August 26, 2013
During the chaos of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, one oil industry representative famously predicted that “lawyers yet to be born will work on this spill.” Today, as we approach the 25-year anniversary of the spill, the legal case remains unresolved. The Exxon Valdez case is now the longest-lasting environmental litigation in history.
August 22, 2013
COMSTOCK TWP. — Enbridge Inc. has been denied a dredge pad permit as it continues the cleanup effort from a massive 2010 oil spill from its pipeline in Michigan.
The Comstock Township Planning Commission unanimously voted late Thursday to deny a special exception permit for an Enbridge dredge pad.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge to finish dredging by Dec. 31. Enbridge will have to find a new place to put the pad.
Dredge pads hold oil-contaminated sediment removed from the Kalamazoo River until it can be hauled away. Some residents have raised concerns about pollution.
August 22, 2013
GEE, your hair can save Mother Earth.
The Cebu City government is pinning its hopes on human hair and indigenous materials as an eco-friendly strategy to prevent oil leaking out of the sunken MV St. Thomas Aquinas from reaching the city’s shorelines.
Vice Mayor Edgar Labella, a survivor of the sinking of the MV Princess of the Orient, yesterday demonstrated how to make an oil spill boom using old pantyhose stuffed with human hair.
Clumps of hair donated by salons were stuffed into the stocking and sealed. Tied together they can form a series of absorbent floaters.
August 23, 2013
Southgate, Michigan—(ENEWSPF)--Aug. 22, 2013 – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman today joined U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) in southeast Michigan to announce the award of a $1 million brownfield grant to the Downriver Community Conference.
“EPA is pleased to award a $1 million grant to supplement the Downriver Community Conference revolving loan fund,” Hedman said. “Based on the DCC’s excellent track record, I am confident that this money will be put to good use at brownfield sites in the Downriver area – starting with the Monroe Pumphouse, Dearborn City Hall and Willow Run Hanger #2.”
During the past five years, EPA has awarded the Downriver Community Conference $6.6 million to be loaned out to clean up contaminated sites and $1.65 million for brownfield assessment work. Since 1997, EPA has awarded 15 individual revolving loan fund grants and assessment grants totaling almost $14 million.
August 22, 2013
A fuel distributor in Yakima, Wash., has agreed to pay the U.S. EPA $27,522 to settle multiple violations of Clean Water Act oil spill prevention rules and requirements at its facility.
EPA inspectors at the Wondrack Distributing Inc. facility noted that a spill prevention plan had not been fully implemented, according to the report. Inspectors also found that secondary fuel containment on site had breaches from unknown piping and cracks in the walls.
If an oil spill were to occur at the Wondrack facility, it could harm the nearby Yakima River, the report said. Facilities with the potential for oil spills, and more than 1,320 gallons of above-ground fuel storage capacity, must prevent discharges to waterways by using a detailed spill prevention and control plan.