US braces for tsunami debris, but impact unclear

June 8, 2012

JUNEAU, Alaska –  More than a year after a tsunami devastated Japan, killing thousands of people and washing millions of tons of debris into the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. government and West Coast states don't have a cohesive plan for cleaning up the rubble that floats to American shores.
 
There is also no firm handle yet on just what to expect.
 
The Japanese government estimates that 1.5 million tons of debris is floating in the ocean from the catastrophe. Some experts in the United States think the bulk of that trash will never reach shore, while others fear a massive, slowly-unfolding environmental disaster.

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Enbridge Simulates Oil Spill

June 7, 2012

A lot of people still remember the images from the BP deep water horizon oil spill in the gulf of mexico.
 
Wednesday, near Towner, Enbridge Energy simulated a breech in their system. The goal was to prevent any kind of environmental damage from happening to the Souris River.
 
The Mouse River served as a staging area for a disaster drill. An emergency response team responded on both land and in the water. Traffic control sites, command and control stations, decontamination areas and boats deploying booms and even dog food were all part of today`s exercise.
 
Katie Haarsager says, "We drop some dog food upstream from the river and we actually watch that travel down."
 
Katie Haarsager says the dog cubes are used to simulate oil on the water and a series of booms are deployed by boats, to capture the material floating down the river.

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3 Michigan DTE plants tied to debate over mercury emissions

June 7, 2012

Three Michigan coal-fired power plants owned by DTE, including a Monroe plant that is the second-largest producer of mercury pollution among 144 plants in the Great Lakes region, joined a political debate Wednesday even though DTE fully expects to meet tough new federal pollution rules by 2015.

On Wednesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council raised concerns about efforts in the U.S. Senate to block the rules that would cut emissions in the eight states by about 90%.

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Robojelly – Robotic Combat Jellyfish Of The Future

June 7, 2012

Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers are working on U.S. Navy project dubbed Robojelly to put robot jellyfish in waters around the world.
 
The purpose of Robojelly is to better understand the fundamentals of nature’s own propulsion mechanisms, said Shashank Priya, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Virginia Tech, lead researcher on the Robojelly project. Future uses of the robot jellyfish could include conducting military surveillance, combat, cleaning oil spills, and monitoring the environment.

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