October 20 (NZN) – With a new booster pump in place, salvage experts will remain on board the stricken vessel Rena overnight to keep extracting oil from the ship. The operation hit a hiccup earlier on Thursday when the original booster pump’s circuits blew. Salvage unit manager Bruce Anderson says the setback didn’t stop the […]
October 19 (Sky News) – More oil has leaked from the stricken container ship the Rena after the boat was battered by poor weather off the New Zealand north coast. Maritime New Zealand says a small amount of oil was released from the bow of the vessel on Tuesday morning, and a light sheen of […]
By Derek Cheng, James Ihaka, Jamie Morton, and Paul Harper 18 October 2011 Salvage workers are bracing for the death of the “creaking, groaning” MV Rena, now sitting precariously on Astrolabe Reef and expected to flood more oil into the sea. The same pancake-sized blobs of oil that have blotted the Western Bay of Plenty […]
The elemental form of mercury is not as toxic to humans and wildlife as the organic form of mercury, methylmercury, which can accumulate in blood, feathers, and fur. An inorganic element found in the earth’s crust, mercury is naturally released into the environment through geological events such as volcanic eruptions. Elemental mercury (abbreviated Hg, from […]
BY RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, ASSOCIATED PRESS13 October 2011 HOUSTON — In a 30-mile area of the Texas Panhandle, biologists found 76 white-tailed deer — but zero babies. Not far away, they located only three quail on a stretch of road where they would see 15 in a normal year. In South Texas, a biologist reports a […]
An oil spill from a stranded cargo ship off New Zealand is the country’s worst environmental disaster in decades, the government says. Officials say 350 tonnes of oil may have leaked from the 775ft (236m) Rena, which ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef off the port of Tauranga on Wednesday. Bad weather has halted work […]
By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent26 June 2011 Warming ocean waters are causing the largest movement of marine species seen on Earth in more than two million years, according to scientists. In the Arctic, melting sea ice during recent summers has allowed a passage to open up from the Pacific ocean into the North Atlantic, allowing […]
August 10 (NWF) – Populations trends are declining for mule deer and pronghorn antelope herds on both sides of the Colorado-Wyoming border and herds may not be able to fully recover unless federal and state agencies act to protect core habitats, according to a report released today by the National Wildlife Federation. “We are seeing […]
The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) and adjacent Scotia Sea support abundant wildlife populations, many of which were nearly extirpated by humans. This region is also among the fastest-warming areas on the planet, with 5–6 °C increases in mean winter air temperatures and associated decreases in winter sea-ice cover. These biological and physical perturbations have affected […]
MANDERA/WAJIR, 28 July 2011 (IRIN) – In his village, Kiliwehiri in northeastern Kenya, Abdullah Mohamed is known as “that mentally disturbed man”. “It is difficult to be normal after you have watched your entire life’s savings get wiped out before your eyes,” said Ibrahim Abdi, assistant chief of the village. “We are Somalis, we look […]
