News from ENN
Read 0 Comments... >>
|
|
Tuesday, 07 September 2010 18:00 |
Increasingly erratic rainfall patterns related to climate change pose a major threat to food security and economic growth, water experts said on Monday, arguing for greater investment in water storage.
In a report by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), experts said Africa and Asia were likely to be hardest hit by unpredictable rainfall, and urged policymakers and farmers to try to find ways of diversifying sources of water.
The IWMI research estimates that up to 499 million people in Africa and India could benefit from improved agricultural water management.
read full article
Read 0 Comments... >> |
|
|
Friday, 11 June 2010 14:03 |
In December 2008, the US EPA excluded certain fuels derived from hazardous secondary materials which, when burned in industrial boilers under specified conditions generated air pollutant emissions comparable to those produced by burning fuel oil in those boilers. The 2008 conditional exclusion provided a regulatory compliance break for industrial facilities that were able to use potentially hazardous secondary materials as fuel in their boilers since they could do so without the burden of full RCRA documentation on the materials burned. They also, of course, saved money on fuel oil, and on disposal costs of the secondary materials if not burned.
On June 8th, the agency changed its mind, and determined that these secondary materials that could be used a s fuels need to be classified as hazardous wastes
read full article
Read 0 Comments... >> |
|
Friday, 11 June 2010 14:03 |
A twenty-five year wait for first convictions relating to the gas leak at Bhopal chemical plant in India ends, but the contamination of the local environment and population continues
An Indian court has convicted seven people for their part in one of the world's worst industrial disasters - the gas leak at the US-owned Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, Central India in 1984.
read full article
Read 0 Comments... >> |
|
Friday, 11 June 2010 14:03 |
Flooding and landslides caused by heavy rain have killed 53 people in China's southwestern Guangxi region since late May, including three children swept away as they walked home from school, state media reported on Monday.
The death toll was announced after rescuers found nearly 20 bodies in the aftermath of torrential rains between May 31 and June 2, the local flood control office said.
The three dead children, missing since finishing school on June 1, were aged between 8 and 11. Their parents had left to work in cities, so they were walking unaccompanied to their grandparents' home.
read full article
Read 0 Comments... >> |
|
Friday, 11 June 2010 14:03 |
Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) is a highly reactive gas that is produced from the combustion of fossil fuels. The largest sources of SO2 are power plants (73 percent) and other industrial facilities (20 percent). The gas is strongly linked to negative effects on the human respiratory system such as asthma. Children, the elderly, and those already with asthma are particularly vulnerable to its effects. The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) says the new one-hour health standard will protect millions of citizens from short-term SO2 exposure.
read full article
Read 0 Comments... >> |
|
Friday, 11 June 2010 14:03 |
In Coalition of Battery Recyclers Association v. EPA, 2010 WL 1929879 (May 14, 2010), the D.C. Circuit recently upheld an EPA rule revising the primary and secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for air-borne lead (Pb) pollution against challenges by industry representatives. The case arose from consolidated petitions for review under the Administrative Procedure Act filed by two industry representatives alleging that the revised standards were overprotective. The circuit panel, Judge Rogers writing, rejected the petitions, holding that the new standards were supported by substantial record evidence and were not arbitrary and capricious.
read full article
Read 0 Comments... >> |
|
|
Friday, 11 June 2010 14:03 |
Collapsed roads and highway bridges complicated rescue efforts in Guatemala on Tuesday after Tropical Storm Agatha drenched Central America, burying homes under mud and killing at least 180 people.
Dozens of people were still missing and rescue teams struggled to reach remote rural communities after the storm cut off roads and destroyed up to 18 major road bridges and dozens of smaller footbridges.
"We're trying to get to the communities but we're finding that bridges are down and we have to walk, so it is taking so much longer," said firefighter Rony Veliz.
Some 35,000 people remained in emergency shelters three days after Agatha, the first named storm of the 2010 Pacific hurricane season, hit western Guatemala, dumping more than 3 feet (1 meter) of rain in places and raising concern over the coffee crop there and in El Salvador.
read full article
Read 0 Comments... >> |
|
|
|
|
|
