Toxic Water on U.S. Base

Prolonged fuel leakage and consequent water contamination at the largest US Marine Corps Base in North Carolina has killed many American military personnel and civilians.

                                                                  

For decades, the Marine Corps at Camp Lejeune dumped fluids containing toxic chemicals, which leached into groundwater and eventually contaminated the water distribution system of the base.                                                                                                                                        

                                                  

The camp's water contamination problem existed between 1957 to 1987 during which period the US Marine service members and their families used the contaminated tap water for drinking and bathing.                      

        

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More States Ordering Disclosure of Fracking Chemicals

In a belated attempt to soothe public suspicion about shale-gas drilling, state regulators increasingly are forcing natural gas producers to disclose the chemicals used to hydraulically fracture natural gas wells.

    

Starting Feb. 1, Texas becomes the latest state to require drilling companies to disclose the volumes of chemicals and water they use in "fracking," which involves the high-pressure injection of chemically treated water and sand deep underground to release entrapped oil and gas.  

                                         

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National Petrochemical & Refiners Association Changes Name

As an oil refining group changes its name, some views on its future    

                                                             

The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association officially changed its name today, to American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers. In its presentation to a group of the Washington energy community, and the press, the "manufacturing" aspect of this was uppermost.                                                                      

                                                                    

That makes a great deal of sense. With so much national policy aimed at boosting the manufacturing sector, why not look to be part of it? Especially when your product, as has been widely reported, was the largest export for the US, by dollar value, in 2011.                                                                                 

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Google Launches New Master Privacy Policy

Offering users what it calls less “legal gloop to wade through,” Google announced a new master privacy policy and terms of service on Tuesday via the company’s blog.

Google began notifying users of the change coming to its terms of service and privacy policies, which will take effect on March 1.

Rather than 70 privacy documents, there is one main privacy policy to govern its many products. What this means: Google can pull information from one service and deliver it to you via another, fusing Google+ with Gmail with YouTube, for example, and whatever other Google products you use.

Full story at Mashable

Huge Solar Storm Pounding Earth Right Now

A powerful solar eruption is blasting a stream of charged particles toward Earth tomorrow - this is the strongest radiation storm since 2005.                                   

Image credit - National Geographic News

The solar storm may trigger stunning aurora displays and cause minor disruptions to satellites over the next two days, NASA scientists say.

The storm began when a powerful solar flare erupted on the sun yesterday (Jan. 23), blasting a stream of charged particles toward Earth.

This electromagnetic burst, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), hit Earth at about 9:31 a.m. EST (1430 GMT), according to scientists at the Space Weather Center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Read more about the Space Hurricane

While on Space.com, also check out The Sun's Wrath: Worst Solar Storms in History

Who Is Kim Dotcom?

I am not a Megaupload subscriber, knew little about the company until this past week when the founder, and other company execs were arrested. From news reports on and off-line, it was hard not to miss this story.                                                                              

The story on Megaupload was tied to other important news stories this past week. First, the proposed vote in Washington on the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). The bill did not pass, and actually ended up being the largest online protest in history. The next big story was the group Anonymous taking down the U.S. Dept of Justice, FBI and other websites in retaliation against the government shutting down Megaupload's website, and seizure of the company's domain.                        

 

After getting an understanding of how these stories are related, then came the question of exactly who is this Kim Dotcom?

South Sudan Orders Halt of Oil Production

The South split from Sudan in July, taking with it 75% of the country's oil production of 470,000 barrels per day. However, despite its oil wealth the new state of South Sudan lacks the infrastructure to refine and export oil.                                                                                                                                                

South Sudan has said it ordered the halt of oil production that provides some 98% of its revenue, amid a deepening dispute with the Sudanese government over pipeline fees.                                                        

Sudan admits to taking some South Sudanese oil destined for export as compensation until an agreement, but the South has said this is theft.                                                                                           

Full story at Yahoo News

Oil Rig Arrives In Cuba For Offshore Drilling

Cuba has said it may have 20 billion barrels of oil in its parts of the Gulf, but the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated about 5 billion.

A Chinese-built drilling rig to be used in the first major exploration for oil in Cuba's offshore waters arrived on Thursday off the coast of the communist-ruled island's capital.

Starting next week, Spanish oil giant Repsol YPF, working in partnership with Norway's Statoil and ONGC Videsh, a unit of India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp, is expected to drill at least two wells in Cuban waters about 70 miles from the Florida Keys.

Read rest of article at Reuters

Canadian Oil Headed to China?

The last line of a statement by Joe Oliver, Canada’s Minister for Natural Resources, in response to the decision Wednesday by the Obama administration to deny the Keystone Pipeline – at least temporarily – gives credence to the oft-voiced rumor that if the U.S. turned up its nose at the Canadian oil sands oil that the Maple Leafs would sell the oil to China.

Continue reading article at Des Moines Register

Billions of Dollars Lost by Caribbean’s Largest Oil Refinery

The refinery, which is one of the 10 largest in the world and the largest in the Caribbean, is a joint venture between the Hess Corporation and Petroleos de Venezuela SA.

In spite of rising oil prices on the world market, billions of dollars in losses have caused the HOVENSA oil refinery in St Croix, US Virgin Islands, to be shut down the company announced yesterday (January 18).

Losses at the HOVENSA refinery have totalled US$1.3 billion in the past three years alone and were projected to continue revealed the official statement from the company.

Read more at Caribbean 360

OPEC Says Europe’s Debt Crisis Could Cut 2012 Oil Consumption

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries says the ongoing European governmental debt crisis could cut global oil consumption this year.

OPEC on Monday left its forecast for 2012 oil demand unchanged at nearly 89 million barrels a day. But the 12-nation cartel, which produces about 40% of the world's oil, said that if Europe's financial woes worsen, it could weaken demand not only in Europe, but also in emerging economies across the globe.

The price of oil has risen about 25% since September, to about $100 a barrel in New York trading. The price has been pushed higher in the last month as tensions rise because of Iran's threat to block oil tanker traffic through the Persian Gulf in response to the economic sanctions imposed by Western nations seeking to curtail Tehran's nuclear program. About a fifth of the world's oil production is transported through the gulf.

OPEC said “geopolitical concerns” have affected the oil market, but otherwise made no mention of the dispute between Iran and the West.

Article Source: VOA News

Electric Vehicle – Beautiful Light Carbon Fiber

Nice article from Thompkins & Friends - Category Environment. Subscribe and get the latest Twitter news!                                                                                                             

The automotive industry is learning a lot from other industries, but with the introduction of the electric vehicle, they are truly catching up on some fields that were avoided in the past.                  

                                            

One such a field is the application of carbon fibers, where makers of race cars, airplanes and windmills have been in the lead for so many years now. The rise of the electric vehicle has refocussed the attention of the automotive on carbon fiber again, with the likes of BMW and Tesla opening the gates and eyes for many others in the quest to create lighter cars. Lighter cars equal a higher efficiency and for electric vehicles, a higher range.                                                                                                                                                     

Read article at MyHEV

Not All Rivers Reach the Sea

Conservation writer Jonathan Waterman decided to investigate the health of the Colorado River - “I wanted to alert people to what was going on with this iconic river in our backyard that we basically take for granted,” he said. “This river is in trouble — it’s not the river it used to be.”                                                                                

Read this artice at New York Times Green Blog

19-Year-Old Solar Panel Maker Shaking Up Industry

Eden Full knew since she was three years-old that she’s wanted to be a scientist. It wasn’t until she entered into a science competition at nine years-old and built her first solar car that she realized the potential for solar, particularly in areas around the world that remain without electricity.                                                                                                                                            

                           

Just 10 years later, in 2010, she succeeded in providing electricity, for the first time, to two villages in Kenya through her company, Roseicollis Technologies. She built the social enterprise on her technology, the SunSlater, a cost-effective solar panel rotator she developed which she says increases the efficiency of solar panels.                                                                                                                                              

Oil Industry Attempts to Co-Opt “Occupy” Movement

A new radio ad campaign and website sponsored by the oil industry’s largest firms seeks to conflate union solidarity with the “Occupy” and “99 Percent” movements with the Keystone XL pipeline, which the White House delayed last week for approximately a year for greater study.                                                                                    

    

Called “Jobs for the 99,” the campaign has released two radio ads decrying “the Hollywood crowd” who’ve ostensibly taken over Washington, D.C., holding it hostage from creating jobs for oil industry workers. Both ads end with a credit that claims they were paid for by unions.  

             

Finish reading article Oil Industry Attempts to Co-Opt  “Occupy” Movement

Plastic the Most Widely Used Synthetic in The World

Plastic is a polymer (which are large molecules), that consists of a long repeating chain of smaller molecules, which are called monomers.

Monomers are made of atoms, and easily extracted from organic sources, and fall into the class of chemicals known as petrochemicals.  Plastics are produced by a process called polymerization.

Do you know how plastic is made?

Fuel - A Short Documentary

Director Josh Tickell takes us along for his 11 year journey around the world to find solutions to America's addiction to oil. 

A shrinking economy, a failing auto industry, rampant unemployment, an out-of-control national debt, and an insatiable demand for energy weigh heavily on all of us.

Fuel shows us the way out of the mess we're in by explaining how to replace every drop of oil we now use, while creating green jobs and keeping our money here at home. 

The film never dwells on the negative, but instead shows us the easy solutions already within our reach.

SEC Probes Oil Drilling Contractor Executive Perks, Jets

Nabors Industries Ltd is a Bermuda-registered company whose operational headquarters are in Houston.

Nabors Industries Ltd., the oil-drilling contractor whose chairman is set to receive $100 million for relinquishing his chief-executive title, said Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into perks received by its executives, including personal flights on company jets.

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United Plans to Buy 20 Million Gallons of Biofuel Per Year

United Continental Holdings said that its subsidiary Continental Airlines today is operating the first U.S. commercial flight powered by advanced biofuels.

Flight 1403, a Boeing 737-800, departs Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport at 10:30 a.m. for Chicago O’Hare International Airport, making United the first U.S. airline to fly passengers using a blend of sustainable, advanced biofuel and traditional petroleum-derived jet fuel.

“Today, roughly four months since the approval of hydroprocessed renewable fuels in commercial aviation, we are excited to see the deployment of these fuels on a domestic U.S. flight,” said John Heimlich., vice president and chief economist for the Air Transport Association of America (ATA).

Solazyme produced the world's first 100% algae-derived jet fuel for both commercial and military applications.

United said that it has also signed a letter of intent with Solazyme to negotiate the purchase of 20 million gallons of jet fuel per year, derived exclusively from algae oil, for delivery as early as 2014.


Article Source:
http://www.travelpulse.com/kate-rice.html

State Dept. IG to Review Oil Pipeline From Canada

The State Department's inspector general will review the Obama administration's handling of a Canadian company's request to pipe oil from western Canada to Texas, following complaints from Democratic lawmakers about possible conflicts of interest in the review process.      

          

Deputy Inspector General Harold W. Geisel said the special review will center on whether the State Department "and all other parties involved" in the project followed federal laws and regulations related to the $7 billion Keystone XL project.                                                              

The 1,700-mile pipeline proposed by Calgary-based TransCanada would carry oil derived from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.                                                                                                                     

The State Department's inspector general will review the Obama administration's handling of a Canadian company's request to pipe oil from western Canada to Texas, following complaints from Democratic lawmakers about possible conflicts of interest in the review process.

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