Major Oil Pipeline Leaks in Ohio Nature Preserve

TOXIC POLLUTION
CRIMES AGAINST NATURE
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Ohio’s Oak Glen Nature Preserve smothered in crude oil after leak in Sunoco pipeline

Up to 40,000 liters of crude oil leaked into the Oak Glen Nature Preserve about 400 meters from the Great Miami River, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency estimates.

Stream of crude oil leaked from Sunoco pipeline runs across Oak Glen Nature Preserve in Ohio. Source: EPA.

“The leak, which occurred on a line operated by Mid-Valley Pipeline Co, a division of Sunoco, was discovered at 8:20 p.m. EDT on Monday (0020 GMT Tuesday). The company shut the line, which helped reduce the pressure of the leaking oil, an EPA spokeswoman said, but it was unclear if oil was still spewing from the pipe.” Reuters reported.

“The extent of impact to the resource is currently unknown,” according to a statement issued by the Great Parks of Hamilton County, which oversees the Oak Glen preserve. “The EPA is assessing the situation to determine appropriate action.”

Sunoco Logistics Asset Map. Source: Sunco website

The 1650-km pipeline runs from Longview, Texas (about 125 miles east of Dallas), to Samaria, Michigan about 12 miles north of Toledo, delivering crude oil to refineries, mostly in the U.S. Midwest, said the report.

Previous leaks

“A system-wide inspection of the 1,119-mile-long pipeline in 2009 resulted in the company paying a $48,700 fine in 2012 for failing to address corrosion problems in the pipeline at the Oregon refinery for three years.” CinCinnati.com said.

• October 2008: Burlington, KY. About  500,000 liters of crude oil leaked.
• January 2005: Carrollton, KY.  At least 1 million liters of oil leaked into the Kentucky River.

According to  Great Parks’ website the 364-acre Preserve comprises “rugged hills with a rich diversity of native trees, shrubs and wildflowers.”

How to Dump Your Toxic Waste Secretly!!

Global Disasters/ Significant Events

Since the toxic pollution is gonna reach the water tables, you might as well…

Chemical factories, paper mills…  in the city of Weifang,  Shandong Province [as well as tens of thousands of other factories across China,] reportedly discharge their toxic waste a thousand meters  deep into underground water table using high pressure techniques [what’s the use of science and technology, if you couldn’t pump your waste deep below!!]

Suspicions were raised when the authorities investigated more than 700 companies in the city, but found no traces of pollution, a technical impossibility, said Weifang Environmental Protection Bureau.

Australia: The Maralinga Mushroom Cloud Fairies

Some 320 Australian servicemen were exposed to deadly radioactive fallout after their government ordered them to take part in the UK atomic bomb testing  more than 50 years ago.

Image of one of the nuclear tests at Maralinga, supplied by Alan Batchelor, one of the Maralinga veterans, who lost most of his colleagues to cancer.

• Most of the victims were ordered by the government to fly through the mushroom cloud after a nuclear test at Maralinga, in South Australia.
• Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the UK government carried out more than   500 nuclear tests, including seven major detonations.
• ”A stated aim of the British Nuclear Test Programme was to discover the detailed effects of various types of explosions on equipments, stores and men with and without various types of protection,” the veterans said.
• ”The procedure was to turn their backs to the bomb 10 seconds before detonation, cover their eyes and then turn to observe the bomb when instructed about five seconds after detonation.”
• Whereas the British scientists wore protective suits, the Australians—dressed in shirtsleeves and shorts—stood within 50 yards of the test site, said Mr Batchelor, one of the veterans.
• “Britain’s Supreme Court last year  “blocked a bid by 1000 British Maralinga veterans to seek compensation over the tests. The decision quashed the hopes of 320 Australian servicemen, who had hoped to join the case. Almost 100 of those men have now died,” said a report.
• “The hopes of Australians exposed to nuclear testing were dealt a blow by a UK court ruling against compensation in January. The people exposed to the testing at Maralinga and other sites have been denied adequate compensation on onerous and fastidious technical grounds. Justice has been delayed too long,” said Greens spokesperson for nuclear policy Senator Scott Ludlam, according to a report.

Related Links

• Global Nuclear Disasters

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February 24, 2013 – DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,112 Days Left 

Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,112 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human  History
• The countdown began on May 15, 2011 …

GLOBAL WARNINGS

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID PLANETARY DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

Are You Allowed to Live Free of Toxic Pollution?

The Right to Live Free of Toxic Pollution Must Be Made A Fundamental Human Right!

Of nearly 90,000 chemical compounds in use, the majority of which have never been tested for health effects, only a fraction are registered and of those only a handful have been banned by EPA in the last thirty years. Meanwhile, about 2,000 new chemicals are introduced each year.

See Main Entry: The Right to Live Free of Toxic Pollution

Related Links:

• Top EU court backs citizen rights in air pollution
• Initial Condition No. 6. Understand your human rights!

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NO More Coal-fired Power Plants Here!

Submitted by a CASF Member:

Too Little, Too Late?

Longleaf Energy Resources Leaves Court with a Red-Coal Face

A Georgia state court invalidated a permit to build a 1,200-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Early county, citing the developers’ failure to limit emissions of carbon dioxide. A Fulton County Superior Court Judge, Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore [kudos to judge Moore], reversed a right to pollute permit [aka, air permit] issued earlier this year by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to Longleaf Energy Resources.

Southern Company’s Plant Bowen in Cartersville, Georgia is seen in this aerial photograph in Cartersville in this file photo taken September 4, 2007. One of the biggest coal-fired plants in the country, it generates about 3,300 megawatts of electricity from four coal-fired boilers. (Chris Baltimore/Reuters; caption: abc News. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

The judge citied a 2007 U.S. Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore decision in which carbon dioxide was ruled to be a pollutant under the existing Clean Air Act and that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.

Anthracite Coal. Credit USGS

How much coal would it take to light a 100W light bulb for one year?

A 100-Watt light bulb consumes about 876 kWh of electricity in one year (100 W × 24 h/day × 365 days = 876,000 Wh = 876 kWh).

Energy density

The energy density of coal, expressed in kilowatt-hours per kilogram, is about 6.67 kWh/kg. The typical thermodynamic efficiency of coal power plants is about 30%. That means only 30% of the coal burned up turns into electricity, with the rest normally wasted as heat. Coal power plants generate approximately 2.0 kWh per 1kg of burned coal.

876 kWh ÷ 2kWh/kg = 438 kg of coal

However, the above amount does not take into account a further 5–10% transmission and distribution losses caused by resistance and heating in the power lines AND the initial energy used to mine the coal and ship it to the power plant, which could be equivalent to 10-15% of the total coal consumed.

438 kg ÷ 80% = 547.5 kg of coal {Total amount of coal consumed to light a 100W bulb for one full year!}

How Much Carbon Dioxide?

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) forms during coal combustion when one atom of carbon (C) combines with two atoms of oxygen (O2). Carbon has an atomic weight of is 12, and oxygen 16, making the atomic weight of carbon dioxide 44. A kg of coal with a carbon content of 78 percent and a heating value of 32 MJ/kg emits about 2.86 kg of carbon dioxide. (Source: Carbon Dioxide Emission Factors for Coal)

547.5 kg of coal x 2.86 = 1,566 kg of CO2 {The total amount of CO2 produced.}

[Note: other nasty byproducts include sulfur, which reacts with oxygen to produce SO2, which then combines with moisture in the air to produce acid rain, nitrogen oxides, NOx, and mercury, all of which are extremely harmful to air, water, soil, trees, marine animals and humans.]

Meanwhile, back in Crawford ranch …

White House officials, congressional staff revealed, refused to open e-mail from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, that said climate-warming greenhouse emissions threaten public health and welfare!

The EPA has also told members of Congress that the Defense Department is defying orders over cleaning up toxic pollution at three military bases at Fort Meade in Maryland, McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.

Related Links:

• Georgia court cites carbon in coal-plant ruling