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Study: Drinking Water Polluted By Coal-Ash Dump Sites
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August 27, 2010 - USA TODAY
| | A new study by environmental groups identifies 39 additional coal-ash dump sites in 21 states that are contaminating water with arsenic, lead and other heavy metals. The analysis comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency begins regional hearings on whether to regulate toxic coal ash waste from coal-fired power plants. It will hold the first of seven hearings nationwide Monday in Arlington, Va. A public comment period ends Nov. 19.
| | | © 2010 USA TODAY
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MIT Researchers Develop Autonomous Oil-Absorbing Robot to Clean Up Oil Spills
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August 26, 2010 - gizmag
| | Over skimmers were deployed in the Gulf of Mexico during the summer of 2010 to help clean up the Deepwater Horizon leak; however, it is estimated that these skimmers collected only three percent of the surface oil. Researchers at MIT have devised a system, called Seaswarm, consisting of a fleet of vehicles that may make cleaning up future oil spills both less expensive and more efficient than current skimming methods. A robotic prototype created by the researchers could autonomously navigate the ocean surface using cutting edge nanotechnology to collect surface oil and process it on site. The Seaswarm robot uses a conveyor belt covered with a thin nanowire mesh to absorb oil. The fabric, developed by MIT Visiting Associate Professor Francesco Stellacci, can absorb up to twenty times its own weight in oil while repelling water. By heating up the material, the oil can be removed and burnt locally and the nanofabric can be reused.
| | | By Darren Quick © 2003 - 2010 gizmag
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Fires Cost Russia '300 Billion Dollars' In Deforestation
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August 26, 2010 - Yahoo! News
| | Moscow -- Wildfires have cost Russia 300 billion dollars in forest loss, environmentalists said on Thursday, explaining the scale of the disaster by Vladimir Putin's "absurd" changes to forestry law. The economic damage amounts to 25,000 dollars per hectare (2.4 acres), or at least 300 billion dollars, according to estimates based on the market value of timber and the cost of reforestation, said Alexei Zimenko, general director of the Biodiversity Conservation Centre. According to Russian environmentalists, citing data from the Global Fire Monitoring Centre, the fires have covered an area of 10 million to 12 million hectares in Russia since the start of the year.
| | | By Anna Smolchenko © 2010 Agence France Presse © 2010 Yahoo! Inc.
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New Microbe Discovered Eating Gulf Oil Spill
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August 24, 2010 - MSNBC
| | A newly discovered type of oil-eating microbe suddenly is flourishing in the Gulf of Mexico and gobbling up the BP spill at a much faster rate than expected. Scientists discovered the new microbe while studying the underwater dispersion of millions of gallons of oil spilled since the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Also, the microbe works without significantly depleting oxygen in the water, researchers reported in the online journal Sciencexpress.
| | | © 2010 MSNBC.com
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New Garbage Patch Discovered in Indian Ocean
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August 3, 2010 - Yahoo! Green
| | Scientists previously mapped huge floating trash patches in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, but now a husband-wife team researching plastic garbage in the Indian Ocean suggest a new and dire view. "The world's oceans are covered with a thin plastic soup," says Anna Cummins, cofounder of 5 Gyres Institute. Cummins and her husband, Marcus Eriksen, established the 5 Gyres Institute to research plastic pollution in the world's oceans. The team works in collaboration with Algalita Marine Research Foundation and Pangaea Explorations, two nonprofit scientific organizations devoted to marine preservation. They report that all of the 12 water samples collected in the 3,000 miles between Perth, Australia, and Port Louis, Mauritius (an island due East of Madagascar), contain plastic.
| | | By Lori Bongiorno © 2010 Yahoo! Inc.
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Congressman: Too Much Dispersant Used In Oil Spill
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August 1, 2010 - CBS News
| | New Orleans -- As BP inched closer to permanently sealing the blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, congressional investigators railed against the company and Coast Guard for part of the cleanup effort, saying too much toxic chemical dispersant was used.
| | | © 2010 The Associated Press © 2010 CBS Interactive Inc.
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Synthetic Estrogen BPA Coats Cash Register Receipts
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July 28, 2010 - Environmental Working Group
| | The plastic component bisphenol A (BPA) has been in the headlines nonstop as scientists, health experts and consumers press for a federal ban on food packaging made with this synthetic estrogen, shown to leach readily into infant formula, beverages and canned food. But most Americans are probably unaware that they are regularly exposed to the same endocrine-disrupting chemical in cash register receipts.
| | | © 2010 Environmental Working Group
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City Hopes Bottle Ban Holds Water
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July 11, 2010 - The San Francisco Examiner
| | Events in city streets and parks could become BYOB — as in bring your own bottle. A ban on the sale of single-use water bottles at events on city property — including parks, streets and festivals — is being pitched. And considering San Francisco’s trend-setting policies on plastic bags and soda, it’s likely to pass.
| | | By Katie Worth © 2010 SF Newspaper Company LLC
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