres of the area’s farmland. Above, oil pumping jacks and drilling pads at the Kern River Oil Field where the principle operator is the Chevron Corporation CVX, +1.07% in Bakersfield.<br />
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1. Fresno-Madera, Calif.<br />
Average year-round particle pollution: 18.1 ug/M3<br />
People with asthma: 96,760<br />
Population: 1,107,661<br />
High ozone days per year: 68<br />
Air pollution improved in Fresno-Madera, but the metro area is still the most polluted in the country, as it was in the ALA’s 2014 report. As in other parts of California, the statewide, multiyear drought has likely worsened air quality in the area over the past several years. Hot and dry weather can promote dust storms and wildfires, which trap particulates generated by power plants and other carbon emitters. Fresno residents have experienced an average of 68 high-ozone days a year, the sixth highest rate in the country. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/fresno-ca-environmental-lawyer/coleman-horowitt-llp-fresno-california-ca.html" target="_blank">Fresno environmental lawyer</a> is following this story closely.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-11445445048864800262015-10-05T11:17:00.000-04:002015-10-05T11:17:13.549-04:00MUSK’S SOLARCITY VOWS SUPER SOLAR PANEL<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: cnbc.com</span><br />
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A company backed by billionaire Elon Musk on Friday said it will produce the world's most efficient solar panel.<br />
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The new panel by SolarCity, the biggest US home solar power installer, will convert sunlight into electricity at a 22.04 per cent rate, topping the 21.5 per cent made by rival SunPower, the company said. The industry average stands around 16 to 17 per cent. A <a href="http://www.branscombpc.com/houston-energy-lawyer-litigation-attorney-houston-tx.html" target="_blank">Houston energy lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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SolarCity, which was conceived by Mr Musk and his cousin Lyndon Rive while on their way to the Burning Man festival in 2004, started out installing and supporting solar systems for homes, businesses and schools.<br />
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But last year, with the acquisition of start-up Silevo, the company expanded into making the panels as well, claiming it would build more efficient systems to cut the costs of its products. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/pittsburgh-pa-environmental-lawyer/grogan-graffam-pc-pittsburgh-pennsylvania-pa.html" target="_blank">Pittsburgh environmental lawyer</a> represents clients in environmental law matters.<br />
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"At the time, people probably thought: 'wow, that's stupid'," said Mr Musk of his foray into solar panel production. "I kind of like counterintuitive moves."<br />
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SolarCity is betting on solar power becoming more widely popular, after the costs of solar panels have dropped dramatically in the past few years amid a boost in Chinese production.<br />
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The average cost of a solar electric system has dropped 50 per cent since the start of 2010, the Obama administration said in August when announcing plans to support solar, wind and renewable energy projects.<br />
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Nearly 600,000 US homes have solar panels, according to GTM research.<br />
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Mr Rive said that as costs continue to fall he expects solar power will become the dominant source of energy by 2040, and the higher power output from each of its new panels will cut costs even further, by 15 to 20 cents per watt. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/pittsburgh-pa-commercial-real-estate-lawyer/rothman-gordon-pittsburgh-pennsylvania-pa.html" target="_blank">real estate development lawyer</a> in Pittsburgh provides professional legal counsel and extensive experience in many aspects of real estate law.<br />
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"When done right, high efficiency and low cost end up being the same thing," said Mr Musk. "There's limited space on rooftops, so you want to generate as much energy as you can from that given space, to compete with natural gas or coal."<br />
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SolarCity last year announced plans to build one of the world's largest solar panel plants in upstate New York, bucking the trend of solar manufacturing being dominated by Asia.<br />
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Mr Musk said he wants to dispel beliefs that solar energy is not a viable replacement for fossil fuels. "For a long time with Tesla [the electric cars manufacturer], they said we couldn't make it. By acting first.....this helps shift big players in the industry in the right direction." A <a href="https://www.butzel.com/tennessee-automotive-lawyer-attorney-auto-law-firm-tn.html" target="_blank">Tennessee automotive lawyer</a> is reviewing the details of this case.<br />
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Speaking at a SolarCity event in New York, Mr Musk also touched on his ambitions to colonise Mars by sending a fusion bomb to create "two tiny pulsing suns" to warm the planet. "A lot of people don't appreciate that our sun is a giant fusion explosion."<br />
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Shares in SolarCity — of which Mr Musk holds a 23 per cent stake — climbed 7 per cent on Friday, but have fallen 20 per cent in the past year.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-36791854818958316192015-09-15T12:10:00.000-04:002015-09-15T12:10:17.779-04:00NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FIRE DESTROYS 400 HOMES, BUSINESSES<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: yahoo.com</span><br />
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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. (AP) — Two of California's fastest-burning wildfires in decades overtook several Northern California towns, killing at least one person and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses and sending thousands of residents fleeing highways lined with buildings, guardrails and cars still in flames. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/minneapolis-mn-environmental-lawyer/robert-p-christensen-pa-minneapolis-minnesota-mn.html" target="_blank">Minneapolis environmental lawyer</a> is reviewing the details of this case,<br />
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The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection confirmed one fatality in the wildfire north of San Francisco that raced through dry brush and exploded in size within hours. Officials also counted 400 homes, two apartment complexes and 10 businesses destroyed by the flames, department spokeswoman Lynn Valentine said.<br />
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Valentine couldn't provide details on the circumstances of the death. A call to the Lake County Sheriff's office has not been returned.<br />
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In addition, up to 1,000 structures such as barns, sheds and other outbuildings were burned, said Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant.<br />
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The devastation comes after a separate wildfire to the southeast destroyed at least 81 homes.<br />
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Residents fled from Middletown, dodging smoldering telephone poles, downed power lines and fallen trees as they drove through billowing smoke. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/charleston-sc-environmental-lawyer/rosen-hagood-llc-charleston-south-carolina-sc.html" target="_blank">Charleston environmental lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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Whole blocks of houses were burned in parts of the town of more than 1,000 residents that lies about 20 miles north of the famed Napa Valley. On the west side of town, house after house was burned to their foundations, with only charred appliances and twisted metal garage doors still recognizable.<br />
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Firefighters on Sunday afternoon could be seen driving around flaming utility poles to put out spot fires. Homeowner Justin Galvin, 33, himself a firefighter, stood alone at his house, poking its shin-high, smoking ruins with a piece of scrap metal.<br />
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"This is my home. Or it was," said Galvin, who spent all night fighting another massive fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills.<br />
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Valentine said most of the destruction occurred in Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake, as well as numerous homes along a shuttered state highway.<br />
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Wind gusts that reached up to 30 miles per hour sent embers raining down on homes and made it hard for firefighters to stop the Lake County blaze from advancing, Berlant said.<br />
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Four firefighters who are members of a helicopter crew suffered second-degree burns during the initial attack on the fire Saturday afternoon. They remained hospitalized in stable condition.<br />
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The fire continued to burn in all directions, triggering the evacuation of a stretch along Highway 281, including Clear Lake Riviera, a town with about 3,000 residents. It was threatening critical communications infrastructure as well as a power plant, Cal Fire said.<br />
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The 78-square-mile fire erupted Saturday afternoon and rapidly chewed through brush and trees parched from several years of drought. Entire towns as well as residents along a 35-mile stretch of State Route 29 were evacuated. Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday declared a state of emergency to free up resources.<br />
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Brown had already declared a state of emergency for a separate 102-square-mile wildfire about 70 miles southeast of Sacramento that has destroyed at least 81 homes and turned the grassy, tree-studded Sierra Nevada foothills an eerie white. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/cleveland-oh-environmental-lawyer/schneider-smeltz-ranney-lafond-pll-cleveland-ohio-oh.html" target="_blank">Cleveland environmental lawyer</a> provides professional legal counsel and extensive experience in many aspects of environmental law.<br />
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Crews increased containment on that blaze to 25 percent.<br />
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The fire, which broke out on Wednesday, was threatening about 6,400 more buildings.<br />
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Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, said this summer's fires are the most volatile he has seen in 30 years of emergency response work. The main cause behind the fast-spreading fires is dry conditions from the four-year drought, he said.<br />
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"The bushes, the trees have absolutely no moisture in them, and the humidities are so low that we are seeing these 'fire starts' just erupt into conflagrations," Ghilarducci said, according to the Sacramento Bee.<br />
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Lake County saw devastation in just the last two months. In late July, a wildfire east of Clear Lake destroyed 43 homes as it spread across 109 square miles. As firefighters drew close to surrounding that blaze, another fire erupted several miles from the community of Lower Lake on Aug. 9 and more than doubled in size overnight.<br />
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Residents in the area had to evacuate from their homes two times in as many weeks.<br />
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East of Fresno, the largest wildfire in the state continued to march westward and away from the Giant Sequoia trees, fire spokesman Dave Schmitt said. The fire, which was sparked by lightning on July 31, has charred 203 square miles and was 31 percent contained Sunday, the U.S. Forest Service said.<br />
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Firefighters have maintained a precautionary line around Grant Grove, an ancient grove of Giant Sequoia trees, and set prescribed burns to keep the flames from overrunning it.<br />
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Some fire came through the area but it hasn't done much harm, fire spokesman Frank Mosbacher told the Fresno Bee.<br />
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The grove is named for the towering General Grant tree that stands 268 feet tall. There are dozens of Sequoia groves in the Sierra Nevada, and some trees are 3,000 years old.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-53916849252553365162015-09-08T10:59:00.000-04:002015-09-08T10:59:03.269-04:00LESS WATER MIGHT BE PLENTY FOR CALIFORNIA, EXPERTS SAY, AND CONSERVATION IS ONLY THE STARTOriginal Story: latimes.com<br />
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Across California this summer, residents have been racking up water conservation numbers that defy expectations — a 27% reduction in June, followed by 31.3% in July.<br />
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Perhaps more impressive than the percentage figures, however, is the actual volume of water saved over two months: 414,800 acre-feet.<br />
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That's a lot of water — more than twice the amount projected to be available annually from two proposed storage facilities that would cost a combined $3.5 billion to build: the Temperance Flat Dam on the San Joaquin River and an expansion of Shasta Dam. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/denver-co-natural-resources-lawyer/zupkus-angell-pc-denver-colorado-co.html" target="_blank">Denver natural resources lawyer</a> is reviewing the details of this case.<br />
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The conservation performance raises a host of possibilities, and profound questions, for water policy analysts and managers as they contemplate California's hydrological future in an era of climate change and increased competition for an essential natural resource.<br />
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Some experts see an approach following the lead of the energy sector in California.<br />
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In the last quarter century or so, a "soft path" to energy reliability — one built on conservation, innovation and mutual incentives for buyers and sellers alike — has replaced the brute strategy of building all the generation plants needed to power all of the state all of the time.<br />
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Advocates for a comparable approach regarding water envision a mix of heightened consumer awareness, especially when it comes to landscaping options, as well as increased efficiencies in homes, industry and agriculture.<br />
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They also point to better reuse of water through groundwater reclamation, recycling and rainwater capture, and a reformulation of a financial model so that water agencies are not forced to charge more when their customers use less. A <a href="http://www.branscombpc.com/houston-energy-lawyer-litigation-attorney-houston-tx.html" target="_blank">Houston energy lawyer</a> assists landowners in resolving disputes involving operators' improper use of the land and other breaches of their contracts with landowners.<br />
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"The reality is that there are so many soft paths that we can take that might have a lot less environmental impact and be a lot less expensive, and still meet our future demand," said Newsha Ajami, director of urban water policy for Stanford's Water in the West initiative. "This is probably a smarter tack than building more infrastructure, and moving more water around long distances."<br />
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Scientist Amory Lovins popularized the term "negawatt" in the 1980s to describe the idea that there is marketable value in power not produced or consumed.<br />
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Utilities clamoring for more generation plants "have gotten into the terrible habit of looking at the top line instead of the bottom line, because for a century they've had sales and revenues going up together," Lovins observed in a 1989 speech entitled "The Negawatt Revolution."<br />
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"For some reason, it's hard for them to get used to the idea that it's perfectly all right to sell less electricity, and so bring in less revenue, as long as costs go down more than revenues do," he said.<br />
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Asked to ponder the possibilities of a "negawater" revolution, Lovins in an interview ran down a list of two dozen or more approaches that might be borrowed from the energy sector and applied to water.<br />
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They included incentives for appliance stores to stock only the most water-efficient products, fostering "robust and diverse" markets that would place a tradeable value on conserved water, and finding ways for water providers to balance their books even as they sold less water.<br />
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He even suggested retraining the state's famously energetic bar of water lawyers to become water traders instead.<br />
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Some of the suggestions, he said, already could be found piecemeal in California and elsewhere. But a comprehensive approach, Lovins said, could make California "not permanently water rich, but permanently water secure."<br />
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He pointed to work of the Pacific Institute, an Oakland-based water think tank. With the Natural Resources Defense Council, it published a report last year that identified a host of measures that, if pursued in California, could generate 10 million to 14 million acre-feet of water a year without creating major crimps in lifestyle or dents in the economy. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/birmingham-al-natural-resources-lawyer/christian-small-llp-birmingham-alabama-al.html" target="_blank">Birmingham natural resources lawyer</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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The institute's Peter Gleick, a longtime proponent of a softer approach to water supply development, said the conservation response to the drought only underscored the potential.<br />
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"I think the message is pretty clear," he said. "The idea that we can build traditional infrastructure and have any hope that it will solve our water problems is an idea from the last century and not the current one. … There is still vast untapped potential to do all that we want to do in this state with less water."<br />
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While applauding the response of Californians, many water policy experts also cautioned against seeing conservation as a permanent panacea. Said Lester Snow, executive director of the California Water Foundation: "Conservation is one of the tools, but I would not want to count on it completely."<br />
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Many advocate an every-tool-in-the-shed approach, which state water board chair Felicia Marcus likes to call "belts, suspenders and flying monkeys." And that would include increased storage capacity, whether above ground in reservoirs or below in aquifers.<br />
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"The debate on storage water," said Ellen Hanak, an economist with the Public Policy Institute of California, "is more about where are we going to put the water, rather than should we do it."<br />
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Climate change, she said, might mean the Sierra snowpack will become less reliable from year to year and, if so, an increased capacity to capture and store rainwater will become crucial. In fact, the paucity of snowmelt in this drought has been its distinctive natural feature.<br />
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"That is why," Hanak said, "this drought is the drought of the future."<br />
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If a greater reliance on rainfall is the future, the Sonoma County Water Agency has been living that future for its entire 65 years. None of the water it supplies to districts serving 600,000 customers north of San Francisco comes from Sierra snowmelt or passes through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.<br />
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The system lives on rainwater, and thus can be seen as something of a proving ground for the state. While residents served by the agency exceeded mandatory reduction targets for two consecutive months, ahead looms a potentially cruel paradox.<br />
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Large-scale reductions in consumption also cut into revenues for those in the business of selling water. In time, local agencies must either ask consumers to relax their water-wise efforts, curtail services and maintenance or raise rates, creating a use-less, pay-more paradigm for their customers — and a conservation buzz kill.<br />
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In the drought, the Sonoma agency has dipped into reserves to offset the decline in revenues: $6 million last year alone. Looking for a more stable foothold, General Manager Grant Davis and his colleagues are pursuing a long-term approach that will allow water conservation to continue without having to face a financial penalty.<br />
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"We have got to get to the point where you use less and ultimately pay less," Davis said.<br />
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That will require restraining demand while finding ways to move water more inexpensively, and at the same time ensuring, as Davis put it, that "every molecule that we produce is preserved and extended."<br />
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To that end, the agency attacked energy costs by turning to renewables — solar, geothermal, hydroelectric — and building a carbon-free delivery system.<br />
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It has engaged scientists in research to better understand storm systems called atmospheric rivers, which in the rainy seasons will allow dam operators to make more nuanced decisions about when to release water for flood control purposes and when to hold it.<br />
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It has improved capabilities to clean up and recycle wastewater and replenish aquifers. And it has worked with residential customers to swap out leaky toilets, install turf lawns and employ other conservation efforts.<br />
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Along Dry Creek, a major artery for the Sonoma system, the agency intends to spend $50 million to enhance the natural channel, enabling it to deliver water for customers in the summer while also meeting federal mandates to better protect the creek's fall run of coho salmon. The alternative would be a $200-million pipeline to bypass the creek.<br />
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By taking this approach, Davis said last week, standing beside the pleasantly gurgling creek, "I can say confidently that we can use less water, and stretch our water supplies further, and pay less money."<br />
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Not an unhappy outcome all around.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316650602703857426.post-14265741948672232062015-08-21T10:42:00.001-04:002015-08-21T10:42:34.971-04:00EVEN IN THE DROUGHT, AMERICA IS LEAKING WATER<span style="color: #666666;">Original Story: cnbc.com</span><br />
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One-third of the country is in a drought, according to the federal government, affecting 95 million people. Despite the urgency, America is still losing a lot of water it still has.<br />
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For example: There are nearly a quarter-million water main breaks a year, according to the American Water Works Association. Two trillion gallons of drinkable water are lost annually due to a variety of reasons, including leaks, though that number is an educated guess. Nobody really knows for sure. Perma-Pier <a href="http://www.permapierplumbing.com/" target="_blank">plumbing repair</a> specializes in all residential and commercial foundation specific plumbing.<br />
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The underground infrastructure is getting old and needs to be replaced, but no one wants to pay for it. "It's hard to own something you don't see," said Madelyn Glickfeld of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.<br />
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Nowhere is the job of laying new pipe more daunting than in Los Angeles, where there are 7,000 miles of freshwater pipes under the city. "That's enough pipe to go from here all the way to New York and back," said Marty Adams, assistant general manager at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Many of the pipes are almost a century old, including one that burst in spectacular fashion last year, flooding Sunset Boulevard and much of UCLA. Just this week in Newport Beach, a million gallons of water flooded a neighborhood because of a ruptured main.<br />
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The problem in many cities is that the infrastructure was built in with construction. "The original investments that are embedded in everyone's house price and every building cost, those have all now worn out, and so now we need new rate money to go in and replace all that," said Adams. Poor construction or corrosion can cause unexpected pipe damage at any time, requiring <a href="http://www.permapierplumbing.com/" target="_blank">plumbing repair services</a>.<br />
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The DWP is trying to persuade ratepayers to pay 18 percent more on average to fund a speed-up in pipe replacement. What kind of speed-up? The department claims it can replace about 100 to 200 feet of pipe a day, and to replace the whole system would take nearly 300 years—three centuries—a number that seems incomprehensible. A rate hike would provide the funds to cut that time in half, adding $2.7 billion in the next five years alone. Adams said faster pipe replacement has a proven record, cutting the number of water main breaks by 40 percent.<br />
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But even as pipe bursts have become a common occurrence, the DWP faces a tough sell. It also deals with negative stories about mismanagement of funds, and in a city that uses half a billion gallons of drinkable water a day, Adams recognizes the challenge in persuading customers to pay more to maintain something they don't even think about. "It's underground, it's not very fancy, it doesn't get you anything new," he said.<br />
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The problem in many cities is that the infrastructure was built in with construction. "The original investments that are embedded in everyone's house price and every building cost, those have all now worn out, and so now we need new rate money to go in and replace all that," said Adams.<br />
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The DWP is trying to persuade ratepayers to pay 18 percent more on average to fund a speed-up in pipe replacement. What kind of speed-up? The department claims it can replace about 100 to 200 feet of pipe a day, and to replace the whole system would take nearly 300 years—three centuries—a number that seems incomprehensible. A rate hike would provide the funds to cut that time in half, adding $2.7 billion in the next five years alone. Adams said faster pipe replacement has a proven record, cutting the number of water main breaks by 40 percent. A <a href="http://www.primerus.com/chicago-il-environmental-defense-lawyer/lipe-lyons-murphy-nahrstadt-pontikis-ltd-chicago-illinois-il.html" target="_blank">Chicago environmental attorney</a> is following this story closely.<br />
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But even as pipe bursts have become a common occurrence, the DWP faces a tough sell. It also deals with negative stories about mismanagement of funds, and in a city that uses half a billion gallons of drinkable water a day, Adams recognizes the challenge in persuading customers to pay more to maintain something they don't even think about. "It's underground, it's not very fancy, it doesn't get you anything new," he said.Blog Depothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310878002526034822noreply@blogger.com