Related Links: Boston Goes Green in Meeting Federal Consent Decree Terms Federal authorities have given approval to DC Water and the District of Columbia to modify their combined-sewer-overflow plan and incorporate large-scale green infrastructure.Under a deal with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Dept. of Justice announced on May 20, the agency can eliminate a planned underground tunnel along Rock Creek. The agreement calls for green infrastructure—such as rain gardens, green roofs and porous-pavement installations— as well as targeted sewer separation. The system's design allocates 365 impervious acres of land along Rock Creek for management of up to
Related Links: Crews Battle Ice To Clean Up Yellowstone River Oil Spill Flash Flood Roils Utah Oil Spill Cleanup Arkansas Spill Zone Residents Await Plan to Return Home; New Leak in Missouri Plains All American Pipeline's claim that it could take "months" to determine the cause of the May 19 Santa Barbara spill doesn't make sense to other experts in the field."These are steel pipes," said Richard Kuprewicz, president of Accufacts, a Bellingham, Wash.-based energy consulting company. "This isn't rocket science—a visual examination will usually show the cause of the failure. So, saying they're going to need months to determine
India Army photos India Army troops assist in cleanup operations in Basantpur, Nepal following April 25 quake that had magnitude of 7.8 on Richter scale; second quake of 7.3 hit on May 12. India Army Engineering task force uses donated equipment to clear debris in areas hit. UK-based JCB provided more than $1.2 million worth of machines to date. Related Links: Latham, N.Y. civil engineer, born in Nepal, tracks devastation far from homeland Stanford earthquake hazards researcher at center of Nepal quake Qatar refuses to let Nepalese workers return to attend funerals after quake Intl. Red Cross and Nepal Probe
Climate change is expected to impact Bangladesh severely. River flooding currently affects 9.5 million people annually in South Asia and is projected to increase to 15 million people by 2030, according to the World Resources Institute. Those living in the coastal areas of Bangladesh are hit especially hard by disasters, such as cyclones, flash floods, erratic rainfall and salinity intrusion. Sea levels near Dhaka could rise 30 centimeters by 2040 and exceed 100 cm by 2100.Bangladesh has about 100 islands in the Bay of Bengal and a cluster of big rivers. Every three years or so, cyclones increase water levels,
Related Links: With Coal-Ash Leak Plugged, Focus Turns to Remediation Duke Energy Fights North Carolina's $25.1M Coal-Ash Fine Duke Energy pleaded guilty to nine criminal violations of the Clean Water Act and agreed to $102 million in fines and penalties related to a February 2014 coal-ash spill in North Carolina, according to a settlement announced by the U.S. Dept. of Justice on May 14. As part of the agreement, the Charlotte, N.C.-based utility will pay fines totaling more than $68 million, and will fund $34 million in environmental projects and land conservation efforts in North Carolina and Virginia. Covered by
As hurricane season approaches, executives of New Jersey infrastructure agencies and the industry firms that work for them question whether they are doing enough to pressure politicians and other purse-string holders for more infrastructure-resiliency funding in the wake of 2012's Superstorm Sandy."You have to link to people that cut checks and look a generation ahead," Fred Sickels, acting director for drinking water at the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection, told attendees at a May 7 resiliency conference, sponsored by engineer HMM, in Iselin, N.J. "Engineers have to communicate to policy- makers. Funding it will be a challenge."Donald Cresitello, senior
Related Links: Oklahoma Geological Survey Earthquake map Texas Railroad Commission FAQs on Saltwater Disposal Wells Oklahoma and Texas, two oil and gas strongholds that historically applied a very light hand to government regulation, are taking the steps to address the seismic effects of wastewater disposal associated with hydro-fracking.In late April, the Texas Railroad Commission said that it was assessing results from a recent Southern Methodist University study linking disposal well activity to several 2013 earthquakes along an ancient fault line near Azle, Texas. TRC also put Exxon Mobil on notice to show cause as to why certain of its wells
USAID A map of earthquake's epicenter and surrounding areas. Related Links: View Structural Engineer Kit Miyamoto's Latest Blog and Video from Nepal Quake Zone Kit Miyamoto's First Blog and Video from Quake Zone USAID Nepal Earthquake information page Hartford High School Engineers Help Nepal Students Power Up Since the devastating April 25 earthquake in Nepal that killed 7,500 people, the U.S. has provided more than $14.2 million in humanitarian aid. Federal disaster teams were reaching areas made inaccessible by landslides and debris triggered by the tremor that registered a magnitude-7.9. The federal military teams began aerial assessments of the stricken
Related Links: 'Flawed Design' Caused Failure of Mount Polley Mine's Earthen Dam, Say Investigators Mount Polley Dam Failure Raises Bar for Pebble Mine Backers Imperial Metals Corp., owner of the mine that caused Canada's worst mining disaster in history, has started limited production at an even bigger mine, which could be a threat to Alaska's $2-billion annual salmon and tourism business.Meanwhile, Imperial has applied for a temporary restart of Mount Polley Mine, where a tailings storage pond failed in August 2014, spewing 4.3 billion gallons of water and 10.3 million cu yd of mine tailings and construction waste into two
Related Links: DOE Fact Sheet on March 24 Directive Press Release on Senate Legislation Issued by Office of Sen. Murkowski Industry observers are hopeful that recent initiatives by the Obama administration and Congress could help to break the long-running impasse over the storage and disposal of high-level radioactive waste.On March 24, President Obama signed a directive to enable federal officials to identify a site to store high-level defense-related waste, and a group of senior senators introduced a bill to establish a policy for addressing the long-term storage of nuclear and defense-related radioactive waste. And, on March 27, Sen. Harry Reid
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