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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

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This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
contamination ~ heavy metals ~ anthropogenic change ~ health impacts ~ deniers ~ global warming ~ governmental idiocy ~ carbon emissions ~ water issues ~ corporate malfeasance ~ toxic buildup

ApocaDocuments (26) gathered this week:
Sun, Oct 31, 2010 from The Missoulian: Milltown sediment spread near Opportunity won't grow grass OPPORTUNITY - Milltown Reservoir's exiled dirt won't behave in its new home. The 2.5 million cubic yards of fine-grained sediment dredged from the former reservoir east of Missoula has been spread 2 feet thick over more than 600 acres of wasteland between Anaconda and its satellite community of Opportunity. But it won't grow grass. "This would have been the first year we wanted to see vegetation everywhere," said Charlie Coleman, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Anaconda site project manager. "But the vegetation never took off." ...	How will we geo-engineer our way out of global warming if we can't even grow grass in dirt? ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Oct 31, 2010 from New York Times: Coal Industry Spending to Sway Next Congress The coal industry, facing a host of new health and safety regulations, is spending millions of dollars in lobbying and campaign donations this year to influence the makeup of the next Congress in hopes of derailing what one industry official called an Obama administration "regulatory jihad."... Over the last two years, the coal industry, along with its allies in oil and gas, electric utilities, manufacturing and agriculture, effectively killed any prospects for climate change legislation in the near future. But after two major coal industry accidents, a huge spill of toxic ash in 2008 and a West Virginia mine disaster in April that killed 29 workers, the industry is bracing for new federal action that it fears will curtail operations and drive up costs. Industry officials believe they face a hostile administration that could seriously harm their business with a range of new federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, mountaintop removal mining, air pollution, coal ash disposal and mine safety.... "E.P.A.'s actions are firmly grounded in both the best available science and the law -- in fact, in many cases E.P.A. is operating under legal deadlines after rules from the previous administration were thrown out by the courts." ...	Corporate profit motives are clearly in society's best interests. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Oct 31, 2010 from Reuters, via Yahoo: World Bank launches scheme to green government accounts The World Bank on Thursday launched a program to help nations put a value on nature just like GDP in a bid to stop the destruction of forests, wetlands and reefs that underpin businesses and economies. The five-year pilot project backed by India, Mexico and other nations aims to embed nature into national accounts to draw in the full benefits of services such as coastal protection from mangroves or watersheds for rivers that feed cities and crops. "We're here today to create something that no one has tried before: a global partnership that can fundamentally change the way governments value their ecosystems," World Bank President Robert Zoellick told reporters in the Japanese city of Nagoya.... "For economic ministries in particular, it's important to have an accounting measure that they can use to evaluate not only the economic value but the natural wealth of nations," Zoellick told Reuters in an interview. "It's not a silver bullet. It's a way of trying to help people understand better in economic terms the value of natural wealth." While economists try to get a handle on the value of nature, scientists are struggling to get a full picture of the variety of wildlife species around the globe as climate change, exploitation and pollution threaten "mass extinctions," a series of studies published on Wednesday showed. ...	OMG! The foundations of consumer society are being threatened, with the support of the World Bank! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Oct 30, 2010 from Reuters: Concern Over Ocean Acidification Ramps Up Research Dollars Mounting concerns over ocean acidification--a consequence of CO2 emissions--has accelerated research funding aimed at understanding the process potentially endangering marine life in ocean waters all across the earth. In early October, the National Science Foundation awarded over $24 million dollars to 22 projects through a new grant program targeted to study how ocean acidification affects marine environments. While the NSF has funded ocean acidification in the past, it is the first time the agency has created a special program aimed at the field of study. As CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere increase, much of the gas is absorbed by the oceans, where it dissolves in the water. As a result, the oceans are getting more acidic over time. However, the long-term effects of the process are poorly understood. "There are serious concerns about ocean acidification, and that's why this research is being conducted," Phillip Taylor, Head of the Ocean Section in NSF's Ocean Sciences Division, told SolveClimate News. "There are many who think this is going to have an impact on important animals in the sea that are instrumental in driving the productivity of ocean waters."... Those changes may not sound like a lot, but pH is measured on a logarithmic scale, so a 0.1 difference is equivalent to a 30 percent change in acidity or alkalinity. "When you change the pH of water, it has very clear and potentially immediate affects on the physiology of organisms," Taylor said. One effect of ocean acidification is to decrease the availability of carbonate ions in the water, an important compound for organisms like corals, shellfish and foraminifera that use carbonate to build their calcium carbonate shells. These shells are part of the organisms' body structure; they provide shape, size and protection against predators. ...	Maybe research funding should be on a logarithmic scale, based on its potential for catastrophe? ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Oct 30, 2010 from Scientific American: Nations agree to historic deal to save nature Nearly 200 nations agreed on Saturday to a sweeping plan to stem the loss of species by setting new 2020 targets to ensure greater protection of nature and enshrine the benefits it gives mankind. Environment ministers from around the globe also agreed on rules for sharing the benefits from genetic resources from nature between governments and companies, a trade and intellectual property issue that could be worth billions of dollars in new funds for developing nations. Agreement on parts of the deal has taken years of at times heated negotiations, and talks in the Japanese city of Nagoya were deadlocked until the early hours of Saturday after two weeks of talks. Delegates agreed goals to protect oceans, forests and rivers as the world faces the worst extinction rate since the dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago. They also agreed to take steps to put a price on the value of benefits such as clean water from watersheds and coastal protection by mangroves by including such "natural capital" into national accounts. Services provided by nature to economies were worth trillions of dollars a year, the head of the U.N. Environment Programme, Achim Steiner, said in a statement, adding businesses from banks to miners were key in halting rapid loss of ecosystems. ...	Agreeing to "2020 targets" is step 1 of at least 2019 more steps. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 from TIME: Flame Retardants in Everyday Products May Be a Health Hazard, Scientists Say Here's a fact to brighten your Thursday: you have a much smaller chance than your grandparents of bursting into flames. That's because brominated and chlorinated flame retardants (BFR and CFR) -- classes of chemicals that inhibit fire ignition -- have become common ingredients in everything from clothes to couches to computers. (You can thank safety-conscious California for that; the state's tough laws on flame retardants led to their wide-scale use by manufacturers around the country.) But fire safety has come with a cost. The chemicals used to prevent fires have repeatedly been shown to cause damage to human health. First polychlorinated binphenyls (PCBs) were found to be severely toxic to people and the environment, and the chemicals were banned in 1977. Next came polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), another class of chemicals used as flame retardants; over the years PBDEs have been found to accumulate in organic tissues and in the environment -- even in human breast milk -- and they are hormones disruptors, with links to thyroid and other health problems. PentaBDE and OctaBDE have been banned by the European Union and withdrawn from production by the only U.S. manufacturer; one other chemical, DecaBDE, is still in wide production but is restricted in the European Union and will be voluntarily withdrawn from the U.S. in 2013. ... Other BFRs and CFRs have emerged as substitutes for restricted flame retardants, but it turns out that they, too, may be linked to health problems. ... CFRs and BFRs contain compounds that are carcinogens, reproductive and neurological toxins and endocrine disruptors. And like their predecessors, once these chemicals come into contact with the human body, they can hang around for a long time, accumulating in greater proportions. ...	Better Freakin' Rethink! Chemical Follies Ricochet. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 from New Scientist: Will we cope if the rare earths live up to their name? For decades, the world has been busy incorporating the so-called rare earth elements into all manner of high-tech devices, including disc drives, wind turbines and hybrid cars. The messy business of mining the ore and extracting the elements was left to China, and few people in the west cared that the nation controlled 97 per cent of world supply. "Rare earth" is an alternative name for the lanthanides - elements 57 to 71 - plus yttrium and scandium, and despite the name most of them were not considered rare at all. The elements hit the headlines a few weeks ago, when China appeared to be blocking exports to Japan and the US. The Chinese government, which has also been tightening its export quotas, claims that it needs to clean up mining procedures and support its own growing demand for rare earths.... However, facilities to refine rare earths cannot be created overnight, and few US scientists know how to do it anyway. "Even if Molycorp can get material mined and concentrated right now... it would have to send that material to China to get it refined," says Gareth Hatch of Technology Metals Research, a consultancy firm in Carpentersville, Illinois. Recycling is another option, but impurities sneak in during the process, so recycled materials are not always as good as the freshly refined equivalent. The neodymium magnets used in hybrid cars, for example, work less well at high temperatures when recycled neodymium is used. ...	This is a canary in a rare earth mine. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 from Pew Research Center: Wide Partisan Divide Over Global Warming ...Views about climate change continue to be sharply divided along party lines. A substantial majority of Democrats (79 percent) say there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been increasing over the past few decades, and 53 percent think the earth is warming mostly because of human activity. Among Republicans, only 38 percent agree the earth is warming and just 16 percent say warming is caused by humans. Roughly half of Republicans (53 percent) say there is no solid evidence of warming. These patterns are little changed from a year ago. More than half of independents (56 percent) say there is solid evidence of warming, but just 32 percent think it can mostly be attributed to human actions. Opinions among independents who lean toward the Republican Party or Democratic Party are similar to those of partisans. ...	Whew! I thought global warming was real but it's actually ideological! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 from Kaiser Permanente, via EurekAlert: Exposure to BPA associated with reduced semen quality Increasing urine BPA (Bisphenol-A) level was significantly associated with decreased sperm concentration, decreased total sperm count, decreased sperm vitality and decreased sperm motility, according to a Kaiser Permanente study appearing in the journal of Fertility and Sterility. The five-year study recruited 514 workers in factories in China and compared workers who had high urine BPA levels with those with low urine BPA. Men with higher urine BPA levels had 2-4 times the risk of having poor semen quality, including low sperm concentration, low sperm vitality and motility. This is the first human study to report an adverse association between BPA and semen quality. Previous animal studies found a detrimental association between BPA and male reproductive systems in mice and rats.... [T]hose with detectable urine BPA had more than three times the risk of lowered sperm concentration and lower sperm vitality, more than four times the risk of a lower sperm count, and more than twice the risk of lower sperm motility,"... ...	Y'know, a worldwide decrease in fertility might not be such a bad thing. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 from Huffington Post: Greenhouse Gases Database: Companies Fight To Keep Global Warming Data Secret Some of the country's largest emitters of heat-trapping gases, including businesses that publicly support efforts to curb global warming, don't want the public knowing exactly how much they pollute. Oil producers and refiners, along with manufacturers of steel, aluminum and even home appliances, are fighting a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency that would make the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that companies release - and the underlying data businesses use to calculate the amounts - available online. While gross estimates exist for such emissions from transportation and electricity production and manufacturing as a whole, the EPA is requiring companies for the first time to submit information for each individual facility. The companies say that disclosing details beyond a facility's total emissions to the public would reveal company secrets by letting competitors know what happens inside their factories. More importantly, they argue, when it comes to understanding global warming, the public doesn't need to know anything more than what goes into the air. "There is no need for the public to have information beyond what is entering the atmosphere," Steven H. Bernhardt, global director for regulatory affairs for Honeywell International Inc., said in comments filed with the agency earlier this year. The Morristown, N.J.-based company is a leading manufacturer of hydrofluorocarbons, a potent greenhouse gas used in a variety of consumer products. Honeywell wants the EPA to reconsider its proposal, which the company said would damage its business.... Aluminum smelters want 11 of the 15 data fields the EPA intends to make public kept confidential, according to comments filed by the Aluminum Association. Koch Nitrogen Co. LLC, a fertilizer producer, questions the EPA's desire to make unit-specific or facility-specific emissions available, calling it "misguided" since a change in pollution from a single factory is unlikely to influence policy on a global problem. ...	Good thing these corporations are now free to buy any election anonymously! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 from WWF: Seized notebooks give unique insight into scale of illicit pangolin trade Stunning figures in traffickers' logbooks indicate massive illegal capture and trade in endangered pangolins or scaly anteaters, finds a new TRAFFIC study. A Preliminary Assessment of Pangolin Trade in Sabah analyses logbooks seized following a raid by Sabah Wildlife Department in 2009 on a syndicate's pangolin trafficking premises in Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of the Malaysian State of Sabah in north Borneo. The logbooks reveal that 22,200 pangolins were killed and 834.4 kg of pangolin scales were supplied to the syndicate between May 2007 and January 2009.... The Sunda Pangolin, found in much of South-East Asia, is considered Endangered and the species is protected under Malaysian law. No international trade in any Asian pangolin species is permitted under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Despite this, pangolins are widely hunted and trafficked for their alleged medicinal properties. They are among the most commonly encountered mammals in Asia's wildlife trade and alarming numbers have been seized throughout East and Southeast Asia in recent years. In 2008, Customs in Viet Nam seized a staggering 23 tonnes of frozen pangolins in a single week. Most trade is believed to be destined for China.... Hunters reported that high prices offered by middlemen was the main driver for the collection of pangolins, and this in turn was caused by the increasing difficulty in finding pangolins in the wild. All but one of the 13 hunters interviewed said they believed the pangolin was headed towards extinction. ...	God just shouldn't have made theirs scales so darned valuable! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 from CNN: Everyday chemicals may be harming kids, panel told Of the 84,000 chemicals on the market today -- many of which are in objects that people come into contact with every day -- only about 1 percent of them have been studied for safety, Sen. Frank Lautenberg said Tuesday. Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, told a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health that such little oversight means that children in the United States are virtual "guinea pigs in an uncontrolled experiment."... Lautenberg has introduced legislation that would require chemical manufacturers to prove the safety of their products before they're released into the market. He said the current law -- the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 -- is too lax, resulting in the banning of five chemicals in the past 34 years. ...	I'm gonna name my next kid, Petri. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 from USGS: USGS Oil and Gas Resource Estimates for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA): Decreased 90 percent The U.S. Geological Survey estimates 896 million barrels of conventional, undiscovered oil and 53 trillion cubic feet of conventional, undiscovered non-associated gas within NPRA and adjacent state waters. The estimated volume of undiscovered oil is significantly lower than in 2002, when the USGS estimated there was 10.6 billion barrels of oil. The new result, roughly 10 percent of the 2002 estimate, is due primarily to recent exploration drilling indicating gas occurrence rather than oil in much of NPRA. Recent activity in NPRA, including 3-D seismic surveys, Federal lease sales administered by the Bureau of Land Management, and drilling of more than 30 exploration wells in the area, provides geologic indicators that are more indicative of gas than oil. Many of the newly drilled wells show an abrupt transition from oil to gas just 15 to 20 miles west of the giant Alpine field, located just outside the northeastern boundary of NPRA. "These new findings underscore the challenge of predicting whether oil or gas will be found in frontier areas and the importance of analyzing the geologic characteristics and history of an area in order to understand the oil and gas resources," explains USGS Director, Dr. Marcia McNutt. "As new data become available, it is important to re-evaluate the petroleum potential of an area in light of the new information." ...	What's 10 percent of "Drill, baby, drill!"? Roughly, "Dr!" ApocaDoc permalink
Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish!
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 from University of Delaware via ScienceDaily: As Arctic Warms, Increased Shipping Likely to Accelerate Climate Change As the ice-capped Arctic Ocean warms, ship traffic will increase at the top of the world. And if the sea ice continues to decline, a new route connecting international trading partners may emerge -- but not without significant repercussions to climate, according to a U.S. and Canadian research team that includes a University of Delaware scientist. Growing Arctic ship traffic will bring with it air pollution that has the potential to accelerate climate change in the world's northern reaches. And it's more than a greenhouse gas problem -- engine exhaust particles could increase warming by some 17-78 percent, the researchers say. ...	Why not make a horrific situation even worse! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 from ScienceDaily: Uranium in Groundwater? 'Fracking' Mobilizes Uranium in Marcellus Shale Scientific and political disputes over drilling Marcellus shale for natural gas have focused primarily on the environmental effects of pumping millions of gallons of water and chemicals deep underground to blast through rocks to release the natural gas. But University at Buffalo researchers have now found that that process -- called hydraulic fracturing or "fracking"-- also causes uranium that is naturally trapped inside Marcellus shale to be released, raising additional environmental concerns.... "Marcellus shale naturally traps metals such as uranium and at levels higher than usually found naturally, but lower than manmade contamination levels," says Tracy Bank, PhD, assistant professor of geology in UB's College of Arts and Sciences and lead researcher. "My question was, if they start drilling and pumping millions of gallons of water into these underground rocks, will that force the uranium into the soluble phase and mobilize it? Will uranium then show up in groundwater?" ...	Oh, Cassandra, will you fracking shut up? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 26, 2010 from Popular Science: Detailed Simulation of Space Tourism Finds It Could Accelerate Climate Change Last week we celebrated the dedication of Spaceport America, New Mexico's dedicated private spaceflight hub that hopes to begin launching regular flights to the edge of space sometime next year. This week we hear the other side of the story: space tourism's emissions of black carbon in the upper atmosphere could have dire consequences for climate change, increasing polar temperatures by 1.8 degrees and reducing polar sea ice by 5-15 percent. A paper publishing in Geophysical Research Letters suggests that emissions from 1,000 private rocket launches each year would dump detrimental amounts of black carbon - the really bad kind - into the stratosphere where it could remain for up to a decade, altering global atmospheric conditions and the distribution of ozone. And because there's no weather up there to scrub the carbon away as it does commercial airline emissions, that black carbon could hang around for a while.... The models showed that all those firing rockets - 1,000 over the course of a year - would leave behind some 660 tons of black carbon annually, comparable to the emissions of the entire global aviation industry. ...	I know! We'll just have every rocket drop off a floating solar-powered black-carbon vacuum! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 26, 2010 from Telegraph.co.uk: New species discovered in the Amazon every three days The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) counted the number of new discoveries between 1999 and 2009 to highlight the one of the most diverse areas on Earth. The report Amazon Alive! found some 1,200 new species of plants and vertebrates have been discovered in the area over ten years, a new species every three days. The new species include 637 plants, 257 fish, 216 amphibians, 55 reptiles, 16 birds and 39 mammals, confirming that the Amazon is one of the most diverse places on Earth. Among the findings are the first new species of anaconda identified since 1936, a frog with a 'burst of flames' on its head, a parrot with a bald head, a pink river dolphin, a bright red blind catfish and a tiger-striped tarantula. Sarah Hutchison, WWF-UK forest programme manager for Brazil, said all the species were at risk of deforestation. She pointed out that in the last 50 years humankind has caused the destruction of at least 17 per cent of the Amazon rainforest, an area twice the size of Spain. ...	If we hadn't destroyed 17 percent, then we might be finding a new species every 2.49 days. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 26, 2010 from New York Times: When Hormone Creams Expose Others to Risks Veterinarians around the country are reporting a strange phenomenon: spayed dogs and cats, even some puppies and kittens, are suddenly becoming hormonal. In female pets, the symptoms resemble heat: swollen genitals, bloody discharge and behavioral problems. Male animals are showing up with swollen breast tissue and hair loss. Standard treatments and even repeated operations have had no effect. Now vets have identified the culprit. The pets were all owned by women who used hormone creams on their hands, arms and legs to counter symptoms of menopause. Animals who licked or cuddled their owners, or rubbed up against their legs, were being inadvertently exposed to doses of hormone drugs. ...	I call that second-hand hormones. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 26, 2010 from BBC: Heavy smokers 'at increased risk of dementia' Heavy smokers with a 40-a-day habit face a much higher risk of two common forms of dementia, a large study shows. The risk of Alzheimer's is more than doubled in people smoking at least two packs of cigarettes a day in their mid-life. The risk of vascular dementia, linked to problems in blood vessels supplying the brain, also rose significantly. The US study, looking at over 21,000 people's records, is published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. ...	You have to be pretty demented to smoke that much anyway. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 26, 2010 from London Guardian: Drought brings Amazon tributary to lowest level in a century One of the most important tributaries of the Amazon river has fallen to its lowest level in over a century, following a fierce drought that has isolated tens of thousands of rainforest inhabitants and raised concerns about the possible impact of climate change on the region. The drought currently affecting swaths of north and west Amazonia has been described as the one of the worst in the last 40 years, with the Rio Negro or Black river, which flows into the world-famous Rio Amazonas, reportedly hitting its lowest levels since records began in 1902 on Sunday. In 24 hours the level of the Rio Negro near Manaus in Brazil dropped 6cm to 13.63 metres, a historic low. ...	What will we call the rainforest, in the Age of Drought? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 26, 2010 from Politico: Climate skeptics wanted for GOP primary It's going to be hard winning the Republican presidential nomination if you're not a climate skeptic. Recent comments from top White House and congressional contenders suggest an awkward mix of outright hostility or, at best, ambivalence toward the widespread scientific consensus that humans are responsible for the warming planet. Fueled by tea party rage, anti-government sentiment and hostility to anything attached to President Barack Obama, the 2012 GOP primary field is expected to run to the right... A New York Times/CBS News poll this month found that 53 percent of tea party supporters think global warming will not have serious impacts at any time in the future, while just 22 percent of the rest of the public felt the same way. ...	What do you suppose those people put in their tea? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 26, 2010 from Greenwire: Slide in EPA Clean Water Criminal Enforcement Continues Under Obama Criminal enforcement of federal water-pollution laws has continued a more than decadelong slide under the Obama administration, despite pledged improvements, according to U.S. EPA data. The government reported 32 new Clean Water Act convictions during the fiscal year that ended in September, down from 42 in 2009. The number of criminal water pollution cases initiated by the agency fell from 28 last year to 21 this year... The numbers indicate that the Obama administration so far has been unable to reverse a trend that started under President George W. Bush... ...	Where's the water police when you need 'em! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Oct 25, 2010 from Thanh Nien Daily: HCMC set to bear brunt of climate change impacts Ho Chi Minh City and other Asia's coastal megacities will suffer more frequent and severe flooding affecting millions of people, if current climate change trends continue, a new report says. Major flooding could cost billions of dollars in infrastructure damage, hurting the economy. The hardest hit are likely to be urban poor populations, says the report titled Climate Risks and Adaptation in Asian Coastal Megacities...The cities have populations close to or over 10 million and are economic centers of their countries and the region. Yet they are facing increased risks of climate change such as rising sea levels and an increased frequency in extreme weather conditions. ...	Here in the US we call that the trickle down effect. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Oct 25, 2010 from Hurryit Daily News and Economic Review: Bee deaths worrying Turkish honey producers An organic honey producer in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey has seen a 50-percent fall in the 2010 honey harvest even after increasing hive numbers by 40 percent over last year. "The bees look like they are almost on strike. They have so drastically slashed the production that we could only deliver half the amount we promised to customers a year ago. We had to suspend our export negations with five countries," said Remzi Ozbay, general manager of Topuy Kaaskar. ...	Friggin' unions. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Oct 25, 2010 from London Guardian: Tea Party climate change deniers funded by BP and other major polluters BP and several other big European companies are funding the midterm election campaigns of Tea Party favourites who deny the existence of global warming or oppose Barack Obama's energy agenda, the Guardian has learned. An analysis of campaign finance by Climate Action Network Europe (Cane) found nearly 80 percent of campaign donations from a number of major European firms were directed towards senators who blocked action on climate change. These included incumbents who have been embraced by the Tea Party such as Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, and the notorious climate change denier James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma. ...	The toxins from this BP company will never cease... ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Oct 25, 2010 from USA Today: Research teams find oil on bottom of Gulf Scientists who were aboard two research vessels studying the Gulf of Mexico oil spill's impact on sea life have found substantial amounts of oil on the seafloor, contradicting statements by federal officials that the oil had largely disappeared. Scientists on the research ship Cape Hatteras found oil in samples dug up from the seafloor in a 140-mile radius around the site of the Macondo well, said Kevin Yeager, a University of Southern Mississippi assistant professor of marine sciences. He was the chief scientist on the research trip, which ended last week. Oil found in samples ranged from light degraded oil to thick raw crude, Yeager said. ...	Out of sight out of mind. ApocaDoc permalink
You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore.