Monthly Archives: July 2012

A recent federal worker safety alert about dust from sand used in hydraulic fracturing caught few Wyoming oil and gas officials and companies by surprise, despite a lack of research into the danger by state agencies. Nearly 80% of all air samples taken by NIOSH showed exposure rates above federal recommendations. Nearly a third...
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The second person injured in an incident at a Tomahawk, Wis., has died of his injuries. Reports say the two men came into contact with fly ash, a product of burning coal. Go to the Full Story at WSAU (Wausau, Wisc.)
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CNN - Corn prices surged to a new record high Monday, as the worst drought in more than 50 years continues to plague more than half the country. Almost 90% of the United States’ corn crops are in drought ravaged areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and nearly 40% are situated in the...
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Plutonium is the nuclear nightmare…it is a million-year radioactive waste legacy that is already costing the world billions of dollars a year to contain. And yet, some scientists say, we have the technology to burn plutonium in a new generation of “fast” reactors. That could dispose of the waste problem, reducing the threat of...
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Photo courtesy of U.S. Army. Republicans have been going after the Navy’s biofuel program, the “Green Fleet,” as I covered here and here. As I’ve said, I have mixed feelings about military biofuels. Apart from the details of that program, though, I expect that this is the first sortie in what will become a...
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Each month, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) posts Health and Safety To Go! podcasts. In this month’s 16-minute podcast, Dr. Keven Kelloway explains what positive psychology is and how it relates to workplace stress. Listen to the podcast now. CCOHS also has posted an encore presentation of its nearly 4-minute podcast on the...
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India suffered one of its worst blackouts in a decade this Monday morning when high demand for electricity cut off power to seven northern states and over 360 million people.  India’s electricity demand during the hot, dry summer has greatly increased this year, especially in urban areas.  Without a good monsoon and due to unusually...
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The Amish are best known for their simple living, their plain dress and their reluctance to adopt many of the technological luxuries we take for granted. In many regards, they are among the greenest and most sustainable communities in the US given their farming methods, their recycling of resources, their reliance on horse power...
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Companies will have until September 1, 2013, the day the European Union’s updated biocides legislation applies, to prepare for the provisions it introduces. Effective from July 17, 2012, differences between Regulation 528/2012/EU and the previous framework under Directive 98/8/EC include streamlined requirements for approving active substances and authorizing products, including at Union level for...
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On July 25, 2012, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed the amended version of the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 bill (S. 847) to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) by increasing reporting obligations of chemical manufacturers and processors and giving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) more authority to remove harmful...
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The Chicago Tribune Media Group currently has a EHS Manager role open at their downtown Chicago facilities. Here’s a link to the job description: https://chicago-tribune.icims.com/jobs/22136/job If you know someone, please feel free to pass this message along.Job Description for Environmental, Health and Safety Manager Chicago Tribune Media Group, the premier media and business services...
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Disappointed by the lack of aggressive action by the U.S. Federal Reserve at the meeting of its powerful rate-setting committee last week, and assuming a wait-and-see posture on results from this week’s European summit, pessimistic market-watchers are turning once again to guessing when the clock atop the euro zone time-bomb will finally run to...
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The chronic drought that hit western North America from 2000 to 2004 left dying forests and depleted river basins in its wake and was the strongest in 800 years, but those conditions will become the “new normal” for most of the coming century, scientists conclude in a new report. Such climatic extremes, they say,...
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JSOnline - A growing number of residential wells found to be polluted with gasoline from a July 17 pipeline break and dramatic increases in levels of benzene in the wells prompted state environmental officials Sunday to broaden the search for contaminated groundwater in the town. As of Sunday afternoon, three more private wells in the...
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Leader-Telegram — “A new industry continues to rise — quite literally — from the ground in west-central Wisconsin. Officials from 12 regional counties reported the area now has a total of 52 silica sand mines that are either operating or approved (see map above). That’s up 136 percent from 22 just a year ago...
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(Image Source: Facebook / Earth Warrior; June 2012) Text Synopsis  What if solar got the same subsidies as fossil fuels? - US solar subsidies: $1 billion, compared to $72 billion subsidies for fossil fuels over 5 years. If the US gave the same subsidies to solar that it does to fossil fuels, solar would be cheaper...
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As yields and corn production declines, concerns arise about the point at which ethanol plants will be forced to curtail production because of the price of corn reaching unprofitable levels.  The shutdown price is a function of the price of corn as well as the price that ethanol is being sold.  Currently, the price...
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NBF – So we may see in 2015-2020 if China’s new round of economic stimulus proves unsustainable. China is building out all of its high speed rail and having massive local stimulus and infrastructure construction. The Chinese economy will have a lot of stimulus for the next three years.  Some think that China could not...
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Hong Kong spent USD$8.60 billion to build the high-speed rail (HSR) line linking with mainland China. (10 pages) They calculate a net present value (NPV) of up to USD$2,068.49 million for the calculated benefits. Conventional railway also has a positive NPV (about USD$177.60 million) due to its balance performance in all kinds of aspects. Roadway...
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US Government deficits have been running at about $1.3 trillion per year or about 9% of GDP. China has a federal deficit of 1.5 to 2.4% of GDP. However, China is ramping up spending at the provincial and city level. China is increasing spending on high speed rail and other infrastructure. The White House projection is for...
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It’s easy to forget that every piece of our current infrastructure–roads, rails, runways, bridges, industrial plants, housing–was built with a certain temperature range in mind. Our agricultural system and much of our electrical generating system (including dams, nuclear power stations and conventional thermal electric plants which burn coal and natural gas) were created not...
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Ameren Missouri recently announced a proposal for a small, modular nuclear reactor. What’s the problem? Well, let’s begin with the folly of picking an industry that is a loser from every vantage point. Missourians know from Ameren’s repeated attempts to push through a nuclear plant proposal that private investors dismiss nuclear power plants as...
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On this intelex EHS This Week Podcast OSHA’s issues final rule on whistleblower complaint procedures for the consumer products industry. A Senate comittee approves a new Safe Chemicals Act. Calls for dramatic OSHA reform and a whole lot more.! Podcast here from  intelex 9871384a-4d6f-4c2c-8c3b-2fd5adf1a854.mp3
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@SmartPlanet – Put this idea into the “killing two birds with one stone” category. The “birds” in this case are nothing less than two great economic and environmental challenges facing the West: How to establish carbon-free, sustainable energy independence, and how to cut reliance on China for the rare earth metals vital to products ranging...
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…Bill Gates is financially backing two Harvard scientists who will spray sun reflecting chemicals 80,000 feet above Fort Sumner, N.M. with the help of a balloon,the Guardian reports. Harvard professor of applied physics David Keith, who is leading the project, wants to replicate the effect of volcanoes – known to spew earth cooling sulfates...
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On July 13, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) modified the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Section 312 Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory Forms (Tier I and Tier II) to add new data elements under the facility identification and contact information sections.  EPA also revised some existing data elements.  In October 2011...
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ACA’s PaintCare program plan has been officially approved by CalRecycle, California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. The California PaintCare program will officially start Oct. 19, 2012.  Please continue reading at: http://paint.org/news/industry-news/item/937-aca-paintcare-program-plan-receives-official-sign-off-from-calrecycle-california-program-to-begin-oct-19.html
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In a largely symbolic vote along party lines, on July 25, 2012, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee by a 10-8 vote passed an amended version of Senator Frank Lautenberg’s (D-NJ) Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 (S. 847). Despite the Committee’s passage of the bill, the legislation faces a headwind of opposition from...
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Nuclear plant workers not employed by the operating utilities were exposed to nearly four times the radiation doses received by utility employees, indicating that “outside workers” are often assigned the dangerous tasks, statistics showed. Please continue reading at: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201207260071
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WASHINGTON – Duane “Butch” O’Malley, 59, of Bourbonnais, Ill., who was convicted by a federal jury on September 26, 2011, for the illegal removal, handling and disposal of asbestos from a Kankakee building in August 2009, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Federal District Court Judge Michael McCuskey. O’Malley was also ordered...
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Among the 21 categories of items shipped by rail, none have a tighter correlation to GDP than waste. According to a 2010 piece on Bloomberg, economists Michael McDonough and Carl Riccadonna note that waste has an 82 percent correlation to US economic growth. This should be pretty intuitive.  The more you produce, the more you...
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The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $11,419,000 to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to support the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program. The funds will be used by the state of Oklahoma to provide loans and other types of financial assistance to local communities and intermunicipal and interstate agencies for wastewater improvements Please continue...
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LIFE – Enjoy the ride
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Environmental Manager – Greater Tulsa, OK Area (Ref job code 5451) This client is continuing to gain prominence in their industry sector and is experiencing growth, as their products fit with the global economy. They are seeking an Environmental Manager, who is responsible for providing leadership to the environmental performance and compliance of this growing facility.Responsibilities...
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Please join WasteCap, Bachmann Construction, and Center for Resilient Cities on September 20th as we tour the Center for Resilient Cities’ newest Community Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Meet the Lead Contractor and Project Manager of the Resilience Research Center and learn the green strategies and techniques employed during the building phases of the project....
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Sobering…  Solar-cell manufacturer Solyndra became a household name when it collapsed, taking $627 million in American taxpayer dollars with it. It’s the poster company for the government picking winners and losers—or really, just losers—in the energy market. But there are 12 more “green energy” losers that have declared bankruptcy despite attempts to prop them...
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Whee! Have a good weekend!
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… A comparison between Lake Superior’s average water temperature this year so far and the longer-term average. Click on the image for a larger version. Credit: GLERL. …OK, so the lake’s average water temperature is still a bracing 68 degrees, but it’s considered downright tropical for the region. As the above chart shows, based...
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This Webinar will be in SPANISH, please click here for the Spanish version of this invitation. When:  August 22, 2012  Time:  North American, Latin American, and European Time Zones How:  Register for FREE! Come hear 3E Company’s Latin America & Mexico Regulatory Analyst, Leticia Cuevas discuss the impact of GHS adoption within the new regulatory landscape in Latin America....
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cal-osha.com: Seventeen people are now certified in workplace safety after taking a free, five-week occupational safety and health training program this spring. Geared toward laborers, foremen, superintendents and project managers who work in construction, the training program was a 30-hour class held over the course of five weeks.   “Offering free training programs is one of...
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cal-osha.com: The U.S. House has passed by voice vote legislation that would preserve the exemption from most safety regulations for minors working on farms owned or partially owned by members of their extended family, such as grandparents, aunts and uncles. The measure passed July 25 would block any future attempt by the department to issue...
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Gary Varvel - The rash of stories about adults leaving their children locked in cars in 100 degree heat is so gut-wrenching. I commented on this subject years ago. Unfortunately it’s happening again. Those little “Baby on Board” signs that you sometimes see in the back window of cars should be placed in the front...
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TOKYO — Japan posted its biggest first-half trade deficit on record, according to government figures released Wednesday, highlighting the economic consequences for this nuclear-averse country of importing fossil fuels to meet its energy needs. The Finance Ministry reported a 2.92 trillion yen (or $37.3 billion) trade deficit, which reflected not only Japan’s surging need for oil...
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Environmental, safety & Health Specialist at Bloom Energy CorporationSunnyvale, Ca. Under the direction of manager, this position is responsible for supporting the EHS team in the development, implementation, monitoring and continuous improvement of Environmental Health and Safety programs, ensuring compliance with corporate, Federal, state, and local EHS requirements. Required Skills and Experience:    * AA...
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WRI: Where is the Steve Jobs of sustainability? The business leader with the big, disruptive ideas—and the force of will—to achieve for sustainable production and consumption what Apple’s visionary chief did for global technology and information? This question springs strongly to mind after attending the Rio+20 conference. Unlike the original Earth Summit 20 years...
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Washington’s tap water, most of which comes from the Potomac River, meets or exceeds federal water-quality standards. But new pollutants have emerged that are not removed by current water-purification technology. Evidence suggests that the same contaminants that caused massive fish kills and deformities in recent years are linked to increases in obesity, diabetes, autism,...
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It seems that the most effective thing sustainability executives in large companies can do is to stop talking about sustainability. That’s my takeaway from a new report, published today, by VOX Global, Weinreb Group Sustainability Recruiting and the UC Berkeley chapter of Net Impact. The report—a jointly conducted survey of sustainability leaders at mostly large...
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  The following pdf was written by European Small Hydropower Association (ESHA) and summarizes the main aspects regarding the development of small hydropower plants. It contains the following chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Fundamental of Hydraulic Engineering Chapter 3: Evaluating Stream Flow Chapter 4: Site Evaluation Methodologies Chapter 5: Hydraulic Structures Chapter 6:...
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Of the 107 U.S. biomass plants operating at the start of this year, 85 have been cited by state or federal regulators for violating air-pollution or water-pollution standards at some time during the past five years. Please continue reading at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303740704577524822063133842.html
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The worst nuclear near-disaster that you’ve never heard of came to light in 2002, when inspectors at Ohio’s Davis-Besse nuclear power station discovered that a slow leak had been corroding a spot on the reactor vessel’s lid for years (PDF). When they found the cavity, only 1 cm of metal was left to protect the nuclear...
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(Reuters) – A coal dust explosion hit Poland’s top utility PGE Turow lignite power plant late on Tuesday, sparking a fire that caused a shutdown of three out of eight blocks of the plant responsible for 7 percent of the country’s power supply. Please continue reading at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/24/us-poland-exposion-plant-idUSBRE86N1NJ20120724
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CNSNews.com - Prior to fiscal 2008, the federal government had never increased its debt by as much as $1 trillion in a single fiscal year. From fiscal 2008 onward, however, the federal government has increased its debt by at least $1 trillion each and every fiscal year. The federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1...
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Ken Manchen…  on my way to Bangalore, India, to participate in a workshop and seminar for India environmental professionals. One of my duties will be to give a presentation on the electronic waste (e-waste) problem and the reasons for India’s new restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS) and waste electrical and electronic waste (WEEE) rules. Consumer...
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The greenest energy state in the union is dying from of lack of energy… zerohedge - California, which imports over 25% of its electricity from out of state, is in no position to lose half (!) of its entire nuclear power capacity…Will California now find that it must import as much as 30% of its power?...
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Click to explore the map of the USDA’s efforts to boost local food systems. Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released what it’s calling the “2.0 version” of its Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass. For those not in the know, the Compass is a map of all of the local food...
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…The recent Texas drought was indeed severe. Lubbock’s rainfall for 2011 amounted to a meager 5.86 inches compared to its long-term annual average of 18 inches. Besides setting the stage for a record-breaking fire season, the drought forced farmers to pump more groundwater to make up for the rainfall deficit.  Without the extra pumping,...
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Population changes are a minor factor in CO2 emissions. The chart below shows that you can have an increase in population and a decrease in CO2 emissions. The bigger factors are GDP increases and the economy. The group Population Matters pushes for draconian state controls on birth rates and on immigration because they feel...
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…The MIT approach combines energy from multiple sources by switching rapidly between them. It doesn’t quite sound simultaneous, but Bandyopadhyay did say of the system, “we extract power from all the sources.” The conquered another challenge, according to the university: driving down how much power the control circuit itself consumes. The researchers made the...
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I’ve often wondered how much energy New York’s myriad of buildings could save by doing simple things like replacing light bulbs. One commercial realtor has quantified what would happen if LED lighting was retrofitted into its properties, and the payback that it expects to receive is substantial. Commercial property owner SL Green intends to...
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A new microbial fuel cell creates energy during wastewater treatment and also vastly reduces the amount of sludge produced. Israel-based company, Emefcy, named as a play on the acronym for microbial fuel cell (MFC), starts with the same principle as most wastewater treatment—water is aerated so bacteria in the liquid break down organic material...
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Nurses, nursing aides and orderlies have borne the weight of the nation’s obesity epidemic and suffered the consequences. They have gone home with aching backs and, in worst-case scenarios, ended up in hospitals themselves. Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) Go to the Full Story…
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Noise levels recorded at nearly a dozen restaurants, gyms and bars in New York City reached heights that, if sustained over as little as two hours, would violate standards set by Fed-OSHA to protect workers’ hearing. But even if the regulations were heeded, federal noise protection standards lag behind much of the industrialized world’s....
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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker began a drought tour Friday as his state continues to grapple with fish kills, dying crops and water emergencies amid raging heat. On Wednesday, the Republican governor declared a state of emergency in all of Wisconsin’s 72 counties because of abnormally dry conditions. Please continue reading at: http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2012/07/20/2
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An inspector from Iowa OSHA arrived in Cedar Rapids Thursday to investigate the death of a worker at a local General Mills plant. On Wednesday, emergency personnel responded to the plant for a report of a man trapped between a piece of machinery and a safety post. KCRG (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Go to the...
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We have, in this country alone, something like 70,000 tons of high level nuclear waste — 250,000 worldwide, give or take. What we don’t have, here or anywhere else, is a place to put it all. And figuring that out means you have to convince people it’ll be okay to store nuclear waste where...
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The endocrine system is essentially the system through which our glands, lymph nodes, gonads, pancreas, and other hormonal organs operate. The instructions given by our endocrine system through different hormones cause many of the fundamental processes that keep us alive. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can alter the endocrine processes by simulating the chemical...
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It’s hard to believe that the explosion at Reactor Four on April, 26, 1986, happened more than a quarter of a century ago. But the children born long after its eruption are still living with the poisoned land and food grown in the two countries. Alexander’s immune system has packed up. He was one...
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SmartPlanet -,China has revealed plans to send a luxurious, hotel-like, nuclear propelled massive underwater mining station to the depths of the Pacific, where it will drill for oil, gold, copper, zinc, lead and other metals smack dab on the seabed. According to the South China Morning Post (free 2-week registration required), the China Ship Scientific Research Center’s mega-craft...
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guardian.co.uk Sir Richard Branson is urging the US government to help commercialise a controversial class of nuclear reactor, according to a letter seen by the Guardian asking for a meeting with President Barack Obama and US energy secretary Steven Chu. The White House declined the meeting to discuss integral fast reactors (IFRs), which proponents say offer a way...
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US Energy Secretary Stephen Chu earlier this year suggested that solar PV without subsidies will be cheaper than both coal and gas if it could get its costs down to around $1/watt by the end of the decade – an event that would trigger a total re-examination of the way electricity was produced in the world’s...
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inhabitat. – What Azza proposes is to break down the plastic polymers found in drinks bottles and general waste and turn them into biofuel feedstock. (This is the bulk raw material that generally used for producing biofuel.) It should be noted that this is not a particularly new idea, but what makes Azza stand out from the crowd...
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forbes… A month or so ago, this column ran a pieceintroducing the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR), a recycling system wherein companies are responsible for collecting and recycling the packaging they create. The idea has the backing of big beverage industry players, including Nestle Waters North America and Coca-Cola, but the idea is that it would include...
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The endocrine system is essentially the system through which our glands, lymph nodes, gonads, pancreas, and other hormonal organs operate. The instructions given by our endocrine system through different hormones cause many of the fundamental processes that keep us alive. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can alter the endocrine processes by simulating the chemical...
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced recently that it is providing $950,000 to help 17 communities expand green infrastructure use to improve water quality and protect people’s health and benefit communities. Green infrastructure uses vegetation and soil to manage rainwater where it falls, keeping polluted stormwater from entering sewer systems and waterways in...
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SmartPlanet -,China has revealed plans to send a luxurious, hotel-like, nuclear propelled massive underwater mining station to the depths of the Pacific, where it will drill for oil, gold, copper, zinc, lead and other metals smack dab on the seabed. According to the South China Morning Post (free 2-week registration required), the China Ship Scientific Research Center’s mega-craft...
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The U.S. House of Representatives has taken action to encourage more domestic mining of rare earth minerals that are vital to the production of advanced energy technologies. H.R. 4402, the National Strategic and Critical Mineral Production Act of 2012, was passed last Friday by a vote of 256 to 160. 22 members of the Democratic Party...
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EAST LANSING, Mich. — A new biofuel production process created by Michigan State University researchers produces energy more than 20 times higher than existing methods. The results, published in the current issue of Environmental Science and Technology, showcase a novel way to use microbes to produce biofuel and hydrogen, all while consuming agricultural wastes....
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History of the windmill Windmills have been around since the Middle Ages. The first recorded evidence of windmills being used for pumping water and grinding grain was in 7 AD in Persia. Then China got ahold of the idea and it spread to Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean. The European mill appears to have...
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YALE360 – By declining to implement tougher regulations on smog last fall, President Obama rejected measures that could have saved several thousand lives a year and prevented millions of cases of asthma attacks and other acute respiratory problems, according to a new study. Reporting in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, scientists from Johns Hopkins University said that the...
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We’re excited to share our recently released case study regarding BA Blacktop’s success with Intelex’s Quality Nonconformance and Standard Safety Incidents applications.  With unique objectives to streamline and unify their Quality and Safety management programs to improve tracking and monitoring processes, BA Blacktop turned to Intelex to help them achieve these goals.  The end result was remarkable, including a 56%...
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H.R. 6082 would establish a schedule for oil and gas lease sales in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that would replace the leasing plan developed by the Department of the Interior (DOI) for the 2012-2017 period. The bill would direct DOI to auction leases in areas that are not included in DOI’s plan, including...
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The rain that fell in many parts of Wisconsin this week was a welcome sight, but the drought in Wisconsin continues and has been updated from severe to extreme by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Find answers and help to your drought-related questions by going to the DNR website and searching “drought resources Web page.
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For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American, according to a report cited in Toronto’s Globe and Mail. And not just by a little. Currently, the average Canadian household is more than $40,000 richer than the average American household. Read on at: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/07/18/for-the-first-time-canadians-now-richer-than-americans America on decline...
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The most underreported recent environmental story has been the dramatic decline in energy-related carbon emissions — nearly back to mid-1990s levels, and falling. Maybe it’s because that story just doesn’t fit the left’s mantra that traditional energy sources are destroying the environment. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) June energy report says that energy-related...
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With a rising number of complaints of water contamination, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s water department has been instructed to take at least 1,000 water samples every day, which will be increased to 1,500 gradually. Please continue reading at: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_bmc-wakes-up-to-water-contamination_1715893
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A federal study of the massive groundwater basins supplying much of the Inland region showed high levels of nitrate and perchlorate, contaminants that require expensive treatment to meet health standards before water is delivered to homes. Please continue reading at: http://www.pe.com/local-news/breaking-news-headlines/20120718-region-study-finds-high-groundwater-contamination.ece
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In the growing maelstrom of green building standards and sustainability metrics, ACA has been a steady voice for workable indoor air quality standards for paints and coatings. ACA has a dedicated Green Building Workgroup to address emerging green building standards and codes that contain indoor air quality and chemical requirements for building materials, including...
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 (ENS) – Flares, leaking pipelines and tanks emitted 92,000 tons of toxic chemicals into the air during accidents, break-downs and maintenance at Texas oil and gas facilities, refineries and petrochemical plants over the past three years, finds areport released today by the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project, EIP. Based on data from the Texas Commission on...
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The following is an update from EPA’s Superfund, TRI, EPCRA, RMP & Oil Information Center: On July 13, 2012, EPA modified the EPCRA Section 312 Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory Forms (Tier I and Tier II) to add new mandatory and optional data elements under the facility identification and contact information sections of both...
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Key Development: EPA will withdraw proposed rule that would have required all concentrated animal feeding operations, regardless of whether they discharge into water, to report information about their operations. What’s Next: EPA will work with the Association of Clean Water Administrators to collect information on CAFOs from existing state, local programs. …The Environmental Protection Agency will...
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…According to Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, however, the reason behind the swelling food stamp rolls is that unemployment is worse than the 8.2 percent reported earlier this month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Let’s just say this,” DeLauro said during a Thursday CSPAN interview, when presented with a Bloomberg Government graph showing...
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Doug Ross – I dream of a day when vintage media covers the important issues, such as how the president’s policies are permanently condemning the nation’s poor to lives of misery. I wrote last year about the way in which welfare programs lead to very high implicit marginal tax rates on low-income people. More specifically, they lose...
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“We’re in a very unfortunate position to be here,” Richard Duncan, author of The New Depression, warned on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” Monday. “When we broke the link between money and gold, this removed all constraints on credit creation. This explosion of credit created the world we live in, but it now seems that credit cannot expand...
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…According to CEO and Chief Global Strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Peter Schiff, the U.S. economy is heading for an economic crash that will make 2008 look like a walk in the park. Stimulus programs can delay this day of reckoning, but only for so long and only at the expense of making the...
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…The California-based manufacturer has just successfully fabricated a three dimensional solar panel that traps sun light in nano-scale wells on a silicon wafer. Perhaps most exciting, the prototype panel was built using off-the-shelf tech from Panasonic, meaning that the price of mass production shouldn’t be prohibitively high. More testing is needed, but the resulting panels should be...
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EPA says revisions will make chemical reporting, emergency planning easier -JJ Keller EPA is adding new data elements and revising existing data elements on the Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory Forms (Tier I and Tier II) under Section 312 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). According to the July 13 final...
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JJKeller – New fact sheet educates employers on potential health problems Workplaces, such as schools, hospitals, hotels, restaurants and manufacturing plants, use cleaning chemicals to ensure the cleanliness of their buildings. However, some cleaning chemicals can be hazardous to the workers, causing problems ranging from skin rashes and burns to coughing and asthma. As...
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