Foul Smelling Fumes With Dangerous Health Risks Wafting From The Yellowstone Oil Spill

A lot of people that both live and work along the banks of the Yellowstone River are reporting concerns about noxious smells coming from the water. People have noticed “a strong odor” along the river, and the backwaters near where the pipeline ruptured, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Yellowstone River oil spill cleanup. Photo courtesy of KLS Broadcasting, Salt Lake City, UT.

“If you are smelling a gas-station-like odor, you may be smelling volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. The VOCs in oil are benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene,” says the agency. Odors from these chemicals can cause health problems including: headaches, dizziness, nausea, or vomiting.

If people smell these odors near their homes, they’re advised to immediately close their doors and windows, turn on their air conditioners (set to recirculating mode, if it’s an option), and notify local authorities to find out what other actions they can take. If people are feeling sick in any way from the fumes, they need to be taken to the nearest medical facility as soon as possible for treatment.

Also nearby residents need to be cautious of any odd smells or tastes coming from the water they drink, which can also cause symptoms including: headaches, dizziness, nausea, or vomiting.

In addition, people need to careful of their pet’s water, and make sure that when their pets are outside, that they don’t get into any contaminated areas. Also, if pets get any contaminated water on them, wash it off immediately with soap and water.

Click to read more ...

Pending Dam Decision: Killing Local Livelihoods in the Mekong River Region For Power Export

Villages along the Mekong River in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic are sure to see the destruction of their way of life, say environmentalists, if the go-ahead is given during a meeting this Tuesday to decide whether a first of series of dams should be built on the lower mainstream of the river.

A section of the Mekong River in Lao. Photo courtesy of .traveladventures.org.

If built, the Xayaburi Dam would be the largest of eleven large dams proposed to be built on the river. The decision to build must be agreed on by the Mekong River Commission’s member countries of Lao, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

International Rivers, one of the environmental groups working to create public pressure to stop the dam, estimates that “the project would resettle around 2,100 people and directly affect a further 202,000 people living near the dam due to impacts on the river’s ecology and fisheries.”

A preliminary evaluation by the commission in 2009 also highlighted potential concerns including adverse effects to the river’s biodiversity, such as the dam’s potential to “block [fish] migration routes and lead to [the] fragmentation of habitats.”

Click to read more ...

Gulf of Mexico Seafood Getting Passing Grades From Ongoing U.S. Federal Food Safety Tests

It’s now exactly one year to the month since BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore rig exploded - killing 11 people and releasing oil into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months, until mid-July.

Pelican covered in oil soon after the BP disaster. Image credit: Lord Mariser (Flicker CC).

At the time, the U.S. Geological Society estimated that the rig was gushing out crude oil at a rate of 12,000 to 25,000 barrels per day, spewing out a total of about 4.9 million barrels (206 million gallons) by the time the well was sealed.

Many politicians called it the worst environmental disaster in the nation’s history, doing massive damage to the region’s ecosystems, though the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) did tests that gave a more optimistic view.

The same month that the well was sealed, NOAA began testing the sea life for pollutants, declaring the seafood safe to eat, and reopening the Gulf waters.

Trying to further reassure the public, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said in a statement, “We need the American public to be confident in the seafood coming from the Gulf, and the testing that has been done has not indicated any level of concerns.”

Those words didn’t do too much to calm public concerns about Gulf seafood and NOAA has found it necessary to continue to test the sea life to reassure the public that it’s safe to eat.

Last week, NOAA announced that it was continuing to “re-test the seafood from the Gulf of Mexico to demonstrate to Americans and to worldwide consumers that it is safe to eat” and that this re-testing will continue into the summer.

Click to read more ...

Bald Eagle Egg Hatches After Rescued From Orioles’ Florida Spring Training Camp

The bald eaglet at just minutes old. Photo courtesy of the American Eagle Foundation.

One eaglet has survived and hatched at the American Eagle Foundation’s Tennessee center after being rescued from the Boston Orioles’ spring training ground in Florida.

The hatched egg was one of two taken from the Ed Smith Stadium. The second egg never hatched - despite being given extra time in the incubator.

The players are scheduled to arrive at the stadium early next month. Fears were that flying balls, people, and commuter traffic would endanger both the nesting parents and the newly hatched eaglets.

The bald eagle nesting pair had built their nest on top of a 135-foot lighting pole located in the right outfield of the stadium. After removing the eggs, all of the lighting poles in the stadium were modified with tarps to discourage any new nest from being built on them.

The newly hatched eaglet is being fed by an eagle puppet to prevent human-imprinting. The conservation group plans to release the eaglet into the wild sometime in mid-March, when it will be about 13-weeks old. The eaglet will be placed in an artificial nesting tower located at Douglas Lake in Tennessee.

Click to read more ...

Just Like People, Bald Eagles Now Need A Permit For Where They Can Build Their Homes

Just like every other American, there are limits to what bald eagles are free to do - including build their nests where they want. In all seriousness, no one can really object to the actions taken by officals this time.

Rescue workers approaching a lighting pole located in the right outfield of the Ed Smith Stadium in Florida to remove two eagle eggs. Photo courtesy of the American Eagle Foundation.

Late last year, a pair of bald eagles built a new nest on top of a 135- foot lighting pole located in the right outfield of the Ed Smith Stadium (the Florida spring training ground of the Boston Orioles). The ball players are scheduled to arrive early next month. With eggs already in the nest, the concerns were obvious.

Being in the way of flying balls, lots of noise, and commuter traffic isn’t the most ideal place for eagles, or anyone else for that matter to raise a family.

Officials contacted the American Eagle Foundation to come remove the eggs, cover the nest site with a tarp, and thereby evict the eagles from the stadium. AEF staffers went down to the stadium from Tennessee last month with incubators to safely transport the eggs back to foundation’s Eagle Center at Dollywood.

Click to read more ...