tagged w/ Toxic Waste
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Holy crap. Is the onslaught of clean coal's internet ads driving anyone else nuts? You can't open a news website without being subjected to greenwash about the benefits of coal. It's what powers America. No duh! Coal is responsible for a majority of carbon emissions. That's the problem! It's like touting grain alcohol as a cure to alcoholism.
Talk about lipstick on a pig. Clean Coal is apparently an oxymoron that both party's candidates can support. Saying it's clean doesn't make it clean. Come on Barack, come on John. Can one of you show some leadership on this issue and stop parroting the coal industry's coal-is-great message? Coal mining is an environmental disaster and coal burning is a climate change disaster.
The technology simply doesn't exist. We're decades away from Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The Energy Department just pulled the plug on the $1.8 billion FutureGen project, previously slated to be the first coal-fired plant with CCS.
Architecture 2030's report, The 2030 Blueprint, Solving Climate Change Saves Billions, reveals that our buildings are responsible for three quarters of our electricity use. The report calculates that building energy efficiency can produce electricity (by reducing demand) at 1/6th the cost of Coal with CCS (and one fifth the cost of nuclear).
While coal with CCS is at least 20 years out and a single nuclear plant takes 8 to 12 years to get online, energy efficiency measures can be implemented today - at today's prices with off-the-shelf materials, appliances and equipment.
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So, will those who agree that clean coal is an oxymoronic (with emphasis on moronic) toxic hoax perpetrated by the coal industry to keep doing business as usual under their cap and trade schemes hold MCain's and Obama's feet to the fire on it regardless of who is "elected?" Will planet come before party?Holy crap. Is the onslaught of clean coal's internet ads driving anyone else... more
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A mining boom in Mongolia is threatening to devastate the country's rivers and is forcing nomadic herders to abandon their land and traditional way of life, local activists warn.
As mining companies scramble to extract Mongolia's vast deposits of gold and other minerals, government regulations including laws stipulating that mining not be done next to rivers are being violated or even ignored, environmentalists claim.
Extraction methods, such as dredging, river diversion, and the use of high-pressure water cannons to dismantle hillsides, have damaged rural landscapes along rivers such as the Onggi, which supports 60,000 nomadic herders and one million head of livestock.
Rivers now run dry in some areas, making it more difficult to find water for thirsty animals, according to nomadic herders. They say using the alternative water source groundwater potentially contaminated by mercury and other mining pollution is alarming as well.
"Our way of life is threatened," said Tsetsegee Munkhbayar, a Mongolian nomadic herder and National Geographic Emerging Explorer.
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In an effort to save his livelihood and heritage, Munkhbayar started the Onggi River Movement, which now has 1,600 members. The group spearheaded a large grassroots movement that includes several river-based organizations.
Together they have protested at mining sites and lobbied government officials to push for stronger enforcement of mining laws. Their efforts have yielded successes, according to Munkhbayar. A few years ago, pressure from his group led to the temporary shut down of many offending mining companies operating along the Onggi River, he said.
The Onggi River Movement has also pushed for mining companies to conduct environmental conservation work, including restoring soils and vegetation to sites that they have mined.
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Thousands of ninja miners have flooded the valley near the Uyanga township in the central Uvurhongai province, creating a frontier settlement reminiscent of the Wild West.
"These newly formed camps are not supported by government social programs, and this unregulated mining furthers the environmental concerns with illegal use of mercury," said Bob Harris, who sits on the board of directors of the Tahoe-Baikal Institute, a nonprofit environmental organization based in Russia.
Mercury has historically been used in hydraulic gold mining to separate gold from the gravel. Its use is now banned. Two years ago one Chinese mining firm was shut down in Mongolia after it was found to have leaked the pollutant into a local river.
Rehabilitation
To claim the land along the lower Onggi River before the mining companies, Munkhbayar has started several farms that grow sea-buckthorn, a hardy plant that produces berries used to make juice.
The plants retain water and may help keep downstream sections of the river intact when a mine settles in upstream, he said.
Munkhbayar and his colleagues have support among a few of Mongolia's newly elected parliamentary leaders, but face an uphill battle given the government's overall pro-mining stance, industry observers say.
If peaceful campaigning fails, Munkhbayar warned, he will defend his principles at any cost. "I'm willing to die for this cause," he said.
But there is hope for the rivers and nomads. Farther up from the township of Saihan-Ovoo where Munkhbayar grew up, a once-dried up section of the Onggi River is flowing again though it is far from being as full as it once was.
"I want my children to one day be able to skate down the Onggi River again," he said.
A mining boom in Mongolia is threatening to devastate the country's rivers and is... more
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Two men have been jailed in the Ivory Coast over the dumping of toxic waste, which killed 17 people and made thousands ill.
In the sentencing on Wednesday, Salomon Ugborugbo, the Nigerian director of the local Tommy company which had used trucks to distribute the waste in 2006 at open sites across the Ivorian commercial capital Abidjan, was given a 20-year sentence on the charge of "poisoning".
The prosecution had asked for a life sentence. Desire Kouao, an Ivorian shipping agent, received a five-year sentence for "complicity" in the same charge.
Seven local port customs and maritime officials were acquitted of charges over their role in the toxic waste scandal which shocked the world's number one cocoa producer and raised questions about the dumping of toxic materials in Africa.
No representatives from the Dutch-based international oil trader, Trafigura, which had chartered the Panamanian-registered Probo Koala vessel that unloaded the waste in Abidjan, were accused in the trial that had opened late last month.
Trafigura had already agreed a nearly $200 million out-of-court compensation settlement with the Ivory Coast government which exempted it from legal proceedings in the West African country.
The company denies any responsibility for the deaths and illnesses suffered by Abidjan residents after the dumping.
Vincent T'sas, an independent journalist in the Ivory Coast, told Al Jazeera: "People are saying that the main culprits are not in court - the people of Trafigura - and they could have been because they have spent - right after this dumping - six months in prison here.
"One of the prisoners was the president of Trafigura, but after six months he was released because the company made a deal with the government saying OK, we will pay $200,000 million if you free us.
"That is what angers people. People are still suffering," he said.
Toxic 'slops'
When the Abidjan trial opened, Trafigura said in a statement it would present independent experts to prove the waste could not have been responsible for their illness.
The petrochemical waste was described by Trafigura as "slops", residues from gasoline mixed with caustic washings.
Defence lawyers in the Abidjan hearings had repeatedly complained that it was unfair for their clients to be in the dock when executives from Trafigura were not on trial.
But the Dutch-based company faces a possible class-action suit next year in London courts brought by a British law firm representing thousands of Ivorian victims seeking tens of millions of dollars in compensation.
Many victims have already been compensated from the out-of-court settlement, but many say they have not received enough compensation.
At the height of the scandal in 2006, Abidjan hospitals were overwhelmed as thousands sought treatment for vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties after exposure to noxious fumes.
T'sas said on Thursday: "I went to a village near the dump today and I saw a woman who was covered in sores who has had them since the dumping in 2006.
"It's raining at the moment in Abidjan and the fumes of the toxic waste are still in place. Although there has been a clean-up operation, it has not been completlely cleaned."Two men have been jailed in the Ivory Coast over the dumping of toxic waste, which... more
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Next spring, Marblehead resident Christopher Swain will dive into the Atlantic Ocean in Boston and begin an 800-mile swim to Washington, D.C. in an effort to plead the case of the world's oceans.
But first, he will stage another ethical-electronics-recycling event at the Tower School.
We live on a water planet, the 40-year-old father of two explained. If we want to live healthy lives, we need to go the distance to protect and restore the waters that we all depend on. I've decided to do just that: go the distance all the way to Washington to plead the case of the oceans. Along the way, I want to help schoolchildren find ways to make our water planet a healthier place to live.
The ocean swim is part of Christopher Swain's ToxTour project, an ongoing campaign to collect and recycle, ethically, one billion pounds of used electronics: the used computers, TVs, telephones and other items commonly known as e-waste.
Earlier this year, as a warm-up, Swain trudged 100 miles through northern New England carrying a 62-pound backpack of used electronics.
Last May, he held an ethical-electronics-recycling event that netted over 6,000 pounds of e-waste and raised nearly $1,000 for environmental initiatives at Tower.
Swain, an environmental educator based in Massachusetts, was the first person in history to swim the entire lengths of several dirty waterways, including the Columbia River, the Charles River, the Hudson River and Lake Champlain all in support of clean water.
Swain conceived of ToxTour as a way to keep used electronic devices, which he notes are full of toxic chemicals and heavy metals, from fouling the world's waterways and ecosystems.
High levels of heavy metals and dangerous chemicals aren't just affecting human health, said Swain. They are affecting ocean life as well. Dolphins and whales routinely show dangerous levels manmade toxics.
Since the event at Tower last spring, Swain has led carbon-neutral, ethical-electronics-recycling events and cross-curricular projects in schools from Vermont to Pennsylvania.
This week at Tower, Swain reported to an all-school assembly on the ethical-electronics-recycling event held on campus last spring, and discussed his upcoming ocean swim.
In small classes, Swain worked with students to problem-solve ways to make their everyday activities and purchases more ocean-friendly.
Said science teacher Russell Wells; There are a variety of threats to the world's oceans, but two of the biggest are global warming and toxic pollution.
This Saturday, Oct. 25, Tower will host an ethical-electronics-recycling event on its campus at 75 West Shore Drive in Marblehead. And this time around, more than just recycling will be offered.
To address the threat of global warming to the oceans, we decided not only to run a carbon-neutral recycling event, but to offer people a way to balance out the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their computers and cell phones, said Wells. Depending on the age and size of the device, this can cost as little as $2 and go a long way toward slowing global warming.
Proceeds from offset sales will be invested in new wind-power and methane-digester energy projects.
The electronics recycling event will be held this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., rain or shine.
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These are the people who will change the world. Those truly committed to the planet every day because they truly care, not because it is a political agenda they say they will fulfill to get votes.Next spring, Marblehead resident Christopher Swain will dive into the Atlantic Ocean... more
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'Mother Earth, I am your child.' The environmental exploitation of the lands of the Southwest and the Navajo nation is a crime by this government. And it will continue regardless of who is president after this 'election' because the environmental exploitation is what allows them to ascend to the throne in Washington DC with the dollars of the fossil fuel and nuclear industries. They have no real respect for this Earth or the understanding of the spiritual connection the Navajo and others have to her. That is why the environment is not and should not be a partisan political issue. That is why we have to oppose politicians who are silent and those who only give lip service to doing anything to remedy this crime regardless of party. However, that seems hard to do with a population in this country that also places so much emphasis on party loyalty above all else. The Navajo do not know of such distinctions. All they want is to be able to cherish and revere Mother Earth and drink her water, breathe her air, and work her land without the threat of toxic waste and desecration. They understand what true freedom is about.'Mother Earth, I am your child.' The environmental exploitation of the lands... more
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William Engdahl: Europe furious that AAA US bonds turned out to be toxic waste - see end of US era. Part 2 of 2
The economic meltdown on Wall Street has sent shockwaves across the globe. Political economist William Engdahl believes the "US faces an economic depression that will be worse than the Great Depression of the 1930's." He goes on to state that "European goverments are furious at the corruption and fraud that has come out of the New York financial community."
F William Engdahl is an economist and author and the writer of the best selling book "A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order." Mr Engdhahl has written on issues of energy, politics and economics for more than 30 years, beginning with the first oil shock in the early 1970s. Mr. Engdahl contributes regularly to a number of publications including Asia Times Online, Asia, Inc, Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Foresight magazine; Freitag and ZeitFragen newspapers in Germany and Switzerland respectively. He is based in Germany.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89407431_us_losing_ground_in_eastern_europe
William Engdahl: Europe furious that AAA US bonds turned out to be toxic waste - see... more
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Newly evolved "superworms" that feast on toxic waste could help cleanse polluted industrial land, a new study says.
These hardcore heavy metal fans, unearthed at disused mining sites in Britain and Wales, devour lead, zinc, arsenic, and copper.
The earthworms excrete a slightly different version of the metals, making them easier for plants to suck up. Harvesting the plants would leave cleaner soil behind.
"These worms seem to be able to tolerate incredibly high concentrations of heavy metals, and the metals seem to be driving their evolution," said lead researcher Mark Hodson of the University of Reading in England.
"If you took an earthworm from the back of your garden and put it in these soils, it would die," Hodson said.
DNA analysis of lead-tolerant worms living at Cwmystwyth, Wales, show they belong to a newly evolved species that has yet to be named, he said.
Two other superworms, including an arsenic-munching population from southwest England, are also likely new to science, Hodson said.
"It's a good bet they are also different species, but we haven't categorically proved that," he said.
The findings were announced in September at the British Association Festival of Science in Liverpool. Newly evolved "superworms" that feast on toxic waste could help cleanse... more
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bshipp
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3 years ago
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The Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust and Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter on Monday filed suit against Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne for authorizing uranium exploration near Grand Canyon National Park in defiance of a congressional resolution prohibiting such activities across 1 million acres of public lands in watersheds surrounding the Park.
On June 25th the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Natural Resources voted 20-2 in favor of a resolution that requires the Secretary to withdraw public lands surrounding Grand Canyon from new uranium claims and exploration. The Secretary, acting through the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management, has defied the resolution and continued to initiate and authorize new uranium exploration within the withdrawal area north of Grand Canyon. The suit claims that in so doing, the Secretary violated the Federal Land Management and Policy Act, National Environmental Policy Act and other laws.
The Secretary has defied laws and Congress to continue uranium development that threatens the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, said Taylor McKinnon, public lands program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. Short of putting the Secretary before a judge, nothing not laws, not Congress, and not the Grand Canyon itself will impede the Bush administration's accommodation of industry on our public lands.
Recent spikes in the price of uranium have caused thousands new uranium claims, dozens of exploratory drilling projects, and movement to open several uranium mines on public lands immediately north and south of Grand Canyon. Concerns about surface- and ground-water contamination of Grand Canyon National Park and the Colorado River have been expressed by Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano; the Los Angeles Water District; the Southern Nevada Water Authority; the Arizona Game and Fish Department; the Navajo, Hopi, Havasupai, Hualapai and Kaibab Paiute nations; and Coconino County.
Congressmen Nick Rahall, Ral Grijalva, and other members of the Committee on Natural Resources recognized the immediate threat that uranium mining posed to Colorado River watersheds and took the lead in demanding bold, emergency action, said Roger Clark with the Grand Canyon Trust. "It's unacceptable to allow this Administration to abuse their power by ignoring the resolution and putting the Grand Canyon, our nation's most beloved national park, at risk."
Emergency withdrawals have been enacted four times prior to this, most recently in 1981 and 1983 by the late Arizona Congressman Mo Udall and the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee to halt public lands mineral- and energy-leasing programs pursued by Interior Secretary James Watt.
Grand Canyon is a national treasure and something we should protect not just for today, but for future generations, said Sandy Bahr, chapter director for the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter. It is irresponsible for this administration to sacrifice this area, threaten the Park, and risk the water supply for millions of people, all for a few narrow special interests.
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Why can't we stop these people from violating the law!?The Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust and Sierra Club Grand Canyon... more
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Twelve people have gone on trial in Ivory Coast accused of dumping toxic waste blamed for 17 deaths and led 100,000 to seek medical treatment.
Some 500 tons of chemical waste from the oil industry were dumped two years ago in the biggest city, Abidjan.
Those on trial include the head of a local company, Tommy, that signed the deal to treat the waste with the Dutch multinational, Trafigura.
They are accused of poisoning and complicity to poison.
The BBC's John James reports from Abidjan that families of the victims are happy that the trial has begun, but there is anger that no-one from Trafigura is in court - nor those government and port officials accused of turning a blind eye.
Soon after the waste was dumped, people began complaining of breathing problems and rashes.
In an earlier out of court settlement, Trafigura agreed to pay the Ivorian government about $200m (£108m) in one of the largest payments of its kind.
The company never admitted liability, saying the payment was made out of sympathy for Ivorian people.
It also disputes whether the chemical slops were the cause of the large number of medical complaints.
The firm says it contracted Tommy to handle the waste in good faith.
Two years on, much of the waste remains where it was dumped and people still complain of illnesses and abnormal births linked to the waste, our correspondent says.
Twelve people have gone on trial in Ivory Coast accused of dumping toxic waste blamed... more
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What do we know about Palin? Not much according to the Media. We do know Governor Palin is the Public Member for the Alaska Oil and Natural Gas Conservation Commission. What you should know is that the mission of Alaska Oil and Natural Gas Conservation Commission is to work hand in hand with the oil industry to help maximize production, improve resource recovery and to reduce the rights of land owners through its correlative rights mandate. They are task with overseeing the disposal of all toxic waste produced by companies such as Alaska Oil, Chevron, Exxon and BP Alaska.
According to the “ Inlet Keeper” these companies are “legally” pumping 2 Billion Gallons of toxic waste into the fisheries of Cook Inlet annually. Governor Pain is one of three controlling members of this group comprised of One Geologist, One Petroleum Engineer and one public member, ie Palin.
Three people with absolute power and the full authority over our own Environmental Protection Agency control the pumping of over 2 billion gallons annually of toxic waste being pumped into the ice and into the “rich” fisheries known as Cook Inlet , Alaska. What do we know about Palin? Not much according to the Media. We do know Governor... more
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Robert Redford was so struck by a story of Texas mayors, ranchers and other citizens who stood up against plans for a batch of new coal-fired power plants that he narrated a film about it.
The actor and founder of the Sundance Film Festival is lending his voice to a 34-minute documentary called "Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars." The film is being shown in seven cities in Utah and Nevada next week.
Redford's hoping the story inspires others to face off against the "mythology" of nonrenewable resources and consider renewable energy alternatives.
"It makes no sense going in a direction that represents yesterday," Redford said in an interview with The Associated Press this week.
The story centers on a fight that started in 2006 over 19 proposed coal-fired power plants in central and east Texas. The plans galvanized a diverse group of citizens who might otherwise have divergent political viewpoints: ranchers, environmentalists, business leaders, legislators, lawyers and more than a dozen local mayors.
Redford, who has been involved with environmental causes for decades, said he was inspired by the group's unifying interests around clean air and a healthy environment. The coalition opposing the plans grew to include 36 cities, counties and school districts.
"To me, that was a sign of changing times," said Redford, who spends about six months a year in Utah.
Eventually, the company that proposed 11 of the new plants agreed to build only three.
The film, produced by The Redford Center at the Sundance Preserve and Austin, Texas-based Alpheus Media, has already been shown in Texas. Supporters are bringing it to Utah and Nevada where several new coal-fired plants are being proposed.
"It's very relevant to what's going on not only in Utah but the rest of the country," said Tim Wagner, director of the Utah Smart Energy Campaign. "We want people to understand when they see this film that they can get involved, they too can make a difference."
Redford said he sees what happened in Texas as an indication that a tipping point has been reached in how the public perceives coal-fired plants.
"That's breaking apart now because the reality is seeping through like grass coming through the sidewalk," he said.
The screenings next week will be followed by panel discussions about pollution, global warming, renewable energy in the West, ways to minimize energy use and "economic opportunities of the clean energy economy."
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Robert Redford is an environmental icon whose work has brought great change in understanding and in perceiving the problems we face regarding it. Lending his voice to this movie will hopefully inspire other citizen groups to do what politicians will not: stand up to dirty big coal. That is where we will see the most change... right out here, bringing it there.Robert Redford was so struck by a story of Texas mayors, ranchers and other citizens... more
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Pipes carrying uranium tailings in the eastern state of Jharkhand, India, burst on the 16th of August, “spewing the village of Dungridih with radioactive waste,” according to a recent report by Sanhati
It’s the latest in a series of uranium spills that have taken place over the last two years:
Incident 1: December 2006
In the first instance of tailing pipe leakage in Dec 2006, the radioactive waste contaminated the local water canal in Dungridih, killing all acquatic life in the channel. UCIL officials only reached the site after the villages blockaded the road, after the waste had been spilling for 9-10 hours. A report of this incident is available here: http://www.jadugoda.net/Accidents/index.html
Incident 2: April 2007
In the second instance, 4 months later, we know that 1.5 tonnes of solid radioactive waste and 20,000 liters of liquid radioactive waste was leaked (this is the smallest of the recorded leaks) but more information is lacking.
Incident 3: February 2008
In Feb 2008, tailing pipes burst again in Dungridih and radioactive sludge entered the streets and houses of the local villagers. After a sustained campaign by local activists, the UCIL CMD, Mr Ramendra Gupta informed villagers that they would be relocated to safer places and all protective measures will be taken to ensure that no further leakages happen from the tailing pipes. However, no such steps have been taken so far.
Incident 4: July 2008
In July 2008, Jadugoda received record rainfall, which caused tailing ponds at Turamdih to spill over into the village ponds and lakes. UCIL acknowledged this spill but claimed that there was nothing they could do to prevent it. (”Radioactive waste flows into village” http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=9dcc11cc-d424-4900-95a1-41310e6daffe )
Incident 5: August 2008
In August 2008, the tailing pipes have burst again in Dungridih, and the radioactive sludge flowing through them at high pressure has been sprayed over 10-12 houses.
UCIL readily admits that the previous incidents were caused by ‘poor maintenance and negligence’, however, the company is claiming that the most recent leak is a result of sabotage by the villagers.
It’s an insult to a community that’s greatly suffering because of UCIL’s incompetence — and moreso because of their refusal to respect the community’s land rights. The company displaced the village when they were building two of their three tailing ponds.
With nowhere to go, or otherwise refusing to leave their land, the villagers now report high levels of fatigue, lack of appetite, respiratory ailments, miscarriages, impotency, infant mortality, Down’s syndrome, skeletal deformities and thalassemia (a blood disorder).
It looks as if the uranium company has never given any compensation or aid to the village, however they now seem poised to relocate them. “Technically ‘illegal’ settlers on UCIL land,” explains Sanhati, “the UCIL [maintains] that it is under no compulsion to resettle these villagers–but will do so out of compassion. Having thus systematically illegitimized these original inhabitants of the land and put their lives and livelihoods at danger, the UCIL is now conferring a favor on these communities by now displacing them once more and resettling them at safer locations.”Pipes carrying uranium tailings in the eastern state of Jharkhand, India, burst on the... more
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More insanity of humanity: " Mining companies stake claims on federal land adjoining the park, while opponents say drinking water will be at risk.
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona - On a ragged outcrop just a short walk from a Grand Canyon overlook where millions of visitors annually come to gawk at one of the world's most stunning vistas sits the old Orphan uranium mine. Soil radiation levels around it are 450 times higher than normal. It's encircled by a protective fence.
A sign warns: "Remain behind fence - environmental evaluation in progress." In the canyon hundreds of feet below, another sign by gurgling Horn Creek instructs thirsty hikers not to drink its radioactive water. "
More Truthout.org link above.
More insanity of humanity: " Mining companies stake claims on federal land... more
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Looking for weapons of mass destruction? Try the backwoods of North Carolina. The site is easy to find. You don't need infrared telemetry, informants, or a global positioning satellite. Just follow the railroad tracks deep into the heart of the triangle area to the gleaming cooling tower of the Shearon Harris nuclear plant, which rises like a concrete beacon out of the forest.
It may not look like much-a run-of-the-mill nuke, but inside the confines of the steel fence that rings the plant, resides one of the most lethal patches of ground in North America. Shearon Harris is not just a nuclear power-generating station, but a repository for highly radioactive spent fuel rods from two other nuclear plants owned by Progress Energy.
Those railroad tracks? They're for hauling nuclear waste. The spent fuel rods are carted by rail from the Brunswick and Robinson nuclear reactors to Shearon Harris, where they are stored in four densely packed pools, filled with circulating cold water to keep the waste from heating up. The pools are interconnected and enclosed within one building. That building is attached to the reactor itself. Together, they form the largest radioactive waste storage pools in the country.
All this makes Shearon Harris a very inviting target for would-be terrorists. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security has fingered Shearon Harris as one of the most vulnerable terrorist targets in the nation.
Potential atomic terrorists don't have to steal plutonium, take a crash course in physics, or concoct a bomb to manufacture a radiological nightmare scenario in the heart of the Carolinas. All they have to do is penetrate the security fence of a lightly guarded commercial reactor and find a way to ignite the pools of high-level radioactive waste. The easiest method is to disrupt the circulation of the water system that keeps the pools cool.
The resulting fire would be virtually unquenchable. Moreover, because the water system that feeds the waste pools is also connected to the Shearon Harris reactor, a pool fire could also trigger a nuclear meltdown. And so it goes.
An uncontrolled pool fire and meltdown at Shearon Harris would put more than two million residents of this rapidly growing section of North Carolina in extreme peril. A recent study by the Brookhaven Labs, not known to overstate nuclear risks, estimates that a pool fire could cause 140,000 cancers, contaminate thousands of square miles of land, and cause over $500 billion in off-site property damage.
Looking for weapons of mass destruction? Try the backwoods of North Carolina. The site... more
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Monsanto doesn't want anything to do with French investigative journalist Marie-Monique Robin.
The American biotechnology and herbicide-producing giant wouldn't co-operate with Robin in her three years researching her highly critical documentary The World According to Monsanto and her accompanying, French-language bestseller (with an English translation on the way).
Now that her film is being shown in more and more countries, and advocacy groups are featuring clips of the documentary on their websites, Monsanto still hasn't called Robin.
To many viewers, the company's "no comment" may appear to be damning in itself, given the litany of accusations made against Monsanto by farmers, scientists, watchdog groups, health and agriculture advocates.
Googling for seeds of truth
The documentary shows farmers alleging that Monsanto - a leader in developing genetically modified seed and herbicides - has pitted farmer against farmer, encouraging them to rat on anyone suspected of not buying new Monsanto seed each year. It shows agricultural experts alleging genetically modified corn has invaded indigenous Mexican corn, with monstrous varieties being found. And advocates in India alleging that cotton farmers sometimes commit suicide owing to their dependence on genetically modified crops and the risk of low harvests. The list of accusations goes on.
A spokeswoman from Monsanto Canada, however, did respond to calls for this article. "Any of the allegations that have been made in the movie have been responded to publicly on our website," spokeswoman Trish Jordan said. A segment on the company's website labelled For the Record, she explained, "basically responds to some of the common allegations that are dredged up by activists. And I think that would probably give you our position on most, if not everything, in her documentary."
The film does refer to the website, and the explanations used by Monsanto in response to various criticisms.
Still, Robin said she was astonished by what she found when making the film. "Yes, I was very surprised. It's very difficult to understand how they manage - what they called in the U.S. the revolving door," she said. By this, she means the way in which government officials and elected leaders have often worked for corporations such as Monsanto, only to later pass regulations while in office favouring their former employers.
It was also difficult to get people to talk. "It's very difficult," Robin said, whether officials within regulatory agencies, scientists or other journalists. She said that one regulatory insider told her they didn't want to have any problems with the company, since it's so powerful.
The World According to Monsanto is as disturbing as any Hollywood thriller. Robin's next documentaries will likely be just as heavy, with a film on the U.S. military's use of what many see as torture during interrogations and a documentary on environmental causes of cancer.
So what drives Robin to investigate such dire topics?
"I have three daughters at home," she said, "and I think when I'm doing this kind of documentary, it's for my daughters. ... With what's going on with GMOs [genetically modified organisms] and what it means, in 20 years, if we don't react, it's very worrisome."
Aug.1,2008Monsanto doesn't want anything to do with French investigative journalist... more
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If Senator Barack Obama ever needs a living symbol of change we can believe in, and a hopeful way to transcend the dirty politics of our failed energy policies, he should go and see the future of renewable energy in the Coal River Valley in West Virginia.
Yes, renewable energy in Appalachia.
Something historic is taking place in West Virginia this summer. Faced with an impending proposal to stripmine over 6,600 acres -- nearly 10 square miles -- in the Coal River Valley, including one of the last great mountains in that range, an extraordinary movement of local residents and coal mining families have come up with a counter proposal for an even more effective wind farm.
Mother Jones, the miners' angel, once declared: "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living."
Having witnessed the destruction of over 470 mountains and their adjacent communities in Appalachia, the Coal River Valley citizens are doing just that. On the frontlines of one of the most tragic environmental and human rights scandals in modern American history, the community-wide Coal River wind advocates have devised a blueprint to get beyond the divisive regional politics and break the stranglehold of King Coal on the central Appalachian economies.
The Coal River Wind Project is the first bottom-up community-based full scale assessment to directly counter the nightmare of mountaintop removal with a renewable energy and economy alternative prior to the actual mining.
We have a choice. It is not simply coal or no coal. Jobs or no jobs. The issue is how do we create jobs and clean energy forever, and begin the transition in Appalachia and America away from dirty coal.
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This is so wonderful. To see residents standing up to big coal to truly bring jobs and health to the Appalachians. Wind is the alternate energy source for this area, and I stand with them in getting this done. And if Barack Obama does care for change, he will stop touting "clean coal" and stand by these residents and their initiative to bring real clean energy and jobs to this part of the country that has been so devastated by the toxic legacy coal has left in its wake.If Senator Barack Obama ever needs a living symbol of change we can believe in, and a... more
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While the presidential hopefuls trade barbs and accuse each other of flip- flopping, they agree with President Bush on their enthusiastic support for nuclear power.
Sen. John McCain has called for 100 new nuclear power plants. Sen. Barack Obama, in a July 2007 Democratic debate, answered a pro-nuclear power audience member, "I actually think that we should explore nuclear power as part of the energy mix."
Among Obama's top contributors are executives of Exelon Corp., a leading nuclear power operator in the nation. Just last week, Exelon released a new plan called "Exelon 2020: A Low-Carbon Roadmap." The nuclear power industry sees global warming as a golden opportunity to sell its insanely expensive and dangerous power plants.
But nuclear power is not a solution to climate change — rather, it causes problems. Amory Lovins is the co-founder and chief scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado. He makes simple, powerful points against nuclear: "The nuclear revival that we often hear about is not actually happening. It is a very carefully fabricated illusion ... there are no buyers. Wall Street is not putting a penny of private capital into the industry, despite 100-plus percent subsidies." He adds: "Basically, we can have as many nuclear plants as Congress can force the taxpayers to pay for. But you won't get any in a market economy."
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The presidential hopefuls are wrong on nuclear power. Wind, solar and microgeneration (generating electricity and heat at the same time, in smaller plants), on the other hand, are taking off globally, gaining billions of dollars in private investments. Lovins summarizes: "One of the big reasons we have an oil problem and a climate problem today is we spent our money on the wrong stuff. If we had spent it on efficiency and renewables, those problems would've gone away, and we would've made trillions of dollars' profit on the deal because it's so much cheaper to save energy than to supply it." The answer is blowing in the wind.
While the presidential hopefuls trade barbs and accuse each other of flip- flopping,... more
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In May 1998, at the urging of the state's coal industry, the Illinois Legislature passed a bill condemning the Kyoto global warming treaty and forbidding state efforts to regulate greenhouse gases.
Barack Obama voted "aye."
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee now calls climate change "one of the greatest moral challenges of our generation," and proposes cutting carbon emissions 80% by 2050. But as a state senator, from 1997 to 2004, he usually supported bills sought by coal interests, according to legislative records and interviews.
Obama is not the only politician whose public stance has shifted on global warming, which a scientific consensus says has been caused chiefly by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, who now backs limits on carbon emissions, was among 95 U.S. senators who voted in 1997 to oppose the Kyoto Protocol, an emissions reduction scheme that had been negotiated by then-vice president Al Gore.
Still, Obama, who touts his independence from special interests, made a point of embracing the coal industry as part of his quest for statewide office. When he ran for U.S. Senate in 2004, he was flanked by mine workers to proclaim that "there's always going to be a role for coal" in Illinois.
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Obama's other votes on coal in the state Senate included:
• In 1997, he voted to divert sales taxes to a fund for grants to help reopening closed coal mines and "incentives to attract new businesses that use coal."
• In 2001, Obama voted for legislation that offered $3.5 billion in loan guarantees to build coal-fired power plants with no ability to control carbon emissions.
• In 2003, he voted to allow $300 million in taxpayer-backed bonds to build or expand coal-fired power plants.
"You know, I am a strong supporter, I think, of downstate coal interests and our need to prop up and improve the outputs downstate," Obama said on the Senate floor before voting on the 2001 bill.
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I expect to see this from a Republican. I expected better from a Democrat. In May 1998, at the urging of the state's coal industry, the Illinois Legislature... more
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Monsanto, best known today for its agricultural biotechnology products, has a long and dirty history of polluting this country and others with some of the most toxic compounds known to humankind. From PCBs to Agent Orange to Roundup, we have many reasons to question the motives of this company that claims to be working to reduce environmental destruction and feed the world with its genetically engineered food crops.
Headquartered near St. Louis, Missouri, the Monsanto Chemical Company was founded in 1901. Monsanto became a leading manufacturer of sulfuric acid and other industrial chemicals in the 1920s. In the 1930s, Monsanto began producing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs, widely used as lubricants, hydraulic fluids, cutting oils, waterproof coatings and liquid sealants, are potent carcinogens and have been implicated in reproductive, developmental and immune system disorders.
The world’s center of PCB manufacturing was Monsanto’s plant on the outskirts of East St. Louis, Illinois, which has the highest rate of fetal death and immature births in the state. By 1982, nearby Times Beach, Missouri, was found to be so thoroughly contaminated with dioxin, a by-product of PCB manufacturing, that the government ordered it evacuated. Dioxins are endocrine and immune system disruptors, cause congenital birth defects, reproductive and developmental problems, and increase the incidence of cancer, heart disease and diabetes in laboratory animals.
By the 1940s, Monsanto had begun focusing on plastics and synthetic fabrics like polystyrene (still widely used in food packaging and other consumer products), which is ranked fifth in the EPA’s 1980s listing of chemicals whose production generates the most total hazardous waste.
During World War II, Monsanto played a significant role in the Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb.
Following the war, Monsanto championed the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture, and began manufacturing the herbicide 2,4,5-T, which contains dioxin. Monsanto has been accused of covering up or failing to report dioxin contamination in a wide range of its products.
The herbicide “Agent Orange,” used by U.S. military forces as a defoliant during the Vietnam War, was a mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D and had very high concentrations of dioxin. U.S. Vietnam War veterans have suffered from a host of debilitating symptoms attributable to Agent Orange exposure, and since the end of the war an estimated 500,000 Vietnamese children have been born with deformities.
In the 1970s, Monsanto began manufacturing the herbicide Roundup, which has been marketed as a safe, general-purpose herbicide for widespread commercial and consumer use, even though its key ingredient, glyphosate, is a highly toxic poison for animals and humans. In 1997, The New York State Attorney General took Monsanto to court and Monsanto was subsequently forced to stop claiming that Roundup is “biodegradable” and “environmentally friendly.”
Monsanto has been repeatedly fined and ruled against for, among many things, mislabeling containers of Roundup, failing to report health data to EPA, and chemical spills and improper chemical deposition. In 1995, Monsanto ranked fifth among U.S. corporations in EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory, having discharged 37 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land, water and underground.
Since the inception of Plan Colombia in 2000, the US has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in funding aerial sprayings of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicides in Colombia. The Roundup is often applied in concentrations 26 times higher than what is recommended for agricultural use. Additionally, it contains at least one surfactant, Cosmo-Flux 411f, whose ingredients are a trade secret, has never been approved for use in the US, and which quadruples the biological action of the herbicide.
cont...Monsanto, best known today for its agricultural biotechnology products, has a long and... more
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On the west side of Anniston, the poor side of Anniston,
the people ate dirt. They called it "Alabama clay" and cooked it for extra
flavor. They also grew berries in their gardens, raised hogs in their back
yards, caught bass in the murky streams where their children swam and
played and were baptized. They didn't know their dirt and yards and bass
and kids -- along with the acrid air they breathed -- were all contaminated
with chemicals. They didn't know they lived in one of the most polluted patches
of America.
Now they know. They also know that for nearly 40 years, while producing the
now-banned industrial coolants known as PCBs at a local factory, Monsanto
Co. routinely discharged toxic waste into a west Anniston creek and dumped
millions of pounds of PCBs into oozing open-pit landfills. And thousands of
pages of Monsanto documents -- many emblazoned with warnings such as
"CONFIDENTIAL: Read and Destroy" -- show that for decades, the corporate
giant concealed what it did and what it knew.
In 1966, Monsanto managers discovered that fish submerged in that creek
turned belly-up within 10 seconds, spurting blood and shedding skin as if
dunked into boiling water. They told no one. In 1969, they found fish in
another creek with 7,500 times the legal PCB levels. They decided "there is
little object in going to expensive extremes in limiting discharges." In
1975, a company study found that PCBs caused tumors in rats. They ordered
its conclusion changed from "slightly tumorigenic" to "does not appear to
be carcinogenic."
Monsanto enjoyed a lucrative four-decade monopoly on PCB production in the
United States, and battled to protect that monopoly long after PCBs were
confirmed as a global pollutant. "We can't afford to lose one dollar of
business," one internal memo concluded.
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This story dated 2002 tells of something that happened decades ago that Monsanto knew and did nothing about. Will the same thing happen regarding GM foods? Will the effects of them on our health and on the sustainability of our planet start to show themselves in the next decade? Inadequate human testing of GM soy and corn has led to America being one of the only countries allowing it in food. As many of my entries and other entries on this have shown, Monsanto cannot be trusted with the health and safety of Americans. They thought nothing of dumping lethal compounds into the waterways and land of our country. I doubt they then care about the potential toxins they dump into our bodies by not allowing proper disclosure on food labels by using their political muscle to stifle Democracy.
BOYCOTT Monsanto until they do, and until the govt. agencies entrusted with the health and safety of the American people do their job.On the west side of Anniston, the poor side of Anniston,
the people ate dirt. They... more
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