tagged w/ Illegal Dumping
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A shipwreck that could contain nuclear waste is being investigated by authorities in Italy amid claims that it was deliberately sunk by the mafia.
An informant told a judge the ship was one of a number he blew up as part of an illegal operation to bypass rules on the disposal of toxic waste.
The sunken vessel has been found 30km (18 miles) off the south-west of Italy.
Murky pictures taken by a robot camera show the vessel intact and alongside it are a number of yellow barrels.
Labels on them say the contents are toxic.
The informant said the mafia had muscled in on the lucrative business of nuclear waste disposal.
But he said that instead of getting rid of the material safely, he blew up the vessel out at sea, off the Calabrian coast.
He also says he was responsible for sinking two other ships containing toxic waste.
Experts are now examining samples taken from the wreck.A shipwreck that could contain nuclear waste is being investigated by authorities in... more
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NJ State Police next month are planning to remove dozens of abandoned vehicles from the Hackensack River to clean up pollution from the waterway, according to a report in the Record of Bergen County.
The report said the State Police Marine Services located several cars and trucks this week using sonar technology as well as guidance from environmentalists.
Divers and underwater robots will lift the cars to the surface by using airbags, then a boat will tow them to shore to be placed on truck flatbeds, the report said. Those found dumping vehicles into the river also will be targeted for prosecution, the report said.NJ State Police next month are planning to remove dozens of abandoned vehicles from... more
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It's something most people would never dream of doing, going out to the mesa outside of Albuquerque and dumping trash everywhere, but Jeremy Jojola and the 4 Investigates team caught people doing just that.
The amount of garbage illegally dumped on the Pajarito Mesa is that of a junkyard that has no manager, no fence, and no limit.
The problem is so bad numerous people were caught on camera illegally dumping their trash in broad daylight.
A man in a red truck, loaded with tires, was caught throwing his trash.
From Chopper 4, men were seen dumping landscaping waste. They realized the chopper was watching, and covered their license plate and faces.
But one man took matters into his own hands after being caught dumping garbage bags into the desert.
And things got violent.
"You turn that camera on me, I'm gonna run both of you over right now," said the man dumping trash, later identified as Eric Beyer.
After being asked to answer questions, Eric Beyer rammed into the front of Eyewitness News 4's SUV.
"Hold on. The airbags may go off, so just be careful," Jojola told his photographer, Jeremy Fine, as they reversed away from Beyer's truck.
Beyer was later arrested and charged with five felonies.
After the incident, the 4 Investigates team regrouped and sat down with Bernalillo County officials to talk about the illegal dumping issue.
"When you've got something as a big as Pajarito Mesa, you have to do it in sections. We don't have the money to do all of it," said Solid Water Director Kim McKibben.
The county spends $50,000 yearly to clean up all of the garbage, but that is far from what it needs to clean up the mess.
"No matter how much money we had, we could spend every bit, because it continues to grow, the problem continues to grow. So I really think if we had a million, we could probably spend it," said McKibben.
The county thinks some of the people illegally living on Pajarito Mesa are doing some of the dumping because there's no garbage pickup there.
But the illegal dump sites are not just in the middle of nowhere; people are dumping trash almost in the backyards of some of the newest neighborhoods in Albuquerque.
The situation is driving neighbors crazy near 98th Street and Dennis Chavez.
"They try cleaning it up every once and a while, people come out here, dump and dump more, everyday it gets worse," said Efrain Nunez.
Money isn't the only setback to illegal dumping. Ground water can become contaminated due to the hazardous materials that ooze into the earth.
Many dumping sites contain chemicals, especially from dumped refrigerators, that seep into the ground. It's something most people would never dream of doing, going out to the mesa... more
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Youth and adults at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin plan three events as part of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge
(Keshena, Wisconsin) - As the students of all ages plan a major hands-on clean up of a tribal community and the recycling of electronics and proper disposal of unwanted medications to honor Earth Day 2008, adult members of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in Keshena, WI have already turned in several thousand pounds of electronic waste as part of a national Earth Day Project.
The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin is collecting e-Waste all month including during the tribe's regular curbside bulk items Spring Cleaning collection on April 21-24 (Monday thru Thursday).
"We are getting lots of electronics right now," said Diana Wolf, the MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator.
The projects are part of the eight-state Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge sponsored by the USEPA. The events are being promoted by the interfaith Earth Healing Initiative that teams numerous faith communities and American Indian tribes with local challenge organizers to be volunteers and participants in the projects spread across the Great Lakes basin.
During the first week of April, the tribe’s drop-off sites collected several thousand pounds of electronics including 919 pounds of "low-grade circuit boards" removed from TV sets, stereos, high quality computers, cassette players and other electronics.
Wolf estimated that about two tons (4,000 pounds) of electronics will be turned in by the end of the month.
“We will do whatever it takes to do cradle to grave recycling,” Wolf said. "We are not making a profit off of it but it is the right thing to do."
On April 25 students at the Menominee Tribal School (k-8) will be cleaning the area around the school of litter and recyclables and other downtown areas of Neopit. The tribe's 234,000-acre reservation includes the communities of Keshena, Zoar and South Branch.
"The students will be picking up litter and recyclables - and anything that's on the roads or sidewalks or the yards," Wolf said, adding the students will be planting 50 saplings.
"We are inviting the parents to bring a potluck and there will likely be wild rice and other Native American dishes," Wolf said.
The lunch will include a drama performance and include Native Music involving the "Wind Eagle Drum" or the "high school drum" consisting of students who are learning the music of the Menominee tribe's history.
"Our school is very much a cultural-motivated school," Wolf said. "The school teaches about the Menominee culture and language. The students learn about our Menominee history and our language amongst the non-native teaching."
"My children speak fluent Menominee because they have been in the school for three years," Wolf said.
Menominee tribal college students are doing their part to protect the planet with e-Waste and pharmaceutical collections.
The College of Menominee Nation (State Hwy. 47/55) in Keshena, is accepting e-waste and unwanted medicines on April 22 from 9 a.m. to noon and accepting e-Waste from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the commons building.
The college’s Implementing Sustainable Development class is hosting the collection with help from the tribe's solid waste coordinator.
The e-Waste collection will accept electronics including old/broken computers, cell phones and batteries.
The pharmaceutical collection is accepting old and unwanted medications that must be in their original bottle or container.
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org/keshena.html
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov
http://www.menominee.edu
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/earthWeekFlyer.pdfYouth and adults at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin plan three events as part... more
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Caltrans employees have been secretly dumping the remains of hit animals over a cliff in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I can't believe that they wouldn't even let pet owners know their pet has died! They even went to the extreme of weighing down the bags with cement and dirt. Caltrans employees have been secretly dumping the remains of hit animals over a cliff... more
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