Nuclear Boy

 

The entertaining anime cartoon above is apparently being shown to Japanese children. It is supposed to explain what is happening at the Fukushima nuclear plant. I learned a lot. There is definitely more information here than in the official government press releases. My brother lives in Tokyo but like most Japanese has not chosen to leave home over the dangers which the nuclear incident may portend.

Kindra Arnesen

A passionate narration of the inept and duplicitous assessment and clean up of BP's Deep Horizon Oil Spill. This woman spits fire!

Kindra's speech at the Gulf Emergency Summit was filmed by FluxRostrum.

Code Pink Protest - BP Station in NYC on May 28, 2010



BP your heart is black! You can have your oil back! - Live video shot by Melissa Ulto intercut with her own creative montage of current news footage.

Deepwater Horizon Spill

John Wathen, who blogs as the Hurricane Creek Riverkeeper (hccreekeeper), has put up a new blog entirely dedicated to the oil spill from the BP Deepwater Horizon. A video filmed during a flyover of the spill on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 can be streamed both on the new blog, Gulf Oil Slick, and on YouTube.

The Ban

MEND ends ceasefire

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) announced on Saturday, January 30th that it would be ending the ceasefire which it declared last October. The first actual sabotage also occurred on Saturday against the TransRamos pipeline. Although MEND has denied that it is responsible for Saturday's sabotage, This Day reports that flow stations along the pipeline have been shut down by Royal Dutch Shell in order to control new leaks.

All Africa had the story of the ceasefire declaration last October while Saturday's resumption of armed conflict and sabotage was reported both by Sahara Reporters and UPI. Now that the rebels have in fact resumed their campaign of sabotage against the Nigerian people, it will be interesting to see what sort of response the federal government makes, if any. Vice President Goodluck Jonathan actually hails from part of the Niger Delta, although he has shown very little sympathy or patience with the local rebel movements.

Prison Time for American Crooks

Two disgraced former executives of the Willbros Group have been convicted in United States court of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing Nigerian officials. Jim Bob Brown was sentenced in federal court in Houston to one year and one day in prison and fined $17,500 while Jason Edward Steph was sentenced to 15 months and fined $2,000, Further details of the story can be found at All Africa and in the FCPA Blog.

REPOWER AMERICA



In Wednesday night’s State of the Union address, President Obama forcefully called for passing clean energy and climate legislation. Spread the word, share this video with friends and family and join REPOWER AMERICA!

More Power without Coal?

Because of "regulatory and legal uncertainties" about the future of coal, the Seminole Electric Cooperative today announced that it has canceled plans to build a new coal-fired power plant at its generation facility near Jacksonville, Florida (St. Petersburg Times, Dec 18th). Earthjustice, an non-profit public interest law firm based in Tallahassee, had threatened legal action on behalf of the Florida Wildlife Federation.

Seminole applied in 2006 for a permit to build the proposed 750 megawatt coal-fired plant, upgrading its Putnam County facility which currently generates 1300 megawatts. Power, an industry magazine, named it as "top facility" for 2009. The Seminole Electric Cooperative also received a Leadership Award from the Council for Sustainable Florida. It's webpage trumpets a "long-standing and continuing commitment to a diverse program of environmental stewardship at its generating stations." According to Earthjustice, Seminole is now proposing to build a natural gas fired plant instead along with a 1 to 5 megawatt solar energy project in southwest Florida.

Climategate, Copenhagen, and the UN intergovernmental panel

The Copenhagen Climate Conference organized by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) begins this coming Monday, December 7th. Will the stolen emails from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit scupper an international agreement?

The Apostle's Denial

Patrick Moore was one of the cofounders of Greenpeace. He has been an environmental activist for nearly four decades now, sailing into the Aleutian Islands on the inaugural Greenpeace mission in 1971. For many of us, however, Moore first came to our attention for his unique stance in support of nuclear power. In an interview with Fareed Zakaria last year in Newsweek, Moore championed the rapid construction of new nuclear plants as a means to replace the energy currently generated by coal-fired power plants in the United States and other parts of the world.

This morning on BBC's One Planet radio program, Mike Williams interviewed Patrick. Moore expressed skepticism regarding the anthropogenic causes for global warming, stating -

"I do not believe that we know for certain that we are causing global warming or climate change. I believe the subject is so much more complex than we understand."

It will be interesting to see how this apostle's denial is received by members of the scientific community who have made anthropogenic forcing a cornerstone of contemporary climate science.

Okah released but MEND fights on

On Monday, July 13th, Nigeria released Henry Okah, leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), from prison. Although the release of Okah was applauded by the Nigerian Bar Association, neither Okah nor the other MEND activists appear to be willing to forego sabotage, extortion, and murder for legal avenues in resolving conflicts in the Niger Delta.

MEND blew up the Atlas Cove Jetty near the city of Lagos on Sunday, July 12th. That action was initially dismissed as an "operational accident" by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which may explain Okah's release the following day. The fires and explosions which resulted from MEND's sabotage of the Atlas Cove Jetty claimed five lives. Oil company workers and security personnel were also killed or injured during previous MEND actions, such as the June 6th sabotage of Chevron's facility offshore.

MEND has announced a 60 day "ceasefire" since Sunday's attack, but members have yet to surrender weapons and renounce militancy as requested by President Yar'Adua when he declared an unconditional pardon on June 25th.


Available Resources on the Internet:

- Solomon Sydelle posts about the Atlas Cove Jetty attack at Nigerian Curiosity.

- UPI story about the latest MEND attacks.

- allAfrica story about the MEND attacks on Chevron's offshore operations.

- The News has a brief biography of Henry Okah along with other activists in the Niger Delta.

- a longer biography of Henry Okah from I C publications.

- Bourse has a story on MEND's 60-day ceasefire.

- N.I.M.M.O. has a comical blog post about the amnesty offer from Yar'Adua.

COAL SLUDGE CONTAMINATION IN TENNESSEE

Appalachian State University environmental scientists report on their measurement of heavy metal concentrations in the vicinity of the Kingston Fossil Plant along the Emory River in Tennessee. Sludge ponds at the plant spilled into the river when a dam broke. Contaminants are now getting into the river water which is used as a drinking water source downstream. Natural springs and groundwater aquifers may also become contaminated.

A University of Utah student has thrown a monkey wrench into the firesale auction of oil and gas leases held by the Bureau of Land Management on Friday, December 19th. Amy Goodman interviewed Tim DeChrisopher Monday morning on Democracy Now.

This is a year old, but it still rings true. If McCain gets in, we are just going to fall farther behind the rest of the world in terms of technology for both transportation and HVAC.

Tredegar 12 Sentenced

Ten of the 12 activists known as the "Tredegar 12" were sentenced this past Tuesday, July 29th to community service in Richmond, Virginia. The Tredegar 12 blocked the headquarters of Dominion Resources on Tredegar Street in Richmond back on June 30th. My post about this has attracted some attention, because I grouped it with other incidents which are being referred to as "ecoterrorism" by U.S. law enforcement. Detailed coverage of this incident by local bloggers Beth Wellington and Sparki was primary source material for my initial post. One of the activists, Marley Green, also has a blog called The Small Axe where he has written about his experience at trial.

I used a photograph in my original post which was taken by Hilary Lufkin. It was not my intention to use the photograph without credit.

Biodiesel made locally

Local Atlanta entrepreneur and musician Rob del Bueno's company Refuel Biodiesel is featured in a CNN special report. A video in which Rob answers the question "What is biodiesel?" can be streamed online.

Gore on energy policy

Al Gore gave a spirited speech yesterday at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. which can be streamed in its entirety on C-Span. Gore was introduced by fellow members of his bipartisan Alliance for Climate Protection, and he acknowledged that Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr was also in the audience.

Specific points in Gore's platform are discussed and are currently being debated in blogposts by Andrew Revkin, Joshua Tremblay, and others. Gore's platform will undoubtedly be the standard around which politicians will begin to rally as we begin to move toward the fall elections.

Generate Power from Natural Gas at Drill Sites!

The flaring of natural gas from oil drilling rigs in Nigeria has been criticized repeatedly on this blog as well as by Imnakoya, Solomonsydelle, Sara Mosher, Ed Kashi, and other bloggers. Now there is a possible solution, at least for the gas that is being flared from rigs operating onshore.

Natural gas rides on top of liquid petroleum in natural reservoirs and must be burned or "flared" in order for the petroleum to be extracted safely. According to Mr. Jeff Herbach, a San Francisco IT consultant, many drilling rigs actually do use natural gas ‘as-is’ to power small electric generators on site. The one pictured above is made by Capstone Turbines. Although the generators are specifically built for use on oil-drilling installations, there is no reason not to use them in Nigeria to generate electricity for the small local communities around the oil wells.

Mr. Herbach was prompted to write a note to author Ed Kashi after hearing a radio interview about his new book, The Curse of the Black Gold. I hope to find time to read this soon, but I will recommend it anyway to anyone reading this post.

Greener Vision?

A meeting of the world's G-8 nations with big developing nations concluded yesterday on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Leaders of the G-8 nations all signed a statement subscribing to a "vision" that emissions of greenhouse gases will be cut in half by the year 2050. Thanks to stonewalling by the United States, however, no specific targets are mentioned for individual nations.

Deputy national security adviser Dan Price is quoted in USA Today stating that the present agreement represents substantial progress, since last year the G-8 merely agreed to "consider seriously" a 50% cut. This seems like splitting hairs to me, and I wonder why a national security expert is being interviewed on climate change negotiations. Our current president clearly sees the problem differently from the representatives from all of the other nations attending the G-8 summit chaired by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

Andrew Revkin has an update following today's meeting of the leaders of big developing nations attending the summit on Hokkaido. The "vision" of the G-8 is that greenhouse gas emissions will be halved by the combined efforts of the developed and developing nations. The big developing nations basically said today that the G-8 need to take the first step. Today's statement also starts out by referring to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change as the global forum for climate negotiations.