Deadly Tornedoes Hit NYC

Fast-Moving Freak Storm Spawns Deadly Tornadoes in NYC

One of a dozens of cars crushed by fallen tree in Brooklyn. Photo credit: AP. Image may be subject to copyright.

A freak storm traveling from Staten Island across New York harbor, carved a 14-mile (22km) path of destruction from Brooklyn to the Bayside area in Queens, spawning a microburst with speeds of about 125mph (200 km/h), and two deadly tornadoes.

The tornadoes, which struck on Thursday, uprooted at least 1,000 trees,  cut power to as many homes, crushing dozens of cars, and killing at least one person whose car was hit by a falling tree.

New York City was hit by tornadoes for the second time this year, but only 9^th time since 1950, National Weather Service said.

Related Links:

• 2010 Disasters
  

• Collapse Diary
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN) March 2008
• Earth’s Human Induced Antiphase Nears Completion

NY sanity questioned as state plan shale gas drilling

The Test of Sanity: Clean Water or Shale Gas?

Never mind their door steps, 9,000,000 New Yorkers could have their drinking water fouled

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  warns New Yorkers about the real threat to their drinking water if they drill for shale Gas.

‘Diarrhea water’. A glass of water taken from a residential well after the start of natural gas drilling in Dimock, Pennsylvania, March 7, 2009. Dimock is one of hundreds of sites in Pennsylvania where energy companies are now racing to tap the massive Marcellus Shale natural gas formation. But some residents say the drilling has clouded their drinking water, sickened people and animals and made their wells flammable. REUTERS/Tim Shaffer. Image may be subject to copyright.

EPA is temporarily halting the drive by energy companies to drill for gas in the state’s Marcellus Shale formation, said to contain enough natural gas to satisfy U.S. demand for at least 10 years, Reuters reported.

“We have concerns regarding potential impacts to human health and the environment that we believe warrant further scientific and regulatory analysis,” reported John Filippelli, chief of the agency’s Strategic Planning and Programs Branch on Wednesday.

“EPA has serious reservations about whether gas drilling in the New York City watershed is consistent with the vision of high-quality unfiltered water supply,” he wrote in .

New York City asked the state to ban shale gas drilling in the city’s watershed last week.

You can’t have your clean water and drill for gas near it, too!

Shale gas extraction known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” uses toxic chemicals that are known to pollute drinking water wells near the drill sites. AMAZINGLY, fracking is NOT covered by the U.S. Clean Water Act.

Despite the natural gas industry’s denials that drilling poses no risk to drinking water, EPA has previously admitted that  fracking chemicals are in fact contaminating drinking water. According to many reports “private wells near gas installations having water that is discolored, foul tasting, or even flammable because of methane that has escaped from drilling operations.”

“Theo Colborn, a researcher with the Endocrine Disruption Exchange who has drawn links between fracturing chemicals and a range of illnesses including cancer, said the EPA report indicates the agency was taking a new look at fracturing in light of growing public concern and media coverage.” Reuters said.

“The natural gas industry can’t keep saying it’s clean,” she said.

An environmental impact statement issued in September by the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation recommended  that energy companies be permitted to drill in New York’s Marcellus Shale formation.

“We’re pleased to see that the EPA recognizes what the state so far has not, that gas drilling is entirely inappropriate with in the drinking supply for 9 million people,” said James Simpson, a staff attorney for Riverkeeper, a New York environmental group.

New York City officials have warned the city could be forced to build a $10 billion filtration system if shale gas drilling is allowed.

Background:

EPA admits water contaminated near gas-drilling sites

FEWW wrote:

Now, for the first time ever, EPA scientists have revealed that drinking water wells  near natural gas [and oil] drilling operations contain chemical contaminants. They found dangerous chemicals in the water from 11 of 39 wells tested near the Wyoming town of Pavillion in March and May 2009.  Unfortunately, their report  falls shy of concluding what causes the contamination, though it admits the gas drilling is a potential source.

‘Diarrhea water’

In Dimock, Pennsylvania, drilling for natural gas has clouded the drinking water, sickened people and animals and made their wells flammable.

Isn’t it remarkable that two distant communities, one in Dimock, Pennsylvania, and the other in Pavillion, Wyoming, some 2,668 km (1,658 miles) apart, share a common fate by way of their contaminated drinking water, where the only common denominator between them is gas-drilling activities.

Related Links:

• Residents of Dimock in rural Pennsylvania sue Cabot Oil & Gas Corp

• Big Oil Itching to Drill to the Last Straw
• Exxon Pays Peanuts to the Monkeys
• Magnitude 4.0 quake hits Utah near gas fields
• Oil Drilling Likely Caused Texas Earthquake
• NY Quakes Probably Gas Drilling Related

Second Airbus Plunges into Water

Second Airbus  in less than 50 days plunges into the water

Flying an Airbus? Don’t fly on even days!

A US Airways Airbus with 155 passengers and crew  plunged into the Hudson River in New York City.

The US Airways Airbus A320 crashed less than a minute after taking off from New York LaGuardia Airport heading for Charlotte, North Carolina. All 150 passengers, three flight crew and two pilots were reportedly rescued, however, some passengers were later treated for undisclosed injuries.

The aircraft sank minutes after the rescue operation had ended.

Airbus A320 becomes a submarine. Passengers are rescued in an inflatable raft from a US Airways Airbus 320 aircraft that went down in the Hudson River in NYC on Thursday. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews). Image may be subject to copyright.

On November 28, 2008, an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 crashed into the Mediterranean off Perpignan, southeastern France, killing all seven pilots and airline employees. There were no passengers on board.

Flying, Airbus safe?

Fearsome Flying Facts:
Did you know that on a flight from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina [flight duration of 1 hour 47 mins.,] each passenger produces about 1,000 lbs. of   carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) greenhouse gasses?  That is the equivalent of driving a mid-size car for a month!

Airbus Crash Stats:
If you really have to fly because your life depends on it [sic,] and if you are flying an Airbus, then fly on odd days of the month because the Airbus is statistically twice more likely to crash on even days!

Gremlins’ Slant: “Will keep the trend constant for the next 10 years; will let the odds even out!”

A list of Airbus A-320 crashes in recent years

• November 28, 2008 – Air New Zealand Airbus A320 crashed into the Mediterranean off Perpignan, southeastern France, killing all seven pilots and airline employees. There were no passengers on board.

• October 7 – Qantas Flight 72 an Airbus A330-300 made an emergency landing in Exmouth, Australia after a rapid descent that left about 70 people injured, 14 of them seriously.

• June 10, 2008 – Sudan Airways Flight 109, an Airbus A310, crashed at Khartoum International Airport, catching fire as it broke apart, killing 30 people [another 6 are listed as missing.]

• May 30, 2008 – TACA Airlines Flight 390, an Airbus A320, overruns the runway at Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, killing five (including two on ground).

• January 10, 2008 – Air Canada Flight 190, an Airbus A319, experienced turbulence over the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Ten of  the 88 people on board were injured, and the plane was  forced to divert and make an emergency landing at Calgary International Airport.

• July 17, 2007 – TAM Airlines Flight 3054, an Airbus A320, crashed in São Paulo, Brazil, killing all 187 on board and 12 people on the ground.

• July 9, 2006 – S7 Airlines Flight 778, an Airbus A310, crashed into a barricade and caught fire on landing in Irkutsk, Russia, killing 128 of the 203 people on board.

• May 3, 2006 – An Armenian A320 Airbus plunged into the Black Sea moments after starting its descent into the Russian resort of Sochi, killing all 113 passengers and crew.

• September 21,2005 – JetBlue Airways Flight 292, an Airbus A320, made an emergency landing in Los Angeles because of landing gear steering failure. No injuries were reported.

• August 2, 2005 – Air France Flight 358, an Airbus A340, skids off a runway in Toronto, Ontario, while landing and catches fire; all 309 on board escape without fatalities or serious injuries, but the aircraft is completely destroyed by the fire.

• November 12, 2001 – American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300, crashes into a Queens neighborhood in New York City when the plane’s vertical tail fin snaps just after takeoff. All 251 passengers and nine crew members on board are killed as well as five people on the ground.

• On August 23, 2000. The Gulf Air Airbus A320, on a flight from Cairo, crashed into shallow waters in the gulf as it was attempting to land in Bahrain, killing a 143 passengers and 8 crew on board.

• January 30, 2000 – Kenya Airways Flight 431, an Airbus A310, carrying 169 passengers and 10 crew members, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off Côte d’Ivoire after takeoff from Abidjan. Only ten people survive.

• December 11, 1998 – Thai Airways Flight 261, an Airbus A310, crashes during poor weather near Surat Thani, Thailand. Of the 146 people on board, 102 are killed.

• March 22, 1998 – Philippine Airlines Flight 137, an Airbus A320, overshoots the end of the runway while landing at Bacolod City in the Philippines, plowing through several houses. None of the passengers were harmed, but three people on the ground were killed and several more injured.

• February 16, 1998 – China Airlines Flight 676, an Airbus A300, crashes into a residential area while attempting to land in Taipei, Taiwan. All 196 people on board are killed, in addition to six on the ground.

• September 26, 1997 – Garuda Indonesia Flight 152, an Airbus A300, crashes into a mountain near Buah Nabar, Indonesia killing all 234 on board.

• March 31 1995 – Tarom Flight 371, an Airbus A310, crashed near Baloteşti, Romania killing all 60 people on board.

• April 26, 1994 – China Airlines Flight 140, an Airbus A300, crashed during landing at Nagoya, Japan killing 264 of the 271 people on board.

• March 23, 1994 – Aeroflot Flight 593, an Airbus A310, crashed into a hillside in Siberia killing all 75 passengers and crew.

• September 14, 1993 – Lufthansa Flight 2904, an Airbus A320, crashed after overrunning the runway in Warsaw, Poland, killing 2 and injuring 68 of the 72 people on board.

• September 28, 1992 – Pakistan International Airlines Flight 268, an Airbus A300, crashes near Kathmandu, Nepal, killing all 12 crew and 155 passengers.

• February 14, 1990 – Indian Airlines Flight 605, an Airbus A320, crashed on its final approach to Bangalore airport killing 92 out of 146 people on board .

• June 26, 1988 – Air France Flight 296, an Airbus A320, made a low pass over Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport in landing configuration during an air show and crashed into trees at the end of the runway, killing 3 of the 130 passengers on board. [Source Wikipedia and others]

Related Links:

• Air New Zealand Flying Coffin Crashes in the Mediterranean
• US Airways Plane Goes Down in Hudson River