Harrison County, Mississippi - First, oil made its way on our beaches, and now, oil is making its way into our landfill. Waste Management is now transporting and disposing of oil spill cleanup waste in the Pecan Grove landfill in Harrison County, over strong objections of County officials.
The tar balls, oily sand and other material are scooped up from the beach, bagged and dumped into Waste Management containers.
When they leave the beach, they're going to the company's Pecan Grove landfill in Harrison County. The company said the landfill is fully permitted and equipped to receive and dispose of the oil waste.
In a statement, the company said, "the content of cleanup waste has been analyzed, screened and profiled under prevailing regulations for proper waste disposal and deemed non-hazardous."
Earth Changes
© Kim Fundingsland/MDN
A recent fish kill at Short Creek Dam north of Columbus appears to be quite extensive. Several species of fish began floating to the surface last Friday.
A recent fish kill at Short Creek Dam north of Columbus appears to be quite extensive. Several species of fish began floating to the surface last Friday.
Normally the Fourth of July weekend at Short Creek Dam is a joyous and festive occassion. It wasn't this year.
When local Columbus Sportsmen's Club member Shannon Burau went to Short Creek last Friday morning to mow the campground in preparation for the big weekend, he discovered what he described as a sickening scene.
"It just made me ill. The whole shoreline was pretty much solid with dead fish and it was stinking like a lagoon," said Burau. "It was just a disaster, a disaster. I've never seen anything like it."
© AP Photo
Nomadic tribal chief Ibrahim Mangari walks past a cow that died of hunger, in Gadabeji
Nomadic tribal chief Ibrahim Mangari walks past a cow that died of hunger, in Gadabeji
To the north of Niger, the creeping Sahara; to the south, oil rich and agriculturally lush Nigeria - this nation straddles the Sahel - dry, hot and cruel. It has suffered catastrophic droughts - 1974, 1984 and 2005. And now, another.
Five times the size of the United Kingdom, Niger is one of the poorest nations on earth with child mortality worse than Afghanistan. The absence of regular rainfall throughout 2009 has led to poor harvests, lack of grazing for animals and food reserves exhausted.
Hungry people have started adding "bitter" berries to their diet - this is survival food, normally unpalatable but when starving, the unpalatable becomes welcome - essential.
© Unknown
Currently right whales
are monitored to determine the health and size of the population. The northern and southern right whales are on the endangered species list.
Currently right whales
are monitored to determine the health and size of the population. The northern and southern right whales are on the endangered species list.
"The impacts of increases in ocean noise from human activities are a concern for the conservation of marine animals like right whales," said Susan Parks, assistant professor of acoustics and research associate, Applied Research Laboratory, Penn State. "The ability to change vocalizations to compensate for environmental noise is critical for successful communication in an increasingly noisy ocean."
Right whales are large baleen whales that often approach close to shore. They may have been given the name because they were the right whales to hunt as they are rich in blubber, slow swimming and remain afloat after death. Consequently, whalers nearly hunted these whales to extinction.
"There's no doubt that the ultimate solution is a relief well," BP CEO Tony Hayward said.
Since 1969, oil companies have drilled seven deepwater relief wells in the Gulf of Mexico - all but one of them successful - although BP's current drilling would be the deepest ever.
"They're not reinventing the wheel, if you will," said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. "It's something they've done before."
BP's challenge? Make it work, without making it worse. Around the clock, the two relief wells sink lower, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. Both run parallel to the gushing well. One is two weeks ahead of the other, now 17,000 feet below the Gulf's surface. Nine hundred feet lower, electromagnetic sensors will find the best spot for a diagonal cut into the broken well bore, the most precise step of all. Then four pumps will push in heavy mud, to overcome the broken well's ferocious upward pressure. And finally, cement, to plug it permanently.
Since 1969, oil companies have drilled seven deepwater relief wells in the Gulf of Mexico - all but one of them successful - although BP's current drilling would be the deepest ever.
"They're not reinventing the wheel, if you will," said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. "It's something they've done before."
BP's challenge? Make it work, without making it worse. Around the clock, the two relief wells sink lower, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. Both run parallel to the gushing well. One is two weeks ahead of the other, now 17,000 feet below the Gulf's surface. Nine hundred feet lower, electromagnetic sensors will find the best spot for a diagonal cut into the broken well bore, the most precise step of all. Then four pumps will push in heavy mud, to overcome the broken well's ferocious upward pressure. And finally, cement, to plug it permanently.
© NOAA
Click to Enlarge
Click to Enlarge
"This NOAA model shows where oil may be likely to travel, thereby giving coastal states and communities information about potential threats of shoreline impacts. This kind of information should assist in the preparation of adequate preparedness measures," said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "NOAA is strongly committed to providing reliable information to the public and to responders at all levels."
© Florida Today
Chris Davis was on Melbourne Beach when he spotted a glob of tar
Chris Davis was on Melbourne Beach when he spotted a glob of tar
Cindy Leckey, a supervisor for Brevard Environmental Health Services, called it "highly unlikely" the tar is from the spill.
But she and other officials warned beachgoers to leave any tar-like substance they see to those trained to handle it.
"Nobody should be touching anything," Leckey told Local 6 News partner Florida Today. Dial 211 to report it instead, she said.
After the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, Exxon sealed the health records of workers who were sickened during the cleanup. Drew Griffin investigates whether BP is trying to hide the risks to cleanup workers now?
© Ian Jones
Goldfish were found to be good listeners
Goldfish were found to be good listeners
Far from being a place of deep silence, the underwater world is abuzz with the sound of fish sweet-talking the opposite sex, warning others of danger, giving directions, and general background chatter.
Predators may even hunt out prey by intercepting fish talk, researcher Shahriman Ghazali of Auckland University said.
"All fish can hear but not all can make sound -- pops and other sounds made by vibrating their swim bladder, a muscle they can contract," he said.
Mr Ghazali, who is presenting a paper on his research to fellow marine scientists in Wellington this week, hopes to decipher the contexts for different types of communication.
Global warming models set for shake-up by new data
Top international boffins, having crunched vast amounts of climate data, say that the effect of "carbon feedback" - thought likely in some quarters to cause imminent runaway global warming followed by the end of human civilisation - has been exaggerated.
"Our key finding is that the short-term temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration to air temperature is converging to a single, global value," says Miguel Mahecha of the Max-Planck Institut für Biogeochemie, lead boffin on the new science.
"Contrary to previous studies, we show that the sensitivity of ecosystem respiration to temperature variations seems to be independent from external factors and constant across ecosystems."
Top international boffins, having crunched vast amounts of climate data, say that the effect of "carbon feedback" - thought likely in some quarters to cause imminent runaway global warming followed by the end of human civilisation - has been exaggerated.
"Our key finding is that the short-term temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration to air temperature is converging to a single, global value," says Miguel Mahecha of the Max-Planck Institut für Biogeochemie, lead boffin on the new science.
"Contrary to previous studies, we show that the sensitivity of ecosystem respiration to temperature variations seems to be independent from external factors and constant across ecosystems."
