Archive for the 'Disaster' Category

As gas prices soar on Ike’s winds, Riley triggers price-gouging law

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September 13, 2008 in Disaster, State and Local, The Consumer and Weather. 0 Comments

Courtesy The Huntsville Times

MONTGOMERY - With Hurricane Ike pushing gas prices above $5 today, Gov. Bob Riley late this afternoon declared a state of emergency for Alabama, triggering a price-gouging law.

Riley cited the U.S. Department of Energy’s prediction that gasoline and other energy shortages will likely occur in Alabama because of Hurricane Ike.

The state law that prohibits “unconscionable pricing” of items for sale or rent takes effect when the governor has declared a state of emergency.

Earlier in the day, the governor’s office noted that an Alabama governor’s ability to declare a state of emergency was very limited.

By law, an Alabama governor cannot declare a state of emergency unless there has been or there is anticipated to be an attack on the United States, a natural disaster of major proportions affecting Alabama or a public health emergency.

Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

Despite evacuation order, 1,000 remain in Galveston jail

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September 12, 2008 in Disaster, Law and Justice, Lock Up, Police, State and Local and Weather. 0 Comments

Courtesy Chron (The Houston Chronicle)

GALVESTON — About 1,000 prisoners and a full jail staff remained in the Galveston County Jail on Galveston Island this morning, even as the island began to be battered by the onslaught of Hurricane Ike.
The reason for not evacuating the prisoners is a security issue and cannot be discussed, sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said.
“The prisoners and their safety and well-being are paramount and it will be handled,” Tuttoilmondo said.
Any decision to move the prisoners would be kept secret for security reasons, as happened before Hurricane Rita in 2005, he said.
“We did this during Rita and no one knew until it was absolutely done,” Tuttoilmondo said.
The prisoners were in the jail as of 10 a.m. today, leaving little time to transfer them to the mainland. Hurricane-force winds are expected to strike the island later today, making exit across the causeway to the mainland difficult.
Tuttoilmondo declined to say how many deputies were at the jail, but said a full jail staff and relief shifts remained on duty at the lockup at 57th Street and Broadway.
He also declined to discuss measures the Sheriff’s Office would take to make sure the prisoners and jail staff remained safe if a storm surge floods the jail.

Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

*Thank you to Betsy, The HORN’s Texas Ninja for this Article.

NOLA Ordered to Evacuate

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August 31, 2008 in Disaster, State and Local, US News and Weather. 0 Comments

Courtesy Time

NEW ORLEANS) — Spooked by predictions that Hurricane Gustav could grow into a Category 5 monster, an estimated 1 million people fled the Gulf Coast Saturday — even before the official order came for New Orleans residents to get out of the way of a storm taking dead aim at Louisiana.

Mayor Ray Nagin gave the mandatory order late Saturday, but all day residents took to buses, trains, planes and cars — clogging roadways leading away from New Orleans, still reeling three years after Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city and killed about 1,600 across the region.
The evacuation of New Orleans becomes mandatory at 8 a.m. Sunday along the vulnerable west bank of the Mississippi River, and at noon on the east bank. Nagin called Gustav the “mother of all storms” and told residents to “get out of town. This is not the one to play with.”
“This is the real deal, this is not a test,” Nagin said as he issued the order, warning residents that staying would be “one of the biggest mistakes you could make in your life.” He emphasized that the city will not offer emergency services to anyone who chooses to stay behind.
Nagin did not immediately order a curfew, which would allow officials to arrest residents if they are not on their property.
Gustav had already killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean, and if current forecasts hold up, it would make landfall Monday afternoon somewhere between East Texas and western Mississippi.
The storm’s center moved into the Gulf of Mexico from Cuba late Saturday and at 11 p.m. EDT was about 530 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Top winds were near 140 mph and likely to strengthen.

Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

Lawsuit seeks EPA pesticide data

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August 20, 2008 in Disaster, Economy, Environment, Government, Law and Justice and The Consumer. 0 Comments

Courtesy SFGate:

(08-18) 18:37 PDT – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is refusing to disclose records about a new class of pesticides that could be playing a role in the disappearance of millions of honeybees in the United States, a lawsuit filed Monday charges.

The Natural Resources Defense Council wants to see the studies that the EPA required when it approved a pesticide made by Bayer CropScience five years ago.

The environmental group filed the suit as part of an effort to find out how diligently the EPA is protecting honeybees from dangerous pesticides, said Aaron Colangelo, a lawyer for the group in Washington.

In the last two years, beekeepers have reported unexplained losses of hives - 30 percent and upward - leading to a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder. Scientists believe that the decline in bees is linked to an onslaught of pesticides, mites, parasites and viruses, as well as a loss of habitat and food.

$15 billion in crops

Bees pollinate about one-third of the human diet, $15 billion worth of U.S. crops, including almonds in California, blueberries in Maine, cucumbers in North Carolina and 85 other commercial crops, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Not finding a cause of the collapse could prove costly, scientists warn.

Representatives of the EPA said they hadn’t seen the suit and couldn’t comment.

Clothianidin is the pesticide at the center of controversy. It is used to coat corn, sugar beet and sorghum seeds and is part of a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids. The pesticide was blamed for bee deaths in France and Germany, which also is dealing with a colony collapse. Those two countries have suspended its use until further study. An EPA fact sheet from 2003 says clothianidin has the potential for toxic chronic exposure to honey bees, as well as other pollinators, through residues in nectar and pollen.

The EPA granted conditional registration for clothianidin in 2003 and at the same time required that Bayer CropScience submit studies on chronic exposure to honeybees, including a complete worker bee lifecycle study as well as an evaluation of exposure and effects to the queen, the group said. The queen, necessary for a colony, lives a few years; the workers live only six weeks, but there is no honey without them.

“The public has no idea whether those studies have been submitted to the EPA or not and, if so, what they show. Maybe they never came in. Maybe they came in, and they show a real problem for bees. Maybe they’re poorly conducted studies that don’t satisfy EPA’s requirement,” Colangelo said.

Request for records

Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

UK Society should Prepare for a 4°C Rise in Global Temp, warns Top Scientist

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August 7, 2008 in Disaster, Environment, Government, Science and World. 0 Comments

Courtesy The Guardian (UK):

The UK should take active steps to prepare for dangerous climate change of perhaps 4C according to one of the government’s chief scientific advisers.

In policy areas such as flood protection, agriculture and coastal erosion Professor Bob Watson said the country should plan for the effects of a 4C global average rise on pre-industrial levels. The EU is committed to limiting emissions globally so that temperatures do not rise more than 2C.

“There is no doubt that we should aim to limit changes in the global mean surface temperature to 2C above pre-industrial,” Watson, the chief scientific adviser to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, told the Guardian. “But given this is an ambitious target, and we don’t know in detail how to limit greenhouse gas emissions to realise a 2 degree target, we should be prepared to adapt to 4C.”
Globally, a 4C temperature rise would have a catastrophic impact.

According to the government’s 2006 Stern review on the economics of climate change, between 7 million and 300 million more people would be affected by coastal flooding each year, there would be a 30-50% reduction in water availability in Southern Africa and the Mediterranean, agricultural yields would decline 15 to 35% in Africa and 20 to 50% of animal and plant species would face extinction.

In the UK, the most significant impact would be rising sea levels and inland flooding. Climate modellers also predict there would be an increase in heavy rainfall events in winter and drier summers.

Watson’s plea to prepare for the worst was backed up by the government’s former chief scientific adviser, Sir David King. He said that even with a comprehensive global deal to keep carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere at below 450 parts per million there is a 50% probability that temperatures would exceed 2C and a 20% probability they would exceed 3.5C.

“So even if we get the best possible global agreement to reduce greenhouse gasses on any rational basis you should be preparing for a 20% risk so I think Bob Watson is quite right to put up the figure of 4 degrees,” he said.

One big unknown is the stage at which dangerous tipping points would be reached that lead to further warming - for example the release of methane hydrate deposits in the Arctic. “My own feeling is that if we get to a 4 degree rise it is quite possible that we would begin to see a runaway increase,” said King.

He said a two-and-half-year analysis by the government’s Foresight programme on the implications for coastal defences had more impact in the corridors of power than any other research on the effects of climate change that he presented.

Article with Audio link Continues @ Sourced Site.

Strong quake felt in Los Angeles

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July 29, 2008 in Disaster, State and Local and US News. 0 Comments

Courtesy BBC News:

A strong earthquake has been felt in the US city of Los Angeles.
The quake made buildings in the city shake and was felt as far south as San Diego, witnesses say, but so far there are no reports of casualties or damage.
The US Geological Survey said the tremor had a magnitude of 5.8, after initially measuring it at 5.6.
The epicentre of the quake was located 29 miles south-east of downtown Los Angeles, near Chino Hills in San Bernardino County, officials said.

Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

Related: Map of Affected Area.‡

‡Courtesy US Global Survey

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