By David Bois | Thursday, June 3, 2010 4:33 PM ET
With the Gulf disaster, we can see clearly now how important it will be to choose new energy solutions. The encouraging news is just how quickly things are moving.
Renewable energy continues to be a hot topic for us here at Tonic. And while we hold our collective breath for a successful solution to the ongoing spill in the Gulf of Mexico, such a raw and distressing demonstration of the downside of our old energy ways of thinking offers an opportunity for us to be reminded that change is afoot. Not only can we choose another energy path, but we're already moving along it, and we're picking up the pace to boot.
We've told similar happy tales here about record-breaking rates in new installations of wind energy projects, and today we learn by way of Worldwatch Institute that new photovoltaic (PV) solar power generation is also moving forward at so-far unheard of rates of growth.
According to a news release provided by the Washington D.C.-based research institution, some 7,300 megawatts (MW) of new solar-based clean energy generation was installed around the world during 2009. This represents a 20 percent rate of growth over the previous year and, as Worldwatch points out, this brings the global PV solar electricity sector to a level of more than 21,000 MW, or the equivalent power usage of 5.5 million homes.
Worldwatch tells us that the lion's share of the 2009 solar activity took place in Europe where approximately 70 percent of the world's new PV power generation came online last year. By itself, Germany accounts for a full half of the world's newly-built PV capacity.
While the overall percentage of energy derived from solar remains modest, in consideration of the ever-increasing rate of growth we see that there's both room for lots more and a rapidly developing interest in getting there.
Furthermore, a scan of today's solar energy news clearly indicates that we are not keen to stand still on the matter here in the US. A new 10 MW plant has just been announced as arriving soon in Boise, Idaho, while California's PG&E has just cut the ribbon for a new 5 MW PV solar facility in the Central Valley town of Mendota.
Meanwhile, southern California utility San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has announced a pair of different demonstration projects that aim to expand the technology envelope through the exploration and refinement of approaches that reflect and concentrate incoming solar energy before then putting it to work to generate power.
Monday, 7 June 2010
Nuclear fusion dream hit by EU's cash dilemma
£1bn funding shortfall jeopardises hopes of producing cheap, non-polluting power
Robin McKie, science editor The Observer, Sunday 6 June 2010
A £15bn international bid to harness the fusion process that powers the Sun is facing a major funding crisis. Scientists have revealed that the cost of the International Thermonuclear Experiment Reactor (Iter) has trebled from its original £5bn price tag in the past three years. At the same time, financial crises have beset all the nations involved in the project.
As a result, construction of Iter – at Cadarache in France – has already been pushed back from 2015 to 2019, and further delays are likely. Some scientists say there is a risk that the entire project could be cancelled.
Because it is hoped that fusion plants could one day supply the world with cheap, non-polluting power, the crisis facing Iter represents a substantial threat to plans to tackle the planet's energy and climate problems.
Much of Iter's difficulties stem from Europe, with the EU – which is struggling to prevent financial crisis spreading through its member states – having been warned last month that it will have to find an extra £1bn to plug a shortfall in construction funds by the end of next year.
An EU memo has called on the 27 member states to "provide the additional resources necessary" for the project, just as these nations are desperately trying to cut their own domestic budgets. "I think the momentum of the project may be in very deep trouble," one Iter scientist told the journal Nature last week. "Time is pressing."
Harnessing the process of nuclear fusion has been a scientific dream since the second world war. Unlike nuclear fission, which powers traditional nuclear reactors and which involves the splitting of uranium atoms, fusion involves combining atoms of hydrogen to create helium, a process that releases vast amounts of energy.
However, fusion occurs only at very high temperatures, and massive amounts of electricity are needed first to heat hydrogen isotopes – deuterium and tritium – to 100,000,000C so that fusion can take place. In addition, a powerful electromagnetic field has be generated to contain the superhot plasma that is created inside a fusion plant.
To date, all prototype fusion plants have consumed more energy than they have generated. Iter is intended to be the first that will actually make excess power and is intended to help scientists design a future generation of plants, each capable of generating as much electricity as a large nuclear reactor, but without producing large amounts of radioactive waste. Iter's chief executive officer, Kaname Ikeda, says: "It's an exciting project, the fruit of more than 50 years of research."
The Iter project is backed by most major industrial powers, including the US, Europe, Russia, China, South Korea and Japan. When plans were drawn up for its construction, two prospective sites were chosen, one at Cadarache and one at Rokkasho in Japan. To ensure that the project was built in Europe, the EU pledged to pay the largest slice of its construction – 45% – with the rest being shared among the five others. That move has now come back to haunt Europe.
"We need to build all the major buildings that will house the project and that money is needed now," said a spokesman for Iter. "The problem is that, when we looked at the detailed design of the project, it was found that costs had been badly underestimated. Now we are having to ask European Union member states to find that extra money at a time when they are having to cope with their own domestic financial problems. Yes, this is crisis, but I am sure that the project will still go ahead in the long run."
Robin McKie, science editor The Observer, Sunday 6 June 2010
A £15bn international bid to harness the fusion process that powers the Sun is facing a major funding crisis. Scientists have revealed that the cost of the International Thermonuclear Experiment Reactor (Iter) has trebled from its original £5bn price tag in the past three years. At the same time, financial crises have beset all the nations involved in the project.
As a result, construction of Iter – at Cadarache in France – has already been pushed back from 2015 to 2019, and further delays are likely. Some scientists say there is a risk that the entire project could be cancelled.
Because it is hoped that fusion plants could one day supply the world with cheap, non-polluting power, the crisis facing Iter represents a substantial threat to plans to tackle the planet's energy and climate problems.
Much of Iter's difficulties stem from Europe, with the EU – which is struggling to prevent financial crisis spreading through its member states – having been warned last month that it will have to find an extra £1bn to plug a shortfall in construction funds by the end of next year.
An EU memo has called on the 27 member states to "provide the additional resources necessary" for the project, just as these nations are desperately trying to cut their own domestic budgets. "I think the momentum of the project may be in very deep trouble," one Iter scientist told the journal Nature last week. "Time is pressing."
Harnessing the process of nuclear fusion has been a scientific dream since the second world war. Unlike nuclear fission, which powers traditional nuclear reactors and which involves the splitting of uranium atoms, fusion involves combining atoms of hydrogen to create helium, a process that releases vast amounts of energy.
However, fusion occurs only at very high temperatures, and massive amounts of electricity are needed first to heat hydrogen isotopes – deuterium and tritium – to 100,000,000C so that fusion can take place. In addition, a powerful electromagnetic field has be generated to contain the superhot plasma that is created inside a fusion plant.
To date, all prototype fusion plants have consumed more energy than they have generated. Iter is intended to be the first that will actually make excess power and is intended to help scientists design a future generation of plants, each capable of generating as much electricity as a large nuclear reactor, but without producing large amounts of radioactive waste. Iter's chief executive officer, Kaname Ikeda, says: "It's an exciting project, the fruit of more than 50 years of research."
The Iter project is backed by most major industrial powers, including the US, Europe, Russia, China, South Korea and Japan. When plans were drawn up for its construction, two prospective sites were chosen, one at Cadarache and one at Rokkasho in Japan. To ensure that the project was built in Europe, the EU pledged to pay the largest slice of its construction – 45% – with the rest being shared among the five others. That move has now come back to haunt Europe.
"We need to build all the major buildings that will house the project and that money is needed now," said a spokesman for Iter. "The problem is that, when we looked at the detailed design of the project, it was found that costs had been badly underestimated. Now we are having to ask European Union member states to find that extra money at a time when they are having to cope with their own domestic financial problems. Yes, this is crisis, but I am sure that the project will still go ahead in the long run."
Canada Launches Algal Biofuels Project
5 June 2010
The government of Canada is awarding approximately C$5 million (US$4.7 million) to a project to produce fuels on a large scale from algae grown in Nova Scotia. Speaking in Halifax, the Honorable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), made the announcement at the launch of the algal biofuel project at the National Research Council Institute for Marine Biosciences (NRC-IMB).
The project received its funding through the National Bioproducts Program and NRC-IMB. Additional resources of approximately C$1.2M are being provided by both monetary and in-kind contributions through industrial and organizational partners. Preliminary work and engineering plans have been drawn up to build a 50,000 liter (13,209 gallon US) cultivation pilot plant at the Ketch Harbour facility. A main component to help the algae grow will be carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion.
Carbon2Algae (C2A)
C2A has been licensed to use an ultra-efficient gas infusion technology for the transfer of CO2 into liquids for algae feedstock and to remove oxygen that can become toxic to algae.
inVentures Technologies developed and patented the system and is one of the owners of C2A. The Aquasea Group has developed and provisionally patented proven high yield algae growth/harvest technologies which have been licensed to C2A.
C2A also has the rights to an organic removal technology from Mitton Valve Technology (which harnesses cavitation) to assist in lipid extraction and has a provisional patent on another mechanical process.
For dewatering the company has agreements in place with two technology providers and, through inVentures, has access to an organic sieve technology for removing water from the algae oil.
Combined, the technologies create a unique process system for capturing CO2, growing algae and producing bio-fuels and secondary high value products.
In the project, NRC is collaborating with a number of industrial partners, including Ocean Nutrition Canada in Halifax; Menova Energy Inc. of Markham, Ontario; POS Pilot Plant from Saskatoon; and the international consortium Carbon2Algae Solutions (C2A).
Carbon2Algae eventually plans to operate algae photobioreactors that will capture carbon dioxide from facilities such as the Alberta oil sands or coal-fired power plants, and use these emissions to allow local strains of algae to thrive.
Although in time it is possible a biofuel production facility could operate in conjunction with a fossil fuel power generating station, the immediate challenge for project researchers is to find the best biofuel producing species and to develop small pilot plants that can move studies beyond the laboratory. In parallel, scientists are also working to develop technology to effectively extract the oil.
Researchers at the Marine Research Station in Ketch Harbour, Nova Scotia, have been growing algae for more than 50 years. In assessing how best to grow algae for biofuel, NRC has joined forces with the United States Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.
Sixty-four species of algae have been collected and studied so far by the algal biofuels project. Twenty-four of these species have been brought into cultivation and a half dozen with exceptional oil yields are under intensive scrutiny.
Dr. Stephen O’Leary, an NRC researcher working on the project, forecasts that commercial production of algal biofuels is likely in another five to 10 years. The project will ultimately join forces with NRC aerospace expertise to work toward commercializing algal biofuel, among other projects.
We’re asking plants to do what they do best. With little more than water and carbon dioxide, algae can harvest sunlight and turn it into energy that could eventually be used to create jet fuel.
— Dr. O’Leary
A key component distinguishing the National Research Council algal biofuel project from other international efforts is the focus on identifying local strains of algae that are suitable for biofuel production from specific sites in North America. The local species are already acclimatized to the environment, making them easier to grow, and avoiding the risks of importing foreign species that might accidentally be released into the environment.
The National Bioproducts Program is a joint initiative of NRC, Natural Resources Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. It is intended to have an impact on Canada’s priority areas—environment, sustainable energy and rural revitalization—and plans to achieve this by developing and commercializing targeted technologies.
The government of Canada is awarding approximately C$5 million (US$4.7 million) to a project to produce fuels on a large scale from algae grown in Nova Scotia. Speaking in Halifax, the Honorable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), made the announcement at the launch of the algal biofuel project at the National Research Council Institute for Marine Biosciences (NRC-IMB).
The project received its funding through the National Bioproducts Program and NRC-IMB. Additional resources of approximately C$1.2M are being provided by both monetary and in-kind contributions through industrial and organizational partners. Preliminary work and engineering plans have been drawn up to build a 50,000 liter (13,209 gallon US) cultivation pilot plant at the Ketch Harbour facility. A main component to help the algae grow will be carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion.
Carbon2Algae (C2A)
C2A has been licensed to use an ultra-efficient gas infusion technology for the transfer of CO2 into liquids for algae feedstock and to remove oxygen that can become toxic to algae.
inVentures Technologies developed and patented the system and is one of the owners of C2A. The Aquasea Group has developed and provisionally patented proven high yield algae growth/harvest technologies which have been licensed to C2A.
C2A also has the rights to an organic removal technology from Mitton Valve Technology (which harnesses cavitation) to assist in lipid extraction and has a provisional patent on another mechanical process.
For dewatering the company has agreements in place with two technology providers and, through inVentures, has access to an organic sieve technology for removing water from the algae oil.
Combined, the technologies create a unique process system for capturing CO2, growing algae and producing bio-fuels and secondary high value products.
In the project, NRC is collaborating with a number of industrial partners, including Ocean Nutrition Canada in Halifax; Menova Energy Inc. of Markham, Ontario; POS Pilot Plant from Saskatoon; and the international consortium Carbon2Algae Solutions (C2A).
Carbon2Algae eventually plans to operate algae photobioreactors that will capture carbon dioxide from facilities such as the Alberta oil sands or coal-fired power plants, and use these emissions to allow local strains of algae to thrive.
Although in time it is possible a biofuel production facility could operate in conjunction with a fossil fuel power generating station, the immediate challenge for project researchers is to find the best biofuel producing species and to develop small pilot plants that can move studies beyond the laboratory. In parallel, scientists are also working to develop technology to effectively extract the oil.
Researchers at the Marine Research Station in Ketch Harbour, Nova Scotia, have been growing algae for more than 50 years. In assessing how best to grow algae for biofuel, NRC has joined forces with the United States Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.
Sixty-four species of algae have been collected and studied so far by the algal biofuels project. Twenty-four of these species have been brought into cultivation and a half dozen with exceptional oil yields are under intensive scrutiny.
Dr. Stephen O’Leary, an NRC researcher working on the project, forecasts that commercial production of algal biofuels is likely in another five to 10 years. The project will ultimately join forces with NRC aerospace expertise to work toward commercializing algal biofuel, among other projects.
We’re asking plants to do what they do best. With little more than water and carbon dioxide, algae can harvest sunlight and turn it into energy that could eventually be used to create jet fuel.
— Dr. O’Leary
A key component distinguishing the National Research Council algal biofuel project from other international efforts is the focus on identifying local strains of algae that are suitable for biofuel production from specific sites in North America. The local species are already acclimatized to the environment, making them easier to grow, and avoiding the risks of importing foreign species that might accidentally be released into the environment.
The National Bioproducts Program is a joint initiative of NRC, Natural Resources Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. It is intended to have an impact on Canada’s priority areas—environment, sustainable energy and rural revitalization—and plans to achieve this by developing and commercializing targeted technologies.
The Smog Squad of Hong Kong Has Truckers on the Run
Eyes Peeled for Naughty Tailpipes, Certified 'Spotters' Rat Out Polluters.By JONATHAN CHENG
HONG KONG—Some workers in the central business district here like to pop out of the office for a smoke. Lincoln Chan slips out to spot smoke—the kind that pours out of old trucks.
Mr. Chan, a 41-year-old construction-industry executive, is one of Hong Kong's 5,000-plus "smoky vehicle spotters." These government-accredited citizen volunteers are charged with ridding the roads of the trucks, buses and delivery vans whose smoke-belching tailpipes make Hong Kong one of the world's smoggiest cities.
Jonathan Cheng/The Wall Street Journa
After Mr. Chan passed his spotter test, he found himself leaving the office for "spotting breaks." He got so good, he says, he could recognize polluting vehicles from a mile away, nabbing up to 10 of them in a half-hour session. Today, he regularly devotes lunch breaks to staking out vehicles from a secret vantage point in the central business district.
"I don't want to give away my location, or else drivers will know how to avoid me," says Mr. Chan, who got into the pursuit because he is bothered by asthma.
Tailpipe spotters like Mr. Chan turn in thousands of smoking vehicles a year. Suspects are hauled into designated inspection centers for a spin on a modified treadmill. If tailpipe smoke exceeds government limits, owners lose their vehicle license and must upgrade their vehicles—or junk them. Fail to show up, and your vehicle license is yanked.
Hong Kong has reason to be hot and bothered: The World Health Organization finds its air is three times as polluted as New York's and more than twice as bad as London's. While factories in nearby southern China get much of the blame, environmental scientists say homegrown pollution is a factor, too. A 2007 study by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology found that local sources such as vehicles are the "primary influence" on Hong Kong's air quality 53% of the time.
Bad air has driven a number of eminent people out of the city, including bankers, the conductor of Hong Kong's philharmonic orchestra, and, last month, Anthony Hedley, a 69-year-old public-health academic. Mr. Hedley, who had lived here for 22 years, called dirty air his "biggest health threat."
The "Smoky Vehicle Control Program," rolled out by the city's Environmental Protection Department in 1988, is one tool in the government's arsenal. It followed efforts in the 1970s by San Francisco, where a small fleet of cars known as the Air Pollution Patrol roved the streets in search of dirty vehicles.
Hong Kong's smog spotters, who aren't paid, labor to keep up with the territory's 588,000 vehicles. In the first four months of 2010, they hauled in 1,945 for testing. About a third flunked.
Truckers hate spotters. Leung Kun of the Kowloon Truck Merchants Association sighs when asked about the smog squad. Mr. Leung says he supports environmental protection, but questioned the wisdom of putting truckers' livelihoods in the hands of others.
"There's nothing we can really do about it," says the 74-year-old Mr. Leung, who drove a truck for nearly 40 years.
Spotting a smoky vehicle is trickier than it sounds. Esoteric rules govern when and under what circumstances tailpipe emissions are deemed hazardous. Spotters must take hours of training to master such concepts as smoke density, measured in "Hartridge units."
Then they have to pass a test quizzing them on tough calls, such as the differences between a puff of black tailpipe smoke that is, say, 40 Hartridge smoke units (acceptable) and 60 Hartridge smoke units (unacceptable). The offending smoke must be emitted for at least five continuous seconds.
At a training session last month, students positioned themselves in a quiet Hong Kong parking lot around an old truck with a smoke-detecting gauge affixed to its tailpipe. As a government instructor revved the vehicle, spotters squinted and quibbled over the readings. "Looked like a 64," said one.
In addition to gauging smoke density, spotters have to be able to quickly jot down the license plate number, axle count, vehicle class, body color and spotting location to avoid potential disputes with drivers.
Spotters who make inaccurate reports lose their spotting privileges. Those who don't report frequently must undergo remedial training.
Andrew Mak, a 48-year-old chemical engineer, seems to be holding up well under all the pressure.
Mr. Mak files dozens of reports each month, scribbling license plate numbers of polluting vehicles onto scraps of paper from the front seat of the double-decker bus he takes to work. When waiting at bus stops, he often lets his bus go by several times, so he can check out more tailpipes. He sometimes shows up early at his appointments so he can cram in a few minutes of spotting outside.
"It's like a video game, you take one down and then you take another one down and you feel good about it, because there will be fewer vehicles putting out smoke," he says.
Mr. Mak grew up in Hong Kong, studied in the U.K. and later worked for DuPont Co. in the U.S. before returning to a smoggy Hong Kong in 1995. After years of clear West Virginia skies, "the contrast was significant," Mr. Mak recalls.
His zeal for spotting caused some tensions in his marriage, he says. "Whenever we took the bus, I would never talk to my wife, I was too tense, just watching," he says. Mr. Mak's wife complained that his reports weren't making a difference, but now their 12-year-old daughter is catching the bug, too.
"When she sits with me, she says, 'Daddy, look at that bus. It looks suspicious,'" Mr. Mak says.
Write to Jonathan Cheng at jonathan.cheng@wsj.com
HONG KONG—Some workers in the central business district here like to pop out of the office for a smoke. Lincoln Chan slips out to spot smoke—the kind that pours out of old trucks.
Mr. Chan, a 41-year-old construction-industry executive, is one of Hong Kong's 5,000-plus "smoky vehicle spotters." These government-accredited citizen volunteers are charged with ridding the roads of the trucks, buses and delivery vans whose smoke-belching tailpipes make Hong Kong one of the world's smoggiest cities.
Jonathan Cheng/The Wall Street Journa
After Mr. Chan passed his spotter test, he found himself leaving the office for "spotting breaks." He got so good, he says, he could recognize polluting vehicles from a mile away, nabbing up to 10 of them in a half-hour session. Today, he regularly devotes lunch breaks to staking out vehicles from a secret vantage point in the central business district.
"I don't want to give away my location, or else drivers will know how to avoid me," says Mr. Chan, who got into the pursuit because he is bothered by asthma.
Tailpipe spotters like Mr. Chan turn in thousands of smoking vehicles a year. Suspects are hauled into designated inspection centers for a spin on a modified treadmill. If tailpipe smoke exceeds government limits, owners lose their vehicle license and must upgrade their vehicles—or junk them. Fail to show up, and your vehicle license is yanked.
Hong Kong has reason to be hot and bothered: The World Health Organization finds its air is three times as polluted as New York's and more than twice as bad as London's. While factories in nearby southern China get much of the blame, environmental scientists say homegrown pollution is a factor, too. A 2007 study by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology found that local sources such as vehicles are the "primary influence" on Hong Kong's air quality 53% of the time.
Bad air has driven a number of eminent people out of the city, including bankers, the conductor of Hong Kong's philharmonic orchestra, and, last month, Anthony Hedley, a 69-year-old public-health academic. Mr. Hedley, who had lived here for 22 years, called dirty air his "biggest health threat."
The "Smoky Vehicle Control Program," rolled out by the city's Environmental Protection Department in 1988, is one tool in the government's arsenal. It followed efforts in the 1970s by San Francisco, where a small fleet of cars known as the Air Pollution Patrol roved the streets in search of dirty vehicles.
Hong Kong's smog spotters, who aren't paid, labor to keep up with the territory's 588,000 vehicles. In the first four months of 2010, they hauled in 1,945 for testing. About a third flunked.
Truckers hate spotters. Leung Kun of the Kowloon Truck Merchants Association sighs when asked about the smog squad. Mr. Leung says he supports environmental protection, but questioned the wisdom of putting truckers' livelihoods in the hands of others.
"There's nothing we can really do about it," says the 74-year-old Mr. Leung, who drove a truck for nearly 40 years.
Spotting a smoky vehicle is trickier than it sounds. Esoteric rules govern when and under what circumstances tailpipe emissions are deemed hazardous. Spotters must take hours of training to master such concepts as smoke density, measured in "Hartridge units."
Then they have to pass a test quizzing them on tough calls, such as the differences between a puff of black tailpipe smoke that is, say, 40 Hartridge smoke units (acceptable) and 60 Hartridge smoke units (unacceptable). The offending smoke must be emitted for at least five continuous seconds.
At a training session last month, students positioned themselves in a quiet Hong Kong parking lot around an old truck with a smoke-detecting gauge affixed to its tailpipe. As a government instructor revved the vehicle, spotters squinted and quibbled over the readings. "Looked like a 64," said one.
In addition to gauging smoke density, spotters have to be able to quickly jot down the license plate number, axle count, vehicle class, body color and spotting location to avoid potential disputes with drivers.
Spotters who make inaccurate reports lose their spotting privileges. Those who don't report frequently must undergo remedial training.
Andrew Mak, a 48-year-old chemical engineer, seems to be holding up well under all the pressure.
Mr. Mak files dozens of reports each month, scribbling license plate numbers of polluting vehicles onto scraps of paper from the front seat of the double-decker bus he takes to work. When waiting at bus stops, he often lets his bus go by several times, so he can check out more tailpipes. He sometimes shows up early at his appointments so he can cram in a few minutes of spotting outside.
"It's like a video game, you take one down and then you take another one down and you feel good about it, because there will be fewer vehicles putting out smoke," he says.
Mr. Mak grew up in Hong Kong, studied in the U.K. and later worked for DuPont Co. in the U.S. before returning to a smoggy Hong Kong in 1995. After years of clear West Virginia skies, "the contrast was significant," Mr. Mak recalls.
His zeal for spotting caused some tensions in his marriage, he says. "Whenever we took the bus, I would never talk to my wife, I was too tense, just watching," he says. Mr. Mak's wife complained that his reports weren't making a difference, but now their 12-year-old daughter is catching the bug, too.
"When she sits with me, she says, 'Daddy, look at that bus. It looks suspicious,'" Mr. Mak says.
Write to Jonathan Cheng at jonathan.cheng@wsj.com
Clean-up workers clutch at straws (literally) as BP says oil cap is working
Jacqui Goddard, Miami
The official leading the US Government’s response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico warned against celebration yesterday as BP claimed to have got a partial grip on the ruptured well after nearly seven weeks of trying.
Admiral Thad Allen, the US Coast Guard commandant, countered remarks by Bob Fryar, vice-president of the oil company, who said that he was “pleased” by the success of a containment system that is filtering off 10,000 barrels (420,000 gallons) of oil a day.
“I don’t think anybody should be pleased as long as there’s oil in the water,” said Admiral Allen, likening the slick to an enemy that was “holding the Gulf hostage” as it claimed more land, livelihoods and wildlife.
“There will be oil out there for months to come. This is a siege. It’s going to go on for a long time,” he said during a round of television interviews. “This is a war, an insidious war, and it’s attacking four states at one time.”
Where five different techniques to halt or contain the flow of oil since April 22 had tried and failed, or been aborted, the “cut-and-cap” technique carried out by sub-sea robots last week succeeded in capturing what BP said was nearly half the daily flow from the Macondo well between midnight on Friday and midnight on Saturday.
Tony Hayward, the company’s chief executive, said that further improvements would be made to the new containment system this week, allowing it to capture “probably the vast majority” of the leak.
Yet BP’s triumph on the seabed was tempered by the worsening situation on the surface. In Louisiana, birds sat trapped and exhausted in a thick tide of oil, prompting a demonstration in New Orleans by protesters dressed as dead and ailing birds. In Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, beaches were sticky with tarballs. Civic officials in Alabama complained of a “nightmare” blighting their communities’ economies and ecologies, and scientists predicted that the Gulf’s recovery could take decades.
“Can we put everything back exactly as it was? No,” said Doug Inkley, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation. He told The Times: “BP has made a commitment to helping the Gulf recover, but only time will tell. BP has proclaimed in their press releases and oral statements that they are committed to full transparency. Unfortunately, BP’s transparency has an opaque lens in front of it.”
Dr Inkley last week toured Louisiana’s marshes, where the oil is now taking its toll on colonies of nesting pelicans. “I personally, and everybody I have spoken to, finds it very, very difficult to look at the images of those oiled birds. Heartbreaking. And the oiling of birds that we’ve seen so horrendously illustrated is only one small measure of the total impact of this spill.”
Questions remain over precisely how much has leaked, how much is still leaking, and how much can realistically be captured. A scientific task force appointed by the federal Government estimated last month that between 12,000 and 25,000 barrels a day (504,000 to 1.05 million gallons) a day have been gushing from the well. In cutting the damaged pipe from the oil well in order to fit a cap over the top and divert some of the flow to a surface tanker, engineers may have increased that flow rate by up to 20 per cent, the White House said last week.
That would yield an upper flow rate of 30,000 barrels (1.26 million gallons) a day, meaning that the 10,000 barrels that BP is now capturing may represent just one third of the total.
While the disaster has put thousands of fishermen out of work — with 32 per cent, or 78,000 square miles, of the Gulf’s fisheries now closed — BP has hired 4,000 unemployed people across the four affected states to help with the clean-up as wind and currents pushed the slick northeast, landing waves of tarballs and mats of weathered oil on beaches in Pensacola, Florida.
In his weekly radio address, President Obama defended his Administration against accusations that its response to the disaster had not been aggressive enough, and repeated his pledge that BP would be held accountable for every last cent of damage.
“These folks work hard,” he said of the fishermen, shrimpers and oystermen who are now out of work. “They meet their responsibilities but now because of a man-made catastrophe — one that’s not their fault and that’s beyond their control — their lives have been thrown into turmoil. It’s brutally unfair. It’s wrong.”
BP has launched a $10 million public relations campaign with television adverts that feature Mr Hayward apologising for the spill.
“To those affected, and your families, I am deeply sorry,” he says, pledging to make amends. “We will get this done. We will make this right.”
The official leading the US Government’s response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico warned against celebration yesterday as BP claimed to have got a partial grip on the ruptured well after nearly seven weeks of trying.
Admiral Thad Allen, the US Coast Guard commandant, countered remarks by Bob Fryar, vice-president of the oil company, who said that he was “pleased” by the success of a containment system that is filtering off 10,000 barrels (420,000 gallons) of oil a day.
“I don’t think anybody should be pleased as long as there’s oil in the water,” said Admiral Allen, likening the slick to an enemy that was “holding the Gulf hostage” as it claimed more land, livelihoods and wildlife.
“There will be oil out there for months to come. This is a siege. It’s going to go on for a long time,” he said during a round of television interviews. “This is a war, an insidious war, and it’s attacking four states at one time.”
Where five different techniques to halt or contain the flow of oil since April 22 had tried and failed, or been aborted, the “cut-and-cap” technique carried out by sub-sea robots last week succeeded in capturing what BP said was nearly half the daily flow from the Macondo well between midnight on Friday and midnight on Saturday.
Tony Hayward, the company’s chief executive, said that further improvements would be made to the new containment system this week, allowing it to capture “probably the vast majority” of the leak.
Yet BP’s triumph on the seabed was tempered by the worsening situation on the surface. In Louisiana, birds sat trapped and exhausted in a thick tide of oil, prompting a demonstration in New Orleans by protesters dressed as dead and ailing birds. In Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, beaches were sticky with tarballs. Civic officials in Alabama complained of a “nightmare” blighting their communities’ economies and ecologies, and scientists predicted that the Gulf’s recovery could take decades.
“Can we put everything back exactly as it was? No,” said Doug Inkley, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation. He told The Times: “BP has made a commitment to helping the Gulf recover, but only time will tell. BP has proclaimed in their press releases and oral statements that they are committed to full transparency. Unfortunately, BP’s transparency has an opaque lens in front of it.”
Dr Inkley last week toured Louisiana’s marshes, where the oil is now taking its toll on colonies of nesting pelicans. “I personally, and everybody I have spoken to, finds it very, very difficult to look at the images of those oiled birds. Heartbreaking. And the oiling of birds that we’ve seen so horrendously illustrated is only one small measure of the total impact of this spill.”
Questions remain over precisely how much has leaked, how much is still leaking, and how much can realistically be captured. A scientific task force appointed by the federal Government estimated last month that between 12,000 and 25,000 barrels a day (504,000 to 1.05 million gallons) a day have been gushing from the well. In cutting the damaged pipe from the oil well in order to fit a cap over the top and divert some of the flow to a surface tanker, engineers may have increased that flow rate by up to 20 per cent, the White House said last week.
That would yield an upper flow rate of 30,000 barrels (1.26 million gallons) a day, meaning that the 10,000 barrels that BP is now capturing may represent just one third of the total.
While the disaster has put thousands of fishermen out of work — with 32 per cent, or 78,000 square miles, of the Gulf’s fisheries now closed — BP has hired 4,000 unemployed people across the four affected states to help with the clean-up as wind and currents pushed the slick northeast, landing waves of tarballs and mats of weathered oil on beaches in Pensacola, Florida.
In his weekly radio address, President Obama defended his Administration against accusations that its response to the disaster had not been aggressive enough, and repeated his pledge that BP would be held accountable for every last cent of damage.
“These folks work hard,” he said of the fishermen, shrimpers and oystermen who are now out of work. “They meet their responsibilities but now because of a man-made catastrophe — one that’s not their fault and that’s beyond their control — their lives have been thrown into turmoil. It’s brutally unfair. It’s wrong.”
BP has launched a $10 million public relations campaign with television adverts that feature Mr Hayward apologising for the spill.
“To those affected, and your families, I am deeply sorry,” he says, pledging to make amends. “We will get this done. We will make this right.”
China's 'cancer villages' reveal dark side of economic boom
Polluting factories in rural communities are forming a deadly toxic cocktail for villagers, leading to surging rates of cancer
Jonathan Watts, Xinglong The Guardian, Monday 7 June 2010
Zheng Gumei thought she was down with a cold until the doctor told her to wait outside the room so he could talk to her son alone.
"I knew then that I must have a serious illness," the 47-year-old farmer recalled, wiping away the tears and then staring into the distance. "I'm having treatment now. See, my hair has fallen out," she said, taking off her hat to show the side-effects of chemotherapy.
Like many other residents of Xinglong, a small rural community next to an industrial park in China's Yunnan province, she had little doubt about the source of her cancer. "The pollution in this village is bad, people get sick."
Such stories have become much more common in China in recent years as breakneck economic growth increasingly takes its toll on the nation's health.
Since last year, there has been an explosion of lead poisoning cases close to smelting plants. Studies have shown that communities that recycle electronic waste are exposed to cadmium, mercury and brominated flame retardants. Elsewhere, there have been protests against chemical factories that are blamed for carcinogens that enter water supplies and the food chain.
Nationwide, cancer rates have surged since the 1990s to become the nation's biggest killer. In 2007, the disease was responsible for one in five deaths, up 80% since the start of economic reforms 30 years earlier.
While the government insists it is cleaning up pollution far faster than other nations at a similar dirty stage of development, many toxic industries have simply been relocated to impoverished, poorly regulated rural areas.
Chinese farmers are almost four times more likely to die of liver cancer and twice as likely to die of stomach cancer than the global average, according to study commissioned by the World Bank. The domestic media is increasingly filled with reports of "cancer villages" - clusters of the disease near dirty factories.
There have been few epidemiological studies to validate such claims, but the scale of such reports highlights the growing fear of pollution. Last year, investigative journalist Deng Fei, posted a widely circulated Google map showing more than 100 "cancer villages". More recent reports suggest the number could be over 400.
The vast majority are on the wealthy eastern seaboard, the first area in China to accept "outsourced" dirty industries from overseas. But as these regions have moved up the value chain and tightened regulations, there are signs that the pollution and cancer belt may be moving inland to areas that are either less aware of the dangers or too poor to turn away business.
Deep in the scorched dry countryside of northeast Yunnan, the residents of Xinglong fear they may soon join the list of sick villages. An acrid stench assails the senses near the Luliang City Industrial Park, the thicket of polluting factories that locals blame for an outbreak of deadly tumours.
Cui Xiaoliang says he lost his aunt and father to cancer after the village streams changed colour. Pointing to the lurid red discharge from the Yinhe paper mill and a yellow trickle below the Peace Technology chemical factory, he said health had declined along with the environment.
"Before the factories were built, there was no cancer. We were free of strange diseases," he said, grimacing at the nauseating fumes. "Now, we hear every year that this person or that person has cancer, especially lung and liver cancer. My aunt never drank alcohol or smoked. Her cancer was completely caused by pollution."
At the village clinic, doctor Zhang Jianyou said he has noticed an increase in cancer cases among the 3,000 residents. "The pollution has definitely has an impact," he said. "I have been here 43 years. In the past, cancer was not obvious, but in recent years it has become a very evident problem. Last year alone, we had five cancer cases."
When locals tried to protest, Zhang said they were blocked by the authorities because the chemical factories contribute to the local economy.
Everyone the Guardian spoke to at the village knew of someone who had died of cancer and most blamed the toxins that flowed from the chemical factories into the nearby Nanpan river and ground water supply.
Farmers said they have no other source of water for their crops and animals. Goat herders said a tenth of their animals had died.
The impact may well have spread into the human food chain. Wang Qingdi, a peach farmer who lives next to the chemical factory, said her crops were ruined by contaminated water and air, but she still sold them at the market because she had no other source of income.
"When the wind blows in this direction, a thick layer of soot settles on my peach trees," he said. "Lots of fruit turn black and fall to the ground, I dare not eat the rice I plant and harvest because the pollution is so bad. I sell it on the street."
The county environment department said it was monitoring the industrial park and paying particular attention to three companies: Longhai Chemical, Yunnan Luliang Peace Technology and the Yinhe paper mill. But inspectors lack the authority and the resources to keep close tabs and impose harsh punitive measures on any factories that break the rules.
"It is like police trying to catch a thief. It's not easy," said Song Bin of the Luliang Environmental Protection Department. "Some factories secretly discharge pollution. Some shut down treatment devices when electricity is in short supply. Others turn off their systems at night when they know we are not checking."
He was cautious, however, about the health implications. "It is hard to say whether there is relationship between cancer and the factories because the workers do not have unusually high rates of the disease," he said. "Many officials have suggested we invite experts to do a systematic study, but we haven't done this yet because of budget and other reasons."
The Guardian requested data on factory emissions and water quality. Under the government's information transparency law, such information is supposed to be publicly available, but officials insisted their monitoring results were for internal reference only.
Yinhe paper mill refused to comment. The chemical factory - Yunnan Luliang Peace Technology - said the pollution problems dated back to previous owners and were now being rectified.
"The cancer situation in the village has nothing to do with us," said Candy Xu, foreign sales manager. "The pollution accumulated over 10 years. It can't be solved immediately but we deal with it year by year. Within three-to-five years I believe we can clear it up. The previous company was irresponsible to the local residents and it is not fair to blame us for their mistakes."
The new owners from the rich coastal province of Zhejiang have invested in new equipment and are trying to shift production towards cleaner, high-end nutritional supplements and feed additives, but their website still lists sodium dichromate – a highly carcinogenic chemical – among its products.
In a recent study of "cancer villages", Lee Liu of the University of Central Missouri said the problem was exacerbated by the government's tendency to focus on urban development at the cost of rural areas. This – and a lack of independent oversight by NGOs and journalists – have mixed into a toxic cocktail.
"China appears to have produced more cancer clusters in a few decades than the rest of the world ever had," he notes.
Whether the village of Xinglong will join the list cannot be confirmed without a full study. But rising cancer rates and appalling pollution levels leave locals in little doubt.
For Zheng, her breast cancer does not just threaten her life, but the financial well-being of her daughter. She has had to borrow 20,000 yuan (£2,000) for two courses of chemotherapy and estimates it will cost another 80,000 yuan to cure the disease. She knows that is far from certain.
"My brother-in law had cancer like me. He is dead already," she said as her infant daughter pulled at her shirt. "I want to tell the factories they make too much pollution. Because of them Xinglong village is sick."
Jonathan Watts, Xinglong The Guardian, Monday 7 June 2010
Zheng Gumei thought she was down with a cold until the doctor told her to wait outside the room so he could talk to her son alone.
"I knew then that I must have a serious illness," the 47-year-old farmer recalled, wiping away the tears and then staring into the distance. "I'm having treatment now. See, my hair has fallen out," she said, taking off her hat to show the side-effects of chemotherapy.
Like many other residents of Xinglong, a small rural community next to an industrial park in China's Yunnan province, she had little doubt about the source of her cancer. "The pollution in this village is bad, people get sick."
Such stories have become much more common in China in recent years as breakneck economic growth increasingly takes its toll on the nation's health.
Since last year, there has been an explosion of lead poisoning cases close to smelting plants. Studies have shown that communities that recycle electronic waste are exposed to cadmium, mercury and brominated flame retardants. Elsewhere, there have been protests against chemical factories that are blamed for carcinogens that enter water supplies and the food chain.
Nationwide, cancer rates have surged since the 1990s to become the nation's biggest killer. In 2007, the disease was responsible for one in five deaths, up 80% since the start of economic reforms 30 years earlier.
While the government insists it is cleaning up pollution far faster than other nations at a similar dirty stage of development, many toxic industries have simply been relocated to impoverished, poorly regulated rural areas.
Chinese farmers are almost four times more likely to die of liver cancer and twice as likely to die of stomach cancer than the global average, according to study commissioned by the World Bank. The domestic media is increasingly filled with reports of "cancer villages" - clusters of the disease near dirty factories.
There have been few epidemiological studies to validate such claims, but the scale of such reports highlights the growing fear of pollution. Last year, investigative journalist Deng Fei, posted a widely circulated Google map showing more than 100 "cancer villages". More recent reports suggest the number could be over 400.
The vast majority are on the wealthy eastern seaboard, the first area in China to accept "outsourced" dirty industries from overseas. But as these regions have moved up the value chain and tightened regulations, there are signs that the pollution and cancer belt may be moving inland to areas that are either less aware of the dangers or too poor to turn away business.
Deep in the scorched dry countryside of northeast Yunnan, the residents of Xinglong fear they may soon join the list of sick villages. An acrid stench assails the senses near the Luliang City Industrial Park, the thicket of polluting factories that locals blame for an outbreak of deadly tumours.
Cui Xiaoliang says he lost his aunt and father to cancer after the village streams changed colour. Pointing to the lurid red discharge from the Yinhe paper mill and a yellow trickle below the Peace Technology chemical factory, he said health had declined along with the environment.
"Before the factories were built, there was no cancer. We were free of strange diseases," he said, grimacing at the nauseating fumes. "Now, we hear every year that this person or that person has cancer, especially lung and liver cancer. My aunt never drank alcohol or smoked. Her cancer was completely caused by pollution."
At the village clinic, doctor Zhang Jianyou said he has noticed an increase in cancer cases among the 3,000 residents. "The pollution has definitely has an impact," he said. "I have been here 43 years. In the past, cancer was not obvious, but in recent years it has become a very evident problem. Last year alone, we had five cancer cases."
When locals tried to protest, Zhang said they were blocked by the authorities because the chemical factories contribute to the local economy.
Everyone the Guardian spoke to at the village knew of someone who had died of cancer and most blamed the toxins that flowed from the chemical factories into the nearby Nanpan river and ground water supply.
Farmers said they have no other source of water for their crops and animals. Goat herders said a tenth of their animals had died.
The impact may well have spread into the human food chain. Wang Qingdi, a peach farmer who lives next to the chemical factory, said her crops were ruined by contaminated water and air, but she still sold them at the market because she had no other source of income.
"When the wind blows in this direction, a thick layer of soot settles on my peach trees," he said. "Lots of fruit turn black and fall to the ground, I dare not eat the rice I plant and harvest because the pollution is so bad. I sell it on the street."
The county environment department said it was monitoring the industrial park and paying particular attention to three companies: Longhai Chemical, Yunnan Luliang Peace Technology and the Yinhe paper mill. But inspectors lack the authority and the resources to keep close tabs and impose harsh punitive measures on any factories that break the rules.
"It is like police trying to catch a thief. It's not easy," said Song Bin of the Luliang Environmental Protection Department. "Some factories secretly discharge pollution. Some shut down treatment devices when electricity is in short supply. Others turn off their systems at night when they know we are not checking."
He was cautious, however, about the health implications. "It is hard to say whether there is relationship between cancer and the factories because the workers do not have unusually high rates of the disease," he said. "Many officials have suggested we invite experts to do a systematic study, but we haven't done this yet because of budget and other reasons."
The Guardian requested data on factory emissions and water quality. Under the government's information transparency law, such information is supposed to be publicly available, but officials insisted their monitoring results were for internal reference only.
Yinhe paper mill refused to comment. The chemical factory - Yunnan Luliang Peace Technology - said the pollution problems dated back to previous owners and were now being rectified.
"The cancer situation in the village has nothing to do with us," said Candy Xu, foreign sales manager. "The pollution accumulated over 10 years. It can't be solved immediately but we deal with it year by year. Within three-to-five years I believe we can clear it up. The previous company was irresponsible to the local residents and it is not fair to blame us for their mistakes."
The new owners from the rich coastal province of Zhejiang have invested in new equipment and are trying to shift production towards cleaner, high-end nutritional supplements and feed additives, but their website still lists sodium dichromate – a highly carcinogenic chemical – among its products.
In a recent study of "cancer villages", Lee Liu of the University of Central Missouri said the problem was exacerbated by the government's tendency to focus on urban development at the cost of rural areas. This – and a lack of independent oversight by NGOs and journalists – have mixed into a toxic cocktail.
"China appears to have produced more cancer clusters in a few decades than the rest of the world ever had," he notes.
Whether the village of Xinglong will join the list cannot be confirmed without a full study. But rising cancer rates and appalling pollution levels leave locals in little doubt.
For Zheng, her breast cancer does not just threaten her life, but the financial well-being of her daughter. She has had to borrow 20,000 yuan (£2,000) for two courses of chemotherapy and estimates it will cost another 80,000 yuan to cure the disease. She knows that is far from certain.
"My brother-in law had cancer like me. He is dead already," she said as her infant daughter pulled at her shirt. "I want to tell the factories they make too much pollution. Because of them Xinglong village is sick."
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