ProPublica: Feds Warn Residents Near Wyoming Gas Drilling Sites Not to Drink Their Water.
”In the meeting Tuesday, the agency shared results from tests of 23 wells, 19 of which supply drinking water to residents. It found low levels of hydrocarbon compounds — various substances that make up oil — in 89 percent of the drinking water wells it tested. Methane gas was detected in seven of the wells and was determined to have come from the gas reservoir being tapped for energy.” If we hear an explanation of natural subsidence, I’ll go off.
Gizmodo: After Watching This Video, You Will Like to Be an Astronaut Too.
First thought after watching the first video ... look at that thin, fragile atmosphere. What a miracle it is.
Bloomberg: Coast Guard Reports Blast on Mariner Rig in Gulf.
”A platform owned by Mariner Energy Inc. in the Gulf of Mexico, 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, was struck by an explosion and is still on fire, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.” Hold onto yer butts, here we go again.
New Scientist: Arctic oil and gas drilling ready to take off.
”Nothing much can be done to cope with a spill in the winter beyond tracking the ice, waiting for the oil to surface in the summer melt, then setting it alight. Yet calls for an Arctic-wide moratorium on oil exploration until safety measures are in place have gone unheeded.” Big Oil’s hoping ‘out of sight, out of mind’ will rule the Arctic oil field production.
New Scientist: Bjørn Lomborg: climate change is a problem after all.
We’ll have to see if “better late than never” applies.
Science Daily: On organic coffee farm, complex interactions keep pests under control.
“A 10-year study of an organic coffee farm in Mexico suggests that, far from being romanticized hooey, the ‘balance and harmony’ view is on the mark. Ecologists John Vandermeer and Ivette Perfecto of the University of Michigan and Stacy Philpott of the University of Toledo have uncovered a web of intricate interactions that buffers the farm against extreme outbreaks of pests and diseases, making magic bullets unnecessary.”
Vimeo: Ghosts in the Hollow.
Oh, well done.
SF New Mexican: Local news briefs.
Top item explains the fire smell last evening. Lightning-caused fire over in Pecos.
OnEarth Magazine: Beyond Oil: The Oil Industry and Partisanship.
“… if we’ve got a broken system we should go back to the basics, thinking as a game theoretician would and focusing on punishment and reward. There are abundant carrots to entice politicians to support wealthy polluting companies, and there are few sticks to punish them for it.” We need to start playing grassroots ‘Whack-A-Mole’ with those who wish to foul our nests.
Treehugger: Nearly 80% of Oil From Gulf Spill Remains in Water, Threatens Ecosystem.
”The news media’s tendency to interpret ‘dispersed’ and ‘dissolved’ and ‘gone’ is wrong. Dispersed and dissolved forms can be highly toxic. Furthermore, sorting the oil into the four above states falls short of assessing how much of it remains a potential threat to the system.” Independent analysis shows great concern over the Gulf’s oil situation is not misplaced.
ProPublica: Take It With a Grain of (Sea) Salt: Gulf Microbe Study Was Funded by BP.
Washington’s Blog: Mercenaries, BP, Corexit …
Watch the two videos, before reading the remainder. Here are links to the CDC, for their take on risk from light crude and dispersant. However, and offered as counterpoint, a different set of folks are a little more concerned ... net-net, don’t soak your kids in Gulf waters. Children are particularly susceptible to these chemicals, and exposure might set them up for all kinds of immunological and neurological issues.
Best sources I can find say oil is toxic at 11ppm, and Corexit at 2.61ppm, so Gulf waters classify as ‘toxic’, if these reports and assessments are true. I’ll keep looking for better references, as I have time. The benzene is particularly concerning to me ... that’s nasty stuff to expose a kid to.
NY Times Op-Ed Contributor: Keeping Science Under Wraps in the Gulf.
”Although we are all doing needed research, we’re not receiving equal money or access to the affected sites. Those working for BP or the federal government’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment program are being given the bulk of the resources, while independent researchers are shoved aside.” What, you mean we can’t trust sniff tests? I’m so shocked (NOT).
NPR: ‘Virtual Shellfish’ Aid In Studying Oil’s Effects.
“It’s a membrane, sort of like a strip of plastic inside a metal housing the size of a cell phone. Water flows across the membrane, which collects contaminants like oil.Once the device tells scientists how much oil or dispersant is in the water or sediment, scientists can calculate how the contaminants work their way up the food chain as big animals like spotted eagle rays eat smaller ones like clams.”
Koenigsegg … “The First Green Supercar.”
Never heard of the manufacturer before.
CNN: Researchers say they found 22-mile hydrocarbons plume in Gulf.
”Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said they have detected a plume of hydrocarbons that is at least 22 miles long and more than 3,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, a residue of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.” So much for the ‘miracle disappearing act’.
Fast Company: Kia Brings Compact Cars Into the 22nd Century.
Salon: Gulf surface looks cleaner, but woes lurk below.
It doesn’t just miraculously disappear. Ask those in Alaska who lived in the fallout from Exxon Valdez.
Gizmag: Spray-on film turns windows into solar panels.
”Obviously some light has to be absorbed in order to generate power but the windows would just have a slight tinting (though a transmission of only 8-10% is common place for windows in the ‘sun belt’ areas of the world). Conversely the structural material of the building can also be coated with a higher degree of absorption. This could be side panels of the building itself, or even in the form of ‘clip-together’ solar roof tiles.” It’s about time someone came up with an idea like this.
ProPublica: No More Regulatory Shortcuts for Deepwater Drilling Projects.
“The Obama administration announced Monday that it is no longer fast-tracking offshore drilling projects in deep water by exempting them from detailed environmental review. Specifically, that means projects that use either a subsurface blowout preventer or a blowout preventer on a floating rig will need significantly more environmental review before drilling is allowed.”
CNet: Cheers! Scottish team concocts whiskey car fuel.
I envision drunken red Minis slouched over stone walls and curbs.
TechWorld: DARPA invests in giant space nets to catch trash.
Hey, I want the Nikons and Hasselblads that have been dropped.
The Atlantic: Why OPEC Doesn’t Mind Low Oil Prices.
“OPEC is more concerned about long-term market share than they are about short-term price gains. Therefore with lower oil prices, what you’re actually doing is raising the entry barrier for alternative fuels.”
Car Domain: Driving the Nissan Leaf.
”The lithium-manganese batteries give the Leaf a range of 100 miles. More if you hypermile, less if you really get on it while blowing the AC, etc. Unlike the Volt there is no backup gasoline motor to get you home.” And 8 hours to charge it from empty to full. I suppose it would be too difficult to design parking meters that doubled as charging stations, that took swipe-payments from smartphones?
