China Quake 1st Anniversary

Incensed parents burn incense in memory of their dead children on the 1st Anniversary of China Quake

Tens of thousands of people mourn their relatives in the ruins of earthquake-hit Beichuan county, Sichuan Province, May 12, 2009.  REUTERS/Jason Lee. Image may be subject to copyright.

Wenchuan Earthquake Museum

Wenchuan Earthquake Museum has become the official shrine to the earthquake: “From the famous pig that survived under rubble for 36 days, to a water bottle used by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as he toured devastated buildings and schools,” a year ago.

On display are anything from crushed cars to  smashed toys and abandoned school backpacks— legacies of the magnitude-7.9 earthquake that, a year ago today, killed as many as 90,000 people in China’s southwestern Schichuan province. What is missing however, samples of sub-standard still and building materials that accelerated the collapse of  so many schools in the province, killing thousands of children and infuriating parents who still blame shoddy government construction practices.

May 12 was a day of mourning. Mourners crowded ruins in southwest China on Tuesday to mark one year since an earthquake shattered the region, while President Hu Jintao called reconstruction efforts a testament to national strength.

In this photo taken on April 5, 2009, Zhou Lekang 43, holds a picture of his son Zhou Jingbo who was 16 when he was killed after his middle school collapsed in the May 12, 2008 earthquake in Dujiangyan, China. The death of so many children has touched a nerve nationwide, raising questions about official corruption, mismanagement, government responsibility _ the underside of fast-paced economic growth. The political sensitivity of the issue has spawned many instances of government attempts to intimidate the parents and activists fighting to get the truth out. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel). Image may be subject to copyright.

Many of the parents whose kids were killed when their  classrooms collapsed,  blame the inordinately large number of young casualties on the poor construction standards.

“For some survivors, the anniversary also drew bitter words about the government’s reluctance to openly investigate buildings that collapsed in the quake, especially schools that fell while nearby offices and apartments stayed intact.” Reuters said.

You don’t have to be an expert to compare the two types of building.

“Officials prevented any memorial gathering on the morning of the anniversary at Juyuan, a town where hundreds of children died in the local middle school, three parents told Reuters by phone.”

The  founder of Wenchuan Earthquake Museum, Mr Fan, said he was satisfied with the government’s response to the tragedy, and believe any investigation into the affair concerning the corruption would hurt the nation’s stability.

“We must leave problems like this for history to resolve,” Fan says.

“He Xiaogang, an engineering expert from Tsinghua University who was on a team of government investigators that visited quake sites, said the sheer power of the earthquake is to blame for the number of flattened schools.” AP reported

“We went to tens of thousands of schools, and almost all of them were up to national standards,” He said.

However, US experts who visited the quake site in August 2008 found that many of the school buildings had been unreinforced structures, the type that  had been outlawed in 1976 after a powerful  earthquake struck near Beijing.

“As would be expected, this type of building did not perform well in the earthquake, and there were many catastrophic collapses,” said the experts from the California based Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the Geo-Engineering Earthquake Reconnaissance Association in their report.

“The cement was of a low grade. The steel reinforcements were not only thin, but also appeared to have been bought from scrap markets,” said a parent who lost his 16-year-old son in the quake.

Unsurprisingly, the party official have “clamped down on information about the school-related deaths,” and one year on, they haven’t released the schools’ death toll. “Parents or activists who have sought information have been intimidated or detained.” AP said.

Related Links:

• Chinese paratroopers rescuing survivors or preventing plague?
• How Many More Survivors?
• Why Was the Girl Removed from Family?
• Chinese Leaders Incapable of Handling Quake Aftermath

• Why Didn’t China Prevent the Loss of 86,000 Lives?
• The Anguished Cries of China Quake Nurse

For More Links Click HERE!

Is Mt Nyamulagira Erupting?

Scientists in the DR Congo have reportedly recorded significant increased volcanic activity around the city of Goma

Mount Nyamuragira, Africa’s most active volcano, about 25km (16 miles) north of Goma, may soon erupt.

A large section of the city of Goma, located in the east of the country was destroyed in 2002 after  Mount Nyiragongo erupted.

Scientist Dieudonne Wafula told the BBC on May 8, if it did erupt, there would not be an immediate threat to Goma, but some key rural roads could be cut off.

A general view of the refugee camp at Kibati at the foot of Nyiragongo volcano in eastern Congo, November 14, 2008.  REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly. Image may be subject to copyright.

Volcano: Nyamuragira

Country:  DR Congo
Region: Central Africa
Volcano Type: Shield volcano
Last Known Eruption: 2006
Summit Elevation: 3058 m  (10,033 feet)
Latitude: 1.408°S   (1°24’30″S)
Longitude: 29.20°E  (29°12’0″E)
Source: Global Volcanism Program (GVP)

Lava fountains from the new cone of Mikombe on the lower NE flank of Zaire’s Nyamuragira volcano feed the lava flow in the foreground. This photo was taken from the SE on September 29, nine days after the start of the eruption. During the first week the new cone, whose name means “many bats,” grew to a height of 60-70 m. Lava flows had traveled 6-7 km NE by the time of this photo. The eruption continued until February 1993, by which time lava flows had traveled 19 km to the NE. Photo by Minoru Kasahara, 1991 (Hokkaido University). Caption GVP.

Depiction of the Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira volcanoes, based on data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and Landsat. Vertical scale exaggerated (1.5x).  Image ID: PIA03337.  Date: February 2000 – December 2001. Image:Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira – PIA03337.png (high resolution) . NASA/JPL/NIMA

Depiction of the Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira volcanoes, based on data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or Aster, and Landsat. Some lava flows (not all) from the 2002-01-17 eruption are shown in red. Date: February 2000 – January 2002. Image ID: PIA03339.  NASA/JPL/NIMA

The summit of Nyamuragira volcano is truncated by 2 x 2.3 km wide caldera whose floor is partially covered by unvegetated historical lava flows. This view from above the SW caldera rim shows a pit crater on the far side of the caldera at the upper left that was the site of a lava lake, active since at least 1921, which drained in 1938 at the time of a major flank eruption. Africa’s most active volcano, 3058-m-high Nyamuragira rises about 25 km north of Lake Kivu in the East African Rift Valley NW of Nyiragongo volcano.  Photo by Simon Carn, 2004 (TOMS Volcanic Emissions Group, University of Maryland, Baltimore County). CAption: GVP.

Major Volcanoes of the DR Congo

From: Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program Website, 2002

Africa’s most active volcano, Nyamuragira is a massive basaltic shield volcano that rises north of Lake Kivu across a broad valley northwest of Nyiragongo volcano. The volcano has a volume of 500 cubic kilometers and extensive lava flows from Nyamuragira cover 1500 square kilometers of the East African Rift. The 3058-meter-high summit is truncated by a small 2 x 2.3 kilometer summit caldera that has walls up to about 100 meters high. Historical eruptions have occurred within the summit caldera, frequently modifying the morphology of the caldera floor, as well as from the numerous fissures and cinder cones on the volcano’s flanks. A lava lake in the summit crater, active since at least 1921, drained in 1938. Twentieth-century lava flows extend down the flanks more than 30 km from the summit, reaching as far as Lake Kivu.

From Reuters

• Eastern Congo volcanoes show eruption warning signs

From Reuters, Cnn

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo – A river of molten rock continued to pour from a volcano in Congo on Friday, a day after it erupted, killing 45, swallowing buildings and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee the city of Goma.

Hundreds of U.N. workers were also forced to flee in the 24 hours since waves of lava began forking from Mount Nyiragongo volcano through villages on its slopes, down through Goma itself and on to Lake Kivu on the Rwandan border.

Gaping holes opened up in Goma, normally a city of more than 500,000 but now virtually a ghost town, and molten rock reduced roads and buildings to fiery ash.

Fourteen villages in the path of the lava were said to have been incinerated.

“The smell of sulphur is everywhere, there are tremors every 10 minutes,” Desire Bukasa, a radio controller for a U.N. agency in Goma, told Reuters.

“I’m trying to work out how to evacuate the town. There are fissures opening up in the town which billow smoke. People are scared.”

Tens of thousands hurriedly left possessions behind and fled across the border into Rwanda as a two metre high surge of molten lava advanced from the 3,469-metre (11,380 foot) volcano, destroying everything in its path.

Related Links:

• Volcanoes, Santorini Eruption and Crops Failure in China
• Volcanoes
• Earthquakes

If Sunflower CEO Wants More Coal Power at Holcomb

Earl Watkins Will Get another Coal-fired Power Plant at Holcomb

How they did it!

First the company hatched an energy bill up and called it renewable energy bill. The kind of renewable deal that allows them to also build a coal-fired power plant!

Then thy pulled a few strings thereby removing the only obstacle to their plan: The former Kansas governor, Kathleen Sebelius. Ms. Sebelius was promoted to the position of  Secretary of Health and Human Services in Obama Admin.

The existing 360-megawatt Holcomb Station power plant in Garden City, Kansas (undated photo), burns 1.5 million tons of coal from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin each year . Its operators sought to sextuple its output. Image and caption: Sierra Club. Image may be subject to copyright.

Sebelius had vetoed four previous bills, opposing even the expansion of Sunflower’s existing Holcomb plant.

[Why did she let go? We can only presume that she let go because they told her that she could do a lot more good [sic] as Secretary of Health and Human Services.]

When the coast was finally clear, the Kansas legislature overwhelmingly passed the renewable energy bill on Friday by 103 to 18 votes.

The Senate had already voted 37 to 2 in favor the previous day.

The new Kansas governor,  Mark Parkinson, is  expected to sign the bill because he was its architect, of course. It was he who proposed a 895-megawatt coal plant at Holcomb. Gov Mark Parkinson, who was sworn in on April 28, wasted no time kowtowing to the  Sunflower CEO Earl Watkins.

“In October 2007, Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Secretary Rod Bremby rejected plans for two 700-MW coal-fired units in western Kansas at Holcomb. It was the first time a U.S. coal plant was rejected solely on the basis of health risks from carbon dioxide emissions.” Reuters reported.

“The cost of the new plant was not revealed. In early 2007, when three 700-MW units were proposed to be built at the existing 360-MW plant, the cost was near $4 billion.”

“Using an industry estimate of $2,100 per kilowatt, the 895 MW plant would cost about $1.9 billion.”

Coal-fired plant produce about twice as much CO2 as natural gas plants for each megawatt of electricity they generate.

Sunflower’s Watkins expects the new plant to be operation within 5 years.  Most of the power  from the Holcomb plant (about 80 percent) would be exported to Tri-State Generation in Colorado and Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, based in Amarillo, Texas.

Sunflower is expected to be awarded a substantial federal renewable energy stimulus fund for its proposed  Sunflower Integrated Bioenergy center, which will handle  ethanol, biodiesel, and algae energy projects.

Gov Mark Parkinson has achieved all of the above on behalf of Sunflower in little over a week, thereby securing himself powerful clients [yes, he too is a lawyer] after his plitical career has run dry.

Related Links:

• NO More Coal-fired Power Plants Here!
• Power Plant Rejected Over Carbon Dioxide For First Time

Floods and Mudslides

More drought and deluge, more flooding and landslide, just about everywhere!

This season, the extreme weather and rain events may be worse than the previous season, and the worsening pattern is expected to continue.

Brazil

People travel by boat in a flooded street in Trizidela do Vale, state of Maranhao, Brazil, Saturday, May 9, 2009. The flooding in northern Brazil is the worst in 20 years, and experts have warned river levels including the Amazon could hit records not seen since 1953 by June. (AP Photo/Andre Penner). Image may be subject to copyright.

Residents walk on a street which was flooded by the Poti river in Teresina in the northeastern Brazilian state of Piaui May 8, 2009. According to Brazilian Civil Defense, floods and mudslides from months of heavy rains in northern Brazil have driven more than 214,000 from their homes and killed at least 38 people. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker (BRAZIL ENVIRONMENT DISASTER). Image may be subject to copyright.

An aerial view of streets flooded by Tocantins river in Maraba, north of Brazil May 6, 2009. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker (BRAZIL ENVIRONMENT DISASTER). Image may be subject to copyright.

Flooding in the southern part of Brazil in November and December 2008 killed about 130 people and left another 40 missing.

Philippines

The Philippines rice production could suffer by as much as 10 percent this season.

Extensive flooding caused by Chan Holm. Image from Reuters Video. Image may be subject to copyright.

Typhoon Chan-Holm, the fifth to hit the Philippines this year, battered the northern Philippines tearing roofs off houses, destroying roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, and felled power lines in several provinces on the main island, Luzon. Heavy rains triggered extensive mudslides killing at least 15 people, officials said on Friday.

“Forecast second quarter national rice production was cut by more than 1 percent after Typhoon Kujira hit the central Philippines last weekend, killing 27 people.” Reuters reported.

Related Links:

• Drought and Deluge

More Hell-arious Polar Bear News

Farewell Polar Bear!

Obama team OK with Bush polar bear climate rule

[Independent] Polar Bear Mum to Ken Salazar: We know why you and that lawyer in the White House hate our guts.  But, what if we moved to the White House and butt-kicked the lot of you to Alaska?”

“The Obama administration said on Friday it will keep a Bush-era rule that weakens protection for polar bears’ icy habitat and plays down links between the threatened status of the species and climate change.” Reuters reported.

“Seeing the polar bear’s habitat melting and an iconic species threatened is an environmental tragedy of the modern age,” U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a telephone briefing.

“The best course of action for protecting the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act is to wisely implement the current rule, not revoke it at this time,” which would cause confusion, Salazar said.

Kenneth Lee “Ken” Salazar 50th United States Secretary of the Interior seen in this undated photo wearing a flag pin to prove something. The wrong person for the wrong job in the wrong administration in the wrong country at a wrong time doing all the wrong things and telling the same lies.

A spokesperson for the Center for Biological Diversity, among other environmental groups questioning the decision, wondered how the Obama team’s argument could possibly be relevant because the Endangered Species Act does not  deal with large-scale threats like extinction, but it was meant to limit the use of the pesticide DDT.

Punching the air with joy, Alaska’s oil and gas Senator Lisa Murkowski said she was overwhelmed with the department’s decision to retain the existing rule, “which provides rational measures for the protection of polar bears within their natural range.”

And if the polar bears’ natural range keeps on shrinking? Hey, look, we are all human, aren’t we? Look at the blaze in Santa Barbara county!

Related Links:

• Hilarious Polar Bear News!
• It’s All About Big Oil, Stupid!
• The Billionaires’ contribution to CO2 pollution
• How Much Carbon Dioxide Does Your Money Make?

Glyphosate Unsafe —Researcher

Potential health dangers of glyphosate

An environmental group recently filed a suit in Argentina’s Supreme Court, seeking a ban on glyphosate, a herbicide commonly used with soybeans, citing a local scientist’s unpublished research.

The study by Andres Carrasco, an embryology professor and researcher, who also holds a post at the Defense Ministry, reports on potential health dangers of the herbicide.

The U.S. National Pesticide Information Center, which is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, says glyphosate has low toxicity levels.

Soybeans are a major source of biofuel. Image source: NYLCV. Image may be subject to copyright.

“Argentina’s large and powerful farming industry, which has been locked in a year-long tax battle with the government, sounded alarm bells, saying the defense ministry ban was the latest sign of the government’s anti-soy campaign.” Reuters reported.

“It’s more politics than anything else,” said Ulises Forte, vice president of the Argentine Agrarian Federation, a major farm industry group.

“With the farm industry up in arms, Science and Technology Minister Lino Baranao moved to distance the government from the study. He told local media the study was not commissioned by the government and had not been reviewed by scientific peers.” The report said.

The environmental group says its suit is not political.

“The only thing we are looking for is to defend people’s health and the environment, which we understand is polluted. especially in the way that agrochemicals (are applied) in this country, very close to towns,” said Mariano Aguilar, of the Environmentalist Lawyers Association of Argentina.

SOY Facts:

• Argentina is the third biggest world exporter of whole soybeans.
• Soy exports were worth $16.5 billion last year.
• 50 percent of all Argentina’s agricultural land (about 17 million acres) is planted with soy.

“Argentina consumes an estimated 53 million gallons (200 million liters) a year of glyphosate, including the Roundup brand, produced by Missouri-based agricultural company Monsanto Co and Power Plus and other products of Argentina’s Atanor, owned by Iowa-based Albaugh chemicals company.” The report said.

Carrasco says his research confirms other studies that have shown glyphosate can harm development of amphibian embryos.

“The most notable thing are alterations in cranial bones and cartilage,” he said.

The Supreme Court does not have a deadline for taking action on the suit.

“A glyphosate ban would hit not only farming income as soy yields come down, but also the government budget, which is heavily dependent on grains taxes.” Reuters reported.

Santa Barbara Fires 2009 Updates

The Jesusita fire/ Santa Barbara Fires 2009

This post is upgraded to provide continuous coverage.

For regular updates see: Calif Fires 2009 – Open Page

Google the Unethical, Google the Hypocrite!

submitted by a reader

Google says their motto is “Do No Evil!” yet most of their immoral earnings come from predatory advertising, and their corporate practice is suppression of information!

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, is investigating the release of refrigerant at a Google data center, as well the accuracy of their statements and records concerning the incident, the Web advertising Goliath  said on Wednesday.

Google, which falsely portrays itself as a champion of the environment, said in its quarterly stock exchange filing that it had learned of EPA investigations 3 months ago. It said the incident occurred at one of its data facilities.

“We spend a lot of time and effort at Google being conscious [sic] of our environmental footprint and so you can imagine how disturbed we were to learn of possible environmental issues affecting one of our smaller data centers,” Reuters reported spokesman Andrew Pederson as saying.

[Is lying through your teeth a prerequisite for employment at Google?]

“We are already working, on our own and with the federal government, to understand what went on in this legacy facility, inherited as part of the DoubleClick purchase,” he said.

[Yah, blame it on the grateful dead!]

If Google was so “conscious [sic] of [their] environmental footprint,” they would denounce predatory advertising as their main source of income.

Google lies and half truths give a new spin to their preposterous “Do No Evil” corporate mantra.

The only good [sic] Google, is a highly fragmented g-o-o-o-…!

Related Links:

• Google: A Conspiracy Against the Public
• Image of the Day: Blocked by Google
• Google Conspiracy Against the Public
• Thought for the Day: “DO NO EVIL!”
• Google Gag

• Kill the World to Save the World!

Volcano Watch Weekly [6 May 2009]

Volcanic Activity Report: 29 April – 5 May 2009

Source: Global Volcanism program (GVP) – SI/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report

New activity/unrest:

• Bagana, Bougainville (PNG)
• Fernandina, Galápagos Islands
• Galeras, Colombia
• Krakatau, Indonesia
• Reventador, Ecuador
• Rinjani, Lombok Island (Indonesia)
• Shiveluch, Central Kamchatka (Russia)
• Slamet, Central Java (Indonesia)

VoW: Atitlán

Country:  Guatemala
Volcano Type:  Stratovolcano
Volcano Status:  Historical
Last Known Eruption: 1853
Summit Elevation: 3,535 m  (11,598 feet)
Latitude: 14.583°N  (14°34’58″N)
Longitude: 91.186°W  (91°11’11″W)

Volcán Atitlán is one of several prominent conical stratovolcanoes in the Guatemalan highlands. Along with its twin volcano Tolimán to the north, it forms a dramatic backdrop to Lake Atitlán, one of the scenic highlights of the country. The 3535-m-high summit of Atitlán directly overlies the inferred margin of the Pleistocene Atitlán III caldera and is the highest of three large post-caldera stratovolcanoes constructed near the southern caldera rim. The volcano consequently post-dates the eruption of the voluminous, roughly 85,000-year-old rhyolitic Los Chocoyos tephra associated with formation of the Atitlán III caldera. The historically active andesitic Volcán Atitlán is younger than Tolimán, although their earlier activity overlapped. In contrast to Tolimán, Atitlán displays a thick pyroclastic cover. The northern side of the volcano is wooded to near the summit, whereas the upper 1000 m of the southern slopes are unvegetated. Predominantly explosive eruptions have been recorded from Volcán Atitlán since the 15th century. Photo by Bill Rose, 1980(Michigan Technological University). Caption GVP.

Major Volcanoes of Guatemala

REPORT:
Volcanic Hazards at Atitlán Volcano, Guatemala

—J.M. Haapala, R. Escobar Wolf, J.W. Vallance, W.I. Rose, J.P. Griswold, S.P. Schilling, J.W. Ewert, and M. Mota, 2006
Volcanic Hazards at Atitlán Volcano, Guatemala U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2005-1403

Introduction

Atitlán Volcano is in the Guatemalan Highlands, along a west-northwest trending chain of volcanoes parallel to the mid-American trench. The volcano perches on the southern rim of the Atitlán caldera, which contains Lake Atitlán. Since the major caldera-forming eruption 85 thousand years ago (ka), three stratovolcanoes—San Pedro, Tolimán, and Atitlán—have formed in and around the caldera. Atitlán is the youngest and most active of the three volcanoes. Atitlán Volcano is a composite volcano, with a steep-sided, symmetrical cone comprising alternating layers of lava flows, volcanic ash, cinders, blocks, and bombs.

Eruptions of Atitlán began more than 10 ka and, since the arrival of the Spanish in the mid-1400’s, eruptions have occurred in six eruptive clusters (1469, 1505, 1579, 1663, 1717, 1826–1856). Owing to its distance from population centers and the limited written record from 200 to 500 years ago, only an incomplete sample of the volcano’s behavior is documented prior to the 1800’s. The geologic record provides a more complete sample of the volcano’s behavior since the 19th century. Geologic and historical data suggest that the intensity and pattern of activity at Atitlán Volcano is similar to that of Fuego Volcano, 44 km to the east, where active eruptions have been observed throughout the historical period.

Because of Atitlán’s moderately explosive nature and frequency of eruptions, there is a need for local and regional hazard planning and mitigation efforts. Tourism has flourished in the area; economic pressure has pushed agricultural activity higher up the slopes of Atitlán and closer to the source of possible future volcanic activity. This report summarizes the hazards posed by Atitlán Volcano in the event of renewed activity but does not imply that an eruption is imminent. However, the recognition of potential activity will facilitate hazard and emergency preparedness. [Report Menu]

Ongoing Activity:

• Asama, Honshu (Japan)
• Batu Tara, Komba Island (Indonesia)
• Chaitén, Southern Chile
• Cleveland, Chuginadak Island
• Dukono, Halmahera
• Ebeko, Paramushir Island
• Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka
• Kilauea, Hawaii (USA)
• Popocatépetl, México
• Rabaul, New Britain
• Redoubt, Southwestern Alaska
• Sakura-jima, Kyushu (Japan)
• Suwanose-jima, Ryukyu Islands (Japan)
• Tungurahua, Ecuador

Latest U.S. Volcano Alerts and Updates for Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 17:51:20 PDT

• Redoubt Watch Orange

• Kilauea Watch Orange

• Mauna Loa Advisory Yellow

Related Links:

• U.S. Volcano Status Map
• Elevated Activity Page
• U.S. Volcano Webcams

• Volcanoes [FEWW Links]
• Earthquakes

Redoubt could explode at any time

Redoubt Activity – Color Code ORANGE : Alert Level WATCH

Latest update from AVO:

An explosive event could occur at any time with little warning

Local time: May 06, 2009 0525 AKDT (May 06, 2009 1325 UTC)

2009-05-06 04:23:52
Seismic activity remains unchanged over the last 2 hours. Repeating seismic events continue. It is possible that an explosive event could occur at any time with little warning. Weather clouds have dissipated near the volcano. The volcano is once again visible from the Hut netcam, and has occasionally revealed glowing spots related to rockfalls from the growing dome.

Image of Redoubt’s dome and summit area, taken during gas / observation flight on May 4, 2009. Image Creator: Keith Labay ; Image courtesy of AVO/USGS.

View of the north flank of Redoubt Volcano from the research hut where one of the webcams is situated. This zoomed image shows a minor block-and-ash flow advancing down the talus slope below the dome produced from hot debris shed off the dome. Hot debris collects in the gorge above the waterfall generating minor, secondary steam/ash clouds. Picture Date: April 30, 2009 14:14:39 AKDT -  Image Creator: Game McGimsey -Image courtesy of AVO/USGS.

View of the growing lava dome during gas and observation flight on May 4, 2009. Note the tongue of blocky lava extending down the upper Drift gorge. A lighter gray slope of talus – rocky debris shed off the slowly advancing tongue of lava – fills the gorge downslope, nearly reaching the muddy waterfall. Small plumes of ash rise from rockfalls. Note the vigorously steaming margins of the dome, possibly caused by interaction of hot rock and water accumulating from melting snow and ice in the summit crater. Colleague Rick Wessels used a shortwave infrared (SWIR) image captured by a nighttime pass of Landsat 7 to show the dimensions of the dome – about 510 x 760 m (1700 feet x 2500 feet) and at least 150 m (500 feet) high. See image below. Picture Date: May 04, 2009 AKDT – Image Creator: Christina Neal – Image courtesy of AVO/USGS.

Shortwave infrared (SWIR) image of the warm dome areas captured by a nighttime pass of Landsat 7 on May 02, 2009. The hot dome pixels have been placed over a WorldView image from April 16, 2009 and a topographic map from 1990. The SWIR image shows a hot central vent as well as areas of active rockfalls along the perimeter.

Picture Date: May 02, 2009 07:12:54 UTC  -  Image Creator: Rick Wessels – Image montage produced by AVO/USGS. Landsat data courtesy of USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS). WorldView Data, Digital Globe, Inc (copyright 2009)

Redoubt Volcano active lava dome taken from the north The top image is an oblique airphoto by Game McGimsey while the bottom shows the FLIR thermal image. Picture Date: April 16, 2009 12:48:50 AKDT – Image Creator: Rick Wessels – Image courtesy of AVO/USGS.

Related Links

• U.S. Volcano Status Map
• Elevated Activity Page
• U.S. Volcano Webcams

• Volcanoes [FEWW Links]
• Earthquakes

The Second Victim of ‘Swine Flu’ in Texas

Judy Dominguez Trunnell, 33, a schoolteacher, gave birth to a baby girl by cesarean section before she died

The victim’s  cousin, Mario Zamora, said her baby was delivered by cesarean section after she slipped into a coma.

Judy Dominguez Trunnell. An undated photo of the victim.  (AP Photo/ Courtesy Garza Funeral Home, Ultrashots). Image may be subject to copyright.

“She was just a beautiful person, warm at heart. She worked with disabled children as a teacher … Those that knew her will always remember her.” Zamora said.

“Dr. Joseph McCormick, regional dean of the University of Texas School of Public Health’s Brownsville campus, said the woman was extremely ill when she was hospitalized.” AP reported.

State health department spokeswoman Carrie Williams said the victim had “chronic underlying health conditions” but wouldn’t give any more details.

The blog Moderators express their condolences to the family and friends of Judy Dominguez Trunnell.

So far the only two victims of  A(H1N1) virus [swine flu] in Texas have been of Hispanic origin.

“Is this the ‘perfect’ viral mutation engineered to kill only a small number of ‘brown’ people?”—MSRB

Related Links:

• Sales of Tamiflu Rocket Sky High Posted by msrb on May 1, 2009

• Swine Flu Spin: WHO is Looking? Posted by feww on April 30, 2009
• Swine Flu: A Deadly $100 billion Scam? Posted by msrb on April 29, 2009
• Swine Flu Death in Texas Posted by feww on April 29, 2009
• Swine Flu Update 28-04-09 Posted by feww on April 28, 2009

• Swine Flu Mystery Deepens Posted by feww on April 27, 2009
• More on Swine Flu Posted by feww on April 25, 2009
• Swine flu kills dozens in Mexico Posted by feww on April 24, 2009
• New type of swine flu hits California and Texas Posted by feww on April 24, 2009

• Swine Flu Mystery and Air New Zealand
• Was Dr Adu-Bobie A Victim of Biological Warfare Experiments?

California Fire Fleecing Season Begins

Calif wildfire scam is bipartisan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Some 1,200 homes have been ordered to evacuate amid threat of  a wind-driven wildfire burning in Santa Barbara County.

A helicopter makes a drop [in the ocean] on a fire near Santa Barbara, Calif. Photo: AP. Image may be subject to copyright.

The blaze reportedly erupted Tuesday afternoon and is burning about a square mile of brushlands  on the foothills of Santa Barbara. The residents are being told that the  winds are forcing the fire toward their homes.

“Evacuations have been ordered for neighborhoods spanning an area about 2 1/2 miles wide, and part of State Route 192 has been closed.” AP reported.

Meanwhile, ABC News reported that $81 million would be slashed from Cal-Fire’s budget, eliminating more than 600 full-time and 1,100 seasonal firefighting positions,” commenting that no doubt it will slow response time.

Governor Schwarzenegger has signed an executive order for more money to go to the “fire industry.”

“He urged Californians to approve the special election ballot measures that’ll give Cal-Fire, among other state agencies, the money it needs.”

“I don’t like to use scare tactics or anything like this, but fire protection, without any doubt, will suffer if those measures fail on May 19th,” Schwarzennegger said.

[But does that mean the whole of California would go up in smoke, Gov., if the voters didn't approve?]

Cal-Fire Chief Del Walters took the opportunity to issue a more direct threat:

“We fight fire aggressively, and we get right on the fire. And if we don’t have enough people to do it, in some instances, fires will get larger.”

[And if the whole of California isn't good for a fire so big that it would scare the LD out of you, the chief would no doubt throw in Oregon and Washington for good measure!]

As for the irresponsible people who are allowed by the criminally negligent authorities to live in or at the age of forestland, it’s high time they came to their senses and stopped destroying our ailing national treasures.

“We are probably going to go back to a volunteer service where we’re going to have to maintain our own water and do more work in order to protect. It’s hitting home,” said Belinda Brunell.  [Belinda Brunelle and Bill Downey have property in the Sequoia National Forest.]

Devil knows why any responsible state would allow its voters to live in a national forest!

Related Links:

• FEWW Links to SoCal Fires
• Wildfires [Satellite Images and Links]

• California Out of Cash by February 2009
• Censored by LA Times
• Thought for the Day: The Car Salesman & SoCal Fires

• Tell Schwarzenegger Damage from Fires Is Preventable!
• Shock and Awe Southland Fires Take No Prisoners
• Santa Barbara Fires Update [Nov 2008]
• Santa Barbara Tea Fire Targets Luxury Homes
• SoCal’s Godfather Brush Fire!

• The “F” word is back in SoCal
• Right on Track for 2009 Cost of Calif Fires Forecast
• Our Forecast for 2009 California Fires
• California Wildfire Scam Continues
• California Fires: Not Hard to Understand!

• What Next After The Telegraph Fire?
• And Now, The Telegraph Fire!
• 2008: Year of the Fire
• Raging Wildfires: Mother Nature ensuring the cycle of life?
• The War on Wildfire [External Link]
  

The Deadly Dozen, the Dirty Dozen, the Dozen Dozen

UNEP wants to add to its so-called “dirty dozen” deadly chemicals another nine highly toxic compounds

Thanks to the ‘experts,’ the chemical threats to our living environment have been ‘rationalized,’ the danger downsized, and the list of “chemicals considered potentially dangerous,” which are overtly used in industrial farming and other commercial applications, neatly itemized, first into a [dirty] dozen and then some…

Experts mull global ban on commercial chemicals

Mon May 4, 2009
By Robert Evans

GENEVA (Reuters) – Experts and officials from some 150 countries started talks on Monday on banning production of nine chemicals considered potentially dangerous but still used in farming and for other commercial purposes.

If agreement is reached at the week-long meeting, under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the nine will join a list of 12 other so-called persistent organic pollutants, or POPS, long targeted for elimination.

“The risks posed by such chemicals are profound, and these toxic substances leave chemical footprints around the globe,” said UNEP executive director Achim Steiner, who will be watching over the Geneva gathering.

The newly-targeted chemicals include products—known normally under their scientific names—that are widely used for pesticides and are also used in the manufacture of flame retardants and similar items.

The original 12 POPS—dubbed the “dirty dozen” and widely blamed for damaging human nervous systems, causing cancer and disrupting the development of young children—were listed under a 2001 international pact called the Stockholm Convention.

But as these have been removed from production lines, focus has switched to extending the banned list to other highly toxic chemicals that take many years, often decades, to degrade into less dangerous forms.

SPECIAL RISKS

Among the new ones to be considered this week are Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane, Hexabromidyphenyl ether, Chlordecone, Hexabromobiphenyl, Lindane, Pentachlorobenzene and Perfluorooctane, according to UNEP.

UNEP says these, like the “dirty dozen,” pose special risks to young people, farmers, pregnant women and the unborn, and to remote communities like those in the Arctic where Inuit women and polar bears have been found to have large POP doses in their own bodies.

The pollutant chemicals can evaporate and travel long distances through air and water to regions far from their original source and accumulate in the fatty tissues of both humans and animals.

A thaw in the Arctic linked to global warming may allow some of the chemicals, long-trapped under sea ice, to evaporate into the atmosphere and spread further around the polar region, an expert said on Monday.

Agreement at the Geneva meeting, which ends on May 8, could mark a major step toward creating a healthier and more sustainable green economy for the world, said Steiner, while lifting a health threat to millions of people.
(Editing by Jon Hemming)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

Magnitude 4.5 Quake Hits France-Germany Border

A moderate earthquake measuring 4.5 Mw strike France-Germany border region north of Switzerland.

The quake is uncomfortably close to an area considered to be the “world’s safest site” for burying large quantities of nuclear waste.

This Earthquake

Gold star NNE of Basel, Switzerland, marks the quake epicenter. Original Map: USGS

Magnitude: 4.5
Date-Time:

• Tuesday, May 05, 2009 at 01:39:24 UTC
• Tuesday, May 05, 2009 at 03:39:24 AM at epicenter

Location: 47.693°N, 7.819°E
Depth: 12 km (7.5 miles) set by location program
Region FRANCE-GERMANY BORDER REGION
Distances:

• 25 km (15 miles) NE of Basel, Switzerland
• 35 km (20 miles) S of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
• 65 km (40 miles) WNW of Zurich, Switzerland
• 90 km (55 miles) NNE of BERN, Switzerland

Location Uncertainty Error: estimate not available
Source: Centre Sismologique Euro-Mediterranéen, Bruyères-le-Châtel, France
Event ID: us2009ggaf

Saarwellingen, Germany

The epicenter of this quake was about 180km south of the town of Saarwellingen, in Germany’s historic mining region of Saarland, where coal mining set off a magnitude 4 earthquake on February 24, 2008 causing structural damage to buildings.

Clervaux

The epicenter of this shock was less than 250km SSE of Clervaux, an area SSE of Belgium believed to be the most “geologically stable” region in central Europe, and rumored to be under consideration for use as a nuclear waste dump.

Clervaux Triangle: Is this Europe’s safest site for a nuclear waste graveyard?

Seismic monitor of Europe © ORFEUS, 2009

Red = Today
Orange = Yesterday
Yellow = Past two weeks
Blue = All events in 2004 and 2005

Related Links:

• Mining Sets Off Earthquake in Germany

Air Pollution Kills

WARNING! Air Pollution Kills

If the next surgeon general won’t tell you that AIR POLLUTION KILLS, he ain’t worth nominating

As if some of us needed reminding:

Six in ten U.S. residents—about 186 million people—live in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution, the American Lung Association reported.

The following are excerpts from the American Lung Association’s recently published State of the Air 2009 report. 

• Six out of ten people (61.7%) in the United States population lives in counties that have unhealthful levels of either ozone or particle pollution. Almost 186.1 million Americans live in the 525 counties where they are exposed to unhealthful levels of air pollution in the form of either ozone or short-term or year-round levels of particles.

• Roughly six out of ten people in the United States—58 percent—live in areas with unhealthful levels of ozone. This reflects the much lower threshold for unhealthy ozone as well as warmer temperatures in much of the eastern U.S.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Notes:
(1) Cities are ranked using the highest weighted average for any county within that metropolitan statistical area.
(2) Total Population represents the at-risk populations for all counties within the respective Combined Statistical Area or Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(3) Those 18 & under and 65 & over are vulnerable to PM2.5 and are, therefore, included. They should not be used as population denominators for disease estimates.
(4) Pediatric asthma estimates are for those under 18 years of age and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma in 2007 based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(5) Adult asthma estimates are for those 18 years and older and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma during 2007 based on state rates (BRFSS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(6) Chronic bronchitis estimates are for adults 18 and over who had been diagnosed in 2007, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(7) Emphysema estimates are for adults 18 and over who have been diagnosed within their lifetime, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(8) CV disease estimates are based on National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) estimates of cardiovascular disease applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(9) Diabetes estimates are for adults 18 and over who have been diagnosed within their lifetime, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(10) Adding across rows does not produce valid estimates, e.g., summing pediatric and adult asthma and/or emphysema and chronic bronchitis. [Image and Notes from American Lung Association's  State of the Air 2009 report. Copyright American Lung Association.]

Notes:
(1) Cities are ranked using the highest design value for any county within that metropolitan statistical area.
(2) Total Population represents the at-risk populations for all counties within the respective Combined Statistical Area or Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(3) Those 18 & under and 65 & over are vulnerable to PM2.5 and are, therefore, included. They should not be used as population denominators for disease estimates.
(4) Pediatric asthma estimates are for those under 18 years of age and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma in 2007 based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(5) Adult asthma estimates are for those 18 years and older and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma during 2007 based on state rates (BRFSS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(6) Chronic bronchitis estimates are for adults 18 and over who had been diagnosed in 2007, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(7) Emphysema estimates are for adults 18 and over who have been diagnosed within their lifetime, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(8) CV disease estimates are based on National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) estimates of cardiovascular disease applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(9) Diabetes estimates are for adults 18 and over who have been diagnosed within their lifetime, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(10) Adding across rows does not produce valid estimates, e.g., summing pediatric and adult asthma and/or emphysema and chronic bronchitis. [Image and Notes from American Lung Association's  State of the Air 2009 report. Copyright American Lung Association.]

Notes:
(1) Cities are ranked using the highest weighted average for any county within that metropolitan statistical area. (2) Total Population represents the at-risk populations for all counties within the respective Combined Statistical Area or Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(3) Those 18 & under and 65 & over are vulnerable to PM2.5 and are, therefore, included. They should not be used as population denominators for disease estimates.
(4) Pediatric asthma estimates are for those under 18 years of age and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma in 2007 based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(5) Adult asthma estimates are for those 18 years and older and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma during 2007 based on state rates (BRFSS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(6) Chronic bronchitis estimates are for adults 18 and over who had been diagnosed in 2007, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(7) Emphysema estimates are for adults 18 and over who have been diagnosed within their lifetime, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(8) Adding across rows does not produce valid estimates, e.g., summing pediatric and adult asthma and/or emphysema and chronic bronchitis. [Image and Notes from American Lung Association's  State of the Air 2009 report. Copyright American Lung Association.]