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Native and Environmental Groups Challenge Canadian Tar Sands Crude

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:12:22 +0000

Tar sands crude is causing massive environmental degradation in Canada and results in significantly more greenhouse gas emissions claims environmental and native groups who are challenging

U.S. State Department issuance of a permit for a multibillion-dollar pipeline. The US State Department issued a Presidential Permit to Enbridge Energy, Ltd. for the Alberta Clipper - a 1,000-mile/1,607-kilometer crude oil pipeline that will run between Hardisty, Alberta, and Superior, Wisconsin. The supply of crude oil from Western Canada oil sands developments expected to grow by as much as 1.8 million barrels per day by 2015.

“The State Department has rubber-stamped a project that will mean more air, water and global warming pollution, particularly in the communities near refineries that will process this dirty oil,” said Earthjustice attorney Sarah Burt. The environmental and native groups point out that “Tar sands development in Alberta is creating an environmental catastrophe, with toxic tailings ponds so large they can be seen from space and plans to strip away the forests and peat lands in an area the size of Florida.”

“In addition,” they argue, “greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands production are three times that of conventional crude oil and it contains 11 times more sulfur and nickel, six times more nitrogen and five times more lead than conventional oil. These toxins are released into the U.S. air and water when the crude oil is processed into fuels by refineries.”

“The tar sands pipeline connects U.S. refiners and consumers with the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive crude oil on earth,” said Kevin Reuther, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy’s legal director.

Many of the groups involved in the coalition also have appealed the U.S. Forest Service over its willingness to allow the pipeline to traverse parts of the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota.

Title: U.S. State Department OKs Pipeline From Canada’s Oil Sands

Source: Environmental News Service: August 21, 2009 (ENS) URL:

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2009/2009-08-21-091.asp

Faculty Evaluator: Elaine Wellin

Sonoma State UniversitySimilar Posts:

Stop Killing and Starvation of Samburu People in Kenya

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:15:47 +0000

For the past 8 months, the Kenyan government has carried out a brutal campaign of violence against indigenous Samburu People in north-central Kenya, using their own police and military forces as well as government-funded mercenaries from Somalia. The most infamous attack took place in April, when military forces sprayed a caustic chemical onto group of children, severely burning them. The children were hiding in the bush at the time, while the military “strafed the unarmed villagers with machine guns” from the air and “used clubs to beat them on the ground.” In the weeks leading up to the attack, “Government forces brutally shut down” several wildlife conservancies the Samburu pastoralists managed in collaboration with environmental organizations, explains Cultural Survival, who just received “reports of further air and land attacks on the Samburu by hundreds of Kenyan police troops during the week of November 16.” According to documents released by a Kenyan military officer, the campaign is in large part an attempt to force the Samburu to abandon their way life. The documents explicitly mention an intent to “bring these people into the modern era.” They also showed the attacks, including the one just described, were planned months in advance. Then, in October, the Kenyan government announced it had awarded a set of 18 oil leases to Chinese companies. The lease areas are located within the Samburu’s territory.

Sources:

Ahni “Stop Killing and Starvation of Samburu People in Kenya” November 20th 2009 http://intercontinentalcry.org/stop-killing-and-starvation-of-samburu-people-in-kenya/

Student Researchers: Delana Colvin, Shannon Cree, Anna Kung

Faculty Instructor: Kevin Howley, Associate Professor of Media Studies, DePauw University

Evaluator: Mandy Henk, Coordinator of Access Services, DePauw UniversitySimilar Posts:

West Oakland: Pollution Hotspot and Environmental Racism

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:21:51 +0000

According to the San Francisco Gate, West Oakland, located next to San Francisco’s busiest port and trapped in between two major highways, has escaped the eye of the media and continues to be one of the most polluted cities in America. Diesel-fuel ships, diesel trucks, illegal dumping, and the ramifications of the industrialized area add to the pollution of West Oakland’s dirty air. The West Oakland community is trying to deal with the pollution problem, but the predominately poor African American population already face problems with education, healthcare, and now pollution. One report observed the socioeconomic issues of the poor African American community that play into the environmental racism. With the rise in pollution, children living in West Oakland are seven times more likely to get asthma than any other child in the state. New health reports show staggering numbers of children in the community are at a 20% increase for asthma cases and as high as 37% in adults. Local activists are trying to work with the local government to implement new standards. Unfortunately, due to the environmental racism that has developed their efforts and ideas are currently yielding little progress.

Student Researchers: Claire Apatoff, Erin Kielty, Tom Rich

Faculty Evaluator: Jim Mills, Professor of Geosciences

Faculty Instructor: Kevin Howley

DePauw University

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/chrongreen/detail?entry_id=30590

Uneasy Breathing — Air Pollution in Oakland

- The San Francisco Gate

http://www.pacinst.org/reports/diesel/

West Oakland Residents Choking on Toxic Diesel Exhaust

Pacific Institutue

http://www.adventuresinurbanliving.net/2008/03/port-of-oaklands-pollution-problem.html

Port of Oakland’s Pollution Problem

Adventures in Urban Living

http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/005950.html

West Oakland Neighbors Tackle Toxic Legacy

Newsdesk.org

http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/005945.html

Toxic Tour Blog: Inside West Oakland’s ‘Breathmobile’

Newsdesk.org

http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/005954.html

Ship Pollution Escapes Oakland Diesel Debate

Newsdesk.orgSimilar Posts:

Illegal Arms Trade Experts in Air France Crash

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:34:48 +0000

Amid the media frenzy and speculation over the disappearance of Air France flight 447, the loss of two of the world’s most prominent figures in the war on the illegal arms trade has been virtually overlooked. Pablo Dreyfus, who was traveling with is wife aboard the flight from Rio de Janerio to Paris, had worked with the Brazilian authorities for years to stop the flow of weapons and ammunition that have fueled drug wars in Rio. Also traveling with Dreyfus was his friend and colleague Ronald Dreyer, a Swiss diplomat and coordinator of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence. Dreyfus and Dreyer were on their way to Geneva to present the latest edition of the Small Arms Survey handbook, of which Dreyfus was a joint editor. It was to have been an important step in their relentless fight towards a less profitably violent future.

Title: Key Figures in global battle against illegal arms trade lost in Air France crash

Author: Andrew McLeod,

Source: Sunday Herald (Scotland Independent0, June 7, 2009

http://www.heraldscotland.com/key-figures-in-global-battle-against-illegal-arms-trade-lost-in-air-france-crash-1.829372

Student Researcher: Travis Hann

Faculty Evaluator: Rick Luttmann

Sonoma State UniversitySimilar Posts:

H-Bomb Missing in Savannah Swamp Since 1958

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:42:01 +0000

Where did the missing H-Bomb Go? That is the question on many people’s minds and especially the residents near Tybee Island in Savannah Georgia.

On February 5, 1958 two USA air crafts collided during a night training flight. On one of the aircrafts lay what the pentagon described as the “Mother of all Weapons”. After colliding with each other the pilot was order to “jetton” the bomb before landing the damaged plane. The pilot did so over the shallow waters of Wassaw Sound.

To this day this bomb has still not been discovered. Since the 200 pounds of TNT that was attached to the bomb exploded scattering debris everywhere, residents and officials know that the bomb was dropped. After less then two months the government ordered the search for the bomb to stop. Residents concerns have increased over time due to the fact that they are aware that plutonium, which is a major part of the H-Bomb, becomes even more dangerous and deadly over the years as it erodes and disintegrates. They are afraid that the bomb is leaking radioactive materials into the area around them, which some scientists feel is definitely the case.

Title: The Case of the Missing H-Bomb: The Pentagon Has Lost the Mother of all Weapons

Author: Jeffery St. Clair

Publication: Rock Creek Free Press, June 2009

Student Researcher: Kristin Laney

Community Evaluator: Gary Evans MD

Sonoma State UniversitySimilar Posts: