Anchorage legislator Josephson calls for aggressive assertion of Alaskans rights under the re-opener provision - 

 

A federal judge has ruled against efforts to reopen the Exxon Valdez oil spill case, in the wake of governments' decisions not to pursue millions of dollars for damages unidentified at the time of the settlement. Still those questioning whether the public's trust has been betrayed are urging the Walker administration in Alaska and the Obama administration to reopen the case so that residents of the region impacted by the March 24, 1989 environmental disaster can address the issue at public hearings. Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, is the newest voice calling for the state to reverse course and give the public a chance to prove that there are still serious intertidal habitat pollution issues stemming from the oil spill.

 

 

By Michael Lewis II  

 

ITC’s Michigan operating entities ITCTransmission and Michigan Electric Transmission Co. LLC will light up nine of their 150-foot tall transmission towers with colorful decorations for the holidays starting Monday.

 

“Our tower decorations have become a holiday tradition in Michigan,” Linda Blair, executive vice president of ITC Michigan, said in a news release. “We’re happy to join the communities we serve all across the Lower Peninsula in celebrating this festive time of the year.”

 

The towers will be decorated Monday through Jan. 5 with one-quarter mile of rope lights containing 16,000 bulbs each. The displays include 10-by-15-foot Happy Holidays signs and bright stars at the tower tops. 

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) needs to modify its regulations and planning in order to strengthen preparedness for accidental spills of diluted bitumen from pipelines, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Diluted bitumen, a type of crude oil made from bitumen extracted from tar sands, has properties that warrant special preparations to limit environmental damage in the event of a spill, said the committee that conducted the study and wrote the report.

 

“The recommendations set forth in our report represent a practical and pragmatic approach to mitigating the unique concerns associated with spills of diluted bitumen,” said committee chair Diane McKnight, professor of civil, environmental, and architectural engineering and a fellow of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado.

 

Bitumen is a heavy and dense crude oil that is extracted from tar sands in Canada. It is mixed with lighter oils and transported through pipelines in this diluted form. Diluted bitumen has been transported by pipeline in the U.S. for more than 40 years, but the amount has increased recently as a result of improved extraction technologies and production and exportation by Canada. Both new and existing pipelines are being proposed and developed to accommodate this increased production. 

 

An Academies study released in 2013 found that diluted bitumen is no more likely than other crude oils to be accidentally released from a pipeline. As a follow-up to that study, Congress and DOT further directed the Academies to investigate whether, if a spill occurs, the properties of diluted bitumen differ enough from other types of oil to warrant changes to preparedness or cleanup regulations or to spill response plans.  

 

October 25, 2015 

 

TOLEDO, OH — A sunken barge that's considered by authorities to be the worst potential polluting shipwreck in the Great Lakes is believed to be threatening Lake Erie with up to 4,700 barrels of petroleum.

 

A suspected leak from the Argo, a tanker barge that sank off Sandusky, Ohio, in 1937, has prompted an emergency response from the U.S. Coast Guard, which confirmed a 400-by-20 yard "discoloration" in the water near the wreck on Saturday, Oct. 24.

 

The Argo, discovered by a shipwreck hunter in August, may be leaking something described by divers as having a "strong solvent odor." The wreck is 44 feet down and about 8 miles east of Kelley's Island, near the U.S. and Canadian border.

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