European Union: Pesticide Rules
On 13th January 2009, the European Parliament voted 577 in favour to 61 against to ban some of the agricultural pesticides considered to be the most dangerous to human health. They include substances classed as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction; endocrine-disrupting; persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic; or very persistent and very bioaccumulative. The vote is likely to be endorsed by EU ministers, allowing a list of approved "active substances" to be drawn up, with certain highly toxic chemicals banned unless their effect can be shown to be negligible.
Pesticides already approved will remain available until their ten-year authorisation expires, so there will be no sudden, large-scale withdrawal of products from the market. Most pesticides currently on the market will be valid until at least 2015, giving pesticide manufacturers time to reformulate their products.
Aerial crop-spraying will for the most part be banned, with strict conditions placed on pesticides used near aquatic environments and drinking water supplies. Buffer zones must be set up around water and protected areas along roads and railways.
The changes agreed will make the EU Commission rules primarily a hazard-based, rather than a risk-based approach since they treat products in the categories of whether they are proven or suspected carcinogens, or whether there has been some observation, but no actual evidence, of carcinogenic behaviour. The new rules will determine which substances are too hazardous to be approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
China: Coal Output to Increase by 30%
According to an announcement on 9th January 2009 by the Chinese Land and Resources Ministry, China aims to increase its coal production by around 30% by 2015 to meet its energy needs, representing an annual output of more than 3.3 billion tonnes by 2015. The Ministry also said that annual production of natural gas would more than double to 160 billion cubic metres by 2015, while that of crude oil would increase by 7% to more than 200 billion tonnes.
Chinese energy consumption grew by an average annual rate of 5.4% between 1979 and 2007, with average annual economic growth of 9.8%. China depends on coal for about 70% of its energy and has become one of the world’s two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, alongside the United States. China plans to continue using coal as its main energy source, despite the impact global warming has already had on the country. Government sources point out that statistically the per capita emissions of greenhouse gases in China are far lower than those of the USA and other developed nations.
Bahrain: Open Truck Transport Ban Delayed
An Interior Ministry ban on transporting construction workers in the back of open trucks was to have been implemented in Bahrain on 1st January 2009, but after lobby pressure was applied by the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), the Ministry decided to delay the new ruling until 1st May. The BCCI claimed that companies would be forced to buy new trucks and buses, despite the National Transport organisation having enough buses available to cover the construction industry.
The open truck ban followed a spate of road accidents in which workers were killed when their transport overturned; but implementation has already been postponed for nearly two years. The Bahrain General Traffic Directorate records that in 2006 there were two labourers killed and 221 injured in open truck accidents, with three deaths and 187 injured in 2007.
International: Ocean Fertilisation Experiment Controversy
An international geoengineering expedition led by the Alfred Wegner Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) of Bremerhaven, Germany, planned to carry out a large-scale experiment in mid-January 2009 to soak up greenhouse gas emissions by artificially fertilising ocean water with iron. The project was called LOHAFEX, taking its name from the Hindi word for iron. Although the expedition was highly controversial it was described as having the scientific backing of the UK, German and Indian Governments, as well as the International Maritime Organisation. The current consensus opinion is that large-scale ocean fertilisation is not scientifically justified.
The AWI expedition sailed from Cape Town in early January on the icebreaker ship “Polarstern”, and intended to dump 20 tonnes of ferrous sulphate into the Southern Ocean in order to trigger a phytoplankton bloom. They had selected a 300-square-kilometre, nutrient-poor patch of the Scotia Sea between Argentina and the Antarctic Peninsula as their target. The theory was that artificially stimulated photosynthetic plankton would take carbon from the atmosphere, incorporate it in their bodies and then deposit it as sediment on the ocean floor when they died, thus sequestering the carbon. The team also intended to monitor the population of Antarctic krill to see if their populations increased at the same time. Krill are small crustaceans that feed on plankton and are an important food source for many marine species.
Such ocean fertilisation experiments have been carried out in the past with mixed results, but they became controversial in 2007 when an American start-up company called Planktos announced that it would dump iron filings off the coast of the Galapagos Islands. The business model of Planktos was to sell carbon credits to companies who would pay it to dump iron in the oceans, counterbalancing their own CO2 emissions. Several authoritative bodies argued that this was tantamount to pollution and could have unforeseen environmental consequences. Planktos eventually cancelled the expedition and the company went into liquidation due to lack of funds.
Following the Planktos affair both the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity recommended that governments restrict ocean fertilisation activities. Thus the new experiment was in clear violation of international law under the Convention on Biological Diversity that was agreed by 191 parties in 2007. AWI denied that the experiment fell under the United Nations moratorium, and claimed it was not in contravention of the IMO London Convention on ocean pollution.
However, on 14th January the German Environment Ministry asked the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, who are the owners of the “Polarstern”, to order the experiment to be suspended and demanded that AWI commission an independent assessment of its environmental safety. In yet another reversal of policy the German Research Minister changed her mind on 27th January and said that the contentious experiment could go ahead.
A recent study published in the journal Nature (R. T. Pollard et al., Nature 457, 577-580 (29 January 2009) | DOI:10.1038/nature07716 457, 577–580) reported on the similar CROZEX experiment of 2004 and 2005 which found that the potential of iron-induced carbon sequestration is far lower than previously estimated.
In the event, the much-criticised LOHAFEX project, in which six tonnes of ferrous sulphate were dumped over a 300 sq km patch of the Southern Ocean, failed to produce the anticipated result. The experiment did indeed stimulate a burst of algal growth, but within two weeks the algae were being eaten by small crustaceans called copepods, which were in turn eaten by amphipods, a larger type of crustacean. Thus the carbon remained in circulation through the food chain rather than being sent to the sea floor. The expedition reported that only an almost negligible amount of CO2 was removed in a carbon flux towards the sea floor.
A flaw in the reasoning on which the expedition was based seems to have been that a lack of iron is not the only factor limiting phytoplankton growth. Earlier experiments had found that diatom populations would bloom in response to feeding with extra iron. However, diatoms have a supporting structure based on silicon, and in the LOHAFEX study area the diatom population could not increase because the waters were depleted in silicic acid.
China: 13 Miners Die in Pit Flood
An illegally operating coal mine at Baiyanglin in Anshun City, Guizhou Province, was flooded on the last day of December 2008, trapping the work shift of 20 men underground. Seven miners subsequently escaped. By 12th January 2009, rescue workers had recovered five bodies under difficult conditions that included tunnel collapse and toxic gas. They reported that about 3,000 cubic metres of water remained in the pit and the chances of survival for the missing miners were slim.
Preliminary investigations found that the mine, which had a production capacity of 30,000 tonnes a year, was supposed to be under renovation. It had no work safety certificate and its production permit had expired. The mine owners were ordered to cease operations by the local authorities in both September and December 2008, but the mine had continued to function. The local safety authorities were investigating the cause of the accident.
Nigeria: Gas Profits Go Up in Smoke
Onshore oil production began in Nigeria in the 1950s, with development work undertaken by the multinational oil majors, among whom Royal Dutch Shell is the largest operator. Around 40% of current Nigerian gas production is wasted by flaring as it is produced. Nigeria accounts for 12.5% of the world's gas flaring and the country wastes the second largest volume of gas of any producer after Russia.
Not only does flaring waste billions of dollars in useful gas, but it is also environmentally damaging on such a scale and a risk to public health, producing heat, noise, toxic fumes and heavy smoke over the watery marshland and mangrove swamps of the Niger Delta. The Nigerian Government has set two deadlines to halt the practice of flaring from oil wells in the Delta, but they have both been ignored by the operators.
The operating companies had no way to store or transport the gas until the 1980s, and so burned it off. Since then the price of gas has increased, transportation techniques have developed and drilling technology has improved so that more oil, and consequently more gas, can be drawn through a single well.
There is concern in government quarters that potential profits are being lost and there is a great need for the gas in Nigeria itself, as the country is in the grip of an electrical power generation crisis. Shell claims to have reduced the amount of gas flared by more than 30% since 2000, and blames the Government for failing to honour its funding agreements. Shell also complains that the Government cannot guarantee the security of oil workers in an area where heavily armed paramilitary gangs operate and commit acts of sabotage, murder and kidnapping.
The Government cannot force the field operators to collect the gas without taking oil wells out of production, thus losing valuable profit. However, in January 2009 the OPEC cartel ordered Nigeria to make cuts to its production as part of a global attempt to lift oil prices. This may enable the Government to take some wells out of production to be fitted with gas collecting equipment.
USA: Poor Safety Management Leads to Refinery Explosion
The US Chemical Safety Board in Washington DC announced that it was sending an investigation team to the Silver Eagle Refinery in Woods Cross, to the north of Salt Lake City in Utah, where an explosion and fire involving a 13,500-barrel storage tank containing naphtha caused serious injuries to four workers.
The incident took place on 11th January 2009 and was reported as being caused by heavy fumes leaking from the tank and spreading at ground level until ignited by a nearby furnace. The four injured men were standing outside the door of the building containing the furnace.
The Silver Eagle oil refinery has an extensive federal record of safety violations and irregularities relating to electrical equipment, machine safety equipment, and flammable materials storage tanks.
International: More Radical Cuts in CO2 Emissions Essential
An influential report by Rajendra K. Pachauri, Director General of the Energy and Resources Institute and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), was published in January 2009 by the Worldwatch Institute. See:
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5658
Entitled State of the World 2009: Into A Warming World, the document is based on the findings of the IPCC Fourth Assessment and argues that far more action is necessary before 2050 to prevent catastrophic global climate change. Not enough is being done to control and reduce CO2 emissions and far more radical cuts of around 85% are essential. After 2050, more CO2 must be sequestered from the atmosphere than is put into it by human activities. The report concludes that it is still possible to arrest and manage climate change with renewable technologies and more efficient ways of living.
Even an average rise in temperatures of 2C poses unacceptable risks to natural systems, and global greenhouse gas emissions need to peak before 2020 and decrease drastically until 2050. The report urges long-term planning, global co-operation and innovative solutions, such as improved building design incorporating a variety of efficiency measures.
UAE: Masdar Photovoltaic Plant Under Way in Abu Dhabi
Construction of the first and largest grid-connected solar photovoltaic plant in the Middle East and North Africa region began at Masdar in January 2009 by the Abu Dhabi-based solar power system integrator, Enviromena Power Systems. The 10 MW plant will consist of 50% thin film and 50% crystalline silicon panels, and is anticipated to generate around 17,500 MWh of clean energy per year, equivalent to an annual saving of 15,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
The solar power facility will initially generate renewable electricity to support on-going construction activities in Masdar City and later will provide power for the Masdar Institute, which will open later this year, and the Masdar Site Administration Facilities. Excess generated power will be exported elsewhere in the emirate via the Abu Dhabi grid.
European Union: Nuclear Plant Construction Delays
The Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant in Finland, a 1,600-megawatt EPR that will be the first third-generation plant in the world, was intended to be operational this year. Work began on the project in 2005 and it was expected to take four years to complete. When functional it will be the first new European nuclear station for 30 years.
The project has been plagued by delays and in January 2009 Areva, the French nuclear plant designer, told the Finnish electrical utility Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) that Olkiluoto 3 was not going to be completed until 2012. Construction is being undertaken by a consortium consisting of Areva and the German company Siemens. This latest delay is alleged to be due to the length of time the Finnish authorities have taken to review vital safety documents.
The on-going matter is of general concern to governments in the EU as oil and gas supplies from the North Sea are almost depleted, existing nuclear plants are at the end of their practical working lives, inefficient coal-burning plants have been ordered to shut down and the only hope of avoiding an energy gap is the timely construction of a new generation of atomic plants.
Bahrain: Construction Deaths Continue
According to Bahrain Labour Ministry statistics, 37 workers were killed in construction- related accidents in the year 2008. On 11th January 2009, the first casualty of 2009 was recorded from a building site in Juffair when an Indian carpenter died after being struck on the head by a wooden plank that fell from 20 floors above. Four other Indian workers were taken into police custody and an investigation was launched by the authorities.
The incident is alleged to have involved several breaches of safety regulations. The workers were not provided with high visibility clothing or adequate protective equipment, and the work site was not properly shuttered or protected against falling materials.
International: Lead Exposure Affects the Old as Well as the Young
A research paper by Naila Khalil et al., “Association of Cumulative Lead and Neurocognitive Function in an Occupational Cohort”, was published in the American Psychological Association journal Neuropsychology, 2009, Vol. 23, No. 1, 10–19; DOI:10.1037/a0013757. The study deals with the effect of workplace lead exposure on cognitive problems for workers later in life, and concludes that lead can affect the developing brain in the young and the aging brain can also suffer. For older people a build-up of lead from earlier exposure may be enough to result in greater cognitive problems after the age of 55.
The researchers followed up on a 1982 Lead Occupational Study, which assessed the cognitive abilities of 288 lead-exposed and 181 non-exposed male workers in eastern Pennsylvania, USA. The lead-exposed workers came from three lead battery plants; the unexposed control workers made truck chassis at a nearby factory. The men who built lead batteries were exposed to the metal in the air and through their skin. Other occupations, including semiconductor fabrication, ceramics, welding and soldering and some construction work, may also expose workers. At both points in time, all the workers were given the Pittsburgh Occupational Exposures Test battery, which includes measures of five primary cognitive domains: psychomotor speed, spatial function, executive function, general intelligence, and learning and memory.
In 1982, lead-exposed workers were found to have an average blood lead level of 40 micrograms per decilitre (µg/dL), well above what is accepted as normal. Those Pennsylvania workers found to have 25µg/dL or more must by law be taken off the job. In 1982, the unexposed workers had an average blood level of 7.2µg/dL, which is within normal limits.
In 2004, the present study followed up with 83 of the original lead-exposed workers and 51 of the original non-exposed workers. They measured blood lead levels and cumulative lead levels, and re-administered the test battery to assess cognitive performance relative to both measures of lead.
They found that among the lead-exposed workers, men with higher cumulative lead in their bodies had significantly lower cognitive scores. The clearest inverse relationships (when one went up, the other went down) emerged between cumulative lead and spatial ability, learning and memory and overall cognitive score. Although the men no longer worked at the battery plants, their earlier prolonged exposure was enough to matter. The researchers state that previous exposure to lead is particularly detrimental to the aging brain and that specific cognitive domains may be particularly vulnerable.
International: Cancer Risk from Rubber Feedstock
A research paper by Tom Sorahan of the University of Birmingham was published on 21st January 2009 in the BMJ journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, reference DOI:10.1136/oem.2008.041400. It deals with the cancer risks to chemical production workers exposed to 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT). MBT is a substance used to manufacture rubber and the study found that it may be a possible cause of cancer in workers who are regularly exposed to it.
The research was based on a study of workers exposed to the substance at the Ruabon Works of Flexsys Rubber Chemicals Ltd in Cefn Mawr, Wrexham. It revealed that employees at the Flexsys plant who had come into contact with MBT were twice as likely to die from large intestine and bladder cancers. The research involved an analysis of the death rates of employees who had worked at the plant for at least six months between 1955 and 1984 and who were diagnosed with cancer between 1971 and 2005. The resulting figures were that 363 male production workers out of 2,160 employees were exposed to MBT, and 222 of those workers later died. When compared with national statistics for death rates, the results show that the workers are twice as likely to be diagnosed with bladder cancer and four times as likely to be diagnosed with bone marrow cancer.
Flexsys said in a statement that they were reviewing the study in order to identify what, if any, actions should be taken in terms of further investigation.
USA: Sewage Sludge Becomes an Open Issue
The purpose of wastewater treatment plants is to remove excess nutrients and pollutants that would otherwise harm aquatic life. The nitrogen and phosphorus in sewage is recycled and used as fertiliser on US agricultural land. However, the biosolids represented in the residue contain a range of substances, such as carcinogenic dioxins, that do not break down during the treatment process.
In 2001, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a survey of wastewater treatment plants and concluded that the concentrations of dioxins were too low to pose a health threat. Five years later, prompted in part by public concerns over pharmaceutical drugs in the environment, the Agency began testing for a much broader range of biosolid contaminants, including 97 pharmaceuticals and related compounds. In January 2009, the EPA published online the results of its latest nationwide risk assessment survey of sewage treatment plants at:
http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/biosolids/tnsss-overview.html
The new survey found that sewage sludge residue contains a wide variety of toxic metals, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants and other compounds, including some antibiotics in surprisingly high concentrations. More than 3.5 million tonnes of biosolids produced in the United States are applied as fertiliser to farm fields every year. The EPA does not know whether the concentration of these chemicals poses a threat to health.
It reported that many of the 145 chemicals tested for were present nationwide. It found that biosolids from all of the 74 large treatment plants surveyed contained the same 27 metals; but only zinc, molybdenum and nickel exceeded standards for application to fields. Almost all of the 11 flame retardants on the list were present in every sample. Twelve of the 72 pharmaceuticals were similarly ubiquitous.
The two most common drugs were the antibiotics triclocarban (which is added to soap and other personal care products) and ciprofloxacin, with several samples containing up to 440 parts per million of triclocarban. That figure is ten times higher than ever reported before in biosolids, and raises concerns as to whether such antibiotics harm microbial life in the soil, or aquatic life when they leach into watercourses. The EPA was alarmed by the concentrations of triclocarban, but had no data on which it could draw to estimate the potential risk.
Spain: Wind Power Record
The Spanish electricity grid operator REE announced on 27th January 2009 that it had logged a new record output of 10,923 megawatts generated from wind power.
The Spanish Government has encouraged the development of renewable energy in recent years to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, which are far above the levels permitted by the Kyoto Protocol. The country’s wind parks have the capacity to produce about 16,000 MW, and the Government forecasts that 20,000 MW will be installed by 2010.
In comparison, Spain's aging nuclear power plants have an installed capacity of 7,800 MW and produce a constant 7,300 MW when working normally, which is not often. The Government pledged that it will not commission any new nuclear plant, but may extend the working life of its eight current reactors, depending on the conclusions of safety and feasibility reports being prepared by the Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (CSN, the Spanish nuclear safety council).
Japan: Metropolitan Government Conceals Soil Pollution
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government admitted on 27th January 2009 that it had known since June 2008 that the ground on the site of a proposed new fish market in Toyosu, Koto Ward, was contaminated with a toxic substance to an average level 115 times higher than that announced in an earlier soil pollution inspection in November 2007.
The information was withheld for five months from a panel of experts set up in May 2007 by the Tokyo government to study the relocation of a world-famous fish market in the Tsukiji neighbourhood to the new site. In November 2007, the government informed the panel it had found a concentration of 5.1 mg of benzopyrene per kg of soil at one of the test sites at the new location. Subsequent inspections of another 4,122 samples carried out from March 2008 resulted in 441 of them being found to contain higher than acceptable levels of toxins, up to a maximum value of 590 mg per kg of soil.
The Environment Ministry said that the substance benzopyrene is a carcinogen found in coal tar and automobile exhaust. It is one of 22 chemicals designated as posing a high health risk by the Japanese Air Pollution Control Law, although there are no regulations stating what level is acceptable.
In explanation for the nondisclosure, the New Market Development Section of the Tokyo government said that the levels recorded were unlikely to endanger human health as benzopyrene is not highly water-soluble.
UAE: Dubai Purge on Illegal Waste Dumping
In late January 2009, Sharjah Municipality in the emirate of Dubai staged a three-day clean-up campaign to remove all illegally dumped waste in the Industrial Area at Al Saja'a in an attempt to protect public health and remove environmentally hazardous materials. More than 700 employees from private companies and 250 municipality workers participated, using special equipment provided by the municipality.
The Environment Section of the municipality will also deploy inspectors at night to monitor the illegal disposal of chemicals from trucks in the Industrial Area, which is underlain by gas pipelines. Although a dedicated landfill is available, truck drivers do not use it because it is easier for them to dump their waste in the desert.
The campaign was to be followed by others in industrial areas such as Al Falah and Al Zubair. A similar campaign took place in 2008, but the amount of illegal waste dumping has risen drastically since.
Kenya: Multiple Deaths in Supermarket Fire
According to an epidemiological study published at the end of January 2009 by the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, air pollution in Kabul may be causing the deaths of more than 3,000 people every year. The study found that cardiovascular and respiratory diseases resulting from air pollution in Kabul are increasing the crude mortality rate by 4% per year. By extrapolating from the sample analysed, this was calculated as equivalent to an extra 3,060 deaths annually.
The Afghan National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) stated that the level of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was 52 parts per million (ppm) on an average day in Kabul in 2008. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) national air quality standard for NO2 is 0.053 ppm (annual average concentration), or three orders of magnitude lower than the Kabul reading. The level of sulphur dioxide (SO2) was 37 ppm on an average day in Kabul in 2008. The EPA limit for the 24-hour average concentration of SO2 is that it should not exceed 0.14 ppm. According to the EPA, exposure to NO2, SO2 and other particulate matter negatively affects the respiratory system, damages lung tissue, and can cause cancer and premature death. The elderly, children and people with impaired lung function are particularly at risk.
NEPA described Kabul as having the most polluted air of any city in the Central Asian countries, representing a threat just as serious as terrorism. Contributory factors to the air pollution crisis include the use of substandard fuel and old motor vehicles. Afghanistan imports 5,000-6,000 tonnes of fuel every day, but there is no government supervision of its quality. Also, the various overseas aid organisations and international forces were polluting the air in the city by their use of large generators. The general population does not have access to electricity or gas, so they burn plastic, wood and rags for heating and cooking purposes.
Afghanistan has no “carbon sink” areas protected for their environment. Through drought and deforestation the 14 million hectares of forests and greenery present in 1979 have now declined to less than one million hectares. NEPA stated that its annual budget, equivalent to US $2.3 million, is not sufficient to remedy the country's worsening environmental problems.
Afghanistan: City Air Pollution Risk
According to an epidemiological study published at the end of January 2009 by the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, air pollution in Kabul may be causing the deaths of more than 3,000 people every year. The study found that cardiovascular and respiratory diseases resulting from air pollution in Kabul are increasing the crude mortality rate by 4% per year. By extrapolating from the sample analysed, this was calculated as equivalent to an extra 3,060 deaths annually.
The Afghan National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) stated that the level of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was 52 parts per million (ppm) on an average day in Kabul in 2008. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) national air quality standard for NO2 is 0.053 ppm (annual average concentration), or three orders of magnitude lower than the Kabul reading. The level of sulphur dioxide (SO2) was 37 ppm on an average day in Kabul in 2008. The EPA limit for the 24-hour average concentration of SO2 is that it should not exceed 0.14 ppm. According to the EPA, exposure to NO2, SO2 and other particulate matter negatively affects the respiratory system, damages lung tissue, and can cause cancer and premature death. The elderly, children and people with impaired lung function are particularly at risk.
NEPA described Kabul as having the most polluted air of any city in the Central Asian countries, representing a threat just as serious as terrorism. Contributory factors to the air pollution crisis include the use of substandard fuel and old motor vehicles. Afghanistan imports 5,000-6,000 tonnes of fuel every day, but there is no government supervision of its quality. Also, the various overseas aid organisations and international forces were polluting the air in the city by their use of large generators. The general population does not have access to electricity or gas, so they burn plastic, wood and rags for heating and cooking purposes.
Afghanistan has no “carbon sink” areas protected for their environment. Through drought and deforestation the 14 million hectares of forests and greenery present in 1979 have now declined to less than one million hectares. NEPA stated that its annual budget, equivalent to US $2.3 million, is not sufficient to remedy the country's worsening environmental problems.
USA: Largest Food Recall in History
On 28th January 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered retailers, manufacturers and consumers to withdraw or throw out every product made in the past two years from peanuts processed by the Georgia plant of the Peanut Corporation of America, which is based in Lynchburg, Virginia. The company's plant in Blakely, Georgia, produces peanut butter, paste, meal and granules that are used in such products as ice cream, sweets, snack bars and biscuits for both people and dogs. According to the US National Peanut Board, Americans eat around 350 million kilos of peanut butter and 300 million kilos of peanuts a year. In the first few days after the recall, some 15 million kilos of peanut butter and paste were recovered, affecting products made by General Mills Inc., Kellogg Co., PetSmart Inc. and other companies.
The food recall followed a nationwide outbreak of illness attributed to the bacterial organism Salmonella enterica. Action was taken after federal officials discovered that Peanut Corporation of America had knowingly been shipping products contaminated with Salmonella for the past two years. The company had violated good manufacturing practices by selling peanut products that had tested positive for Salmonella bacteria in inspections that it had itself commissioned.
A continent-wide outbreak of Salmonella illness began in late 2008. It has been linked to nine deaths. According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention nearly 650 people in 43 American states and in Canada became ill, some seriously. About half of those affected were children. The scale of the Salmonella outbreak was such that Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., the largest US lawn and garden product maker, had to recall its wild bird food products over contamination concerns.
Federal inspection of the unsanitary processing plant found mould growing on a ceiling, rainwater leaking into the production area from skylights, gaps in the building where rats could enter, dead cockroaches and inadequate ventilation, among other defects. The inspectors reported they found raw peanuts stored in proximity to roasted peanuts, increasing the chance for contamination. Peanut products ready for packaging were stored three metres from a spot where a swab tested positive for one of four Salmonella strains that the FDA said existed in the plant. A single sink was used by workers to wash their hands, as well as utensils and mops, making it possible to pass contaminants among all three.
In early February, the US Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into the actions of Peanut Corporation of America. On 12th February 2009, the company filed for bankruptcy and liquidation under Chapter 7 of the US Bankruptcy Code in the federal bankruptcy court in Lynchburg, Virginia. A few days later the FDA admitted to a regulatory lapse in that its inspectors had not checked the Georgia facility for eight years. They made no move until the Salmonella outbreak was linked to the factory. The FDA is reputed to be an underfunded organisation and the scandal is likely to lead to a review of the food safety regime in Washington.
International: Safety in Hotels, Restaurants and Catering
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has published online a new report entitled Protecting Workers in Hotels, Restaurants and Catering. It focuses on the management of the risks faced by workers in the hotels, restaurants and catering sector, and how to prevent the causes of accidents and ill-health. It illustrates examples of good practice in dealing with workplace risks, as well as giving an overview of policy in the area, and describing changes that are taking place in the sector.
The sector covers a wide range of different businesses including hotels, bars and restaurants, contract caterers in various industrial and commercial premises, fast-food takeaways, cafes and bistros. It plays an important role as a job creator in the service sector and in the general economy of many EU member states, employing more than 7.8 million people. The report can be downloaded from:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/TE7007132ENC_horeca
Also available from EU-OSHA is a smaller factsheet on the same topic, downloadable from:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/factsheets/79/view
France: Road Tanker Explodes at Total Dunkirk Refinery
A fully laden fuel tanker owned by a contractor exploded in a maintenance area at the Total France PA refinery in Fort-Merdyck (Nord) on the outskirts of Dunkirk on 29th January 2009. The cause of the incident was unknown at the time.
The fire-fighting services reported that one person had been killed, five workers had sustained serious burns and 14 others were treated for shock and minor injuries. The fire was quickly contained and extinguished.
The Total plant has a capacity of around 160,000 barrels per day. Apart from damage to an adjacent workshop the operation of the refinery was unaffected.
Kenya: Road Tanker Explodes in the Rift Valley
A laden petrol tanker overturned following a road accident and later exploded near Molo, a small town in the Rift Valley Province around 150 km from Nairobi. The incident took place on 1st February 2009. Many local people gathered at the accident site to help themselves to fuel, both by siphoning off petrol and drilling holes in the wall of the tank. According to Kenyan Red Cross officials, one of those present in the vapour cloud lit a cigarette, causing the tanker and its spilt contents to explode, killing over 100 people and injuring more than 200. Among the dead were four policemen who were trying to control the crowd.
On the following day more than 130 victims were buried in a mass grave less than 100 metres from the spot where the tanker caught fire.
This was Kenya’s second multiple fatality fire in the space of four days, and followed the disastrous supermarket fire in Nairobi.
USA: Season for Dust Explosions
In a safety video released on 4th February 2009, the US Chemical Safety Board pointed out that of eight catastrophic industrial dust explosions in the USA since 1995, all but one occurred during cold weather months. Four disastrous dust explosions occurred during the month of February alone. The CSB had completed a major study of combustible dust hazards in the USA in November 2006, identifying 281 fires and explosions that killed 119 workers and injured 718 others.
The comments followed reports of a coal dust explosion at the Wisconsin Energy Corporation Oak Creek power plant, located on the shores of Lake Michigan, on 3rd February 2009. The blast took place in a dust collector, a silo where residual coal dust is collected for eventual burning. Six contract workers employed by ThyssenKrupp Safway Inc. were setting up scaffolding in the dust collector when ignition took place. One worker received critical burns and another five suffered burns and smoke inhalation.
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are investigating the incident.
USA: Shell Grounds Helicopter Fleet
On 2nd February 2009, the USA division of Royal Dutch Shell PLC temporarily grounded a fleet of helicopters, prompted by safety concerns over a widely used model of Sikorsky helicopter. Shell is instead relying on boats to take most of its 1,500 contractors and employees to and from oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company decision to suspend the use of a fleet of at least 12 Sikorsky S-76C helicopters operated for it by subcontractor PHI Inc., of Metairie, Louisiana, followed the unexplained crash of an S-76C into a swamp in January 2009, which killed eight of the nine people aboard. The cause of that accident remains unknown to federal and industry investigators. Both engines shut down suddenly in good weather, there was no distress call from the pilots, and no obvious mechanical clues have been found since. The investigators suspect that a catastrophic failure in electrical and steering systems may be involved.
The S-76 is manufactured by a unit of United Technologies Corp. and had a good safety record; it had become the preferred workhorse for many offshore-oil operations, emergency-medical transport firms and other commercial services in the USA. Around 700 are used worldwide. Sikorsky said three fatal crashes of the model have taken place since 2004.
USA: Paper Mill Fined for Fatal Explosion
In late January 2009, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) $22,500 for safety violations following a fatal explosion at its paper mill in Wisconsin in July 2008. Three maintenance workers were killed and a fourth injured while working on the top of a recycled fibre storage tank. The company was cited for four serious violations, including poor ventilation for flammable gases. OSHA also found that some employees lacked proper training for exposure to hazardous chemicals.
PCA is the fifth largest producer of containerboard and corrugated packaging in the USA. It operates four paper mills and 67 corrugated production plants.
Taiwan: Coral Reefs Destroyed by Human Waste
A study by researchers at Academia Sinica released on 6th February 2009 found that coral reefs off the south-east coast of Taiwan have turned black with disease due to untreated sewage discharge, threatening the biological productivity of the marine ecosystem, coastal protection and the tourist industry.
A pollution problem had long been suspected but not properly documented. It is now known that coral reefs are suffering widely in waters up to five metres deep and 300 metres offshore from two outlying islands. The popular tourist resort of Green Island has become surrounded by diseased coral as a consequence of dumping rubbish and excrement into the sea.
USA: Oil Refiners Fined for Air Pollution
On 10th February 2009, the Frontier Oil Corporation, which operates refineries in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and El Dorado, Kansas; and Wyoming Refining Co., owner of the Wyoming refinery, Newcastle, were fined a total of $141 million by the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as penalties for violation of air pollution standards. Frontier Oil Corp. was to pay a $1.23 million civil penalty and spend $127 million on pollution control upgrades for alleged violations at its refineries. Wyoming Refining Co. had to pay a $150,000 fine and spend $14 million on similar upgrades.
The three refineries involved have a combined production capacity of about 168,000 barrels per day. When the additional pollution controls are in place it is anticipated that annual emissions of sulphur dioxide will be reduced by about 3,775 tonnes, of nitrogen oxide by about 2,100 tonnes, and other pollutants by about 1,200 tonnes.
The EPA commented that exposure to nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide may cause severe respiratory problems and contribute to childhood asthma, smog and haze, as well as other health and environmental effects.
Switzerland: Safety Protocols Delay Large Hadron Collider
The CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most powerful particle accelerator, was seriously damaged during power tests in September 2008. A weld between two sections of superconducting wire failed, allowing several tonnes of liquid helium coolant to vaporise, in turn creating a pressure build-up that wrenched magnets from their concrete stands. There were no injuries to personnel. In total 53 superconducting magnets had to be removed for repair or replacement. Later safety inspections found two more bad welds in magnets in other sectors of the giant machine, which is constructed in a huge circular underground tunnel.
In October 2008, the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, estimated that the $5.4 billion machine would be ready for a restart by the summer of 2009, but it now seems unlikely that protons will be collided before November, more than a year after its planned start date.
The delay is alleged to be due to additional safety protocols and complex repair schedules. To fix the welds the other sectors of the machine must be warmed up, which means moving the liquid helium to another part of the ring or storing it. Following the major helium leak in 2008, new safety regulations were introduced to protect workers from the risk of asphyxiation in the confined space of the tunnel. New protection systems will be added as part of the $25 million repairs.
The laboratory will probably run the machine at reduced power for a ten-month period from November until the autumn of 2010. The cost of electricity over that winter period will be an additional $10.5 million.
Mexico: Rubbish Dump Goes Critical
The Nezahualcoyotl landfill site in Mexico City is one of the largest in the world, and at 10 sq km equates to roughly one fifth of the area of Manhattan in New York. It was originally located outside the city, but has been overtaken and surrounded by rapid urban sprawl development. The city population of 20 million residents generates 12,500 tonnes of rubbish every day. The waste is unsorted and includes animal carcasses and offal from food markets, computer parts and plastic bottles. The refuse is piled several storeys high and lies adjacent to a major drainage canal that runs along the perimeter of the site.
The federal government ordered the closure of the Nezahualcoyotl site in January 2009, because any accidental release of rubbish would lead to flooding and contamination of residential areas and the international airport. The Environment Ministry had been trying to close down the landfill for years to prevent further release of methane and the pollution of shallow depth aquifers.
The city’s Environmental Policy section has been aware of the developing problem and launched a domestic recycling plan campaign several years ago to teach households to separate organic waste from recyclables. Sorting centres were built to replace the informal workers who rake through refuse for scraps of metal, plastic and paper. However, the scheme was not successful and only 15% of the city's rubbish is recycled, compared to up to 60% in parts of Europe. The authorities neglected to introduce waste reduction programmes, so the uncontrolled use of disposable styrofoam plates, cups and plastic straws, and plastic grocery bags, has continued unabated. There are no plans to resolve the issue in the short term.
There is one pilot project at the dump that has seven million worms eating their way through organic waste, including an input of 14 tonnes of animal innards per day, to generate compost. Another project uses a water filter to skim off some of the black sludge that bubbles off the refuse heaps and distil it into a yellowish liquid that is used to wet dusty roads in the area. But the decomposing rubbish emits 1.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases every year to the atmosphere, some of which might be used to fire a power station.
India: Government Plan to Destroy Mangroves
Mangroves are not only highly productive ecosystems and effective natural filters, but they are also crucial to the protection of low-lying coastal areas in those parts of the world where they are found. At 20,400 square kilometres the Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world. It forms the seaward fringe of the Ganges delta, covering around 6,000 square kilometres in Bangladesh and 10,000 sq km in West Bengal. It became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997 but because it straddles two countries it is listed twice, as the Sundarbans and Sundarbans National Park.
On 3rd February 2009, the state government of West Bengal, along with an Indian Government committee, approved plans submitted by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy Petrochemicals Pvt Ltd for the construction of a petrochemicals hub on the island of Nayachar, within the mangrove system. The plant is intended to refine crude oil and produce petroleum by-products. Nayachar is less than 10 kilometres from the Sundarbans, a recognised biodiversity hotspot.
The Indian Government has a history of industrial development with little regard for the environment. The most notable recent example was the building of over 3,000 dams across the Narmada River, which devastated the river ecosystem and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
International: Nuclear Submarines Collide
On 16th February 2009, the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed that the Royal Navy nuclear submarine “HMS Vanguard” carrying Trident nuclear missiles was involved in a collision with the French nuclear submarine “Le Triomphant” in the middle of the Atlantic. The incident took place in heavy seas on 5th February and both vessels were badly damaged.
“HMS Vanguard” had to be towed back to its home base at Faslane on the Firth of Clyde. “Le Triomphant” managed to return to its base at L'Ile Longue, near Brest, with a frigate escort but under its own power. Between them the two submarines were carrying 240 personnel and more than 30 intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads; both are powered by nuclear reactors. The submarines are equipped with advanced sonar detection systems and anti-sonar devices. No injuries were reported and the UK and French Governments insisted there was no danger of radiation leakage.
It had been thought that because of the vastness of the oceans a potentially dangerous collision in the Atlantic was an improbable event (around one incident per 50,000 years). However, a random motion probability model is inappropriate because, although secret, the routes and movements of such vessels are not random. They are all likely to be directed towards the same trouble spots around the world and therefore confined to the same relatively small patrol areas. This scenario knocks several zeros off the expected frequency of collision calculation. Existing assumptions may have to be discarded and future behaviour changed.
China: Too Much Nitrogen Fertiliser
China used seven million tonnes of agricultural fertiliser per year in 1977, a figure that surged to 26.2 million tonnes in 2005. A recent study led by Zhang Fusuo of the China Agricultural University in Beijing has suggested that Chinese agriculture is making excess use of nitrogen fertiliser, resulting in the contamination of air, soils and water. It is not cost-effective and farmers could cut their use of the fertilisers without compromising crop yields. The reference is Ju, X. et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of the United States of America, doi:10.1073/pnas.0813417106 (2009).
The researchers demonstrated that as more fertiliser is applied, plants become less efficient at taking up nitrogen and more nitrogen is lost into the environment. It was found that 20% to 50% of the nitrogen leaked into air and groundwater. Nitrate leaching to ground and surface water has caused serious pollution problems in China.
They also found that farmers were applying fertiliser at the wrong time. They put down up to 80% of the total amount at the time of planting, but the team experiments show that optimal yields are achieved when most of the fertiliser is applied later to seedlings.
Chinese farmers apply on average 600 kilograms of fertiliser per hectare, which can be contrasted to the USA where farmers use 100 kilograms per hectare on wheat farmland. Compared to other developing countries with intensive farming practices, Mexico as an example uses only 250 kilograms per hectare.
USA: Mass Asbestos Poisoning Trial
A federal criminal trial opened in the court in Missoula, north-western Montana, on 19th February 2009. The case is unusual in that American lawyers prefer to avoid pressing criminal charges in the area of asbestos law, leaving the issue instead to the civil courts. The defendants are five former executives of W. R. Grace and Company, the owner of a vermiculite mine and adjacent mill, both now closed. The allegations are that the company showed criminal neglect over the period of its operations in regard to exposure to asbestos. At least 200 deaths from respiratory cancer and thousands of cases of illness among miners and people living in the nearby town of Libby are known to be asbestos-related. It is claimed that the town was exposed continuously to billowing dust clouds of asbestos-tainted vermiculite, a large natural deposit of which underlies Zonolite Mountain. The company created huge stockpiles of vermiculite on the surface, upon which local children played. It was sold for wall cavity insulation and landscaping uses. The material was shipped out in open rail cars, which billowed dust plumes through the town and over the countryside.
State prosecutors claim that the mine owner and its managers knew as far back as the 1970s that asbestos was mixed with the vermiculite and that it posed a health risk to their workers, but they conspired to continue releasing it into the air and to misrepresent the peril. The prosecution hopes to demonstrate that the company’s own detailed medical studies of its miners provide a paper audit trail that will prove the charges of fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Clean Air Act. The documents to be presented record that in 1982 the company knew it had a major health problem with deaths from respiratory cancer, and that around 30% of its employees had contracted asbestosis. The company banned smoking at the mine in 1978 in order not to compound the danger from asbestos, and also issued respirator masks to its workers. However, it failed to provide showers or work clothes for the miners, who went home at the end of their shifts covered in contaminated dust.
W. R. Grace bought the mine in 1963 and closed it in 1990, but the company is still paying medical bills for affected workers. In 2008, it agreed to spend $250 million for an environmental clean-up of the town. The company was driven into bankruptcy protection in 2001 by the sheer scale of the asbestos poisoning claims being made against it.
In 2008, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry began a study of people who might have been exposed to the toxic dust, and is still trying to locate 6,000 people who graduated from Libby High School from 1950 to 2000. The US Environmental Protection Agency has spent $165 million to date on removing contaminated vermiculite from domestic properties.
If convicted, the now retired executives face up to 15 years in prison on each of three counts of endangering the town of Libby through Clean Air Act violations, and lesser time on each of the other charges, plus fines that could amount to several million dollars. Conviction of the employer W. R. Grace could mean fines of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Australia: Unwanted Toxic Waste
On 19th February 2009, the media obtained a report by the organisation Sustainable Infrastructure Australia under the Freedom of Information laws. It revealed that the organisation was in agreement with the Australian federal government that the country lacked the necessary facilities to destroy some toxic waste, and that a chemical stockpile should be created in Sydney so that it could be shipped to incinerators in Europe.
The mining, explosives and chemical company Orica has accumulated over decades more than 60,000 drums of the fungicide hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and related toxic waste at the Botany industrial site. HCB, the use of which is now banned under the Stockholm Convention, is a carcinogenic and mutagenic by-product of chlorinated solvent manufacturing. It is so corrosive that it has to be constantly repackaged, thus increasing the size of the stockpile by 10%, or up to 2,800 tonnes, every year.
Orica attempted to ship barrels to Germany in 2007 but met with opposition by two German states, resulting in a legal stalemate. Orica then approached the operators of a high-temperature incinerator in Denmark to take 6,000 tonnes of the 16,000-tonne stockpile, but has not yet obtained Danish Government approval.
The stockpile cannot be destroyed locally, as recommended under the Basel Convention signed in 1992, because there are no appropriate facilities in Australia to treat the waste; separating and transporting the waste would also be problematic.
The report emphasised the need for Orica to find another solution urgently, given the location of the ever-increasing stockpile very close to the ocean and residential areas. The HCB stockpile must be destroyed soon in an environmentally responsible manner to reduce the significant risk to human health and the environment arising from the long-term storage of the highly corrosive material.
The federal Environment Ministry responded by announcing that it would not consider giving Orica an export permit until the Danish Government had made its decision.
USA: Texas City Pollution Case Settled
The oil giant BP agreed on 19th February 2009 to pay $180 million to resolve a federal inquiry into pollution violations at its Texas City refinery. The proposed settlement requires the company to spend $161 million on installing equipment to reduce harmful emissions of benzene and other volatile organic compounds at the refinery, including stricter controls for benzene. The refinery emitted 45,000 kg of benzene in 2006 and this will be reduced by 3,000 kg. BP also agreed to modernise cooling appliances, reduce emissions of hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and improve its handling of asbestos. The company will pay $12 million in penalties and $6 million into programmes to clean the air in the surrounding community.
The conclusion to this legal case, brought by the federal Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the Environmental Protection Agency, came nearly four years after the notorious explosion that killed 15 workers at the Texas City refinery. The federal regulators claimed that the ensuing inspections revealed the company had not obeyed an earlier agreement requiring tighter controls of benzene, among other violations.
BP had already pleaded guilty to charges related to the explosion and agreed to pay a separate penalty of $50 million, the largest criminal fine ever assessed against a corporation for federal Clean Air Act violations.
China: Fatal Coal Mine Explosion
More than 400 miners were at work underground in the Tunlan Coal Mine at Gujiao City in the northern province of Shanxi when an explosion took place on 21st February 2009. Most managed to escape but 73 were killed. Rescue workers reported that 113 miners were in hospital, with 21 in a critical condition. Most of the injured were being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning. The rescue effort to free around 100 miners still trapped was hampered by a fire in the access shaft. The Tunlan mine is one of 28 owned by the Shanxi Coking Coal Group.
The Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that the number of coal mine accidents had fallen by 19% in 2008 to 413,700.
South Africa: Five Workers Die in Trench Collapse
The Department of Labour ordered the closure of a construction site in Lindley, located in the Eastern Free State, after five workers were killed when the trench they were digging collapsed on them on 20th February 2009. The workers were digging a five metres deep trench for the installation of sewerage pipes at Ntha township. The excavation does not appear to have been properly supported. Excavated sand fell on top of one of the workers and buried him. Four of his colleagues immediately went to his assistance, at which point the entire trench collapsed, burying and suffocating all five.
Safety inspectors found that the employer had not registered the construction site with the Department of Labour. All operations on the site were banned while an investigation was undertaken. The Department urged all employers and employees to ensure that their workplaces comply with the regulations of the South African Occupational Health and Safety Act, which requires employers to bring about and maintain a reasonably practicable work environment that is safe and without risk to the health of the workers.
Saudi Arabia: Children Killed by Pesticide Fumes
The Okaz newspaper reported on 24th February 2009 that two young children of Danish nationality died in the al-Masarrah district of Jeddah after inhaling poisonous pesticide fumes while they slept. Their parents were in hospital intensive care with acute poisoning. The children's father was an employee of the Danish company Arla Foods.
Forensic investigators found that the house had been sprayed with the agricultural pesticide aluminium phosphide (AlP) while the owners were away on holiday. Traces of the substance were also found in an adjacent apartment. The authorities confirmed that there had been six similar domestic deaths in February alone.
AlP is used as a pesticide to kill rodents, as an insecticide and as a fumigant for stored cereal grains. It evolves highly toxic phosphine gas and must be handled with extreme care. It becomes highly dangerous to health when used in a confined space. In Western countries there is a legal requirement for training in its safe use, and it is banned from domestic use. Although it is highly toxic to humans, phosphine has become widely used as a replacement for the fumigant methyl bromide, which was banned globally under the Montreal Protocol. Like methyl bromide, phosphine does not leave residues on stored products treated with it. Unfortunately this has led to the appearance of pests with high levels of resistance to phosphine, particularly in Asia and Australia.
The Saudi authorities said that AlP has recently been banned from use in homes, and the substance is subject to a market recall because of its dangers.
International: Atmospheric Carbon Accelerates
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on 25th February 2009 that global emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere increased at a slightly accelerating rate in 2008. Levels of carbon dioxide last year reached a global average of 384.9 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere, up 2.2 ppm on 2007, compared with a previous annual increase of 1.8 ppm. The new data dampened hopes that the worldwide slowdown in industrial output, which started at the end of 2008, will temporarily deflect the rate of climatic deterioration. Some analysts had hoped that recession would create a breathing space to reverse the impact of climate change.
NOAA concluded that it would take a large drop in carbon emissions to have any impact, and it is clear from the data that this has not yet happened. Natural processes require more than a few percentage points of input fall before any detectable change occurs in the atmosphere. The recession in the developed nations means that greenhouse gas emissions will fall by an estimated 2% in 2009, although the figure may fall further if the global economy enters a wider slump or depression. However, emissions are expected to continue to rise in China, now the world's biggest carbon emitter. NOAA also said there is some evidence that the carbon sink in the Southern (Antarctic) Ocean has been saturated and is no longer absorbing the gas.
Atmospheric carbon levels of CO2 at 385 ppm are already approaching the long-term target level that the world must stay below if there is to be any chance of keeping the average global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius.
USA: Oil Spill Shutdown in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
The Anchorage Daily News reported on 20th February 2009 that BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. had shut down a pipeline at the largest Alaskan oilfield on 18th February after a spillage of oil, natural gas and water was discovered. The leakage was stopped on the same day and the pipeline was shut down to be emptied and repaired.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation confirmed that 11 wells were shut down temporarily because of the incident, affecting 1,300 to 1,400 barrels of oil production a day.
Production at Prudhoe Bay averages more than 390,000 barrels a day. The oilfield has had a series of spills in recent years that have led to heightened oversight by state and federal regulators.
France: Total France on Manslaughter Charges
On 23rd February 2009, the trial of Grande Paroisse, a fertiliser subsidiary of the French energy company Total SA, began in a Toulouse criminal court. The company was charged with manslaughter, causing involuntary injury and destruction of property following an explosion at the AZF chemical plant in the city of Toulouse in 2001. Thirty-one people were killed in the blast and 2,400 injured. The senior executive of the plant is also a defendant. An official inquiry blamed the explosion on negligence, which the defendants deny.
The explosion took place on 21st September 2001 in a workshop warehouse containing around 300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. Buildings surrounding the blast crater were destroyed and damage caused to 30,000 others. As a result more than 1,000 jobs were lost within a ring of destruction several kilometres in diameter. Although denying liability, Total and its insurance companies have already paid out €2 billion in compensation.
The core of the proceedings will be to determine the cause of the explosion, which the prosecution will attempt to prove on the premise that chlorine became mixed in with the ammonitrates, thus triggering the explosion.
International: Nanomaterials under the Regulatory Microscope
Concerns over the lack of knowledge-based regulation and control of nanomaterials are surfacing in Europe. Thomas Swan and Co. is a small specialist chemical company based in County Durham, UK, and a manufacturer of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The company has pre-registered its product under REACH (the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals Regulation, which came into force on 1st June 2007) with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA, the EU chemical watchdog). The company argues that CNTs are completely different allotropes, or structural configurations, from other forms of carbon. Although they possess a surface similar to that of graphite, their properties are so dissimilar that they are different substances and should not be placed in the same category as bulk carbon or graphite. The company has requested nanospecific testing be undertaken on carbon nanotubes under REACH.
The company is concerned because it wants to increase its production capacity to a commercial level, but does not know where it stands in terms of hazards and toxicity exposure. At present there is not enough data available on the safety risks of CNTs, particularly in the area of chronic exposure.
This application is thought likely to generate increased pressure for the stricter health and environmental risk regulation of nanotechnology in the European Union. In February 2009, the European Parliament drafted a report on the regulatory aspects of nanomaterials, which it suspects may present potentially significant new risks.
The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has a new online publication offering interim guidance for medical screening and hazard surveillance for workers potentially exposed to engineered nanoparticles at NIOSH 2009-116 .
International: Airliner Engine Safety Alert
Following three recent incidents involving a sudden power loss in long-haul airliners, the American company Boeing issued a safety alert in late February 2009, warning the operators of 220 commercial aircraft that the heat exchanger in the Rolls Royce Trent engine could be inadequate and recommending precautionary measures to pilots of the Boeing 777 airliner.
The Rolls Royce Trent jet engine is designed and manufactured in Derby, UK, and is widely used in aircraft, including those operated by British Airways. The problem seems to lie with a build-up of ice at very low temperatures that starves the engine of fuel, leading to sudden power loss. The incidents in 2008 all followed flights in which aircraft had encountered unusually cold cruising conditions. Ice starvation in the fuel feed system (the aluminium tubes that feed fuel from the tanks to the wing-mounted engines) should be prevented by a heat exchanger. Boeing advised that until the Trent engine heat exchanger has been modified, pilots of 777s should reduce flying time at maximum cruise altitude and increase engine power to full for ten seconds before descending. The modified heat exchangers are unlikely to be certified for retrofitting until the third quarter of 2009.
Boeing 777s powered by General Electric and Pratt and Whitney engines are unaffected by the safety alert.
European Union: Reliance on Coal Forces a Rethink on Emissions
The UK faces a potentially disastrous energy gap in the near future as most of its ageing coal-fired power plant must be shut down under European Union legislation designed to control acid rain and air pollution. The same legislation also applies to coal-fired plant in Poland, Spain, France, Romania and the Czech Republic.
The EU adopted laws in 2001 aimed at curbing industrial plant emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. European power stations are obliged to retrofit equipment to remove these substances, but older plants can opt out provided they close after 20,000 hours of running time or by 2015. The problem in the UK is that its nuclear plant is also at the end of its practical working life and no new replacement nuclear plant is even on the drawing board. The forced closure of coal-burning plants will inevitably create severe energy shortages around 2015. Britain has opted out 13 plants, totalling around 34.3 thermal gigawatts of capacity, the highest level in Europe and around 15% of total UK capacity. Poland has opted out 32% of its capacity; Romania has opted out 22%, Spain 10%, and France 5%.
At the end of February 2009, controversial proposals were put before the EU to grant life extensions to the year 2020 for failing coal plants, provided they agree to scale back their operating hours. According to EU estimates, if its existing air quality laws are fully implemented they could prevent 13,000 premature deaths a year; those deaths would not be prevented if a new and laxer Industrial Emissions Directive were devised.
International: Trans-Sahara Pipeline Threatened
The Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline is a project still in the proposal stage. With capital costs estimated at $10 billion for the pipeline, and another $3 billion for gathering stations, the scheme would carry up to 30 billion cubic metres of gas per year to Europe via a 4,128 km pipeline from Nigeria via Niger and Algeria. The proposal has the support of the European Union; and the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, Total of France and the Anglo-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell are among international firms to have expressed an interest in participating.
On 28th February 2009, the Nigerian militant group MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) announced that if the Sahara pipeline went ahead it would sabotage the project. The threat was perhaps not an idle one as MEND has shut down more than a fifth of Nigerian oil output since launching its attacks on the oil and gas industry three years ago.
MEND has thus undermined the thinking that the pipeline could provide a secure energy source for Europe. In addition the pipeline would pass through northern Niger, parts of which are controlled by nomadic Tuareg rebels, and southern Algeria, where Islamic militant groups have long had a presence.
Nigeria has estimated natural gas reserves of 180 trillion cubic feet, the seventh largest in the world. Its liquefied natural gas company Nigeria LNG claims that it already provides 10% of world supply, mainly to Europe and North America.
USA: Fatal Laboratory Accident Caused by Safety Lapses
Federal and state safety agencies are investigating safety lapses by university officials at University College Los Angeles (UCLA) after a fatal chemical incident on 29th December 2008. A female research assistant in the UCLA Molecular Sciences Building died while performing an organic chemistry experiment.
She used a plastic syringe to extract a small quantity of t-butyl lithium dissolved in pentane from a sealed container, with the intention of transferring it to another sealed container. It was reported that she had performed this procedure before, which involved working with her hands inside a force-ventilated fume hood. Investigators found later that the vertical protective glass screen was not lowered enough. The substance is highly dangerous and ignites instantly when exposed to air. The barrel of the syringe was either ejected or pulled out of the body and fell apart in her hands, releasing the liquid which ignited. The flash fire set her clothing ablaze, causing second and third degree burns over 43% of her body. The panicking woman ran away from a nearby emergency shower instead of toward it. She died 18 days later in a hospital burns unit.
The American Chemical Society’s Division of Chemical Health and Safety described the accident as totally preventable and caused by poor training, poor technique, lack of supervision and improper method. A plastic syringe was not an appropriate way to handle t-butyl lithium. The accepted method of transfer is by using pressure to push the liquid out of the source bottle into another receiver through a stainless-steel tube.
On 30th October 2008, UCLA chemical safety inspectors carried out an annual safety inspection. They found more than a dozen deficiencies in the same laboratory, according to internal investigative and inspection reports reviewed by The Los Angeles Times. The deficiencies included employees not wearing suitable protective equipment, the improper storage of flammable liquids and volatile chemicals, lack of first-aid kits, and missing chemical spill emergency clean-up kits. The report was submitted to the laboratory supervisor, to the head of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department and to the senior UCLA safety official; but no action to address the serious violations of laboratory safety protocols appears to have been taken.
In February 2009, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health began an investigation, along with the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
Kazakhstan: Leak in Major Pipeline
Chevron, the operator of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) which includes Transneft, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Lukoil, announced on 27th February 2009 the partial suspension of a key pipeline following an oil leak. Russian companies such as Rosneft, Surgutneftegas and TNK-BP also ship crude via CPC.
The pipeline takes crude output from major oilfields, such as Tengiz, to the Russian port of Novorossiisk. The statement said that Kazakh crude shipments to Russia were not affected. The Kazakhstan Emergency Ministry commented that part of the pipeline was halted after an oil leak from the Kazakh section of the pipeline a day earlier. No other details of the incident were available.
International: ConocoPhillips Sued for Lack of Safety Monitoring
It was announced in early March 2009 that a class action would be taken in the American courts against ConocoPhillips by 80 Norwegian offshore oilfield workers. They allege that their health was adversely affected by working on the North Sea Ekofisk oilfield, and that the operator acted irresponsibly by not ensuring necessary maintenance and protection against harmful chemicals, which have resulted in cancer and other serious health problems.
They are represented by the Texan law firm of Arnold and Itkin LLP, which believes that it can demonstrate a connection between the health problems and the hazardous working environment on the Ekofisk field. It will claim that ConocoPhillips was aware of the chemical health risk but undertook no toxicity monitoring on the Ekofisk field, in contravention of law. Ekofisk was the first Norwegian oilfield to come on stream in 1971.
International: World Cancer Report 2008
The International Agency for Research on Cancer published its World Cancer Report 2008 online in late February 2009. The report provides a comprehensive overview of cancer patterns and trends, diagnosis, causes and prevention, and outlines a growing public health crisis. It argues that too little attention is being paid to potential occupational and environmental risks. There is a potential cancer burden from exposure to hundreds of probable and possible human carcinogens that have been identified, and from thousands of new chemicals which have not been tested for their cancer potential. Little is known about risks from combinations of exposures at levels found in the environment, or from exposures during critical time windows of development or in susceptible populations. The nature of exposures in the working and wider environment is seldom simple and cancers may have multiple causes, so that environmental factors may contribute to cancers attributed to occupational or lifestyle factors (such as interactions between radon gas exposure in buildings, smoking, and asbestos).
The report concludes that the global burden of cancer doubled between 1970 and 2000. In 2008, it is estimated that there were over 12 million new cases of cancer diagnosed, seven million deaths from cancer and 25 million persons alive with cancer within five years of diagnosis. The continued growth and ageing of the world’s population has immediate consequences on the cancer burden. By 2030, it is estimated that there will be over 26 million incident cases of cancer annually. The greatest impact of this increase in the global cancer burden will fall on low- and medium-resource countries which have very limited health budgets and suffer from a high burden of communicable diseases.
International: Global Climate Change Trend Worsens
An international congress entitled “Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions” was held at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark from 10th to 12th March 2009. It was organised by the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU). Session abstracts are accessible at:
http://www.iop.org/EJ/volume/1755-1315/6
The purpose of the conference was to consider the latest research on global warming and the most recent data on sea level rise. The concern was that the 2007 reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are already out of date. The IPCC reports projected a maximum sea level rise this century of 59 cm, but with the caveat that the figures did not include the effect of accelerated melting of glaciers or ice caps. The uncertainty was centred on how the ice sheets react to the effects of a warmer climate and how they interact with the oceans.
New data presented at the congress suggest that the upper range of sea level rise by 2100 could be in the range of about one metre, or possibly more. At the lower end of the spectrum it looks increasingly unlikely that sea level rise will be much less than 50 cm by 2100. There is a clear implication that if the emission of greenhouse gases is not reduced quickly and substantially, even the best case scenario will be catastrophic for low lying coastal regions and many island nations, those areas currently being home to 10% of the human race.
The latest satellite and ground-based observations show that sea levels have continued to rise at more than 3 mm per year since 1993, a rate well above the 20th-century average. (Sea level has risen almost 20 cm since 1880.) The oceans continue to warm and expand, the melting of mountain glaciers has increased and the disappearing ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are also contributing to sea level rise.
The second most salient point to emerge from the many research papers submitted to the congress was that it is now almost impossible for the world to achieve the UN target of preventing a global temperature rise exceeding 2C this century. The consensus view was that the average global temperature rise will be 5C or 6C. This exceeds the worst case scenario foreseen by the IPCC.
The Danish Government will hand copies of the congress synthesis report to all participants at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in December 2009 in Copenhagen.
USA: Waste Sludge Spill in the Potomac River
On 8th March 2009, around 4,000 gallons of potentially toxic fly ash sludge spilled into the Potomac River in Maryland after a pipeline ruptured at a coal-burning power plant owned by NewPage Corp. of Ohio, which generates electricity to power its paper mill. The spillage continued for ten hours. According to the Maryland Department of the Environment the rupture was in one of three pipelines that transport the fly ash produced by combustion to a lagoon on the opposite bank of the river. Such waste sludge may contain high concentrations of selenium, sulphate, arsenic, iron or manganese, and is a recognised risk to human health and the environment.
The US Environmental Protection Agency is currently drafting rules for the storage and disposal of coal fly ash, which is at present unregulated. The latest US Energy Department statistics show that 721 power plants in the USA produced 95.8 million tonnes of coal ash in 2005.
Australia: Fertiliser Cargo Shed into the Sea
Maritime Safety Queensland announced that the cargo vessel “Pacific Adventurer” lost 31 shipping containers (representing 620 tonnes) of ammonium nitrate fertiliser during a storm at sea off Australia on 11th March 2009. The hull of the ship was damaged by the falling containers and around 250,000 litres of fuel oil leaked out. Aerial reports estimated the oil slick to be three nautical miles long by half a mile wide.
The ship was caught in Cyclone Hamish off the coast of Queensland state and anchored in the calmer waters of Moreton Bay, near Brisbane, for safety checks before continuing to dock at Brisbane. The ship's owner, Hong Kong-based Swire, may face fines of up to A $1.5 million (US $977,000) if found guilty of environmental breaches, as well as clean-up costs of A $100,000 per day.
The containers sank and have since been located on the seabed by the Australian Navy. The Australian Environmental Protection Authority immediately began removing beached oil from coastal nature reserves and was treating oil-affected wildlife, which included seabirds and turtles. The oil slick coated around 60 km of pristine coastline. The ammonium nitrate is likely to cause a significant algal bloom if released to the sea; but the Australian marine coastal water ecosystems are adapted to a low nutrient environment and thus the impact of a chemical spill would be serious.
By 16th March the public authorities had declared the affected areas, essentially nature reserves and major tourist beaches, a disaster zone. It included Moreton Island, Bribie Island and southern parts of the Sunshine Coast.
USA: Oil Tanker Strikes Submerged Rig
The operator ENSCO International Incorporated was informed on 9th March 2009 by the US Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Galveston that the oil tanker “SKS Satilla” had struck a submerged object in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 65 miles south of Galveston. The object was identified as the sunken hull of the ENSCO 74 jackup rig.
The rig is one of several that were physically lost during Hurricane Ike in September 2008. The oil tanker reportedly suffered damage to its ballast tanks and was listing slightly, but its cargo tanks were not ruptured. The location of the sunken hulk was in shallower water and 50 kilometres from its last operational location.
The incident illustrates the power of Atlantic hurricanes and the lack of an organised system to detect very large structures reported as “sunk and lost”, despite the well-known risks.
International: Nanotubes Suppress Human Immune Response
A research paper by Eva Herzog, et al., entitled “SWCNT suppress inflammatory mediator responses in human lung epithelium in vitro”, was published in the journal Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 2009, Volume 234, Issue 3, pages 378-390, reference DOI:10.1016/j.taap.2008.10.015. A study was carried out to evaluate the inflammatory response of human lung epithelial cells to single-walled carbon nanotube samples (SWCNTs). SWCNTs and other nanomaterials are particles of around one billionth of a metre in size, which gives them properties not found in their larger counterparts. SWCNTs are being investigated for use in electronics, transparent conducting films and building materials in the form of extremely strong fibres. The wider use of such nanoparticles will ultimately lead to increased human and environmental exposure.
The researchers compared the effects from SWCNT exposure to the well-known effects of crocidolite asbestos exposure. They took asbestos as a reference material because SWCNTs and asbestos have similar dimensions and are both fibres of a size that can penetrate and stay buried deep in the lungs. The team looked at how lung cells respond when in contact with the particles, and found that the SWCNTs were more lethal to cells than comparable asbestos samples.
Injured cells normally release chemical distress signals that induce an inflammatory response from the body immune system, including the release of white blood cells and other immune agents to help fight invasion. The study revealed that the normal inflammatory response of two types of lung cell was suppressed after they were exposed to SWCNTs. The immune response was diminished in both healthy cells and those responding to infection. The toxic effect increased when the nanotubes were mixed in a fluid similar to that found lining human lungs. The SWCNTs were more harmful because they moved more easily through the lung liquid than they did through a cell culture solution.
The results add more concern about the safety of SWCNTs, as the workers who make the materials and consumers who use them may be at risk if the nanomaterials are inhaled. If breathed in, the materials may make the immune system less responsive to infections, which could lead to more and longer respiratory diseases in those exposed to the fibrous particles.
European Union: New Maritime Safety Regulations
The European Parliament has adopted eight new Regulations and Directives that will tighten safety requirements for ships flying a European Union (EU) member state flag or navigating in European waters. The new measures are aimed at protecting European coasts from maritime disasters and improving passenger and crew safety.
There had been strong resistance to the proposals by the European Council, which represents national governments. The new legislation provides for a range of measures, including a stricter regime of inspection and mandatory compliance with international safety standards for ships flying an EU flag; the permanent blacklisting of dangerous ships; stricter insurance requirements for ship-owners and better compensation to passengers in the event of accidents; and the setting up of an independent authority in each member state with the power to launch rescue operations and decide where to take ships in distress.
The EU Commission had been negotiating what has become known as the 'Erika III' package of maritime regulations since November 2005, but only recently secured a consensus with national transport ministers.
Bahrain: Workforce Social Engineering
The issue of social unrest and conflict between an indigenous population and a large immigrant workforce has a bearing on workplace health and safety. Differences in language, culture and competition for employment and other resources are known to create demographic instability. There have been numerous examples in the European Union, caused by a combination of blatantly poor management practices on the part of employers and a deteriorating employment market in the host country.
Similar stresses have been reported recently from Bahrain, where the Government has been urged to allocate land for the construction of labour camps around the Kingdom to accommodate workers in a safe environment, away from residential areas. Blame for social disorder has been placed upon small and medium contractors for not providing adequate accommodation for Indian and Bengali labourers, who are employed by Ibrahim Construction, Ever Motion Construction, Maher Contracting and Mohammed Salmean Contracting. At present, many of the labourers live in small illegal labour camps located in residential suburbs, where conflict with the Bahraini population has become common.
In August 2008, the five municipal councils submitted a draft law under which labour accommodation would be banned in residential zones, but it was vetoed by the Ministry of Municipalities and Agriculture Affairs.
International: Climate Change and Political Failure
International systems that have been put in place to ensure the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to set targets have failed to deliver any results and no drastic reductions in carbon dioxide emissions have yet taken place. Humans are releasing 50 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year and the rate is still increasing by 2% to 3% a year. The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme has failed to achieve its stated aims of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Many of the projects funded under the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism, by which companies in developing countries can earn carbon offsets if they implement clean technology on a project-by-project basis, would have been implemented anyway without funding from elsewhere. The carbon emissions market seems likely to disintegrate in the near future.
The crux of the issue is that the use of fossil fuels must be reduced to avoid global climatic disaster. Unfortunately, governments have made worthy statements of policy and done nothing other than place their faith in systems that do not work. No effective action has been taken, mainly because of political inertia; no politician wants to impose a significant cost or inconvenience on people whom he wants to vote for him at the next election. For related reasons, no large company is going to commit funding to energy conservation projects unless a similar financial burden is placed on its competitors. Instead, politicians have put their faith in trading pieces of paper, and in small-scale tinkering such as wind farms. They have also allowed their thinking to be influenced by their daily experience of weather, which might suggest the world is not warming. But global climate and local weather are two distinct phenomena.
The worst-case scenarios on climate change envisaged by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) two years ago are already being realised, and it is probable that the maximum tolerable target temperature rise of 2C at the end of this century will in fact be passed before 2050, according to the findings of the Copenhagen Climate Congress. There is also an increasing risk of abrupt or irreversible climate shifts as a slow rise in temperature reaches the tipping point for major events, such as the release of seabed and permafrost methane. Such tipping points in the Earth’s dynamics would not be controllable and would accelerate the effects of warming.
The Amazon rainforest, an important carbon sink on land, is (according to a UK Meteorological Office study) likely to lose 75% of its tree cover if the average global temperature rises by 3C. Around 40% of human CO2 emissions are absorbed and sequestered by the oceans, but several of these ocean sinks have become saturated and have stopped absorbing. The oceans are acidifying, threatening coral reefs, marine animals with carbonate shells, and fish (which require alkaline water in order to breed). Oceanic dead zones have already appeared and are growing and increasing in number.
The Climate Congress intended its bleak conclusions to have the effect of depriving politicians of any excuse for doing nothing and continuing with business as usual, for within two generations that would lead to billions of people being forced to migrate and compete for declining resources of food and water, inevitably sparking violent conflict. The information presented at the Congress will form the basis of a 30-page document to be published in early June 2009. In December 2009, the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will assemble in Copenhagen to work out a viable successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
In a paper by J. A. Lowe, et al., published in March 2009 in the journal Environmental Research Letters, reference doi:10.1088/1748-9326/4/1/014012, the writers conclude that if carbon emissions peak by 2015 and are decreased by 3% per year thereafter, there is a 55% chance of exceeding a 2C rise in global average temperatures, and a one in three chance that the world will still be more than 2C warmer in 100 years’ time. An emissions peak in 2015 could be achieved by aiming for an 80% decrease in CO2 emissions by 2050, starting now.
India: Kashmir Lakes Poisoned by Sewage
The elaborate hospitality houseboats on the Dal and Nagin lakes in Kashmir have been a popular tourist destination since they were first built in colonial times. The freshwater lakes lie beneath scenic mountains in Srinagar, the Kashmiri summer capital. The elaborately carved cedar wood boats are noted for their beauty and craftsmanship.
Unfortunately, tourism has led to a huge increase in the number of people living in and visiting the area. Today there are around 1,200 boats on the two lakes, but the vessels are outnumbered by residential houses built on the shore. The population of Dal dwellers has risen to around 60,000 people. Many of the boats and shore-sited dwellings discharge raw sewage directly into the lakes, causing so much pollution that the Kashmir High Court ordered that the famous houseboats be closed until pollution ceases.
The court ruling was based on a state Pollution Control Board report on the lakes. The court directed the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) to stop the vessels and hotels inside the area of the lakes from operating until they can show that they have established properly working sewage treatment units. LAWDA has set up three sewage treatment plants to address the problem and two more are being built, but this has not proven sufficient to control the flow of raw sewage into the lakes.
The problem is not altogether new, as 20 years ago the British Overseas Development Agency launched a micro-tunnelling project to ease pollution in Dal Lake and the rest of Srinagar. It was never completed due to an armed uprising that caused the engineers to flee; subsequently the cost and resource demands were found to be prohibitive by successive state governments.
International: Climate Tipping Points
A climate tipping point is defined as a drastic and irreversible shift that has a long lasting effect on the global atmosphere/ocean system. Examples might include the thawing and disappearance of the Greenland ice sheets, the death of the Amazon rainforest, a slowdown of the Atlantic Gulf Stream thermohaline circulation that warms Western Europe, and a constant El Niño warming in the Pacific.
In the past such scenarios were dismissed as highly unlikely or scaremongering, but recent research based on computer modelling has suggested that long-term warming will indeed trigger radical changes, such as the disintegration of the ice sheet in West Antarctica, which would raise world sea levels by around five metres. A thaw in Greenland (raising sea level by seven metres) and dieback in the Amazon (the Pacific El-Niño phenomenon causes drought in the Amazon region) is more than 50% likely by the year 2200 in scenarios of strong global warming, according to a survey published in the American journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 March 2009, reference doi:10.1073/pnas.0809117106. In a paper entitled “Imprecise probability assessment of tipping points in the climate system”, Elmar Kriegler and colleagues present results from 43 scientists who looked at global climate scenarios 100 years beyond most forecasts.
The consensus opinion was that there is a one in six chance of triggering at least one tipping point with a moderate temperature rise of between 2 and 4 Celsius (3.60 and 7.20 Fahrenheit) by 2200 from 2000. But with a strong rise of between 4C and 8C by 2200, the chances of surpassing at least one of the five tipping points reviewed rose to 56%. The conclusion was that some of these events are no longer to be considered as low probability.
The conclusion of the recent Copenhagen Climate Congress was that strong global warming greater than 4C by the year 2100 is unavoidable if no action is taken.
Bahrain: Fire Safety in Worker Accommodation
Around 250 construction workers were made homeless after fire destroyed two buildings in the heart of Manama on 18th March 2009. The seat of the fire was in a temporary shelter located on the roof of one of the adjacent three-storey buildings, and spread rapidly due to the presence of highly flammable materials on the roof. Civil Defence and Fire Service officials suspected the cause to be an electrical fault. The fire incident took place around noon, so the residents were away at work. Although there were no fatalities or serious injuries, much personal property was destroyed.
Concerns over the issue of fire safety in overcrowded worker accommodation have existed for some time. In October 2008, three Bangladeshi workers were killed and seven injured when a fire destroyed their home in Jidhafs; there were 22 men living in the four-bedroom house. In July 2006, a three-storey building in Manama, which housed 300 construction workers, was destroyed and 16 Indian workers died.
The recent incident further drew attention to the location of contract labourer accommodation in residential suburbs. Manama Municipality claims there are around 100,000 labourers from the Indian subcontinent living within the city. It has called on the Government to build labour camps away from residential zones.
Middle East: Dead Sea Geo-Engineering Project
The Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project would involve driving a tunnel north through the Jordanian desert from the Gulf of Aqaba. The Red Sea would also supply water to what is proposed as the largest desalination plant in the world, running on its own hydroelectric power and providing Jordan with enough water for the next 40 to 50 years. There would be benefits for Israel and the Palestinian West Bank. Following assessment studies a decision on whether to proceed will be taken by the end of 2010. The project is likely to cost in the region of US $7 billion at current values.
The route of the tunnel would be on Jordanian territory, following the line of the border with Israel. Three potential systems are under examination: a buried pipeline; a full length low-level tunnel of around 7.5 metres diameter; and a higher level tunnel and canal system. Two new feasibility studies were commissioned by the World Bank in March 2009, on behalf of the beneficiary parties of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. In the tunnel option, Red Sea water would take around four days to flow 180 km under gravity, falling from sea level to minus 400 metres. Around half of the two billion cubic metres of seawater flowing north each year through the system would be desalinated for drinking water; the excess brine salts would be voided to the Dead Sea. All the water would be filtered to prevent micro-organisms from invading the Dead Sea.
In addition to the funding of the project, the assessment studies will consider the effects of seawater extraction on marine life in the Gulf of Aqaba, and the effects of that water mixing with the Dead Sea. The outcome of mixing two water bodies over decades is unknown and is difficult to model and predict. There is a possibility of triggering gypsum precipitation or microbial algal blooms in the Dead Sea. In the canal option, the obstruction of wildlife migration is a factor.
European Union: Biosecurity and Laboratory Accidents
In late March 2009, there was an incident at a laboratory in Germany when a worker pricked herself with a needle contaminated with a strain of Ebola haemorrhagic virus, a biological agent with a mortality rate of around 90%. She was detained under observation in hospital. Although there is no approved vaccine for Ebola, the woman was given an experimental vaccine being developed by scientists in Canada and consisting of a live vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) carrying an Ebola protein. She has so far developed no symptoms.
The accident followed shortly after the disclosure that H5N1 bird influenza virus samples, meant only for testing, had become mixed in with seasonal influenza samples for vaccine or product development at a Baxter International contracted laboratory in Austria. Thirty-seven people were exposed to the mixture at subcontractor sites in Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, and at AVIR Greenhills Biotechnology, the Austrian company that bought the samples. Fortunately, the people affected all tested negative for H5N1 bird ‘flu. According to the World Health Organisation, the H5N1 virus has killed 256 people since 2003, and could trigger a global influenza pandemic if it mutates into a human transmissible strain.
These indications of lax standards in research laboratories handling dangerous pathogens have added to public health concerns over biosecurity and emphasised the need for stricter monitoring. Before these recent incidents took place, the group Biosafety Europe compiled a report in which they stated that Northern European countries disclosed more laboratory-acquired infections than other parts of Europe.
Biosafety Europe is an EU-funded body representing ten EU countries, formed in 2006 with the objective of promoting European harmonisation and the exchange of practices relating to biosafety and biosecurity management of biological containment facilities.
Their review report concludes that while research on viruses and pathogens is important for vaccine, drug and diagnostic development, it also represents a risk to the population because those organisms may spread in the environment due to a laboratory accident, poor laboratory practices or intentional removal and subsequent release (meaning a terrorist bioweapon attack, similar to the 2001 postal anthrax episode in the USA in which five people were killed). The report recommends that adequate technical and physical containment measures and the best biosafety and biosecurity practices must be implemented in such facilities to prevent accidental or intentional release of dangerous pathogens.
Biosafety Europe found that although there are European guidelines concerning biosafety, standards of awareness, implementation and control were not the same in the different European countries, suggesting that better training and more collaboration on safety standards could help reduce pathogen risks in European laboratories.
USA: No Longer in Denial
Following the regime change in Washington, the American establishment has belatedly discovered that atmospheric-warming greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, pose a danger to human health and welfare. An item posted on a White House web page on 23rd March 2009 revealed that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had reached this conclusion in an "endangerment finding" submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget on 20th March.
If accepted, the EPA finding could pave the way for US limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Details were not made public, but the document contained a proposed rule for an "Endangerment Finding for Greenhouse Gases under the Clean Air Act". Such a finding is essential before the US Government can move to regulate carbon emissions. If approved, it would represent the first-ever national limits on global warming pollution by the second most polluting country on the planet. The US Chamber of Commerce promptly announced its scepticism of the EPA finding and its opposition to possible changes; and the manufacturers of energy-intensive products, such as steel, cement and chemicals, threatened to move operations overseas unless they receive tax breaks or other subsidies.
In 2007, the US Supreme Court ruled that the EPA has the authority to make carbon-limiting regulations if human health is threatened by global warming pollution, but no new regulations were submitted during the Bush administration, despite documents leaked in 2008 which showed that EPA scientists believed greenhouse gas pollution posed a health threat.
This latest EPA move followed its proposals submitted on 10th March 2009 for a comprehensive US system for reporting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Indonesia: Collapse of Neglected Dam Kills 80 People
December to March is the rainy season in Indonesia and torrential rains often trigger disastrous floods. On 27th March 2009, an earthen dam collapsed in Cireundeu, on the outskirts of Jakarta, releasing two million cubic metres of water in a six-metre-high wave that flattened at least 300 dwelling houses and flooded another 200. At least 80 people were drowned and another 100 were reported missing, their bodies swept away by the muddy current. The National Disaster Management Agency said that the death toll was expected to increase as the missing were located.
The 12-metre-high Situ Gintung dam was built in 1933 during the Dutch colonial period and the Public Works Ministry admitted that its maintenance had been neglected for many years. Also, construction work for a new housing development was under way next to the dam, which may have contributed to its weakening before the heavy rains began.
USA: Carbon Nanomaterials and Cancer Risk
At the Annual Meeting of the Society of Toxicology held in Baltimore in late March 2009, researchers at the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) presented the results of their second study into the health effects of inhaled multi-walled carbon nanotubes on laboratory mice. The reference is Vincent Castranova, Ann Hubbs, Dale Porter and Robert Mercer, “Persistent Pulmonary Fibrosis, Migration to the Pleura, and Other Preliminary New Findings after Subchronic Exposure to Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes”, see
http://www.cdc.gov/NIOSH/blog/nsb031909_mwcnt.html
An abstract of the findings can be found in the journal The Toxicologist, 108:A2193, 2009.The US Government-funded research body confirmed that inhaled carbon nanotubes can penetrate deep into the lung and then migrate to other tissues, raising a warning over a possible cancer risk. The lining of the lungs is the tissue that can develop malignant mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos, and multi-walled carbon nanotubes are durable fibre-like particles that share many features with asbestos fibres. The team found that their laboratory mice developed lumps similar to those seen in the early stages of mesothelioma. They conclude that more research is needed and quickly on the possible health hazards from nanoparticles before policymakers can make a significant risk assessment.
European Union: Illegal Waste Shipments Increase
In March 2009, the European Environment Agency (EEA) published Report No.1/2009 Waste without borders in the EU? Transboundary shipments of waste. It is based on statistical data reported to the European Commission by the member states and presents information on waste shipments within Europe and out of Europe for both Notified Waste (hazardous and problematic waste) as well as for Non-Hazardous Waste.
The routing of electronic waste materials and equipment (the e-waste stream) from the EU to African countries is prohibited, because such disposal has been demonstrated to be damaging the environment and to be the cause of serious health problems for those employed in the disposal process. However, the report reveals that illegal shipments of e-waste are on the increase.
It also finds that the number of reported illegal shipments of hazardous waste from European Union countries to developing countries is growing, and there is a need for better and more detailed reporting of shipments before the problem can be brought under control.
The EEA notes that the number of detected cases brought to its attention probably represents only a fraction of the actual number, and the true scale of illegal shipments is therefore considerable.
USA: Chemical Company Tries to Suppress Public Disclosure
In August 2008, a chemical release, explosion and fire took place in a processing tank at the Bayer CropScience plant in Kanawha County, West Virginia. Two Bayer employees were killed in the blast. The US federal agency charged with the duty of investigating such incidents is the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). In early March 2009, the CSB announced its intention to hold a public hearing to lay out its preliminary findings concerning the causes of the accident. The CSB has no regulatory powers and so cannot fine a company or order changes to be made in its operations. Instead, its power comes from revealing its findings to the public and making recommendations.
In late March, Bayer CropScience, which is part of the German company Bayer AG, attempted a legal move to limit what the CSB can disclose, claiming that because it has a dock for barge shipments on the adjacent Kanawha River, its entire 400-acre site qualifies as a “regulated facility" under the 2002 federal Maritime Transportation Security Act, a piece of anti-terrorism legislation. Bayer asked the US Coast Guard, which has jurisdiction under the Act, to review the public release of “sensitive security information".
The CSB said that it is the first time in its 11 years of operation that a company has tried to limit what could be discussed publicly, and the first time the Maritime Act has been invoked in such a way. If Bayer were to be successful, it would set a precedent for other companies to prevent the release of embarrassing information. The CSB contends that the Maritime Act applies only to transportation of chemicals, and not to onsite storage and process operations.
Bayer appeared to be attempting to suppress public discussion about the potential hazards posed by methyl isocyanate (MIC), a chemical manufactured and used by the plant in the production of carbamate pesticides. MIC is notorious as the chemical responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in Bhopal, India, when a major leak took place from a Union Carbide plant in 1984. Before 1986, Union Carbide also owned the West Virginia plant, which is considered a sister plant to Bhopal.
Bayer said that the 2008 explosion was caused by human error in a unit that contained the less toxic chemical Methomyl, an insecticide used to produce the pesticide Larvin; but the US Environmental Protection Agency classifies Methomyl as highly toxic. Other chemicals involved in the explosion were dimethyl disulphide, methylisobutylketone and hexane, all of which are classed as harmful irritants.
The CSB investigation found that a storage tank with the capacity to hold up to 20,000 kg of MIC was located less than 20 metres from the seat of the explosion. A much larger underground tank in a different part of the plant site could store an additional 100,000 kg of MIC (in the Bhopal disaster an estimated 70,000 kg of the chemical leaked out). The safety issue of onsite storage of bulk quantities of MIC at the West Virginia plant has long been a matter of concern for local residents, and the CSB also expressed reservations over the risks posed by the tanks of MIC.
Bayer managed to delay a public hearing until late April 2009, as a decision had to be made by the Coast Guard that could then be appealed to the Transportation Security Administration. Politicians in Washington were reported to be concerned that Bayer might be misusing terrorism laws to suppress information relating to an industrial accident and a poorly designed chemical process plant.
UAE: Contractor Penalised for Crane Accident in Dubai
On 30th March 2009, the press reported that an unnamed contractor working on an infrastructure project had been fined US $54,000 (AED200,000) by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) for a breach of working practices and failing to seek consent to carry out night-time work. The fine followed an accident in which a crane tipped over while attempting to install a road sign. The incident led to the closure of the Al Ittihad Road for ten hours, causing extensive traffic congestion.
The RTA Traffic and Roads Agency said that an investigation had found that the crane overturned because the contractor had violated work instructions and procedures, and the contractor had not secured the consent of the consultant to work overnight.
European Union: Wasteful Water Circulators to be Outlawed
In late March 2009, the European Commission decided to take action against wasteful water circulation pumps, which are used to pump water warmed by boilers to radiators in homes and offices. The EU considers that most circulators at present in use consume too much electricity, thereby releasing unnecessary quantities of carbon to the atmosphere. Modern pumps, such as those manufactured by the German company Wilo SE, are more efficient than their predecessors. According to the Commission, most of the 140 million circulators in use today in Europe continue to pump water whether or not it is needed, and up to 20% of the average household energy bill goes to pay for electricity consumed by inefficient circulators.
European energy efficiency requirements will soon make better circulators mandatory by the passing of a new Regulation, forming part of the EC Eco-design campaign, which would permit only very high-efficiency “intelligent” circulators by 2015. These units function only when required and can adjust their speed of operation. The Regulation will also state that standard circulators must be removed from the EU market by 2013.
Before the Eco Directive can be approved there has to be a so-called framework law, a regulatory committee and additional scrutiny by the European Parliament and EU governments. Intense industrial lobbying is expected to delay the introduction of new rules on the energy efficiency of consumer mass-market goods, such as refrigerators. But the EU argues that retooling the way heating systems work would result very quickly in significant energy savings and benefits for society and industry, estimating that the new water circulator Regulation could save the equivalent of the annual energy consumption of Ireland.
Vietnam: Contaminated Water Retailers Closed Down
By the end of March 2009, at least 11 producers of bottled drinking water in the metropolitan area of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) had been closed down by health inspectors following the failure of their products to meet tests for hygiene standards. The city Health Department inspected 57 water retailers between February and March 2009 to check compliance with safety and hygiene standards. Eleven were found to be retailing products containing dangerous bacteria, and 29 others were closed temporarily due to expired hygiene certificates. Health inspectors were reported to have destroyed 50,000 litres of contaminated water (it was not clear how).
The inspectors found that some producers have all the necessary equipment to ensure water quality, but do not use it in order to reduce their costs. Others lacked the resources for proper facilities investment and used outdated methods. The producers who have been shut down will not be allowed to reopen until they can meet the city hygiene regulations, which include a requirement for ozone treatment systems to dispose of bacteria and chemicals.
The Health Department stated that the contamination originated from unclean water sources. In 2008, they tested 320 well samples and found that only 123 met the hygiene standard. HCMC has 362 licensed bottled water producers.
Tanzania: 30 Miners Buried in Gold Excavation
On 29th March 2009, around 30 workers were killed in north-west Tanzania when the excavation walls of a small gold mine collapsed, burying them under rubble. The opencast pit at Geita in the Mwanza region was 100 metres deep and became flooded by a heavy seasonal downpour of rain. There were no resources available onsite to attempt a rescue effort.
Tanzania is the third largest gold producer in Africa, most of its output coming from large undertakings run by multinationals. A smaller proportion is produced by a much larger number of primitive small-scale operations lacking in basic safety equipment, and the fatality rate in the amateur sector is high. In 2008, 45 workers were killed in a similar accident in flooded gemstone pits; and in 2002, another 40 died of suffocation when a compressor used to pump clean air into a gemstone mine malfunctioned.
Canada: Syncrude Admits More Wildfowl Deaths
The Syncrude Canada Ltd oil sands operation north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, has been subject to much media criticism over the environmental impact of developing the energy resource. The company is facing prosecution over the deaths of flocks of migrating wild duck, which are attracted to land on its vast toxic waste water tailings pond. On 31st March 2009, the company admitted that in the Spring of 2008 some 1,606 ducks died, more than three times higher than had previously been made public. They had difficulty recovering the corpses of the birds, which sank into the petroleum sludge residue and could not be recovered until they filled with decomposition gases and floated to the surface.
Syncrude is a joint venture consisting of Canadian Oil Sands Trust, Imperial Oil Ltd, Petro-Canada, ConocoPhillips, Nexen Inc., Nippon Oil Corp. unit Mocal Energy Ltd and Murphy Oil Corp. The company made its first court appearance on the bird death charges at the end of March 2009. Syncrude claims it has taken steps to improve bird protection by such changes as deploying bird deterrents and placing staff to monitor tailings ponds all year. They propose to increase the number of sound cannons on the shores of the ponds before the next Spring melt and to utilise a new radar monitoring system.
USA: Power Plant Water Cooling Systems Dispute
American electrical power generation facilities draw billions of gallons of water each day from bays, rivers, lakes, oceans and other waterways to cool their plant. Following a series of court hearings that finished in the US Supreme Court, a ruling was passed on 1st April 2009 that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can use cost-benefit analysis to determine what types of technology can be used at power plant water-cooling structures. The ruling was contrary to one given recently by a US Appeals Court in New York to the effect that federal clean water legislation does not permit the EPA to consider cost-benefit relationships in deciding best available technology to minimise adverse environmental impacts. Those seeking greater protection for aquatic life regard this latest Supreme Court decision as a setback.
Previously the EPA had followed the practice of setting standards for intake structures at existing large facilities in an effort to protect fish, shellfish and other aquatic organisms from being harmed or killed. But both they and the energy companies that operate the power plants were opposed to the introduction of stricter environmental standards, which included a proposal for existing plants to install closed-cycle cooling technology. The stricter standards, which would have applied to around 550 facilities accounting for 40% of national energy production, are designed to prevent the flow of water into power plants from trapping large aquatic organisms against grills or screens and drawing smaller organisms into the cooling mechanism. The preventive technologies selected included relocation of water intakes, installation of fine-mesh screens, velocity caps, larger intakes to decrease the intake velocity, and barrier nets. However, the EPA decided to reject proposals to use closed-cycle cooling technology, in which withdrawn water is reused, allegedly on the grounds of cost.
Various environmental organisations successfully challenged the EPA rejection in the courts of six American states, but the Supreme Court eventually ruled that it was permissible for the EPA to rely on cost-benefit analysis in setting national performance standards as part of the relevant regulations. However, the Supreme Court also stated that it was unhappy with the EPA explanation for the basis of its change.
South Africa: On-Going Energy Crisis
The South African Ministry of Minerals and Energy announced on 2nd April 2009 that the country was still in the grip of a major power crisis. Voluntary energy savings had failed to meet the required levels and the country would face new power cuts. The State-owned utility Eskom provides 95% of the country's power and has rationed electricity since early 2008, but a low electricity reserve margin of around 8% gave no spare capacity.
According to the Ministry, South Africa (SA) is one of the least energy-efficient nations in the world and the least efficient in Africa, being responsible for 42% of all African carbon emissions. SA rated eleventh in the top 20 of the world’s worst greenhouse gas emitters. The Ministry said nothing about the Government's failure to invest in new power generation plants, although Eskom plans to spend 343 billion rand (US $37.19 billion) on a five-year investment programme to boost power generation.
Afghanistan: Minerals Exploitation in an Unstable Area
In early April 2009, the Afghan Ministry of Mines announced on its website at http://www.mom.gov.af that it had offered the mineral rights to the Hajigak iron deposit and surrounding areas through a tender process, which is expected to lead to a mining contract with a foreign investor. The Hajigak ore concentration, which lies 130 km west of Kabul in mountainous terrain in Bamyan Province, has an iron content of 62%. There are 16 ore bodies extending for as much as 5 km and to depths of over 550 metres. The primary ore accounts for 80% of the deposit and consists of magnetite, pyrite and minor chalcopyrite. The remaining 20% is oxidised and consists of three types of haematite ore. The deposits are suitable for opencast mining, and nearby at Shabashak in the Dar-l-Suf District there are seams of coking coal suitable for onsite ore smelting. However, total proven reserves are only 111 million tonnes. The remainder claimed in the invitation to tender is inferred on the basis of Afghan-Soviet exploration work in the 1960s.
The location lies on the edge of an area that has seen a pronounced increase in insurgent activity over the past two years. While the volatile security situation might not deter foreign investment, the challenge to an operator of ensuring the health and safety of workers on such a project seems likely to be of nightmare proportions.
Elsewhere, the Chinese companies Jiangxi Copper Co. and China Metallurgical Group Corp. were reported to be proceeding with exploration work on the copper mineralisation zone at Aynak in Logar Province to the south of Kabul. Existing data suggest a resource of 240 million metric tonnes of copper ore at a grade of 2.3% copper.
Qatar: Large-Scale Natural Gas Project Onstream
The largest regasification terminal in the world is the UK South Hook LNG terminal in Milford Haven, Wales. It was built to meet an increasing need for import terminals to counterbalance the anticipated shortfall of natural gas production from the North Sea, Irish Sea and continental interconnectors. In March 2009, the facility received its test shipment of liquefied natural gas fuel (LNG) from Qatargas 2. When the South Hook terminal becomes fully operational in May 2009, Qatargas 2 is expected to supply around 20% of UK natural gas demand at the rate of one cargo every two to three days.
Qatargas 2 owns two of the giant LNG liquefaction trains at Ras Laffan and the project represents the world’s first integrated LNG value chain. In addition there are three storage tanks, power utilities and water injection systems, as well as a fleet of 14 new generation gas carriers consisting of Q-Max and Q-Flex ships with capacities between 210,000 to 266,000 cubic metres.
When all five LNG trains at Ras Laffan are complete they will have a combined capacity of 15.6 million tonnes per year, adding 47 million tonnes to Qatari LNG exports. Each LNG train will also produce 0.85 mtpa of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and 140,000 bpd of condensate. Qatargas 2 belongs to Qatar Petroleum with a 67.5% stake, ExxonMobil at 24.15% and Total at 8.35%. Qatar is the world's largest producer of liquefied natural gas fuel (LNG) and will reach its target production capacity of 77 million tonnes a year by 2012. It is expected that around 42 million tonnes of LNG will be exported annually to markets in Europe, Asia and North America.Japan: Sakhalin 2 Natural Gas Arrives
On 6th April 2009, a tanker docked at a terminal operated by Tokyo Gas Co. and Tokyo Electric Power Co. in Sodegaura, Chiba Prefecture, with some 67,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas, representing the first shipment of LNG from the Russian Sakhalin 2 project. The two Japanese power utilities jointly operate the LNG storage facility south-east of Tokyo and share in shipments equally. The LNG is used to supply town gas and as fuel for thermal electricity power generating plants.
Japan hopes to reduce its energy dependence on the Middle East, while Moscow seeks to boost natural gas sales in the Asia-Pacific region in addition to Europe. Around 60% of the LNG output from the Sakhalin 2 project will be exported to Japan and the remainder to South Korea and the United States. LNG from Sakhalin is estimated to account for about 7% of Japan's annual natural gas imports.
In addition to Tokyo Gas and TEPCO, utilities in Kyushu and the Tohoku and Chubu regions, as well as four key regional gas companies, have contracts with the Sakhalin 2 project for LNG purchases.
Japan: Earthquake-Prone Nuclear Plant to Resume Operation
The No. 7 reactor at the Tokyo Electric Power Co. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata Prefecture is expected to resume operations this summer. It will be the first of seven shut-down units to be recommissioned after the plant was subjected to an offshore earthquake of magnitude 6.8 on 16th July 2007. The plant was not designed to withstand a tremor of such power, raising concerns about the safety of all nuclear plants in a country that is prone to earthquakes.
The total capacity of the plant with all its reactors online is 8.212 million kilowatts, the largest of any nuclear power plant in the world, and its temporary loss has been both a severe financial blow to the owner TEPCO and an embarrassment to the Japanese Government. The shutdown created a power shortage and resulted in a national rise in carbon emissions as hydrocarbon fuels had to be used as a replacement.
Sri Lanka: Sulphuric Acid Tanker Sinks Offshore
The Turkish tanker “MT Granba” sank in deep water off Trincomalee near the Sri Lankan maritime border on 8th April 2009, carrying a cargo of 6,250 tonnes of sulphuric acid. The vessel was heading for its next port of call in India when it developed “defects”.
The Sri Lankan Marine Pollution Prevention Authority (MPPA) claimed that there would be no major impact on the environment, as the ship sank to a depth of over 3,500 metres. Before it foundered the Sri Lanka Navy and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority succeeded in towing the disabled vessel away from coastal fish breeding grounds. The Authority did admit there was the possibility of an oil spill within a few days, but in the past it has sometimes taken ten or 20 years before a sunken ship has released bunker oil.
The MPPA said it would take legal action against the local agent of the ship and the crew under criminal and civil arbitrary procedure for involvement in the polluting of Sri Lankan territorial waters and the coastal belt. The 19-member crew of the ship were held in the custody of the ship's local agent until the Authority took legal action against them through the Trincomalee Acting Magistrate.
European Union: Health Law Kills Vultures
In 2002, the European Parliament in Brussels passed a law that made it illegal for farmers to allow dead livestock to lie on their land. The original intention was to prevent the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) by keeping the countryside clear of carcasses, even if the animals died of natural causes.
An unintended effect of the law was to deprive European vultures of their main source of food, leading to the deaths of hundreds of birds. Spain has the largest European population of vultures, including the Griffin, the Black and the Egyptian species. They have all shown a marked decline in numbers over the past six years due to starvation and breeding failure. Many of the remaining birds have been forced to scavenge for food around towns and rubbish dumps.
In mid-April 2009, the Council of Europe agreed to pass an amendment to the law that will reverse its adverse environmental effect. Farmers have always welcomed a healthy vulture population as they dispose of unwanted carcasses at zero cost.
UAE: Cause and Effect of Algal Blooms
Blooms of neurotoxic marine algae can be triggered by natural causes, such as a sudden influx of soluble iron or nitrogen introduced to warm waters by flash flooding in a river basin, but they are more frequently caused by human agency. Nitrate runoff from the excess use of agricultural fertilisers and dumping untreated sewage into the sea are well-known causes of algal blooms that can kill fish, together with sea birds, marine mammals and humans if they eat poisoned sea food. Exposure to aerosols of the algal particles or swimming in contaminated water may trigger allergenic skin or respiratory symptoms.
Coastal resorts in Dubai and Fujairah were affected by blooms of the dinoflagellate alga Cochlodinium polykrikoides in April 2009, an event known from ancient times as a “red tide”. The Dubai Marine Wildlife authority advised people not to venture onto beaches, not to come into contact with seawater or inhale air close to the sea edge, and not to consume any dead fish washed ashore. Several beaches were closed near the Burj Al Arab hotel.
In 2008, it was reported in Dubai that the emirate’s sewerage system was unable to cope with the demands being placed upon it, and illegal dumping of raw waste from septic tanks led to the contamination of beaches, including that at Jumeirah. Although the city authorities pledged to address the sewage infrastructure problem, little has been done and the prestigious beach resorts are now paying the price.
European Union: Blacklist of Unsafe Airlines
Since 2006, the European Union Transport Commission has maintained a blacklist of unsafe airlines. It is updated at least four times a year and is based on deficiencies found during safety checks at European airports by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, on the age of the aircraft inspected and on failures in airline regulation in the registered country of operation. Airlines on the list are barred from operating in the EU, and travellers outside the EU are advised not to travel on such airlines for their own safety.
The list details more than 90 airlines, mainly from African countries including Angola, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia and Rwanda. In April 2009, all Benin-based airlines were added to the list.
The ban already covers unsafe carriers from Indonesia and North Korea, but the latest updated version has added six Kazakh airlines, a Thai operator and a fourth Ukrainian airline. They are named as Air Company Kokshetau Kazakhstan, ATMA Airlines, Berkut Air, East Wing, Sayat Air and Starline KZ, One-Two-Go Airlines Thailand and Motor Sich Airlines Ukraine.
USA: Carbon Emissions Control on the Agenda
The newly found environmental enthusiasm of the Obama administration has triggered squabbling as to who should set the standards on the issue of regulating American greenhouse gas emissions. In 2007, the US Supreme Court ruled that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had the authority to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning, if it found that human health could be endangered by global warming pollution. In March 2009, the EPA found that greenhouse gases do pose a threat to human health.
The finding alarmed the US Congress, as the residual authority granted by the Supreme Court allows an existing government agency to take decisions on the introduction of tougher regulation, rather than members of congress or senators. The only way that Congress can take control of the situation is to act first to legislate on greenhouse gases, thus discouraging vested industrial interests from opposing new laws.
In late March, two US congressional representatives co-sponsored a new Bill designed to cut US emissions of carbon dioxide by 20% by the year 2020. The Waxman-Markey Bill would achieve that end through a "cap-and-trade" system, limiting the amount of CO2 that any given power plant or industrial user could emit. Those who cut their emissions below their allotment could sell their unused credits.
Congressional committee hearings on the Bill began in late April 2009.
Czech Republic: Workers Killed in Ammonia Tank Blast
An explosion took place at the OKD-OKK Svoboda coking plant in the city of Ostrava on 9th April 2009. Contractors were carrying out maintenance on the pipework of an ammonium hydroxide tank when it ignited. The blast wave killed two workers and another was seriously injured by flying debris. The water in the tank was believed to have contained only a small concentration of ammonia, but how much headspace existed in which gas could accumulate was not stated in the company news release. The exact cause of the accident was under investigation.
OKK is a subsidiary of the Central Europe-based New World Resources coal mining group and a sister company of the largest Czech hard coal mining company OKD. It has two coking plants in Ostrava, the Jan Sverma and Svoboda.
International: Ozone Layer Recovery and Global Climate Change
The Earth's ozone layer should eventually recover from the unintended destruction brought on by the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and similar ozone-depleting chemicals in the 20th century. However, a recent atmospheric circulation research study by NASA scientists suggests that the ozone layer of the future is unlikely to look much like the past, because greenhouse gases are changing the dynamics of the atmosphere.
Previous studies have shown that while the build-up of greenhouse gases warms the troposphere (the atmospheric layer up to ten kilometres altitude above the surface), it actually cools the upper stratosphere between 30 to 50 kilometres altitude. The effect of cooling is to slow the rate of the chemical reactions that deplete ozone in the upper stratosphere and allow natural ozone production in that region to outpace destruction by CFCs.
It has now been found that the accumulation of greenhouse gases also changes the natural circulation patterns of stratospheric air masses from the tropics to the poles. In the middle latitudes, ozone is likely to "over-recover" by increasing to concentrations higher than they were before the mass production of CFCs. But in the tropics, stratospheric circulation changes could prevent the ozone layer from recovering.
The findings are based on a detailed computer model that includes atmospheric chemical effects, wind changes, and solar radiation changes. The experimental work was part of an on-going international effort organised by the United Nations Environment Programme Scientific Assessment Panel to assess the state of the ozone layer. The results of the analysis on how ozone and the dynamics of the stratosphere are projected to change through to the year 2100 were published in March 2009 in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
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