Marine Pollution Control8631 West Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, MI 48209 USA
313.849.2333 - 24/hour
11320 E Lakewood Blvd., #11
Holland, MI 49424
800-521-8232 – 24/Hour
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Pollution Has Worked Its Way Down To The World's Deepest Waters
2/14/2017
The Mariana Trench in the northern Pacific is the deepest part of the world's oceans. You might think a place that remote would be untouched by human activity. But the Mariana Trench is polluted.
At its deepest — about 7 miles down — the water in the trench is near freezing. The pressure would crush a human like a bug. Scientists have only recently explored it. Among them is biologist Alan Jamieson of Newcastle University in England. His team dropped what they call a mechanical "lander" down into the trench. It had cameras and water samplers and some baited traps. They didn't really know what they'd find.
When the lander surfaced, the traps contained amphipods — shrimplike crustaceans. That wasn't terribly surprising, as amphipods are known to live at great depths. But bringing them back from the Mariana Trench was a rarity, and Jamieson thought there might be something to learn from them. He took the creatures to an environmental scientist.
"So we just sort of turn up with this really weird looking animal," he says, "and joking aside, he came back and said these are really badly contaminated."
The amphipods were contaminated with PCBs — polychlorinated biphenyls — toxic chemicals used for decades in industry, as well as other industrial pollutants known as persistent organic pollutants.
"Every sample we had," Jamieson says, "had contaminants in it at very high or extraordinarily high levels."
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EPA contract freeze, media blackout leave states confused
January 25, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Trump administration freeze on new Environmental Protection Agency contracts and grant awards raised fears that states and other recipients could lose essential funding for drinking water protection, hazardous waste oversight and a host of other programs — while a communications blackout left them dangling in uncertainty.
The agency also took a potential first step Tuesday toward potentially killing environmental rules completed as President Barack Obama's term wound down. At least 30 were targeted in the Federal Register for delayed implementation, including updated pollution rulings for several states, renewable fuel standards and limits on the amount of formaldehyde that can leach from wood products.
President Donald Trump signed a directive shortly after his inauguration ordering a "freeze pending review" on all federal rules issued by agencies but not yet in effect.
David Usher receives award
January 10, 2017,
During the annual Nothern Michigan Waterways Hazardous Material Spill Planning Committee (NO-SPILLS) conference last week, David Usher received the Zygmunt Przybyl Outstanding Achievement Award for his years of service ans pioneer in the environmental spill response industry. David Usher founded Marine Pollution Control Corporation in 1967 and has dedicated his life to efforts in cleaning up the environment.
Justice Department: Vessel Pollution Cases Set New Record in 2016
January 17, 2017Read More:
NRC announces new Tier 2 oil spill response base servicing Mexico's Bay of Campeche
12/22/2016
NRC announces the establishment of its strategic Tier 2 oil spill response base in the Bay of Campeche region of Mexico. Driven by new shallow and deepwater drilling developments in Mexico, NRC’s robust Tier 2 base will support NRC E&P clients now operating in Mexico’s Bay of Campeche. NRC’s base is located in Paraíso, near the Port of Dos Bocas in the coastal state of Tabasco, Mexico.
Partnering with Marinsa Specialized Vessels, NRC has established its Tier 2 base as a shared services operation, providing an extensive array of equipment, stockpiled dispersant, dedicated expert personnel, incident management, consultancy and training, and our range of call-off services. Marinsa provides a range of support vessels including fast supply vessels, supply boats, utility boats, crew boats, and pilot boats.
In addition to localized, in-country services, our clients have access to an extensive array of additional NRC resources in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, including over 1,000 fully trained personnel, international Tier 3 response coverage, including shoreline, offshore, and HVLP kits packaged on aircraft-ready pallets, and dedicated aircraft and additional dispersant stockpile as part of our Global Response Service (GRS) capabilities.