GreenVitals

Sumatran Elephants Status Now At Critically Endangered On List Of Threatened Species

2012-02-09T19:19:49Z

The Sumatran elephant has just moved up in status from ‘endangered’ to ‘critically endangered’ on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Red List of Threatened Species.

Sumatran Elephant. Photo from World Wildlife Fund-Indonesia/Samsul Komar.

“Nearly 70 percent of its habitat and half of its population have been lost in one generation,” said the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), adding that a major contributing factor has been “the clearing of forests for conversion to plantations.”

The elephant is an Asian subspecies called Elephas maximux and is only found in Sumatra, Indonesia. The WWF estimates that there are currently about 2,600 elephants left in the wild, which is about have the population of 30 years ago.

On an even more localized scale, the WWF said that in the province of Riau – located in the center of Sumatra, along the Strait of Malacca – “elephant numbers have declined by a staggering 80 percent in less than 25 year, confining some of the herds to small forest patches.”

The conservation group attributes much of the blame for the habitat destruction on the pulp and paper industries that make their fortunes by clear-cutting forests and replacing them with pulpwood plantations.

These plantations are composed of trees such as aspen, hemlock, pine, or spruce which are used in making pulp for paper.

The WWF is calling on the Indonesian government to “prohibit all forest conversion in elephant habitats until there is a conservation strategy to save the species.”

Also under threat to deforestation are the Sumatran tigers, which currently number about 400 in the wild.

Obama Denies Permit for Keystone XL Pipeline After Republican Strong Arming Attempt Fails

2012-01-28T00:07:41Z

The Obama administration has denied TransCanada’s application for a permit to complete the hotly contested Keystone XL pipeline.

Photo courtesy of priceofoil.org.

The move came after Republicans tried to force a rapid decision on the pipeline through creating an arbitrary early deadline on the issue by attaching it to a temporary payroll tax cut measure.

President Barack Obama gave a statement saying, “As the state department made clear last month, the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted by the Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment.

“As a result, the secretary of state has recommended that the application be denied. After reviewing the state department’s report. I agree.”

The president went on to say that, “This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the state department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people. I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision.”

Among the controversies plaguing the project in recent months were concerns in Nebraska about the pipeline going through the state’s ecologically valuable Sand Hills, which include a high concentration of wetlands and an extensive area of very shallow groundwater.

The state department agreed that it needed to take more time to review potential alternative routes through Nebraska.

The state department added that – on the whole – based on its own experience with pipeline reviews and the time typically required for environmental reviews, a decision on the pipeline would be expected no later than the first quarter of 2013. This appeared to be too long for Republicans to wait.

Federal/Private Sector Pooling Together Nearly $4 Billion For Energy Upgrades To Buildings

2012-01-23T17:55:08Z

The Obama administration has just set a plan to partner with private industry to provide energy upgrades for buildings nationwide.

Graphic courtesy of Columbia Law School.

Nearly $4 billion in combined federal and private financing will go toward the initiative over the next two years. The investment will include a $2 billion federal commitment to make energy upgrades in federal buildings.

The energy upgrades to federal buildings are expected to be made under the government’s Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPC) program. Under the program, new energy efficient equipment will be installed in those buildings at no up-front costs to the government, said the administration during the announcement of the plan.

The costs of the improvements will be paid over time with the energy savings on utility bills, added the administration.

The plan was announced at a White House press event by President Barack Obama, who was joined by former President Bill Clinton, as well as about 60 CEOs, mayors, university presidents, and labor leaders from around the country.

The private sector participation is part of the Better Buildings Challenge, which is part of the Better Buildings Initiative that was launched by the president in February 2011.

The purpose of the Better Buildings Initiative is to support job creation in the private sector through investments in upgrades in commercial and industrial buildings, with the goal of making U.S. buildings 20 percent more efficient over the next 10 years.

The members of the private sector present at this event have committed to contributing the remaining $2 billion of the $4 billion investment.

The private sector financing is expected go toward energy upgrades in facilities including hospitals, universities, community colleges, school buildings, industrial buildings, and municipal buildings.

Refinery To Pay $12 Million In Fines For The Willful Release Of Toxins Into Louisiana’s Air

2012-01-16T21:50:09Z

After years of spewing out toxic chemicals into Louisiana’s air, threatening the health of its employees and surrounding local residents, Pelican Refining Co. is finally being made to pay for its crimes.

Pelican’s refinery at Lake Charles, La. Photo from the U.S. EPA.

Pelican Refining pleaded guilty to clean air violations and obstruction of justice charges in federal court, and is now being sentenced to pay $12 million in felony violations.

The violations relate to the company’s crude oil and asphalt refining facility located in Lake Charles, La. Pelican signed a court document called a “joint factual statement,” where the company agreed that all of the allegations were a “true and accurate statement” of their “criminal conduct.”

Among the most glaring and specific violations of the company is the handling a damaged floating roof on one of its tanks.

The Pelican refinery stored crude oil in tanks with floating roofs that go up and down with the volume of the petroleum inside the tank. Floating roofs have seals around the perimeter. The purpose of a sealed floating roof is to prevent pollutants, including volatile organic compounds and hydrogen sulfide from escaping.

In 2005 and 2006, the Pelican refinery processed sour crude that had high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide.

Hydrogen sulfide is a highly toxic and flammable gas inherent to sour crude. It is colorless, but has the smell of rotten eggs at low concentrations. At higher concentrations, it paralyzes the sense of smell, so that its odor is no longer perceived.

At very high concentrations, it paralyzes the respiratory center of the brain so that the exposed individual stops breathing, losses consciousness, and dies unless removed from exposure and resuscitated.

“Nearby residents complained to Pelican Refining Co. and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) about odors emanating from the Pelican Refinery,” according to court documentation.

New York City Implementing New Green Technologies to Reduce Waterway Pollution

2012-01-05T19:18:55Z

As part of New York City’s ongoing efforts to clean up the pollution in its surrounding waters, NY Waterway has decided to revamp nine of its ferries with new engines and catalysts designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the environment.

Photo courtesy of wirednewyork.com.

Part of the financing for this project will include $2.5 million in funding secured from a grant by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) and a $900,000 contribution from the NY Waterway.

NY Waterway has also already converted the fleet to use 100 percent ultra-low sulfur diesel.

“The city has set a high standard with a cleaner retrofit for Staten Island ferry boats and equipping private fleets with this technology now brings a new standard to the industry in New York,” said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan in a statement.

NY Waterway estimates that it carries about 35,000 passengers per day on 31 boats serving New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Rockland, Westchester, Orange, and Dutchess County.

Small City Receives Big Grant For Drinking Water System Renovation Upgrade

2011-12-23T14:55:30Z

As local water infrastructures age around the country, more and more financing options are becoming available to cities from both the state and federal level for renovations.

Image courtesy of theatlanticcities.com.

The city of Russell, Kan. - with a population of about 4,300 people - has just received a $388,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the renovation of its drinking water system.

The purpose of the project is to replace old, deteriorated cast iron pipes with new plastic ones. “This will eliminate numerous leaks that have occurred in the past 20 years. Such leaks can cause low water pressure and introduce contaminants to the water, which is a potential risk to public health,” said the EPA.

The construction will include two sizes of waterline pipes (six-inch, stretching 5,400 feet, and eight-inch, stretching 4,500 feet), as well as water valves, and fire hydrants.

The EPA grant will only partially cover the construction project, which it’s estimated will cost about $843,500 to complete. The project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2012.

In 2005, the U.S. Conference of Mayors sent out a survey concerning water infrastructure investments, which was responded to by 414 cities. The survey results confirmed that rehabilitating aging water infrastructure was a top priority among the responding cities.

White House Supports U.S. State Dept. Decision to Delay Keystone XL Interstate Oil Pipeline

2011-11-28T21:48:39Z

Environmental activists protesting at the White House against the Keystone XL pipeline. Photo courtesy of Bloomberg.com.

With controversy over the route that TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline will take through Nebraska, and fears over the potential threat to the state’s ecologically precious Sand Hills, the U.S. State Department has decided to postpone a presidential permit to the company for construction in the state.

President Barack Obama supports the measure to postpone the permit, saying in a statement, that there is a “need to seek additional information about the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal because this permit could affect the health and safety of the American people as well as the environment.”

The State Department said that it needs to take more time to review potential alternative routes through Nebraska.

The Sand Hills have a unique combination of characteristics, which include a high concentration of wetlands and an extensive area of very shallow groundwater.

Sand Hills Lake. Photo by Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

The Sand Hills sit atop the massive Ogallala Aquifer, creating both temporary and permanent shallow lakes in low-lying valleys between the prevalent dunes. The eastern and central sections of the region are drained by the tributaries of the Loup River and the Niobrara River, while the western section is largely composed of small interior drainage basins.

The World Wide Fund for Nature designated the Sand Hills as an eco-region, distinct from other grasslands of the Great Plains. According to their assessment, as much as 85% of the Sand Hills eco-region is intact natural habitat, the highest level in the Great Plains. This is chiefly due to the lack of crop production. Most of the Sand Hills land has never been plowed.

New Kansas Biomass Facility To Make Ethanol from the Non-Edible Plant Parts of Staple Food

2011-11-10T21:05:56Z

Image courtesy of http://solar.calfinder.com.

A long-held problem with biofuels has always been that making them requires displacing land use and resources that would otherwise go to making food crops.

Well now, Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, with a new finalized loan guarantee of about $132 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, may have found one viable solution to the land resource problem.

Construction has just begun on a new facility that’s expected - when operational – to produce yearly about 23 million gallons of ethanol fuel from plant fibers including: wheat straw, corn stover (leaves and stalks), switchgrass, and sorghum stubble.

The facility is expected to convert about 300,000 tons of this “crop residue” per year to generate the desired annual ethanol volumes.

“The plant will also utilize the same biomass feedstock to produce 20 megawatts of electricity, adequate to power the ethanol production operations, and help make the facility even more energy efficient and environmentally friendly,” added Abengoa.

U.S. Oilfield Services Company Wins Oil Cleanup Challenge in Worldwide Competition

2011-10-21T15:26:19Z

Elastec/American Marine, which makes oil spill and environmental equipment, just won The Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge, a yearlong competition with participants from all over the world vying for who could achieve the highest oil recovery and efficiency rates from surface seawater.

Elastec won $1.4 million in first place prize money last week. “During a ceremony in New York, it was announced that we exceeded the competition’s oil recovery requirement of 2,500 gpm (gallons per minute) with 70 percent efficiency (oil recovered in percentage to water).

“Our new ‘Grooved Disc Skimmer’ was able to recover 4,670 gpm with an 89.5 percent efficiency, more than three times the industry’s previous best oil recovery rate tested in controlled conditions,” said the company.

The second place winner receiving a prize of $300,000 was NOFI Tromsø AS, a Norway oil spill control developer specializing in oil boom technology.

NOFI used a single vessel unit called the ‘Current Buster 6’ which collects, separates, and stores oil in a current up to five knots. The system incorporates a flexible v-shaped surface boom that when towed, corrals oil down to the end of the V where a separator removes it from the water.

NOFI’s Current Buster 6 technology being demonstrated last summer at Ohmsett – the National Oil Spill Response Research & Renewable Energy Test Facility in Leonardo, N.J. Photo courtesy of NOFI.

NOFI’s cleanup method had an oil recovery rate of 271.2 gpm, and 83 percent oil-to-water recovery rate for the ‘oil recovery efficiency’ requirement of the competition.

European Airlines Testing Increasing Biofuel Use In Commercial Flights

2011-10-12T21:50:07Z

Iberia Airlines launched, last week, Spain’s first commercial flight using a biofuel. The Iberia Airbus A320 flew from Madrid to Barcelona, burning a mixture of conventional A-1 jet fuel and a biofuel synthesized with the use of a plant the Spanish call camelina sativa.

The Iberia Airbus A320. Photo courtesy of Airliners.net.

The airbus needed no modifications to burn the mixture of second-generation biofuel.

In other parts of the world, the plant is also known as linseed dodder, German sesame, and Siberian oilseed. It’s native to northern Europe and to central Asia, but has also been introduced to North America.

A lot of the camelina plant’s appeal as a biofuel is that it needs little water or nitrogen to flourish. It can be grown on marginal agricultural lands and does not compete with food crops.

Repsol, the Spanish oil company that provided the fuel, said that the fuel’s characteristics were identical to those of conventional aviation fuel, with a 25 percent content of biofuel made from the plant.

Repsol blended and distributed the fuel, which was produced by Honeywell-UOP. Iberia estimated that using the fuel mixture resulted in a reduction of nearly 1,500 kgs of CO2 emissions.