As the Superfund program approaches its 30th anniversary, it is at a crossroads. To finish cleaning up nearly 1,300 designated hazardous waste sites—some dangerous to human health—sources say the program needs funding. But with a difficult economy and little congressional support for reinstating a dedicated trust fund, those resources could be hard to come by. The result is a slowing of the already lethargic pace of site completions. + Image Photo: courtesy of North Wind Inc. The trust fund legislation sunset in 1995 and ran out of money in 2000. Source: GAO Meanwhile, some industry firms have developed solutions of
The House has approved a $59-billion spending measure that includes $32.8 billion to continue the war in Afghanistan, and $2.8 billion for assistance in Haiti, where a Jan. 12 earthquake killed 230,000 people and caused an estimated $11.5 billion in damages. The July 27 House vote is the final congressional action on the package. It next goes to President Obama for his expected signature. The defense portion of the bill includes $649 million for military construction in Afghanistan. The Haiti funding includes $438 million for infrastructure.
With a cap holding pressure on a runaway BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, Adm. Thad Allen, national incident commander for the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill, reported July 26 that crews expect to finish preparations in the last week of July and begin a “static kill,” in which drilling mud and cement will be forced down into the top of the well on Aug. 2. Then about five days later, they plan to begin the bottom kill, in which the same materials are pumped into the well bore near its base, after being conveyed there through a relief
The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Wetlands Reserve Program has agreed to pay approximately $89 million to acquire permanent easements on nearly 26,000 contiguous acres in Florida’s Northern Everglades Watershed. In some sections, the government will restore and improve the wetlands; in others, it will recharge the aquifers and ensure the wetlands remain free of development and available for bird migration. Once the restoration is complete, officials expect to see improvement in the quality of the water draining into the Everglades and nearby habitat within two years. The voluntary Wetlands Reserve Program worked with four landowners and
BP is keeping a lid on its runaway Mancondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, despite four leaks that developed in and around the well since July 14, when BP installed new shut-off valves. BP and federal emergency response officials believe the well bore is sound; they will continue tests in 24-hour increments with the valves closed. BP and federal overseers agree the “seepage” is not enough to signal a failure of the well bore, although they are watching closely. Two leaks are in equipment at the wellhead, and two others are “a few thousand feet” and two miles away,
BP kept a lid on its run-away Mancondo well in the Gulf of Mexico July 20, despite four leaks that have developed in and around it since July 14, when BP closed newly-installed shut-off valves on the well. Photo: courtesy of BP Workers at BP's HIVE, or Highly Immersive Visualization Environment, in Houston on July 19, keeping an eye on containment cap on the Mancondo well. BP and the government believe the well retains integrity and have agreed to continue tests in 24-hour increments with the cap in place and valves closed, officials say. The well blew out April 20
A permanent end to a seemingly endless torrent of oil gushing from a runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico appeared in sight in mid-July as BP successfully installed a sealing cap on the wellhead—a crucial step in shutting it down. The cap was bolted on even as a drilling crew was coming close to intersecting the well bore almost 13,000 ft below the seabed with one of two relief wells being drilled nearby. Their aim is to pierce the well bore and kill the well by choking it with drilling mud and cement. BP is owner of the Macondo
Following the July 8 decision by a U.S. appellate court in New Orleans to uphold a lower court’s ruling that lifted the Obama Administration’s moratorium on deepwater drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf, the U.S. Dept. of the Interior on July 12 said its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will issue narrower “suspensions” that will curtail most deepwater drilling activities through Nov. 30. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the new suspensions will apply to drilling operations that use subsea blowout or surface preventers on floating facilities. The suspensions allow for some limited deepwater drilling to continue, including emergency drilling related
Critics contend that the new emissions targets in a proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule for sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides carried downwind from powerplants in 31 eastern states and the District of Columbia could be difficult to achieve, but environmental advocates say the new proposal will result in cleaner air. EPA says the proposed rule, which EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson signed on July 6, would cut SO2 emissions by 2014 by 70% from 2005 levels and trim NOx emissions by 52%. Gina McCarthy, EPA’s assistant administrator for air and radiation, says the proposal is a “large and important step in
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a regulation that aims to cut sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions that are carried downwind from powerplants in 31 eastern states and the District of Columbia, posing harm in other parts of the country. EPA says that the proposed rule, which EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson signed on July 6, would cut SO2 emissions by 2014 by 71% from 2005 levels and trim NOx emissions by 52%. McCarthy says the first phase of the reductions would take place in 2012, assuming that the rule becomes final in 2011. Gina McCarthy, EPA's assistant administrator for
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