Archive for the 'Environment' Category
Earthquake Caused Structural Damage at Fukushima Plant Before Tsunami Hit
July 3rd, 2011This piece includes interviews with workers who saw severe damage to reactor facilities that was caused by the quake itself, before the tsunami hit. Via: Atlantic Wire: It’s been one of the mysteries of Japan’s ongoing nuclear disaster: How much of the damage did the March 11 earthquake inflict on Fukushima Daiichi’s reactors in the […]
Toshiso Kosako: Come the Harvest Season in the Fall, There Will Be Chaos
July 2nd, 2011You probably know that rice has semi religious significance throughout Asia, but you may not know that Japanese are particularly weird about their rice. To Japanese, it’s not really rice unless it’s rice from Japan. In order to avoid international trade sanctions, Japan imports rice, but the rice is generally not consumed in Japan. Most […]
Methane Contamination of Drinking Water Accompanying Gas-Well Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing
June 29th, 2011Via: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: Directional drilling and hydraulic-fracturing technologies are dramatically increasing natural-gas extraction. In aquifers overlying the Marcellus and Utica shale formations of northeastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York, we document systematic evidence for methane contamination of drinking water associated with shale-gas extraction. In active gas-extraction areas (one or more […]
‘Flying Lab’ to Monitor Smoke Near New Mexico Nuclear Lab
June 29th, 2011Via: Atlanta Journal Constitution / AP: Federal environment officials have dispatched a special twin-engine plane capable of detecting chemical and radiological materials as a wildfire continues to burn near a government nuclear laboratory in northern New Mexico.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Intentionally Flooded Farmland, Now Offering to Buy It
June 28th, 2011Via: KMBC: Some river bottom property owners say they received a letter from the Army Corps of Engineers’ Kansas City district office asking them if they want to sell their land. KMBC’s Micheal Mahoney reported that the letter is angering some of the people who received it because some of them are fighting for their […]
Wildfire Spreads to Within One Mile of Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Lab
June 28th, 2011Update: 30,000 55-gallon Drums of Plutonium-Contaminated Waste, Stored in Fabric Tents Above Ground [???] Via: AP: The anti-nuclear watchdog group Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, however, said the fire appeared to be about 3 1/2 miles from a dumpsite where as many as 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste were stored in fabric tents above […]
Fukushima Residents’ Urine Now Radioactive
June 27th, 2011Via: Japan Times: More than 3 millisieverts of radiation has been measured in the urine of 15 Fukushima residents of the village of Iitate and the town of Kawamata, confirming internal radiation exposure, it was learned Sunday. Both are about 30 to 40 km from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, which has been releasing […]
Radioactive Tritium Has Leaked from Three-Quarters of U.S. Commercial Nuclear Power Sites, Often Into Groundwater
June 21st, 2011Via: AP: Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping, an Associated Press investigation shows. The number and severity of the leaks has been escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation. Tritium, which is a […]
Federal Judge Dismisses Third Party Environmental Claims Against Transocean and BP
June 19th, 2011Via: Courthouse News Service: Ruling in favor of Transocean and BP, a federal judge on Thursday dismissed third-party environmental claims in a giant pleading bundle in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation, saying the fact that the oil flow has stopped makes those lawsuits irrelevant. “The injunction at this stage would be useless, as not […]
Lawsuit Alleges Whole Foods Sold Frozen Vegetables from China Grown in a Polluted Region by Prisoners and Certified as Organic
June 17th, 2011Ahh, imagine my shock. Rant mode: On. We buy some organic foods in bulk from wholesale distributors here in New Zealand. Increasingly, if we want to buy these ‘certified organic’ bulk foods, the country of origin is China. We refuse to buy any food from China, regardless of which organic certification it has. We’ve indicated […]
