By Ben Sharples Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) — An oil spill from a leaking well off Western Australia that has polluted the Timor Sea with 1,200 metric tons of oil may worsen and is a “major ecological disaster in the making,” a conservation group says. “This is a disaster that risks blowing out further in terms […]
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) Sept 16, 2009 – Malaysian police said Wednesday they had dismantled blockades constructed in the Borneo jungles by Penan tribespeople protesting against logging and plantations on their ancestral land. In a separate move police also arrested 17 people, including Penan and other indigenous groups, for mounting a demonstration against a proposed dam […]
Groundwater-quality data from a sampling of 1,329 wells in 19 states were analyzed. Chloride concentrations were greater than the secondary maximum contaminant level established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of 250 milligrams per liter in 2.5 percent of samples from 797 shallow monitoring wells and in 1.7 percent of samples from 532 drinking-water supply […]
By Jeremy Hance A new report shows that the Corrientes region of the Peruvian Amazon, which suffered decades of toxic contamination by Occidental Petroleum (OXY), is far from being cleaned-up. The survey, conducted by US non-profit E-Tech International, found that heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and hydrocarbons still exist at levels above the safety limits […]
By DAVID LEIGH, September 18, 2009 LEAKED internal emails have revealed a massive cover-up by the British oil trader Trafigura, in one of the worst pollution disasters in recent history. The emails obtained by The Guardian prove that Trafigura, which abruptly announced an offer to pay compensation to 31,000 West African victims, was fully aware […]
Levels of chloride, a component of salt, are elevated in many urban streams and groundwater across the northern U.S., according to a new government study. Chloride levels above the recommended federal criteria set to protect aquatic life were found in more than 40 percent of urban streams tested. The study was released today by […]
You might think that one of the world’s foremost examples of the impact of climate change would be deterred from making exceptionally pollution-heavy plans for development. You’d be wrong. Despite the fact that global warming is causing its important glaciers to melt astonishingly fast, Greenland is on track to become one of the world’s most […]
ROME (Reuters) – Italian authorities have found the wreck of a ship sunk by the mafia with 180 barrels of toxic waste on board, one of more than 30 such vessels believed to lie off Italy’s southern coast, officials said on Tuesday. Following a lead from a mafia turncoat, investigators used a remote-controlled submersible to […]
ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2009) — Intersex occurrence in smallmouth and largemouth basses is widespread in numerous river basins throughout the United States is the major finding of the most comprehensive and large-scale evaluation of the condition, according to new research. Of the 16 fish species researchers examined from 1995 to 2004, the condition was most […]
By CHARLES DUHIGG Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, W.Va. In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water. Her youngest son has scabs on his arms, legs and chest where the bathwater — polluted with lead, nickel and other heavy metals — […]
