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Pollution
Oil spill NZ's 'worst maritime disaster'
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11 October 2011
The ship's owners said they were making efforts to minimise the environmental consequences of the incident [EPA]
New Zealand says an oil spill from a container ship stranded off the North Island coast has become the country's worst maritime environmental disaster.
The amount of oil spewing from the stricken vessel MV Rena, which hit a reef last Wednesday, had increased five-fold after it sustained further damage in a storm overnight, Environment Minister Nick Smith said on Tuesday.
"In the coming days [oil leak] will be noticeable, it will be a large scale environmental disaster"
Michael Morrah, journalist
"I'd like to acknowledge this event has come to a stage where it is New Zealand's most significant maritime environmental disaster," Smith said at Tauranga, where once-pristine beaches have been fouled with oil.
He described as tragic the latest developments, in which up to 350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil leaked into the Bay of Plenty early Tuesday, but said there was little authorities could do to prevent it.
"It is my view that the tragic events we are seeing unfolding were absolutely inevitable from the point that the Rena ran onto the reef in the early hours of Wednesday morning," he said.
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Sick Gulf residents continue to blame BP
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19 September 2011
Dahr Jamail
Oil, tar balls, tar mats, and dead animals are still common sights along the Gulf of Mexico [Erika Blumenfeld/Al Jazeera]
Just weeks after BP's oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, 2010, Fritzi Presley knew something was very wrong with her health.
The 57-year-old singer/songwriter from Long Beach, Mississippi began to feel sick, and went to her doctor.
"I began getting treatments for bronchitis, was put on several antibiotics and rescue inhalers, and even a breathing machine," she told Al Jazeera. The smell of chemicals on the Mississippi coastline is present on many days when wind blows in from the Gulf.
Presley's list of symptoms mirrors what many people living in the areas affected by BP's oil spill have told Al Jazeera.
"I was having them then, and still have killer headaches. I'm experiencing memory loss, and when I had my blood tested for chemicals, they found m,p-Xylene, hexane, and ethylbenzene in my body."
The 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf last year was the largest accidental marine oil spill in history, affecting people living near the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
Compounding the problem, BP has admitted to using at least 1.9 million gallons of toxic dispersants, which are banned by many countries, including the UK. According to many scientists, these dispersants create an even more toxic substance when mixed with crude oil.
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China threatens trade war over EU emissions trading scheme
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07 June 2011
European Union 'stands firm' on plans to include foreign airlines in its ETS as International Airlines Group boss Willie Walsh calls for a 'plan B'
The ETS will require airlines flying into, out of and within the EU to pay for any emissions that exceed a set cap. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian
China has threatened a damaging trade war with the European Union if Brussels pushes ahead with plans to include foreign airlines in its emissions trading scheme, as the boss of British Airways's parent company warned that passengers could be caught up in a tit-for-tat conflict.
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Villagers call for closure of Kütahya company after tailings failure
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11 May 2011
Dozens of people from villages close to a silver mining and refining facility in the western province of Kütahya staged a protest in front of the company on Tuesday, calling for the closure of the facility after the collapse of one of the embankments of its tailings dam.
Kütahya locals have been concerned since Saturday, when the embankment collapsed and caused fear over a possible cyanide leakage from the facility into nearby villages. The facility, owned by the Eti Silver Corporation, reportedly contains 15 million cubic meters of cyanide. It is located 34 kilometers from the provincial capital, near the village of Gümüş.
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LEONARDO BOFF. "Esta vez no habrá Arca de Noé"
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29 December 2010
En los próximos cinco o siete años puede haber 100 millones de refugiados climáticos, advierte BoffMÉXICO, dic (IPS) - "El mercado no va a resolver la crisis ambiental", dice el teólogo y ecologista Leonardo Boff, profesor de la brasileña Universidad del Estado de Río de Janeiro. La solución, insiste, está en la ética y en la batalla de los pueblos originarios para cambiar la relación con la naturaleza.
Boff, que enseña ética, filosofía de la religión y ecología, es uno de los principales representantes de la Teología de la Liberación, corriente progresista de la Iglesia Católica en América Latina, ha escrito más de 60 libros y dedicó los últimos 20 años a promover el movimiento verde.
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Cancún: de la tierra a la luna
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05 December 2010
Cancún, 3 de diciembre. Desde hace una semana, representantes de gobiernos de todo el mundo están reunidos en un búnker de superlujo llamado Moon Palace (Palacio de la Luna), supuestamente para discutir el cambio climático.
El lugar es lejos de los hoteles y más lejos de la ciudad de Cancún, lo que sumado a abundantes retenes policiales, significa invertir 2-3 horas diarias en pocos kilómetros de ida y vuelta. Exceptuando a los delegados de países ricos, que como si fuera otra forma de mostrar la injusticia climática, se alojan en el Moon Palace a precios exorbitantes. La mayoría de delegados de África, Asia, América Latina están en hoteles fuera del complejo lunático y necesitan horas para desplazarse. Además de dejar a los delegados del Sur agotados, parece ser un intento para frenar que llegue a la conferencia las protestas de la gente víctima del cambio climático.
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La Cumbre del Clima de Cancún comienza sin esperanza de acuerdo
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29 November 2010
Un total de 194 países buscan restaurar la confianza en la ONU tras el fiasco de Copenhague - Los negociadores admiten que no habrá un tratado vinculante
La cosa suele ir más o menos así. Cada año, sobre diciembre, más de 190 ministros de Medio Ambiente se reúnen en busca de un pacto que permita combatir el cambio climático, un acuerdo vinculante que a final de 2012 sustituya al Protocolo de Kioto. En cada cumbre se suceden los discursos políticos sobre cómo el calentamiento global es el mayor reto planetario, una gran amenaza mundial... Y cada año, la cumbre acaba en frustración, en un pacto de mínimos en el mejor de los casos, o con denuncias cruzadas culpándose del bloqueo en la negociación. Luego, los líderes vuelven a su casa a ocuparse de lo urgente: la depreciación del yuan, las próximas elecciones o el diferencial con el bono alemán.
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BP had little defence against a disaster, federal investigation says
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09 November 2010
Federal investigation into Deepwater Horizon oil disaster says BP overlooked warning signs
The presidential commission investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster ran into controversy today by saying it had found no evidence that BPand other oil companies put profits ahead of safety on the Deepwater Horizon rig. In a preliminary finding by what is the first independent panel, the commission's chief investigator found a series of missed warning signs before the April 20 explosion on the rig.
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Hungary chemical sludge 'threatens Danube'
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07 October 2010
Firefighters have poured industrial clay into the Marcal River to bind the toxic chemicals
Hungary is racing to prevent red chemical sludge from a huge spill reaching the Danube river, officials have said.
The alkalinity has risen in the Raba river, which flows into the Danube - Central Europe's major waterway.
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BP declares deep-sea well 'sealed'
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20 September 2010
US officials say energy company has finally sealed oil well that spilled 780 million litres of oil in Gulf of Mexico.
The oil spill has been an economic nightmare for people along the Gulf Coast [GALLO/GETTY]
US officials have declared that BP, the British oil company, has finally sealed the deep-sea well that gushed millions of oil into the Gulf of Mexico for several months.
"We can finally announce that the Macondo 252 well is effectively dead," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who oversees the US government response to the disaster, said in a statement on Sunday.
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