Countries in tug-of-war over Arctic resources
* Russia, Canada, the U.S. and other countries are eyeing the Arctic’s oil and gas
* The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic holds 90 billion barrels of oil
* Shrinking polar ice makes the region more accessible to shipping, other industry
* But environmental impact of oil and gas drilling has scientists deeply concerned
At the inevitable pollution caused by exploration and drilling to the thinning ice caused by global warming and there is just that much more environmental pressure on an ecosystem that was already stressed. In some parts of the Arctic the ice sheet is gone, while in others where it was meters thick it is now centimeters. There are some clearly defined and already claimed regions of the Arctic, but some areas that are in dispute may go to the fastest and greediest. Russia has an edge in the number of ice breaking ships and they’re not a nation known for letting environmental impact get between them and oil.
Whenever we have a national catastrophe it seems that the warning signs were there, but because of money and politics those warnings are ignored or stalled by bureaucrats looking out for special interests, The Tennessee Valley Authority knew for the past decade of leaks at the fly ash retention pond that ruptured in Roane County two weeks ago
In both 2003 and 2006, leaks in the landfill where wet fly ash was dumped were so bad TVA repaired drainage and dikes around the retention ponds and, for nearly a year and half, TVA suspended any ash deposits in the landfill to allow the dredge cell to dry out and stabilize.
[ ]…The failure to detect what turned into the worst spill ever at a U.S. coal plant is renewing calls for stricter regulation of ash ponds, which are used at nearly half of the 600 plus U.S. coal plants, including five other TVA fossil plants.
Environmental groups want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set national standards for ash removal and regulate coal residue as a hazardous material, rather that treating fly ash as an industrial waste with disposal regulated by state agencies.
tangledwing 