The environment in the news thursday, 19 August, 2010
Reuters: More tests, preparation ahead of final BP well kill
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- AFP: Environmental group fights US-Canada bridge construction
- BBC: UN to meet to boost aid to flood-hit Pakistan
Reuters: More tests, preparation ahead of final BP well kill18 August 2010 BP Plc has more testing ahead before it can finally kill its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well, the top official overseeing the spill response said on Wednesday. Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen declined to give timelines on upcoming steps, which will likely push the final plugging to late August or early September. BP said it began a procedure on Wednesday afternoon to flush the seabed equipment on the Macondo well and fill it with seawater in advance of a pressure test. "This will be one of the final vital signs that we will need in order to make a determination on how to go forward," Allen said. The Macondo well has been sealed for more than a month. Nearly two weeks ago, BP injected drilling mud and cement into the top to plug it, intending to follow up with more mud and cement injected into the bottom through a relief well. But he said BP engineers and government scientists were concerned the cement may have trapped up to 1,000 barrels of oil in the space between the well pipe and the surrounding rock layers. The teams want to make sure pumping in mud and cement through the relief well will not increase pressure and force that oil up, where it could leak into the sea or damage a failed blowout preventer central to various investigations of the April 20 blowout. Allen said officials may install a pressure venting system on the seabed equipment or swap the failed blowout preventer for another before relief well drilling resumes. The upcoming pressure test -- expected to take 48 hours -- should help officials choose between those options, he said. "That will all be conditions-based and I can't tell you how many days it will take to do that," Allen said. "We will do it when we're comfortable moving ahead." Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ AFP: Environmental group fights US-Canada bridge construction18 August 2010 An environmental group sought on Wednesday to stop construction of a new bridge at the Windsor-Detroit border that aims to boost Canada-US trade, saying the span poses a risk to endangered wildlife. The bridge project "would result in the permanent degradation of a sensitive ecosystem and the destruction of threatened species," said Sierra Club Ontario director Dan McDermott. Specifically, a new highway network to be built on the Canadian side leading to the new Detroit River crossing would put Massassauga Rattlesnakes, Eastern Fox Snakes, Butler's Garter Snakes, Kentucky Coffee-Trees, the Willowleaf Aster and the Dense Blazing Star -- all threatened or endangered -- at risk, he said. The ecological relic also contains Canada's largest remaining tall grass prairie ecosystem. The Sierra Club filed an application for judicial review of the Canadian government's issuing of permits for the project, and asked for an injunction to halt construction. The border crossing currently handles almost 30 percent of all Canada-US trade totalling 130 billion dollars per year, and sees more than 8,000 trucks and 68,000 travellers daily. Transport Canada said truck traffic along this corridor is expected to triple within 30 years, while vehicle traffic will double. But critics say two-way traffic is declining. The new bridge would be built about three kilometers (two miles) downstream from the existing Ambassador Bridge and tunnels, and would be owned jointly by Canada and Michigan. Canada offered in April to pay part of the construction on the US side after cash-strapped Michigan waffled at paying its share of the 5.3 billion dollar project. Some state officials have also thrown support behind a proposal to instead expand the existing Ambassador Bridge. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ BBC: UN to meet to boost aid to flood-hit Pakistan19 August 2010 The UN is set to hold an emergency session to boost international aid to flood-hit Pakistan. It says it has raised nearly half of the $460m (£295m) needed for initial flood relief efforts but that the response remains slow. The number of people in need of immediate assistance in Pakistan has now risen to eight million. The rise comes amid fears of new flooding, as water continues to surge south along the Indus River. The UN's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the special session after visiting Pakistan last week to assess the disaster. He described the situation as "heart-wrenching" and said he had never seen a disaster on such a scale. The member states are expected to adopt a resolution urging the international community "to extend full support and assistance" to Pakistan in its efforts "to mitigate the adverse impacts of the floods and to meet the medium- and long-term rehabilitation and reconstruction needs". The BBC's Kim Ghattas at the UN says the resolution will not produce any concrete action plan but is a sign of how nervous the US and the UN are about the level of international assistance given to Pakistan so far. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to announce an increase in US donations, said White House officials. The session is a clear attempt to build a sense of urgency about a natural disaster that will have a lasting impact on a country that is key to the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, says our correspondent. 'Pretty scary' A UN spokesman said on Wednesday that there had been an improvement in the speed of donations from the international community, after a sluggish response in the first days of the appeal. "Donors are realising the scale of the disaster," Maurizio Giuliano told Reuters, "but the challenges are absolutely massive and the floods are not over." "The size of this disaster is equivalent to Austria, Switzerland and Belgium combined. That's pretty scary." On Wednesday, the European Union promised an extra $39m following higher commitments from Australia and Japan, while the Islamic Development Bank pledged $11.2m. But fewer than a million of the eight million people the UN says is in urgent need have received basic supplies such as tents or plastic sheeting. Pakistani authorities say as many as 20 million people are affected by the floods. Tens of thousands of villages remain under water. The Asia Development Bank (ADB) said on Thursday it had offered to loan Pakistan $2bn to help it recover from massive floods. The loan will help Pakistan rebuild infrastructure damaged by the worst ever flooding in the country, the bank's director-general for central and west Asia, Juan Miranda, told the Financial Times. "We have a long-term commitment to the country. This is a time when we have to show what we're made of, to work with everyone to figure out exactly how we can put back dignity into the lives of the people." He said the bank would also set up a trust fund to channel donor contributions for reconstruction. The World Bank has already agreed to lend Pakistan $900m to help long-term reconstruction. Officials and aid agencies in Pakistan say there are signs that the crisis is still deepening, as new floodwaters continue to surge south along the Indus river and more flood defences collapse, forcing people to flee their homes. There are growing health concerns for those surviving without proper shelter, food or clean drinking water, three weeks after the country's worst natural disaster began Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Directory: cpi -> briefs briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news Download 231.95 Kb. Share with your friends:
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