Death In The Family

 Due to The Death of a Family Member No New Posts Will Appear Until the Bereavement Process is Over. 

I truly have no way of telling  how long that  will be.  I apologize, but under the  circumstances do not feel the inclination to write much less post more  news of  death and pain. 

Thank you for your time and attention.

Linda C.  /  Desert Rose

Quote from the Comfort Company

Composite created with image from the Comfort Company

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Condolences and Sympathy messages

Landslide swallows up the city of Shenzhen in southern China , entire buildings being gobbled up in seconds. 91 people missing.

   

Chilling footage shows Shenzhen landslide claim entire BLOCKS; 91 now missing in disaster (VIDEO)

Published time: 21 Dec, 2015 02:14Edited time: 21 Dec, 2015 08:50

© CCTV News / YouTube

A horrifying video of a landslide swallowing up the city of Shenzhen in southern China shows entire buildings being gobbled up in seconds. Meanwhile, the number of people missing has jumped to 91, China Central Television (CCTV) reports.

The disaster occurred in the Hengtaiyu industrial park in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Sunday morning, destroying a total of 22 buildings and causing a gas pipeline explosion. Shocking video footage from CCTV shows an entire multi-level building collapse in under five-seconds. At first, people are in disbelief, but are then seen running away from the landslide seeking safety.

China’s Ministry of Land & Resources has blamed the disaster on a collapse of piled-up construction waste and soil residue in the area, state media said. It also cited a local emergency office giving a sharply increased estimate of the number of people missing. The figure had previously stood at 59.

  Read More Here

The death toll from two storms which battered the Philippines rose to 45. Several towns remain under water and rainfall continues in northern regions,

 

Inquirer.net

Death toll rises to 45 in storm-hit PH

Agence France-Presse

05:41 PM December 20th, 2015

 

 

The death toll from two storms which battered the Philippines rose to 45 Sunday as several towns remained under water and rain kept falling in northern regions, disaster monitoring officials said. 

 

 

The rain was caused by a cold front, dragged into the country by Typhoon Nona (international name Melor) and Tropical Depression Onyok which hit the Philippines in succession last week. 

 

 

Floods almost three meters deep covered some riverside areas north of the capital Manila as heavy rain kept falling, civil defense offices said.

 

 “Our home has been flooded up to the waist. It has been flooded for over two days,” 

said Mary Jane Bautista, 35, in the industrial town of Calumpit 50 kilometers north of the capital. 

 

Her family and several others were forced to take refuge on nearby high ground — in front of a church where their only shelter is the awning over the entrance. 

 

 “My husband has to wade through the waters to go home to get supplies. If we need water, he has to go to the faucet in our kitchen,” she told AFP, expressing fears the current could wash him away. 

 

 

 

Read More Here

For the second time in two months, a rare deadly yellow bellied sea snake has washed ashore at one of southern California's most popular beaches.

Pelamis platurus, related to the cobra family (Elapidae)

Yellowbelly Sea Snake      Carpenter0     Wikipedia.org

................................................................................................................................

   

El Nino washes a SECOND posionous sea snake onto popular California beach which has not seen any for THIRTY YEARS

By Regina F. Graham For Dailymail.com and Evan Bleier For Dailymail.com

Published: 22:18 EST, 19 December 2015 | Updated: 03:17 EST, 20 December 2015 

For the second time in two months, a rare deadly sea snake has washed ashore at one of southern California's most popular beaches.

A dead 27-inch-long male yellow bellied sea snake was discovered last week during a coastal cleanup campaign by volunteers for the Surfrider Foundation in Huntington Beach, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In October, a two-foot-long yellow bellied sea snake was discovered slithering onto Silver Strand State Beach in Ventura County, but it died shortly after being taken to a US Fish and Wildlife Service office nearby.

The venomous sea serpent, known to scientists as Pelamis platura, was first spotted in 1972 during an El Niño in San Clemente.

Deadly: A dead 27-inch-long male yellow bellied sea snake (above) was discovered last week during a coastal cleanup campaign by the Surfrider Foundation

The latest yellow bellied sea snake discovered was found at the popular Huntington Beach in California (file photo above)

A descendant of Australian tiger snakes, experts believe the arrival of the sea snake is a harbinger of El Niño because the last time it appeared in California was during the weather system in the '80s.

Read More Here

120 “cold-stunned” sea turtles wash up on the shores of Cape Cod Bay

The Boston Globe

Scores of rare turtles found stranded on Cape

Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary

Rescuers placed cold-stunned turtles in fruit boxes.

By Reenat Sinay Globe Correspondent  December 21, 2015

 

 

Massachusetts Audubon Society volunteers recovered about 120 “cold-stunned” sea turtles during the weekend after strong winds caused them to wash up on the shores of Cape Cod Bay.

The majority of the reptiles found on the beaches of Wellfleet, Truro, Eastham, and Brewster were Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, a critically endangered species and the rarest type of sea turtle.

It was an unusually large late-season stranding for the turtles, who most often get stuck on Cape Cod shores around Thanksgiving as they try to make their way south to warmer waters for the winter.

Young sea turtles often feed in Cape Cod Bay during the summer but can get trapped in the “hook” of the Cape and become hypothermic as temperatures drop, according to Mass Audubon.

Despite their rarity, Kemp’s ridleys are the type of turtle most often found stranded on Massachusetts beaches.

Read More Here

New cases of highly pathogenic avian flu in poultry have recently been detected in south-western regions of France,

New bird flu outbreak: More than 60 farms in France infected

Published time: 22 Dec, 2015 16:38

 

© Luc Gnago / Reuters

 

 

New cases of highly pathogenic avian flu in poultry have recently been detected in south-western regions of France, forcing authorities to step up sanitary measures.

 

The total number of confirmed cases of contamination with the virus in France has risen to 61, according to a statement from the French Ministry of Agriculture. The statement was published on Tuesday.

infos140 @infos140

GRIPPE AVIAIRE 8 nouveaux foyers identifiés dans les Landes. 61 foyers désormais touchés dans le sud-ouest

6:45 AM - 22 Dec 2015

 

Special protection zones stretching for between 3 to 10 kilometers around the farms have been set up until the epidemic ceases, a decree published in the Official Journal said.
There is currently no evidence that the virus is transmitted to humans through birds’ eggs, meat or foie gras, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease and Control (ECDC) stated.

Read More Here

Indonesia - 6.0 Magnitude Earthquake with 4.6 registered not long after , 12/20/2015

Indonesia 6.0 Magnitude EQ 12/20/2015

..........

2 earthquakes in map area

1. M 4.6 - 38km ESE of Sembakung, Indonesia

   2015-12-20 21:38:39 UTC 10.0 km

2. M 6.0 - 36km N of Tarakan, Indonesia

   2015-12-20 18:47:35 UTC 9.0 km

..........

• M 6.0 - 36km N of Tarakan, Indonesia

  2015-12-20 18:47:35 UTC 9.0 km

...........

NOAA's National Weather Service

Tsunami.gov

DOC > NOAA > NWS > Tsunami.gov

Current date and time is: Dec 21, 2015 01:59 UTC

No Tsunami Warnings, Advisories or Watches are in effect

 

 

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Borneo buffeted by strong, shallow M6.0 temblor but no tsunami threat: USGS

AFP-JIJI

 

• Dec 21, 2015

JAKARTA – A strong 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia early on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, but no immediate damage or casualties were reported.

The quake, which was relatively shallow, struck the northeastern corner of Kalimantan on the Indonesian part of Borneo island, 34 km (21 miles) north of the coastal city of Tarakan, according to the USGS.

The agency reported the quake hitting at a depth of 22 km.

Indonesia’s tsunami warning center said there was no potential for the quake to trigger tsunami. There were also no immediate reports of damage.

Read More Here

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Fukui Gov Issei Nishikawa will soon give his consent for the restart of two nuclear reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co’s Takahama plant

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JAPAN TODAY

Fukui governor to give consent for nuclear plant restart

National Dec. 21, 2015 - 07:00AM JST ( 7 )

 

FUKUI —

Fukui Gov Issei Nishikawa will soon give his consent for the restart of two nuclear reactors in the prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast, sources close to the matter said Sunday, as the central government seeks to bring more reactors back online after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The governor will visit the site of the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co’s Takahama plant on Monday to check safety measures before expressing his consent, they said. The governor’s consent is necessary to restart the reactors.

Earlier in the day, industry minister Motoo Hayashi, in charge of the country’s energy policy, met with Nishikawa at the Fukui prefectural office and sought the Fukui governor’s consent for the restart of the two nuclear reactors.

Read More Here

Mystery fireball falling from sky reported in Brevard

 

 Wikimedia.org     Leonid meteor shower.

Image is a depiction, not intended as the factual image referred to in this report

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Search near I-95 turns up empty

 

Posted: 7:44 AM, December 17, 2015 Updated: 8:40 AM, December 18, 2015

PALM BAY, Fla. - A mysterious, fiery object falling from the sky was reported in Brevard County, prompting authorities to launch a search, officials said.
Nothing was found after 911 callers reported seeing a fiery object falling to the ground.
The calls were received about 7 a.m. Thursday, with reports of the mysterious object striking the area near the Interstate 95 onramp on the southbound side of Palm Bay Road.

Read More Here

A volcano in Russia's Kamchatka region has spewed ash cloud, covering a local village with a thin layer of soot

 

 Village Covered in Film of Soot After Kamchatka Volcano Spews Ashes

 

• The Moscow Times
• Dec. 16 2015 15:22
• Last edited 15:22

 

NASA / JSC / Wikicommons

 

 

A volcano in Russia's Kamchatka region has spewed ashes, covering a local village with a thin layer of soot, the Emergency Situations Ministry said on Wednesday, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The ash cloud from the Shiveluch Volcano reached 6,500 meters above sea level, the ministry said in a statement, RIA Novosti reported. The volcano is 3,283 meters high.

Read More Here

Philippines - 5.2 Magnitude earthquake registered near the town of San Juan in Ilocos Sur

5.2-magnitude quake hits Ilocos Sur, aftershocks expected - Phivolcs

By Mikas Matsuzawa, CNN Philippines

Updated 08:32 AM PHT Fri, December 18, 2015

51

The earthquake struck near the town of San Juan, Ilocos Sur, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology says.

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck near the town of San Juan in Ilocos Sur on Thursday evening (December 17), according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

Aftershocks are expected, it added.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS), however, said the quake that struck at 8:44 p.m. had a magnitude of 5.4.

Strong quake felt in one town

Based on Phivolcs' earthquake intensity scale, an Intensity 5 or a strong quake was reported in the town of Sinait, more than 30 minutes drive from the town of San Juan.

Read More Here

A “larger than normal” dust storm billowed through the Australian outback town of Boulia

Must See: 5 unearthly shots of massive outback dust storm

Daksha Rangan
Digital Reporter

 

SOURCE: Jan Norton/Facebook | Brisbane Times

Wednesday, December 16, 2015, 11:23 AM - A “larger than normal” dust storm billowed through the Australian outback town of Boulia Tuesday, creating an otherworldly spectacle.

Local photographers jumped at the opportunity to capture the Martian-like moment, where visibility was reportedly limited to just a few metres.




Read More and Watch Video here



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brisbanetimes

Huge dust storm hits Central West Queensland

Date

December 16, 2015

 

Kristian Silva

Brisbane Times journalist

A major dust storm swept over the Queensland town of Boulia on Tuesday. Photo: Kerry Hutchins/Instagram

Photographers have captured incredible images of a major dust storm which hit central west Queensland on Tuesday.

The outback town of Boulia, located about 500 kilometres west of Longreach, bore the brunt of the storm which blanketed everything in its path in red dust.

Ann Britton was on her cattle station when she saw the storm approaching.
"The winds were very strong and the dust blew for a few hours. If you were driving through it you had to stop," she said.

Ms Britton, a local photographer, said visibility was down to a few metres.

Read More Here

Cosmic dance party: Tiny dwarf star influencing monster planet's unusual orbit

Cosmic dance party: Tiny dwarf star influencing monster planet's unusual orbit

Published time: 17 Dec, 2015 13:50

 

 

© NASA

 

 

A huge planet is having quite the party in space, dancing between its cosmic companions rather eccentrically – all thanks to a tiny dwarf star which influences its bizarre movements. The new finding makes for a rather peculiar planetary system.

 

Measuring about eight times the mass of Jupiter, the enormous planet was discovered in 2011. At the time of its discovery, it was found to be orbiting a sun-like star called HD 4779 with high eccentricity. That is, its movements were far from perfectly circular - the further from a circle the trajectory is, the more eccentric it is.

But the eccentric orbit led a team made up almost entirely of current and former Carnegie scientists to speculate that something else may be influencing the monster planet's movements. They tested that theory with the Magellan adaptive optics (MagAO) instrument suite, which allowed them to take extremely high-resolution images and gave them a sharper look at the night sky than ever before. Their speculation was then confirmed.

"At the telescope, we saw the object within seconds, and that told us it had to be a dwarf star," said lead author Timothy Rodigas in a press release. The dwarf star was tiny, measuring at only 20 percent of the mass of our sun.

 

© Carnegie Institute

 

 

 

Read More Here

Mexico - Magnitude 6.6 earthquake registered - 9km ENE of Tres Picos

THE WATCHERS

M6.4 earthquake hits Chiapas, Mexico

 

Posted by Adonai on December 17, 2015 in category Seismic activity

A strong earthquake with recorded magnitude of M6.4 (USGS) hit Chiapas, Mexico at 19:49 UTC on December 17, 2015. The agency is reporting a depth of 96.9 km (60.2 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.4 at a depth of 120 km (74.5 miles). 
According to the USGS, the epicenter was located 11 km (7 miles) ENE of Tres Picos, 30 km (19 miles) NW of Pijijiapan, 40 km (25 miles) ESE of Tonala, 62 km (39 miles) SE of Arriaga, Mexico and 342 km (213 miles) WNW of Guatemala City, Guatemala.
There are about 743 880 people living within 100 km (62 miles) radius.

Read More Here

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M 6.6 - 9km ENE of Tres Picos, Mexico

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USGS

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weather.gov

 NOAA's National Weather Service

Tsunami.gov

DOC > NOAA > NWS > Tsunami.gov

Current date and time is: Dec 18, 2015 03:28 UTC

No Tsunami Warnings, Advisories or Watches are in effect

 

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Ireland - Communities on high flood alert along River Shannon

newstalk.com

IFA calls for Government to cancel farm inspections due to flooding

The level of water in Lough Derg increased marginally in the past 24 hours, the ESB says

News

 

 

Swans glide by a sandbag barrier on The Strand in Athlone Town, in the ongoing battle against the rising waters of the Shannon River. Photo: RollingNews.ie

The Irish Farmer’s Association (IFA) is urging the Government to do more to help farmers affected by flooding. 

At this stage up to 100,000 hectares of land are under water and communities remain on alert with more rain forecast for this week.

Tonight the risk of flooding persists along the River Shannon - however defences are said to be holding steady in Athlone for now.

The IFA’s Tom Turley says he is concerned about Farmer's mental health and wants routine Department of Agriculture inspections called off.

“This is just in disarray at the moment,” Mr Turley

“I can’t emphasise this enough, the Department have got to stop these inspections forthwith.

“The minister just needs to come out and say I’m calling of all inspections under force majeur circumstances – end of,” he added.

The National Emergency Co-ordination group has said today that water levels in most rivers are falling.

However, water is still rising in the lower half of the River Shannon, although at a lower rate than yesterday.

Read More Here

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IRISHCENTRAL

Dramatic flooding to come in Ireland as the Shannon River’s waters rise

Frances Mulraney @FrancesMulraney

December 15,2015 01:13 AM

An overall view of the River Shannon flowing into Athlone Town: the National Emergency Coordination Centre has said there is a high risk. Photo by: RollingNews.ie

Towns along the River Shannon are still feeling the effects of recent extreme bad weather, with further rain possibly flooding areas that are not yet under water.

According to Ireland's national weather service Met Éireann, there may be further “nasty” weather in the coming week, with the possibility of orange rain warnings for the south and southwest over the weekend.

Weather forecaster Gerald Fleming said at a briefing of the National Emergency Coordination Committee that there is no immediate danger as of yet, although it may develop into a serious weather event.

Air corps pictures over the Shannon area during Storm Desmond. Image: Air Corps/Photocall Ireland.

 

“There will be above normal rainfall over the course of the next six or seven days,” Fleming said.
“At the moment none of the individual events are at the orange status serious warnings level, but we’ll have to keep a very close eye on that because a couple of the events have the potential to get there.

“We’re in a situation where a number of those rain events have the potential to turn nasty, and potentially they could cause flooding in areas where there has been no flooding so far if that were to happen.”

Regions along the banks of the Shannon, Ireland’s longest river, are still battling with flooding caused by Storm Desmond over a week ago, with flood levels in the Lower Shannon area, from Lough Derg to Limerick City, only expected to reach their peak on Tuesday.

Read More Here

More than 700,000 people in the central Philippines fled to safer areas for fear of giant waves, floods or landslides as Typhoon Melor slammed into the archipelago nation

msn

A resident walks past big waves spilling over a wall onto a coastal road in the city of Legaspi in Albay province, south of Manila, on Dec. 14.



More than 700,000 people in the central Philippines fled to safer areas for fear of giant waves, floods or landslides as Typhoon Melor slammed into the archipelago nation Monday, officials said.




Meteorologists from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) monitor and plot the direction of powerful Typhoon Melor at their headquarters in suburban Manila on Dec. 14.


Melor crossed the central Burias Island late Monday, with authorities warning that traditional thatched homes were unlikely to withstand the strong winds and that crops may suffer heavy losses. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The typhoon brushed the northern tip of Samar, a farming island of 1.5 million people, early Monday with winds gusting up to 185 kilometres (115 miles) per hour, the state weather bureau said.
Samar was among areas devastated in 2013 by Typhoon Haiyan, when giant waves wiped out entire communities and left 7,350 people dead or missing.

Authorities warned that Melor's powerful winds might whip up four-metre-high (13-feet) waves, blow off tin roofs and uproot trees. They said heavy rain within its 300-kilometre diameter could trigger floods and landslides.



Read More Here

Oregon - Sinkholes and creeping mud put three homes at risk, pushed a barn off its foundation and left homeowners fearful of what will move next. As the rains continue, they say only one thing is clear: No one is coming to the rescue.

The Oregonian

Sinkholes, slides endanger entire neighborhood in Tillamook

 

 

A neighborhood of seven homes overlooking the Tillamook River are banding together after extreme weather has caused their hillside to shift, sending bits of road, mud and trees onto their homes and barns.

 

Laura Gunderson | The Oregonian/OregonLive

 

 

By Laura Gunderson | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on December 13, 2015 at 7:00 AM, updated December 13, 2015 at 7:01 AM

 

Seven families in a cluster of hillside homes above the Tillamook River spent the past week watching the two roads they live on slip, buckle and tangle into a slide of rocks, mud and trees.

It began Monday as a few little cracks on Burton Hill Road, just outside Tillamook. By Wednesday the cracks had collapsed into a quarter-mile series of sinkholes and creeping mud that put three homes at risk, pushed a barn off its foundation and left homeowners fearful of what will move next.
As the rains continue, they say only one thing is clear:
No one is coming to the rescue.

Morgan Kottre, 27, said she and her neighbors – some of them relatives – have been told by county, state and federal officials that they don't qualify for assistance because Burton Hill Road and the lower Hillside Drive are private roads on private land. Same story from at least one insurance company. Kottre said a representative told one family the devastation qualifies as an "act of god," which the insurer doesn't cover.

"In theory, we could try to fight it," she said, "but right now we're just trying to fight the land."
Storms over the past week that have brought flooding and landslides across northwestern Oregon. On Saturday afternoon, blizzard conditions closed three highways in Southern Oregon. The extreme weather has caused at least two deaths in Oregon and federal officials set early damage estimates at about $15 million.

Tillamook County was among the 13 counties where Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency. In fact, not far from Kottre's home on Saturday night, the town of Oceanside was cut off as the only road out of town was closed due to a failed culvert.

Read More and See Additional Photos Here

Winter tornadoes touch down in East Texas damaging 50 homes and injuring two

 

• The unexpected tornadoes touched down Saturday afternoon in Lindale, with no warning 
• At least 50 homes, around 90 miles southeast of Dallas, were damaged
• The mayor declared a city-wide emergency and 'declaration of disaster' 
• One witness said: 'On the movie Twister where they had the two tunnels come through, they twirled around each other, that's what it looked like'
• No one has yet been reported to have been killed 

By Kiri Blakeley For Dailymail.com

 

Published: 11:05 EST, 13 December 2015 | Updated: 16:49 EST, 13 December 2015 

 

Residents of Lindale, Texas took cell phone video of a tornado touching down on Saturday afternoon

 

Rare December tornadoes surprised East Texas on Saturday afternoon, damaging 50 homes, destroying a bridge and injuring two people.

At least one tornado, probably two, touched down around 4pm in Lindale, about 90 miles southeast of Dallas, according to KETK.

The mayor has issued a declaration of disaster for the city.

'We saw these clouds and these little tornadoes that were shooting down and then one hit the ground. We saw it hit the ground, witness Melissa Malone told the outlet. 'From there we called 911 and immediately alerted them and the sirens started going off.'

Residents in the area said that there were no storm warnings and alerts were not sent out

Read More Here

Unprecedented December red tide - Mass Fish die off followed by birds in Mississippi

...

Dead birds wash up on MS beaches

Posted: Dec 13, 2015 4:29 PM CST Updated: Dec 14, 2015 7:16 AM CST 

By WLOX Staff

 

 Fish were the first organisms to wash ashore dead after the algal bloom was announced. (Image Source: Missy Dubuisson)

SOUTH MISSISSIPPI (WLOX) - 

It's a frightening sight along the coastline. First fish, now dozens of birds found dead on beaches in several coast cities.

“We got reports of several birds in the Gulfport area and after speaking with DEQ they got several more birds in the Biloxi area,” said Missy Dubuisson with Wild at Heart Rescue.

Even in Long Beach, many species of birds have been found lifeless or clinging to life. Experts saying it all goes back to the unprecedented December red tide.

Dead seagull found lying on beach in Pass Christian. (Image Source: Missy Dubuisson)

“Of course there probably has been this issue before on a smaller scale and we might have just had a bird or two that maybe came in and didn't make it, but we weren't seeing what we're seeing now,” said Dubuisson.

Caretakers at Wild at Heart Rescue are currently rehabilitating a pelican who started with a hook injury, but is now battling respiratory distress due to the algal bloom.




Read More Here

Report of discovery of large object in far outer edges of solar system incites skeptical reactions

Phys.org

 

 

December 11, 2015 by Bob Yirka report

 

 

ALMA prototype-antennas at the ALMA test facility. Credit: ESO

(Phys.org)—Two separate teams of researchers (one from Mexico, the other Sweden), have incited skepticism among the astronomy community by posting papers on the preprint server arXiv each describing a different large object they observed in the outer edges of the solar system. Both teams made their observations after reviewing data from ALMA—a cluster of radio dishes in the Chilean mountains.

One of the objects was found to be near W Aquilae in the night sky—the other adjacent to Alpha Centauri . Both groups report being skeptical at first regarding a faint glow, but monitored what they had seen nonetheless—to their surprise they found that the objects appeared to move relative to the stars behind them, which suggested they might be relatively close and that they might be orbiting the sun. Neither group was able to gain much evidence regarding the properties of the objects they had spied, because both of them were only able to make two observations, but both teams suggest there was enough data to allow for ruling out the object being an ordinary star.

The Swedish team nick-named the object they observed Gna, after a Nordic God known for its swiftness, and have told the press they had no intention of suggesting they had found the mythical Planet X which supposedly lies somewhere beyond Pluto. Instead they suggest it might be a large asteroid. The team from Mexico went a little further suggesting that the object they observed might possibly turn out to be a brown dwarf.

Read More Here

California Has a Huge Methane Gas Leak of approx. 80,000 tons per month but a fix won't be possible until April, 2016

msn

California Has a Huge Gas Leak, and Crews Can’t Stop It Yet

Wired

Sarah Zhang 

 

 

© Dean Musgrove/Los Angeles Daily News/AP/Pool Crews from SoCalGas and outside experts work on a relief well at the Aliso Canyon facility above the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles, on December 9, 2015. 

 

 While the world was hammering out a historic agreement to curb carbon emissions—urged along by California, no less—the state was dealing with an embarrassing belch of its own. Methane, a greenhouse gas 70 times more potent than carbon dioxide, has been leaking out of a natural gas storage site in southern California for nearly two months, and a fix won’t arrive until spring.

The site is leaking up to 145,000 pounds per hour, according to the California Air Resources Board. In just the first month, that’s added up to 80,000 tons, or about a quarter of the state’s ordinary methane emissions over the same period. The Federal Aviation Administration recently banned low-flying planes from flying over the site, since engines plus combustible gas equals kaboom.
Steve Bohlen, who until recently was state oil and gas supervisor, can’t remember the last time California had to deal with a gas leak this big. “I asked this question of our staff of 30 years,” says Bohlen. “This is unique in the last three or four decades. This is an unusual event, period.”

Families living downwind of the site have also noticed the leak—boy, have they noticed. Methane itself is odorless, but the mercaptan added to natural gas gives it a characteristic sulfurous smell. Over 700 households have at least temporarily relocated, and one family has filed a lawsuit against the Southern California Gas Company alleging health problems from the gas. The gas levels are too low for long-term health effects, according to health officials, but the odor is hard to ignore.

Given both the local and global effects of the gas leak, why is it taking so long to stop? The answer has to do with the site at Aliso Canyon, an abandoned oil field. Yes, that’s right, natural gas is stored underground in old oil fields. It’s common practice in the US, but largely unique to this country. The idea goes that geological sites that were good at keeping in oil for millions of years would also be good at keeping in gas.

Read More Here

Alabama - A widespread fish kill is underway on Mobile Bay. Dead fish litter the bottom in the shallows surrounding a Fairhope boat ramp.

al.com

 

A widespread fish kill is underway on Mobile Bay. Dead fish litter the bottom in the shallows surrounding a Fairhope boat ramp.

 

The fish kill on Mobile Bay appears to be affecting primarily filter-feeding fish such as menhaden, sardines, alewives and shad.

Widespread fish kill underway in Mobile Bay

The fish kill on Mobile Bay appears to be affecting primarily filter-feeding fish such as menhaden, sardines, alewives and shad.

 

 

Ike Morgan | imorgan@al.com

 

 By Ben Raines | braines@al.com 
 

on December 11, 2015 at 6:55 AM, updated December 11, 2015 at 7:32 AM

 

A widespread fish kill is underway across Mobile Bay. It appears to be affecting primarily filter-feeding fish such as menhaden, sardines, alewives and shad.

Dead fish are present in the shallows and on beaches on both sides of the bay, from Point Clear to Daphne on the eastern shore and from Arlington Point south to Fowl River on the western shore. Dead and dying fish also dot the surface of the bay, from one side to the other.

The kill does not appear to be related to a red tide bloom occurring in the Gulf of Mexico and around Dauphin Island. Instead, the bloom in the upper bay appears to be another species of algae with a similar neurotoxic effect on fish.

Fish affected by the algae swim in a markedly erratic fashion, zipping straight ahead for a time, then falling into lazy circles, often swimming on their side or even upside down.

Read More Here