An explosion has occurred on an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, 130km south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast. The blast threw 13 people into the water and set the platform on fire. The platform was not producing oil or gas however. (more…)
Figures based on 2009/10 data collected by The Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA), the UK’s independent regulator for biofuels show that the vast majority of biofuels sold on UK forecourts do not conform to environmental standards. The Renewable Fuels Agency said although fuel suppliers were meeting legally binding volume targets some were falling “well short” on achieving voluntary green standards.
Read the full story on the BBC News website here.
A local planning committee has given the go-ahead for the erection of twelve wind turbines at Tirgwynt wind farm, near Carno in Powys which will cover 440 hectares on the uplands of Mynydd yr Hendre and Mynydd Pistyll Du, between Carno and Cefn Coch. The wind farm will link up to the existing local grid, ensuring that no major building work will be needed to create a new one. Residents though, and Welshpool Town Council have repeatedly raised concerns about the transportation of the turbines by road to the wind farm site, and Welshpool mayor Estelle Bleivas joined protesters outside Powys council’s offices in Welshpool.
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The British Property Federation reports that research by Empty Homes has found that renovating empty houses uses a third of the carbon emissions compared to creating a new build. Their figures also revealed that there are more than four million people on housing waiting lists and 762,000 empty homes in England.
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A global assessment by Survival International reports that giant hydroelectric dams being built or planned in remote areas of Brazil, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Peru and Guyana will devastate tribal communities by forcing people off their land, destroy hunting and fishing grounds, and suggests more than 300,000 indigenous people could be pushed towards economic ruin and, in the case of some isolated Brazilian groups, to extinction.
The Gibe III dam on the Omo river in Ethiopia will affect at least 200,000 people from eight tribes and a further 200,000 people will be adversely affected. In Sarawak, Malaysia ten thousand people have been displaced by the Bakun dam expected to open next year, and many thousands of people off their land by a series of Latin American dams.
Read more on this story here.
Hours after BP announced that its “static kill” procedure had been successful White House energy adviser Carol Browner has stated on the ABC television network that “The scientists are telling us about 25% was not captured or evaporated or taken care of by mother nature,” and the majority has either been captured, burned off, evaporated or broken down by natural forces.
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The US government has said the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, caused after the well broke open after an explosion on a drilling rig in April is the biggest oil leak ever. A new estimate suggests BP’s Macondo well leaked 4.9 million barrels of oil before being capped last month, and scientists said only a fifth of the leaking oil was captured during the clean-up. (more…)
In an interview on BBC1’s AM Show Liberal Democrat minister Chris Huhne stated that in the past he and his party stood firmly against the expansion of nuclear power but this stance has changed now they are in coalition with the Conservatives.
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I always have the same thought with electric cars, and it centers around hype. I can get used to the inconveniences (remembering to schedule charging on down time, looking for a charging station if out and about, thinking more about a car than I’m used to), and I can even get used to the price. I had similar sticker shock when CDs began to rule over cassettes when I was a music fiend in high school.
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The US government has asked BP to provide plans to remove the containment cap after a leak was detected near the ruptured Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, as the hydrocarbon leak could mean that oil is still leaking from the damaged well on the ocean floor.
Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen sent a letter to BP boss Bob Dudley stating: “Given the current observations from the test, including the detected seep a distance from the well…I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well.” and demanded that the oil company provide swift action over the latest detected seepage.
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