Vast amounts of low-level radioactive waste could be transported to a new West Texas disposal site if a two-state commission, largely appointed by Gov. Rick Perry (R), allows it to accept waste shipments from 36 or more states. The Texas Low-Level Waste Disposal Compact Commission, one of several U.S. compacts set up to encourage state collaboration on low-level waste disposal, consists of six Texas members and two from Vermont to govern disposal in those states. Their waste, now sent to Utah, would be disposed at the Texas site, likely by next spring. The panel could also decide as early as
BP is fighting battles on multiple fronts. It’s battling the oil gushing out of the well after the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drill rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Related Links: Oil-Spill Battlefront Spreads From Gulf to Washington, D.C. Setting Oil Spill Liability Limit: Is $10 Billiion Too High? Resentment Flares Against Dutch Proposal To Mobilize Huge Dredging Fleet in Gulf It’s fighting what it claims is misinformation about the oil spill’s extent and environmental impacts. And in the latest skirmish, BP is defending itself against claims that its engineering documentation may have led to the blast
While a variety of groups from utilities to environmental organizations are clamoring for a climate-change bill that can pass the Senate, construction industry sources say prospects for the bill—rolled out on May 12 by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I- Conn.)—look slim. They unveiled the 987-page American Power Act without the support of Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who had worked with Kerry and Lieberman for several months to craft a bipartisan bill but who in recent weeks dropped out of the discussions. Photo: AP/Wideworld “We’re closer than ever,” says Sen. John Kerry (at podium) with Sen. Joe Lieberman (right).
In another congressional reaction to the Gulf Coast oil spill, six Senate Democrats from the West Coast have introduced a bill that would permanently ban new oil and gas drilling off the shores of California, Oregon and Washington state. The measure, introduced May 13, would reinstate--only for the West Coast--a longstanding congressional and White House prohibition on Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas exploration. That nationwide drilling ban had been lifted in 2008. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) and was co-sponsored by her California colleague Dianne Feinstein, as well as Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden
As BP struggles to cap a leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, the company is signing up fishermen onshore to help with cleanup. Photo: Craig Guillot landlocked Nicky Alfonso pulled his crab pots out of the water within days of the rig explosion. Lanvin LeBlanc, a Lafitte, La., resident, is one of more than 700 fisherman signed on so far. He single-handedly runs a 38-ft shrimp skiff. When officials closed the waters to all fishing between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Florida’s Pensacola Bay on May 2, LeBlanc effectively was put out of business. “This is
For the most part, contractors have not yet been engaged in cleanup or remediation efforts to combat the flow of oil encroaching on the Gulf Coast. Photo: Courtesy of La. Dept. of Natural Resources Permits have been approved for closing two breaches opened by hurricanes at Elmers Island, La. HNTB Corporation, Kansas City, Mo. has contracts in place with both the State of Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration and with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, that would allow either the state or the Corps to hire HNTB immediately. However, HNTB is currently engaged only
Even as the rivers of Middle and West Tennessee are returning to their pre-flood levels, damage estimates are rising rapidly. Nashville Mayor Karl Dean (D) on May 11 raised the damage estimate for the city to $1.56 billion, with 99% of the private sector having been inspected. Absent from the total are public buildings and infrastructure damaged by torrential rain that fell on May 1 and 2. Photo: Aerial Innovations of Tennessee PSC Metals Inc.’s recycling facility southeast of downtown Nashville sits submerged in floodwater after the Cumberland River overflowed its banks. David Penn, director of the Business and Economic
As oil company and government task-force teams struggled futilely for another week to control an offshore oil leak spewing an estimated 5,000 barrels per day into the Gulf of Mexico, forces on land prepared to mitigate the damage when the toxic spill comes ashore. On May 11, Congress commenced hearings on the disaster. On the same day, the federal government began to apply lessons learned from the April 20 disaster. The Obama administration tasked the National Academy of Engineering with running a technical, independent investigation. The U.S. Dept. of the Interior froze offshore drilling permits and announced a restructuring of
More than a week after a May 1 pipe break disrupted water supply in metropolitan Boston and forced two million residents to boil drinking water for 53 hours, authorities and contractors are trying to retrieve a critical pipe connector—which likely may manifest clues as to what caused the break—as well as documents detailing how upgrades to the affected pipe section were designed and installed more than a decade ago. Photo: AP/Wideworld Worker at site of Boston pipe rupture; a critical pipe connector has not been found. The rupture in a 150-ft section of pipe that carries water from the Quabbin
The owners of 19 California coastal powerplants—including two nuclear facilities—may have to spend billions to install closed-loop cooling towers to protect marine life. The state Water Quality Control Board passed regulations on May 4 that require plants using once-through ocean-water intakes for cooling to reduce water use by more than 90%. + Image Image: Southern California Edison Intake protection system at San Onofre is part of a previous $150-million mitigation. The rule, finalized by the board after five years of study and hours of debate, cites estimated annual mortality rates of 2.6 million fish and 19 billion fish larvae from
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