Monday, Nov 25th
Last update09:09:25 AM GMT
Environmental Glance
A report from a new institute at the State University at Buffalo asserting that state oversight has made natural gas drilling safer is causing tumult on campus and beyond, with critics arguing that the institute is biased toward industry and could undercut the university’s reputation.
The study, issued on May 15, said that state regulation in Pennsylvania had made drilling there far safer and that New York rules were even more likely to ensure safety once drilling gets under way in the state.
It was recently reported that a rather significant, concerning, and mysterious spike in radiation occurred in the north Indiana / south Michigan area, causing widespread alarm throughout the nation. Not only are the reports of the radiation spike concerning in of itself, but the appearance of military helicopters, aircraft, and Department of Homeland Security hazmat fleets is also generating some raised eyebrows. Reports are continuously coming out updating on the event occurring throughout June 6-7, with locals reporting on a series of explosions, house-shaking rumbles, and even large trees being completely snapped in half on a clear day just days before.
More than a year after a tsunami devastated Japan, killing thousands of people and washing millions of tons of debris into the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. government and West Coast states don’t have a cohesive plan for cleaning up the rubble that floats to American shores. There is also no firm handle yet on just what to expect.
The Japanese government estimates that 1.5 million tons of debris is floating in the ocean from the catastrophe. Some experts in the United States think the bulk of that trash will never reach shore, while others fear a massive, slowly-unfolding environmental disaster.
Engineers at the Davis-Besse nuclear reactor near Toledo found a pinhole coolant leak in a pipe weld Wednesday evening while inspecting the plant.
The company's report to the NRC noted that the coolant was spraying from a pinhole in the socket weld of a three-quarter inch pipe at a 90 degree elbow between a reactor coolant pump and a safety valve.
Spring in the contiguous U.S. was the warmest on record, capping the hottest 12-month period in data going back 117 years, the National Climatic Data Center said.
The national average temperature from March through May was 57.1 degrees Fahrenheit (14 Celsius), 5.2 degrees above the long-term average and 2 degrees warmer than the previous mark set in 1910, said the data center in Asheville, North Carolina.
Called "Stop the Frack Attack," this national day of action promises to "bring thousands to the nation's capitol to demand greater government responsibility and corporate accountability for harm that existing oil and gas development causes."
Five million Brazilian farmers are locked in a lawsuit with US-based biotech giant Monsanto, suing for as much as 6.2 billion euros. They say that the genetic-engineering company has been collecting royalties on crops it unfairly claims as its own.
The farmers claim that Monsanto unfairly collects exorbitant profits every year worldwide on royalties from “renewal” seed harvests. “Renewal” crops are those that have been planted using seed from the previous year’s harvest. While the practice of renewal farming is an ancient one, Monsanto disagrees, demanding royalties from any crop generation produced from its genetically-engineered seed. Because the engineered seed is patented, Monsanto not only charges an initial royalty on the sale of the crop produced, but a continuing 2 per cent royalty on every subsequent crop, even if the farmer is using a later generation of seed.
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