Earth Changes

Environmentalists triumph: PG&E will close Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in 2025

Jay Barmann
SFist
Tue, 21 Jun 2016 11:45 UTC

Saying that it was an American Fukushima waiting to happen, environmentalists throughout California and elsewhere have long been putting pressure on Pacific Gas & Electric to fully shut down the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County, and today PG&E is making the official announcement. Rather than try to extend California's only remaining nuclear power facility any further, the plant will cease operations in 2025. As the Chronicle reports, reps from the utility flew in to the plant Tuesday to hold a series of meetings with its staff.

Diablo Canyon, which in the years since it began operations in 1973 has become a flashpoint in the anti-nuke movement, is notably surrounded by fault lines on nearly all sides. Experts discovered more faults over the years, as an interactive map on SFGate shows, with some underwater faults having previously caused earthquakes of up to 7.3 magnitude.

These days, PG&E downplays the potential for major shaking at the site — and it was the ensuing tsunami that caused much of the trouble at Fukushima, after all. The reason for the closure decision, says PG&E, is that renewable energy sources will all but render the power generated at Diablo Canyon unnecessary, especially by the middle of the next decade. The plant current generates 8.6 percent of the state's power, but the rise of energy-efficient homes and offices, the use of solar and wind power, and the rise of public power projects like San Francisco's CleanPowerSF will mean that the plant won't even need to operate the full year in the coming years. Further, PG&E says it will entirely replace the energy from Diablo with sources that do not produce carbon dioxide, with 55 percent of the utility's total electricity coming from renewables by 2031.

Comment: A thing of the past. Competition from power plants burning cheap natural gas has driven several older nuclear plants out of business. What happens when the site closes? No new licenses (which expire in 2024 and 2025) will be taken out, dismantled remains will be loaded on trains and shipped out of state with scrap metal to Nevada, low level radioactive waste to Utah or Texas, concrete rubble to a disposal site out of state, spent fuel rods will be stored on site until picked up by the Dept. of Energy.

Lightning bolt kills 14 cattle in Ghana

Starr FM Online
Fri, 24 Jun 2016 14:47 UTC

The dead cattle

About 14 cattle were left dead after lightning struck at Welembelle in the Sissala East District of the Upper West Region Thursday.

A native and teacher in the community, Jonas, told StarrFMonline.com the incident happened at about 10:30pm. He said they saw the lifeless bodies of the animals after the downpour.

"We were there this morning and one caretaker of the cattle, a Fulani, came to inform us that some of the cattle are dead, so we rushed to the place and met exactly what the caretaker had said.

"Usually, when things of such nature occur certain rituals are performed before anyone touches it for fear of being struck by lightning, so the rituals were performed after which the cattle were buried," Jonas narrated.

He added that residents of the community have been shocked at the huge number of the dead cattle, as a minimal number is often killed under such circumstances.

Owner of the cattle, Samba is reportedly traumatized at his loss.

Study: Chance of mega-earthquake in Aleutians

Brooks Hays
United Press International
Fri, 13 May 2016 12:05 UTC

There's a nine percent chance a magnitude 9 or larger earthquake will strike the Aleutian Islands in the next 50 years. That is the prediction offered by scientists from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa -- made with the help of a newly designed computer model. Researchers say an earthquake of that size could send a mega-tsunami in the direction of the Hawaiian Islands.

The Aleutian Islands, which stretch toward Russia from the coast of Alaska, sit along a subduction zone at the convergence of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. Scientists say the chance of a dramatic slip along the fault lines that make up the subduction zone is significant.

They detailed the threat of a mega-earthquake in a new paper, published this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth.

"Necessity is the mother of invention," lead study author Rhett Butler, a geophysicist at the UHM School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, explained in a news release. "Having no recorded history of mega tsunamis in Hawaii, and given the tsunami threat to Hawai'i, we devised a model for Magnitude 9 earthquake rates following upon the insightful work of David Burbidge and others."

Researchers integrated fault system measurements -- fault length and convergence rate -- with Bayesian probability models, and then tested the predictions against historic tectonic events. Researchers compared the simulation to recent catastrophic earthquake and tsunami events, including Sumatra-Andaman in 2004; Alaska in 1964; Chile in 1960; and Kamchatka in 1952. "These five events represent half of the seismic energy that has been released globally since 1900," said Butler. "The events differed in details, but all of them generated great tsunamis that caused enormous destruction."

Researchers further refined the model by incorporating ancient evidence of tsunami events found in the archaeological and geologic records. "We were surprised and pleased to see how well the model actually fit the paleotsunami data," concluded Butler. The scientists are now working to augment the model in order to predict smaller earthquakes.

Comment: The future event was calculated to affect 300,000 people at a cost of $40 billion.They then validated the model using data from the five largest earthquakes since 1900 - Tohoku, 2011; Sumatra-Andaman, 2004; Alaska, 1964; Chile, 1960; and Kamchatka, 1952.

Lightning bolt kills one and injures two in Daytona Beach, Florida

Caitlin Doornbos
Orlando Sentinel
Sat, 25 Jun 2016 14:21 UTC

A 33-year-old woman is dead after lightning struck her on the shore of Daytona Beach Shores Friday, officials said.

The unidentified woman was standing in ankle-deep water with a man shortly before 5 p.m. when "a bolt of lightning came out of nowhere," Volusia County Beach Safety Capt. Tamra Marris said.

The woman was taken for medical treatment, but died just before midnight, Marris said. The man's condition has not been released.

A third victim - a 55-year-old Daytona Beach woman - was also struck by the same bolt. She is OK and "was able to walk away and seek medical attention elsewhere," Marris said

Marris said storms had been brewing near the beach but when the lightning bolt struck, storms were off in the distance.

Officials are not naming or releasing further information about the victims until they can notify all family members.

Service dog killed protecting her owner from alligator in Port LaBelle, Florida

Samantha Sosa
WPTV
Thu, 23 Jun 2016 14:19 UTC

Precious

A man is pleading with officials in Glades County for a code inspection after his dog was eaten by an alligator at the marina where he resides.

"Precious" the pit bull kept Robert Lineburger safe by sensing his seizures before they happened, but now she's buried in his front yard.

Lineburger lives on his boat at the Port LaBelle Marina. One April night when he left to use the restroom, his pet followed.

The dog's owner said his pet saved him from the alligator, which tried to bite him on the dock.

Bees dying at an alarming rate in Pennsylvania; could impact food supply

John Shumway
pittsburgh.cbslocal.com
Thu, 23 Jun 2016 14:02 UTC

Honey bee

For many of us, bees are something to avoid; but for the agricultural community, bees are all about success or failure of their crops.

To the farmer or grower, an active bee hive ready to mass pollinate is a thing of beauty.

"Every flower needs it, so every piece of fruit needs a bee to get to it," says Reed Soergel, of Soergel's Orchards. "So, to the crop, it's huge."

But bees in Pennsylvania are dying at an alarming rate.

"About 60 percent of colonies dying off here in our state," says Stephen Riccardi, of Penn Environment.

"It's getting into a situation where we're going to start running out of food," said Kevin Hermman, the executive chef at The Porch at Schenley.

'A firefight of epic proportions': Two killed in California's Erskine wildfire

RT
Sat, 25 Jun 2016 13:54 UTC

A furious wildfire has ripped through an area of California, killing an elderly couple as they tried to flee from the deadly flames. At least 80 houses have been destroyed in southern Sierra Nevada, with strong winds fanning the flames further.

Kern County Sheriff, Donny Youngblood, told reporters that at least two people were confirmed to have been killed in the inferno, warning that more victims could be found.

Up to 800 firefighters struggled against the so-called Erskine Fire, which broke out on Thursday in the foothills of Kern County. It roared through sun-drenched trees in the mountains of central California and eventually went out of control. On Friday, local authorities told over 3,000 residents in Lake Isabella to be prepared to evacuate, Reuters reported.

"The forces of nature collided with a spark," Kern County Fire Chief, Brian Marshall, told a news conference on Friday. "The mountainous terrain, five years of drought and wind gusts of over 20mph all drove a fire over 11 miles in 13 hours.

Great White shark attacks fisherman near Cape Agulhas, South Africa

Lizeka Tandwa
news24.com
Sat, 25 Jun 2016 13:07 UTC

A shark, apparently a Great White, attacked a spear fisherman near Cape Agulhas on Thursday, the NSRI said.

A fellow spear fisherman brought the 43-year-old man to Arniston harbour around noon and used the rubber bands from their spear guns as a tourniquet on the wounds, National Sea Rescue Institute Agulhas station commander Reinard Geldenhuys said in a statement.

"It was reported that he was safe in the harbour and suffering bite wounds following a reported shark encounter, believed to be with a Great White shark, while spearfishing off-shore of Ryspunt."

The man had multiple lacerations, a tear to his left leg, and lacerations to his right hand, caused by trying to fight the shark off.

NSRI medics and Fire and Rescue Services paramedics treated the man before he was taken to Bredasdorp hospital, where he was stabilised. He was airlifted to a Cape Town hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Arctic rosy snow may be warning sign

RT
Sat, 25 Jun 2016 12:50 UTC

To some, pink snow sounds like a child's fantasy come true. To others, it sounds like a dangerous new drug. But in reality, pink snow exists... and it isn't a good sign. The blush-toned hue is the chemical reaction of algae that causes Arctic melt.

Rosy snow is commonly seen at high altitudes when normally green algae turn red from absorbing ultraviolet rays. However, the reddish snow could also be increasing the speed of glacial melt.

The simplest way to understand this is to think about wearing a black shirt on a hot day. People typically try not to do that because darker colored objects absorb a higher amount of incoming light than light-colored objects, which tend to reflect light. Here, it's like a glacier putting on a red shirt, the Washington Post explained.

Lakes and rivers mysteriously disappearing increase around the world

Strange Sounds
Fri, 24 Jun 2016 05:51 UTC

The Atoyac river disappears overnight in Mexico

Within the last 3 months or so, newspapers have started reporting increasingly about rivers and lakes that mysteriously and suddenly disappear around the world. Here a compilation of the most baffling incidents.

Let's start this compilation with the Atoyac River, which disappeared overnight drained by a giant 30 meters by 20 meters fissure in the riverbed. The large sink hole cut the water supply to more than 10,000 families for a few days.

One month later, in April 2016, two other rivers flowing through the exact same mountainous region of the eastern state of Veracruz, Mexico also began to dry up due to the formation of sinkholes.

Comment: Mysterious indeed. Elsewhere scientists have been baffled by the relentless rise of two Caribbean lakes and off northwest England a new island formed. What is going on?

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Earth Changes

Environmentalists triumph: PG&E will close Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in 2025

Lightning bolt kills 14 cattle in Ghana

Study: Chance of mega-earthquake in Aleutians

Lightning bolt kills one and injures two in Daytona Beach, Florida

Service dog killed protecting her owner from alligator in Port LaBelle, Florida

Bees dying at an alarming rate in Pennsylvania; could impact food supply

'A firefight of epic proportions': Two killed in California's Erskine wildfire

Great White shark attacks fisherman near Cape Agulhas, South Africa

Arctic rosy snow may be warning sign

Lakes and rivers mysteriously disappearing increase around the world

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