Hazardous materials spill in Ventura County. A lot.
There were 100 gallons of acetone, styrene and other flammable chemicals dumped into an Oxnard street after a 2007 tractor-trailer crash.
More than 200 gallons of sulfuric acid emptied into Ventura’s storm drains after a spill at a linen supply company in 2006.
A few cups of cyanide after an unsuccessful suicide attempt in Oxnard had to be dealt with. And then there are the more than 15,000 gallons of gas and diesel spilled after car accidents, 10 million gallons of sewage that flowed into the county’s streams and more than 540,000 gallons of crude oil that spilled onto the ground during oil production.
All told, more than 13 million gallons of pollutants have spilled on the ground and into the waterways around Ventura County in the past five years.
A Star investigation that compiled all the spills reported to the county in those five years shows an array of chemicals often make their way into the environment. More than 90 different materials spilled on the roads, front yards and beaches around the county.
The majority are single incidents of spills, though there are some patterns.
Oil spills are a regular feature in the oil fields around the county.
The old Santa Paula wastewater treatment plant dumped nearly 300,000 gallons of sewage and chlorinated water into the Santa Clara River. After the city negotiated a deal to avoid millions in fines for pollution, a new plant is being built.
“It’s a disturbing picture, and it’s one of the problems with an industrialized society with all these chemicals,” said Ron Bottorff, executive director of Friends of the Santa Clara River. “Undoubtedly there is an impact but we don’t understand what it is.”
While the spills are cleaned up by the individuals who spilled them, those who deal with such spills acknowledge it’s impossible to retrieve 100 percent of the spilled material.
“We are shooting for 100 percent but there is not such thing as absolute zero,” said Ventura Fire Marshal Brian Clark.
The data show what spills were reported to the county under Proposition 65, which is a public right to know law of potentially dangerous chemicals in the environment.
Greg Smith, manager of the Ventura County Environmental Health Division Hazardous Materials Program, said he believes the majority of the spills are reported, but not all. Smaller businesses that use the chemicals don’t have the manpower to deal with spills so they likely go unreported, he said.
Paul Jenkin, environmental director with the Surfrider Foundation’s Ventura chapter, said while a gallon of antifreeze or a few barrels of crude oil may not seem like much, the numbers can add up quickly.
“It’s not just one thing, it’s everything added up all together cumulatively,” he said. “We don’t have a good idea of how it’s affecting our ecosystem and our oceans because you add it all up and it’s a lot more than one sewage spill. This is what I call legalized pollution.”
Smith said hazardous materials have been a part of society since the days of hunting and gathering stopped. Romans had lead; other societies polluted the air with coal.
He says society is slowly moving away from the very noxious materials in favor of easier to handle ones that don’t pose such a threat to the environment, but the impacts are still there.
“While we are doing a good job, we can do better,” he said.
Discussions
Sunday, July 19, 2009
U.S should share burden of cleaning up environment: Hillary
New Delhi, July 19 - ANI: The visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday agreed with the Indian concerns on climate change and said that being one of the biggest emitters of Green house gases the US should share the burden of cleaning up the environment. Addressing a meet on Climate Change held in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi, Hillary Clinton said: "The challenge is to create a global framework that recognises the different needs and the responsibilities of developed and developing countries alike. And I not only understand but I agree with the concerns of countries like India. United States and other countries that have been the biggest historic emitters of Green house gases should shoulder the biggest burden for cleaning up the environment and we do sink our carbon footprint.Clinton also said that the United States would never do anything to limit the economic progress of India."First the United States does not and will not do anything that would limit the economic progress of India. We believe that economic progress of India is in everyone's interest and not just India to lift people out of poverty and to give every child born in India a chance to live up to his or her God- given potential, is a goal that we share with you," said Hillary Clinton.The United States wants India to agree to limit its carbon emissions ahead of the signing of a new UN climate treaty in Copenhagen in December, where over 190 nations will try to set emission cuts targets to 2020.Clinton, however, told media that she had productive talks with Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh.She expressed optimism that the United States and India could bridge their differences on the issue of reducing Greenhouse gases.Meanwhile, Jairam Ramesh on this occasion said that India would never allow its per capita emissions to exceed that of the developed countries.In his opening remarks, Ramesh made it clear that Indias position on the ongoing climate change agreement negotiations was clear, credible and consistent. Embedded in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Bali Action Plan, we are fully alive to our global responsibilities. Even with 8-9% GDP growth every year for the next decade or two, our per capita emissions will be well below that of developed country averages, Ramesh said.If this pressure was not enough, we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours, he added.Talking about Indias economic growth he said the Indian government was ensuring that its economic growth path was ecologically sustainableGDP is increasingly Green Domestic Product, not just Gross Domestic Product. In collaboration with the UN, the Government of India is hosting an International Conference on Climate Change and Technology on October 22-23rd, 2009. The New Delhi Statement on Technology and Climate Change will be reflected in the Copenhagen Agreement. Ramesh said that India seeks to engage the United States of America purposively in areas joint research, development, demonstration and dissemination of environmental projects. - ANI
Scientists zoom in on carbon dioxide in NYC
Wade McGillis peered up at the structure propped like a high-tech stick figure — minus the head — on an elementary school roof. Then he examined the electronics attached to its spindly metal frame, looking out over the Harlem brownstones nearby and the skyscrapers farther away.
Within 15 minutes, a graph spiked in his office eight blocks away. The abrupt peak marked the carbon dioxide the Columbia University environmental engineering professor and three visitors had exhaled.
The spike was an anomaly, but it proved the rooftop device had done its job, helping to break down questions about global warming to a local level.
"We're unraveling the story of how carbon (dioxide) changes over the day, changes from neighborhood to neighborhood, and changes from the country to the city," said McGillis, who has set up seven sensors in and around New York City. The newest, in Central Park, was installed this spring.
The urban experiment shows a growing interest by researchers in tracking how much of the heat-trapping gas a city, neighborhood or building puts in the atmosphere, and how much the urban environment can suck out.
Some scientists hope the data might eventually help shape efforts to curb emissions of carbon dioxide — one of the main contributors to global warming — and measure whether such efforts are effective.
Carbon dioxide is emitted by various natural processes, including animals' breathing. But human activities — especially burning coal, oil natural gas and other fossil fuels — have greatly increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap heat on the planet's surface, causing a range of climate effects, many scientists and regulators say.
The rise of greenhouse gases already has increased temperatures, sea levels and heavy rains enough to affect water supplies, agriculture and health, and the effects are expected to worsen, scientists told the Obama administration in a report released last month. The report calls for more work on distinguishing human and natural factors in climate change and scaling the information down to local levels.
McGillis' monitors are in locales ranging from Harlem to rural eastern Long Island, about 80 miles away. The sensors measure carbon dioxide levels, wind speeds and other weather data every 15 minutes, submitting the data wirelessly. Readings are posted online soon after they're taken.
The monitors in Central Park and Harlem are only about two miles apart but often show notable differences in carbon dioxide levels, he said, and reflect how people and nature intertwine to affect the gases' ebb and flow.
McGillis' three-year-old project joins a growing list of efforts to keep tabs on carbon dioxide.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration now has about 70 carbon dioxide sensors around the world, many in remote areas. The agency hopes to do more carbon dioxide monitoring in cities to help test whether efforts to curb carbon emissions are effective, said Pieter Tans, who runs the monitor network.
Most power plants have been required to monitor their carbon dioxide emissions since the 1990s. Scientists have done carbon monitoring experiments of their own in Chicago, Salt Lake City and southern California, among other places.
Purdue University researcher Kevin Gurney sends a low-flying plane over Indianapolis to sample the gas in an attempt to gauge carbon dioxide emissions building by building. He combines air samples with a range of emissions, traffic and other data.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also is seeking more local specifics on greenhouse gas emissions, and proposed requiring annual reports from about 13,000 fuel refineries, car manufacturers and other large industrial facilities.
The reporting could involve some monitoring but would largely rely on calculating emissions from burning fuel, said Bill Irving, an official in the EPA's climate change division.
"Our view is, at this stage, the advanced, rigorous calculation approaches are justified," he said.
Coal industry lobbyist Scott Segal says industrial emissions calculations are refined enough that more monitoring wouldn't add much information.
Within 15 minutes, a graph spiked in his office eight blocks away. The abrupt peak marked the carbon dioxide the Columbia University environmental engineering professor and three visitors had exhaled.
The spike was an anomaly, but it proved the rooftop device had done its job, helping to break down questions about global warming to a local level.
"We're unraveling the story of how carbon (dioxide) changes over the day, changes from neighborhood to neighborhood, and changes from the country to the city," said McGillis, who has set up seven sensors in and around New York City. The newest, in Central Park, was installed this spring.
The urban experiment shows a growing interest by researchers in tracking how much of the heat-trapping gas a city, neighborhood or building puts in the atmosphere, and how much the urban environment can suck out.
Some scientists hope the data might eventually help shape efforts to curb emissions of carbon dioxide — one of the main contributors to global warming — and measure whether such efforts are effective.
Carbon dioxide is emitted by various natural processes, including animals' breathing. But human activities — especially burning coal, oil natural gas and other fossil fuels — have greatly increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap heat on the planet's surface, causing a range of climate effects, many scientists and regulators say.
The rise of greenhouse gases already has increased temperatures, sea levels and heavy rains enough to affect water supplies, agriculture and health, and the effects are expected to worsen, scientists told the Obama administration in a report released last month. The report calls for more work on distinguishing human and natural factors in climate change and scaling the information down to local levels.
McGillis' monitors are in locales ranging from Harlem to rural eastern Long Island, about 80 miles away. The sensors measure carbon dioxide levels, wind speeds and other weather data every 15 minutes, submitting the data wirelessly. Readings are posted online soon after they're taken.
The monitors in Central Park and Harlem are only about two miles apart but often show notable differences in carbon dioxide levels, he said, and reflect how people and nature intertwine to affect the gases' ebb and flow.
McGillis' three-year-old project joins a growing list of efforts to keep tabs on carbon dioxide.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration now has about 70 carbon dioxide sensors around the world, many in remote areas. The agency hopes to do more carbon dioxide monitoring in cities to help test whether efforts to curb carbon emissions are effective, said Pieter Tans, who runs the monitor network.
Most power plants have been required to monitor their carbon dioxide emissions since the 1990s. Scientists have done carbon monitoring experiments of their own in Chicago, Salt Lake City and southern California, among other places.
Purdue University researcher Kevin Gurney sends a low-flying plane over Indianapolis to sample the gas in an attempt to gauge carbon dioxide emissions building by building. He combines air samples with a range of emissions, traffic and other data.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also is seeking more local specifics on greenhouse gas emissions, and proposed requiring annual reports from about 13,000 fuel refineries, car manufacturers and other large industrial facilities.
The reporting could involve some monitoring but would largely rely on calculating emissions from burning fuel, said Bill Irving, an official in the EPA's climate change division.
"Our view is, at this stage, the advanced, rigorous calculation approaches are justified," he said.
Coal industry lobbyist Scott Segal says industrial emissions calculations are refined enough that more monitoring wouldn't add much information.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Mystery mechanism drove global warming 55m years ago
A runaway spurt of global warming
55 million years ago turned Earth into a hothouse but how this happened remains worryingly unclear, scientists said
Previous research into this period, called the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, estimates the planet's surface temperature blasted upwards by between five and nine degrees Celsius in just a few thousand years. The Arctic Ocean warmed to 23 C, or about the temperature of a lukewarm bath. How PETM happened is unclear but climatologists are eager to find out, as this could shed light on aspects of global warming. What seems clear is that a huge amount of heat-trapping "greenhouse" gases -- natural, as opposed to man-made -- were disgorged in a very short time. The theorised sources include volcanic activity and the sudden release of methane hydrates in the ocean. Even though there are big differences between Earth's geology and ice cover then and now, the findings are relevant as they highlight the risk of hidden mechanisms that add dramatically to warming, says the paper. After the big warm-up, the planet eventually cooled around 100,000 years later, but not before there had been a mass extinction, paving the way to the biodiversity that is familiar to us today.
55 million years ago turned Earth into a hothouse but how this happened remains worryingly unclear, scientists said
Previous research into this period, called the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, estimates the planet's surface temperature blasted upwards by between five and nine degrees Celsius in just a few thousand years. The Arctic Ocean warmed to 23 C, or about the temperature of a lukewarm bath. How PETM happened is unclear but climatologists are eager to find out, as this could shed light on aspects of global warming. What seems clear is that a huge amount of heat-trapping "greenhouse" gases -- natural, as opposed to man-made -- were disgorged in a very short time. The theorised sources include volcanic activity and the sudden release of methane hydrates in the ocean. Even though there are big differences between Earth's geology and ice cover then and now, the findings are relevant as they highlight the risk of hidden mechanisms that add dramatically to warming, says the paper. After the big warm-up, the planet eventually cooled around 100,000 years later, but not before there had been a mass extinction, paving the way to the biodiversity that is familiar to us today.
Emission compromise at cost of development?
The war of words within the government on the MEF statement has got heated up. If the UN negotiations were to adopt the concepts India has signed on at theMajor Emitters' Forum on climate change, the tables could turn against India, an official negotiator has warned.
. While warning of the spin being given to the Prime Minister's signing on to the declaration in Italy, the negotiator has explained in an internal note how the ideas in the political statement, if adopted, could impact India's growth. But with the special envoy to the PM and the chief negotiator, Shyam Saran, coming out in defence of the statement the rift in the negotiators has now sprung out of the bureaucratic corridors. The negotiator, continuing to be a part of the government think tank on climate issues and still consulted by the PM and the special envoy along with other negotiators after the Italy meet, refused to comment when contacted. But in his correspondence with other colleagues, he has warned that while India has accepted that it would go below the `business-as-usual' scenario, for a rapidly developing country the phrase itself has little meaning. Only progressively lower energy intensity and parallel lowering of poverty is the real measure of India walking on a green path to development. He points out that the MEF declaration even when coupled with the developed world's seemingly ambitious target of cutting emissions to 85% below 1990 levels by 2050 would allow the rich nations to occupy more than their equitable carbon space in the atmosphere in perpetuity while leaving India stranded at much lower levels. Other observers have concluded that under the MEF model, even China and South Africa would be able to surge far ahead of India. He has written that under an `equitable allocation of environmental space' this occupation of excess carbon space would have to be paid for by the rich nations. "If duly adjusted for time value of money, it amount to trillions of dollars in unpaid climate debt," he has said. He points out that even the British economist Nicolas Stern, whose work on climate is recognized worldwide, accepts it so. He says that in a fair deal, the industrialized nations would therefore have to pay the full costs of technology and capacity building of reducing emissions in the developing world. But the MEF statement that India has signed on to, though calling it a mere political line not really enforceable at the UN negotiations, has now weakened the link between actions that India takes and the costs that the rich nations would bear. At the negotiations, India has demanded full costs passed through the UN convention but at the MEF the government has agreed to only supportive costs including those given outside the UN and through private sector channels. With all the negotiators TOI contacted refusing to talk, the controversy may get buried as India would now have to prepare to explain its moves to its allies in the G77 and to hunt for holding on to its negotiating space at the next round of UN negotiations in Bonn in August.
. While warning of the spin being given to the Prime Minister's signing on to the declaration in Italy, the negotiator has explained in an internal note how the ideas in the political statement, if adopted, could impact India's growth. But with the special envoy to the PM and the chief negotiator, Shyam Saran, coming out in defence of the statement the rift in the negotiators has now sprung out of the bureaucratic corridors. The negotiator, continuing to be a part of the government think tank on climate issues and still consulted by the PM and the special envoy along with other negotiators after the Italy meet, refused to comment when contacted. But in his correspondence with other colleagues, he has warned that while India has accepted that it would go below the `business-as-usual' scenario, for a rapidly developing country the phrase itself has little meaning. Only progressively lower energy intensity and parallel lowering of poverty is the real measure of India walking on a green path to development. He points out that the MEF declaration even when coupled with the developed world's seemingly ambitious target of cutting emissions to 85% below 1990 levels by 2050 would allow the rich nations to occupy more than their equitable carbon space in the atmosphere in perpetuity while leaving India stranded at much lower levels. Other observers have concluded that under the MEF model, even China and South Africa would be able to surge far ahead of India. He has written that under an `equitable allocation of environmental space' this occupation of excess carbon space would have to be paid for by the rich nations. "If duly adjusted for time value of money, it amount to trillions of dollars in unpaid climate debt," he has said. He points out that even the British economist Nicolas Stern, whose work on climate is recognized worldwide, accepts it so. He says that in a fair deal, the industrialized nations would therefore have to pay the full costs of technology and capacity building of reducing emissions in the developing world. But the MEF statement that India has signed on to, though calling it a mere political line not really enforceable at the UN negotiations, has now weakened the link between actions that India takes and the costs that the rich nations would bear. At the negotiations, India has demanded full costs passed through the UN convention but at the MEF the government has agreed to only supportive costs including those given outside the UN and through private sector channels. With all the negotiators TOI contacted refusing to talk, the controversy may get buried as India would now have to prepare to explain its moves to its allies in the G77 and to hunt for holding on to its negotiating space at the next round of UN negotiations in Bonn in August.
Ganga, Yamuna "no cleaner" now than 20 yrs ago, says Ramesh
In a frank admission, Government on Friday said in Lok Sabha that rivers Ganga and Yamuna were "no cleaner" now as they were two decades ago despite spending over Rs.1,700 crore.
"I admit with full responsibility that Ganga and Yamuna are no cleaner than 20 years ago," said environment minister Jairam Ramesh while responding to a Calling Attention Motion on checking pollution in rivers and lakes in India. He said a "determined and renewed effort" was required to cleanse these major rivers. To a question by BJP member Adityanath on the cleanliness of the two major rivers of North India, Ramesh said he could provide figures on their pollution levels but "I myself don't believe these numbers. ... For a layman, the answer is a depressing 'no'". While over Rs 816 crore was spent on two phases of the Ganga Action Plan (GAP), Rs 682 crore was spent on the first phase of the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) in the first phase and another Rs 190 crore on the second phase so far, he said. Referring to the National Ganga River Basin Authority headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said global tender for project consultants to prepare a basin management plan have attracted 30 bids and the selection would be done in the next two months.
"I admit with full responsibility that Ganga and Yamuna are no cleaner than 20 years ago," said environment minister Jairam Ramesh while responding to a Calling Attention Motion on checking pollution in rivers and lakes in India. He said a "determined and renewed effort" was required to cleanse these major rivers. To a question by BJP member Adityanath on the cleanliness of the two major rivers of North India, Ramesh said he could provide figures on their pollution levels but "I myself don't believe these numbers. ... For a layman, the answer is a depressing 'no'". While over Rs 816 crore was spent on two phases of the Ganga Action Plan (GAP), Rs 682 crore was spent on the first phase of the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) in the first phase and another Rs 190 crore on the second phase so far, he said. Referring to the National Ganga River Basin Authority headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said global tender for project consultants to prepare a basin management plan have attracted 30 bids and the selection would be done in the next two months.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)