Post by WarMachineRhodey on Jan 20, 2016 14:06:57 GMT -5
Huge Methane leak in California and 3rd world country water quality in Flint,Michigan. As usual not much mainstream media coverage. To top it off oil and stocks are still falling.
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/regulators-halt-plans-to-capture-and-burn-leaked-methane-in-southern-california/
On Saturday, regulators in California decided to hold off on a plan to capture and burn the natural gas that is leaking from a broken storage well just north of Los Angeles, citing the risk of a “catastrophic explosion,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
GOVERNOR DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY IN CONNECTION WITH CALIFORNIA METHANE LEAK
No state funds will be used to fix it, but some gas storage sites must now be monitored.
The well at the Aliso Canyon storage facility has been leaking since October 23, belching massive amounts of methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas, into the air. Methane is not only bad for climate change, it’s also extremely flammable.
At first, California regulators wanted to take advantage of that property of methane by capturing and burning off the gas coming from the well. That would have reduced the methane’s impact on the environment somewhat while Southern California Gas, the company that owns the Aliso Canyon facility, finished drilling the relief well to plug the underground reservoir feeding the leak. As National Geographic noted in an article last week, "Flaring gas has a much lower impact on the climate than a vent directly into the atmosphere—the flame converts gas into an amount of carbon dioxide that will have 30 times less warming potential in the near term.”
In addition, burning the gas captured from the leak would have reduced the impact on nearby residents of Porter Ranch, many of whom have been relocated due to the effects of the chemicals that natural gas is treated with, which can cause nausea, headaches, and bloody noses.
But at Saturday’s meeting, the South Coast Air Quality Management District decided to stall the plan to capture and burn gas from the leaking well until local fire officials as well as state and federal authorities have given their approval, the Los Angeles Times wrote.
That decision came after the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) criticized the plan, which involved capturing gas at the leak site with a 3-foot-wide pipe and burning the gas off at a distance from the wellhead. Instead, the PUC said, SoCal Gas’ earlier attempts to plug the leak by pumping slurry into the wellhead weakened it to the point where a misstep in installing the 3-foot-wide pipe could cause a blowout to occur, which could cause the pressurized gas to vent directly into the atmosphere instead of diffusing through several areas in the ground, as it is doing now.
As the Los Angeles Times reported last week, SoCal Gas’ earlier attempts at plugging the leak by pumping slurry into the wellhead created a 25-foot-deep ditch around the site. "The wellhead sits exposed within the cavernous space, held in place with cables attached after it wobbled during the plugging attempt,” the Times wrote. That precarious wellhead is a last defense against the unfettered venting of a lot of pressurized gas.
On top of that, the area around the wellhead is so flammable that cellphones and watches are not permitted, lest something set off a spark. Relief well drilling takes place at a site that is a safe distance away.
The relief well is not expected to be completed until early February. As of January 15, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services reported that the relief well had been drilled to a depth of 7,800 feet. The reservoir that contains the natural gas (which itself is an old oil well, sucked dry before the 1970s) lies some 8,500 to 8,700 feet beneath the surface.
On Saturday, the Southern Coast Air Quality Management District also proposed ordering SoCal Gas to permanently shut down the Aliso Canyon facility, which is the largest west of the Mississippi and includes 115 wells. SoCal Gas lawyer Robert Wyman said on Saturday that the company would oppose such an order because "the reservoir is the largest of the company’s four area storage facilities and said the company cannot deliver economical and reliable gas to customers without it,” according to the Times.
www.rt.com/usa/329228-obama-emergency-michigan-health/
President Barack Obama has declared a federal emergency in Flint, Michigan, after the city’s drinking water became contaminated. Meanwhile, Democrat Socialist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says Michigan’s governor should resign due to his slow response to the crisis.
The US president’s decision to declare a federal emergency will free up $5 million of federal aid so it can be used to combat the health crisis. The city’s drinking water supply has become contaminated with lead.
The money will be able to cover 75 percent of the costs needed to provide filters, filter cartridges and other items residents need in order to ensure they have a safe supply of drinking water.
However, Obama stopped short of granting Governor Rick Snyder’s request of a disaster declaration, which under federal law, is only granted following natural disasters, such as floods and hurricanes. Had the US president announced a disaster declaration, Flint would have been able to receive a much greater aid sum.
"I have pledged to use all state resources possible to help heal Flint, and these additional resources will greatly assist in efforts under way to ensure every resident has access to clean water resources," Snyder said Saturday.
Snyder had asked for as much as $55 million to repair damaged pipes and a further $41 million to help to pay for water distribution services, whilst the restoration work is taking place.
However, Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has hit out at Snyder’s handling of the crisis and has called on the Michigan governor to resign, adding that, “The people of Flint deserve more than an apology.”
“There are no excuses,” Sanders said. “The governor long ago knew about the lead in Flint's water. He did nothing. As a result, hundreds of children were poisoned. Thousands may have been exposed to potential brain damage from lead."
Protesters have also been gathering outside Flint’s city hall to express their anger against Snyder. They were joined by documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, who is from Flint and has called on the US Attorney General’s Office to arrest and prosecute the Michigan governor because he "knew that toxins, pollutants, and eventually lead was leaching into the water and being sent into the taps of people's homes."
Moore also alleges that Snyder did nothing to try and solve the problem after it was evident that the water supply had been poisoned.
“Once they were informed, they decided to keep letting the people of Flint drink poisoned water,” Moore said. “In the back of their heads they knew these people had no power, no political power, no lobbyists, no money, nothing.”
The problems arose after the Michigan authorities decided in April, 2014, to switch the source of Flint’s drinking water from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The move was projected to save the financially struggling city between $5 million and $7 million a year. Although the river water was sent to a treatment plant in the city, its salt levels were ignored. This caused the lead pipes transporting the water to corrode.
A huge fail right here. trying to save a few million and to fix this its going to cost a billion.
Local residents noticed the changes almost immediately, complaining of the water’s bad taste and smell. However, it took the Department of Environmental Quality until October 2015 to realize a mistake had been made, as previously, they had failed to add the necessary chemicals to prevent corrosion in the pipes. This meant that the water dissolved the lead, which is a poisonous metal.
Flint’s water source was eventually switched back to Lake Huron in October 2015. Governor Snyder declared a state of emergency on January 5, and called in the National Guard a week later, but the damage appeared to have already been done.
There is a “strong correlation” between high lead water levels in Flint and blood lead levels in children, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha told RT. A pediatrician at the Hurley Medical Center, Hanna-Attisha added that the highest readings she and the state recorded for elevated blood levels in Flint were 38 micrograms per deciliter.
This figure is more than seven times higher than the level classified as “elevated” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (5 micrograms).
Meanwhile, the contaminated water supply has also led to a spike in the number of cases of Legionnaires Disease in the city. Between June 2014 and November 2015, there were 87 cases, 10 of which proved to be fatal. Michigan health officials are currently investigating whether the growth in cases of Legionnaires is connected to the increased lead levels in the water supply.
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/regulators-halt-plans-to-capture-and-burn-leaked-methane-in-southern-california/
On Saturday, regulators in California decided to hold off on a plan to capture and burn the natural gas that is leaking from a broken storage well just north of Los Angeles, citing the risk of a “catastrophic explosion,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
GOVERNOR DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY IN CONNECTION WITH CALIFORNIA METHANE LEAK
No state funds will be used to fix it, but some gas storage sites must now be monitored.
The well at the Aliso Canyon storage facility has been leaking since October 23, belching massive amounts of methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas, into the air. Methane is not only bad for climate change, it’s also extremely flammable.
At first, California regulators wanted to take advantage of that property of methane by capturing and burning off the gas coming from the well. That would have reduced the methane’s impact on the environment somewhat while Southern California Gas, the company that owns the Aliso Canyon facility, finished drilling the relief well to plug the underground reservoir feeding the leak. As National Geographic noted in an article last week, "Flaring gas has a much lower impact on the climate than a vent directly into the atmosphere—the flame converts gas into an amount of carbon dioxide that will have 30 times less warming potential in the near term.”
In addition, burning the gas captured from the leak would have reduced the impact on nearby residents of Porter Ranch, many of whom have been relocated due to the effects of the chemicals that natural gas is treated with, which can cause nausea, headaches, and bloody noses.
But at Saturday’s meeting, the South Coast Air Quality Management District decided to stall the plan to capture and burn gas from the leaking well until local fire officials as well as state and federal authorities have given their approval, the Los Angeles Times wrote.
That decision came after the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) criticized the plan, which involved capturing gas at the leak site with a 3-foot-wide pipe and burning the gas off at a distance from the wellhead. Instead, the PUC said, SoCal Gas’ earlier attempts to plug the leak by pumping slurry into the wellhead weakened it to the point where a misstep in installing the 3-foot-wide pipe could cause a blowout to occur, which could cause the pressurized gas to vent directly into the atmosphere instead of diffusing through several areas in the ground, as it is doing now.
As the Los Angeles Times reported last week, SoCal Gas’ earlier attempts at plugging the leak by pumping slurry into the wellhead created a 25-foot-deep ditch around the site. "The wellhead sits exposed within the cavernous space, held in place with cables attached after it wobbled during the plugging attempt,” the Times wrote. That precarious wellhead is a last defense against the unfettered venting of a lot of pressurized gas.
On top of that, the area around the wellhead is so flammable that cellphones and watches are not permitted, lest something set off a spark. Relief well drilling takes place at a site that is a safe distance away.
The relief well is not expected to be completed until early February. As of January 15, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services reported that the relief well had been drilled to a depth of 7,800 feet. The reservoir that contains the natural gas (which itself is an old oil well, sucked dry before the 1970s) lies some 8,500 to 8,700 feet beneath the surface.
On Saturday, the Southern Coast Air Quality Management District also proposed ordering SoCal Gas to permanently shut down the Aliso Canyon facility, which is the largest west of the Mississippi and includes 115 wells. SoCal Gas lawyer Robert Wyman said on Saturday that the company would oppose such an order because "the reservoir is the largest of the company’s four area storage facilities and said the company cannot deliver economical and reliable gas to customers without it,” according to the Times.
www.rt.com/usa/329228-obama-emergency-michigan-health/
President Barack Obama has declared a federal emergency in Flint, Michigan, after the city’s drinking water became contaminated. Meanwhile, Democrat Socialist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says Michigan’s governor should resign due to his slow response to the crisis.
The US president’s decision to declare a federal emergency will free up $5 million of federal aid so it can be used to combat the health crisis. The city’s drinking water supply has become contaminated with lead.
The money will be able to cover 75 percent of the costs needed to provide filters, filter cartridges and other items residents need in order to ensure they have a safe supply of drinking water.
However, Obama stopped short of granting Governor Rick Snyder’s request of a disaster declaration, which under federal law, is only granted following natural disasters, such as floods and hurricanes. Had the US president announced a disaster declaration, Flint would have been able to receive a much greater aid sum.
"I have pledged to use all state resources possible to help heal Flint, and these additional resources will greatly assist in efforts under way to ensure every resident has access to clean water resources," Snyder said Saturday.
Snyder had asked for as much as $55 million to repair damaged pipes and a further $41 million to help to pay for water distribution services, whilst the restoration work is taking place.
However, Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has hit out at Snyder’s handling of the crisis and has called on the Michigan governor to resign, adding that, “The people of Flint deserve more than an apology.”
“There are no excuses,” Sanders said. “The governor long ago knew about the lead in Flint's water. He did nothing. As a result, hundreds of children were poisoned. Thousands may have been exposed to potential brain damage from lead."
Protesters have also been gathering outside Flint’s city hall to express their anger against Snyder. They were joined by documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, who is from Flint and has called on the US Attorney General’s Office to arrest and prosecute the Michigan governor because he "knew that toxins, pollutants, and eventually lead was leaching into the water and being sent into the taps of people's homes."
Moore also alleges that Snyder did nothing to try and solve the problem after it was evident that the water supply had been poisoned.
“Once they were informed, they decided to keep letting the people of Flint drink poisoned water,” Moore said. “In the back of their heads they knew these people had no power, no political power, no lobbyists, no money, nothing.”
The problems arose after the Michigan authorities decided in April, 2014, to switch the source of Flint’s drinking water from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The move was projected to save the financially struggling city between $5 million and $7 million a year. Although the river water was sent to a treatment plant in the city, its salt levels were ignored. This caused the lead pipes transporting the water to corrode.
A huge fail right here. trying to save a few million and to fix this its going to cost a billion.
Local residents noticed the changes almost immediately, complaining of the water’s bad taste and smell. However, it took the Department of Environmental Quality until October 2015 to realize a mistake had been made, as previously, they had failed to add the necessary chemicals to prevent corrosion in the pipes. This meant that the water dissolved the lead, which is a poisonous metal.
Flint’s water source was eventually switched back to Lake Huron in October 2015. Governor Snyder declared a state of emergency on January 5, and called in the National Guard a week later, but the damage appeared to have already been done.
There is a “strong correlation” between high lead water levels in Flint and blood lead levels in children, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha told RT. A pediatrician at the Hurley Medical Center, Hanna-Attisha added that the highest readings she and the state recorded for elevated blood levels in Flint were 38 micrograms per deciliter.
This figure is more than seven times higher than the level classified as “elevated” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (5 micrograms).
Meanwhile, the contaminated water supply has also led to a spike in the number of cases of Legionnaires Disease in the city. Between June 2014 and November 2015, there were 87 cases, 10 of which proved to be fatal. Michigan health officials are currently investigating whether the growth in cases of Legionnaires is connected to the increased lead levels in the water supply.
