Trump opens parts of Florida, California waters up to offshore oil drilling, breaking decades of precedent
Source: CNN
Trump opens parts of Florida, California waters up to offshore oil drilling, breaking decades of precedent
Source: CNN
#MadKingDonald
#Assaultonmotherearth
#EnvironmentalDisaster
https://share.newsbreak.com/g062imuz

River close to engulfing waste mountain, MP warns

Marcus White and Jamie Morris, November 17, 2025

"A river is rising and threatening to engulf a mountain of fly-tipped waste in a field, an MP has warned.

"After heavy rain over the weekend, the River Cherwell is now lapping against the 'obscene' 150m (490ft) long pile near Kidlington in Oxfordshire, Calum Miller told the House of Commons.

"The Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock said the situation had become 'much more urgent' and asked the government to intervene.

"Environment Minister Emma Hardy said the Environment Agency was investigating and had acted to prevent further access to the site.

"Fly-tippers are thought to have spent weeks building up the mound in a field between the river and the A34.

"The Oxfordshire MP said it had reached a height of up to 12m (39ft).

"Asking a Urgent Question in the House of Commons, he said the river level had risen by about 4ft (1.2m) in recent days and some of the waste was now afloat.

"He said: 'This incident highlights that organised criminal gangs are carefully planning operations to dump #IndustrialWaste in the countryside.'

" 'They earn millions of pounds in illegal earnings without a thought for the health of people or animals, nor the damage to soil, water or air. And I am deeply concerned that the #EnvironmentAgency (#EA) is not equipped to deal with this unfolding #EnvironmentalDisaster.'

"Mr Miller said the government should order a clean-up by issuing a directive to the EA, similar to the one given for #HoadesWood in Kent in 2024.

"He also urged ministers to review the government's response to waste crime and allow the National Crime Agency to investigate the most serious cases."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2762y8x4eo

#FlyTipping #UK #Garbage #Pollution #FlyTips #IllegalDumping

How communities in #SacrificeZones suffer environmental injustices in #Mexico, #Chile, #Nigeria and #Indonesia (analysis)

Daniela Sepulveda and Angélica Arellano, 9 Apr 2025

"Across continents, 'sacrifice zones' resemble wounds carved deep into the fabric of our planet. These are regions where ecosystems and livelihoods have been ravaged by fossil fuel and other industries that promise progress but leave devastation in their wake. These are places where big business and transnational corporations are contaminating the rivers, darkening the skies, and making the soil barren; where the toll of development is paid in human suffering and ecological destruction.

"What unites these 'sacrifice zones' is the shared story of areas where prosperity for the few is built on the suffering of many, and where communities fight to mend the fractures inflicted upon their land, health and dignity.

"Here are four case studies highlighting the experiences of communities and civil society organizations collaborating with us in the Coalition for Human Rights in Development’s Community Resource Exchange.

#Tula, #Mexico

"In the #TulaTepejiApaxco region, where the #Toltec plains once supported rich #biodiversity and #CulturalHeritage, the water and air are now saturated with pollution. This devastated landscape was declared both in 1975 and again in 2005 by the U.N. as one of the most polluted places on Earth, marking it as an #EnvironmentalDisaster zone. Since the early 20th century, the arrival of #CementPlants, #refineries, #ChemicalFactories, a #coal-fired power plant and #LimeKilns has transformed the region. Backed by all levels of government, these industries have destroyed the area’s ecological balance and ruined the health of its people, poisoning the water, air and soil with #ToxicWaste.

"Prominent among these polluters are cement giants like #Holcim, #CEMEX, #CementosFortaleza and #Clarimex, whose operations release harmful gases that exacerbate the region’s environmental and public health crises. One of the epicenters of this environmental catastrophe is the #TulaRiver, which receives 150,000 liters (nearly 40,000 gallons) of untreated wastewater every second from Mexico City and the Valley of Mexico. These 'black waters' are teeming with industrial and hospital waste plus sewage, overwhelming the river and its tributaries.

"The #EndhóDam, originally built to support local #agriculture, has become a toxic dumping ground, poisoning thousands of people who rely on wells for drinking water. Despite decades of warnings, local and national governments have allowed this contamination to persist. The poisoned waters have killed fish, flooded the land with toxic sludge, and led to a surge in cancer, leukemia, respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases among the 15,000 inhabitants living along its banks. In 2021, a devastating flood related to the overflowing Tula River left 17 dead and displaced thousands, a stark reminder of the ongoing risks of government inaction.

"The region now faces a massive public health crisis, and the recent declaration by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to designate the area as an ecological restoration zone is a necessary but overdue step. This declaration covers municipalities such as #Atitalaquia,TepejiDelRío, #Tepetitlán and Tlahuelilpan, where 498 businesses have been identified as generators of hazardous waste, including 14 that produce hydrocarbons. The study, based on a water, air and soil analysis, could mark the beginning of recovery if it is implemented with urgency and seriousness.

"Over the years, organizations like #RedDeConcienciaAmbiental '#QueremosVivir' have resisted, bringing visibility to the devastation and fighting to halt deforestation and continued pollution. In the words of one of the leaders of Queremos Vivir ('We want to live'), 'There needs to be a legal solution, because it’s that urgent. We believe there is still a way to reverse it, and we have time to show the newly elected president #ClaudiaSheinbaum the dire situation we’re in.'

"Their demands include a reduction in the water flow of the Tula River through holistic water management solutions, and government accountability for decades of environmental neglect, calling for reparations for both industrial pollution and the catastrophic 2021 floods.

"While they welcome Sheinbaum’s promises to clean the river and launch a circular economy project, they emphasize that meaningful environmental justice must not be delayed any longer. After stating the communities’ demands through tears, the Queremos Vivir leader said, 'Are we really just going to be destined to be a sacrifice zone? The damage is so severe, the degradation we are in, that if we don’t protect it, don’t defend it, then what are we going to do?' "

Read more:
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/how-communities-in-sacrifice-zones-suffer-environmental-injustices-in-mexico-chile-nigeria-and-indonesia-analysis/

#SEZs #Antofagasta #Nigeria #Indonesia #HumanRights #HumanRightsFreeZone #CorporateColonialism
#Exploitation #RaceToTheBottom
#HumanRightsViolations
#Pollution #EnvironmentalDegradation
#EconomicSacrificZones
#ForcedRelocation #ForcedDisplacement #TraditionalLifestyles #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #EnvironmentalRacism #Exploitation

The dead saved the living: La Castellana cemetery shields town from logs washed down from Kanlaon

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/philippines/visayas/la-castellana-negros-occidental-cemetery-shield-logs-floods-mount-kanlaon-typhoon-tino-kalmaegi/

[Pinoy Criminology] Cebu flooding: The anatomy of a white collar crime

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/pinoy-criminology-cebu-floods-typhoon-tino-anatomy-white-collar-crime/

Negros Oriental molasses spill spread over 3,000 hectares | The wRap

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/video/daily-wrap/october-30-2025/

Typhoon Odette survivors to sue oil giant Shell for climate damage

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/environment/climate-change/typhoon-odette-survivors-file-complaint-shell-damage/

The Environmental Catastrophe That Shrunk the Aral Sea

On October 22, 1990, scientists revealed a startling environmental disaster: the Aral Sea, once the fourth-largest freshwater lake in the world, had shrunk by two-thirds. This massive reduction was attributed to Soviet-era irrigation projects that diverted water for cotton farming. The Aral Sea, loc... [More info]

Kazakhstan Urges Regional Cooperation to Save the Aral Sea

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://timesca.com/kazakhstan-urges-regional-cooperation-to-save-the-aral-sea/

Moroccan city struggles with sand encroachment http://newsfeed.facilit8.network/TN9CZR #Morocco #SandEncroachment #EnvironmentalDisaster #ClimateChange #Sustainability

SC pipeline route surfaces after months of secrecy. Environmental concerns rise
Source: The State
#SouthCarolina
#EnvironmentalDisaster
https://share.newsbreak.com/ei6d951z

We were driving past this thing, and thanks to the Wonders of the Internet I was able to find out about it. It's the PSE&G generating station in Kearny, NJ. It still operates.

Looking it up in Wikipedia, I discovered this is one of the few surviving “mercury vapor” type generators. The fuel (originally coal, then oil, now mostly gas) is used to heat mercury, and the mercury drives the first round of turbines. Then the cooled mercury vapor is used to boil water for steam, which spins a second set of turbines.

“Holy cow,” I said. “What a terrible idea. What if the mercury gets out?”

Sure enough, Wikipedia says “This example of combined cycle generation was not widely adopted because of high capital cost and the toxic hazard of the mercury potentially leaking into the environment.” They stopped building them in the 1950s. This one dates to 1933.

UPDATE: I misunderstood the Wikipedia article. The _current_ plant is a “simple cycle gas-fired plant”, which means that the hot burning gas itself drives the turbines. There's no mercury vapor involved, not even any steam. (A plant that uses a gas cycle and then uses the still-hot gas to heat water for steam turbines is called “combined cycle”.)

According to Wikipedia, the original combined mercury vapor and steam process was eliminated, maybe as long ago as the 1960s. It also generated only about 50MW. The current plant's capacity is around ten times that.

#infrastructure #environmentalDisaster

https://maps.app.goo.gl/zMGhnmabp8P2dK1r5

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/563483/nothing-short-of-disastrous-seabed-mining-project-another-muru-raupatu-for-taranaki #nzpol #seabedmining #environmentaldisaster

Entire marine ecosystems are collapsing under the pressure of extreme heat. The Pacific may be a preview of what's coming. #ClimateCrisis #MarineHeatwave #EnvironmentalDisaster

https://geekoo.news/pacific-on-fire-the-ocean-heatwave-no-one-saw-coming/

@pindorama
"Not even the most protected places are free from the impacts of the extensive use of agrichemicals in Brazil, which is the largest consumer of chemical inputs for agricultural use in the world. A study involving researchers from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) identified the presence of pesticides in sediment samples from six lakes and untouched mountain wetlands in two Brazilian national parks"
#Ecocide #ChemicalPollution #EnvironmentalDisaster

The Toxic Wave That Swallowed a Tennessee Town

https://oxfordamerican.org/oa-now/the-toxic-wave-that-swallowed-a-tennessee-town

#HackerNews #ToxicWave #Tennessee #Town #EnvironmentalDisaster #CommunityImpact #Pollution #Awareness

An oil tanker explosion is one of the most devastating disasters for marine ecosystems. 🛢️💥

Australia's readiness for such a catastrophe is now under the spotlight. Do we have the emergency response capacity needed to prevent irreversible damage?

Dive into the full analysis here:

https://mikkyoscarinosuluportfolio.blogspot.com/2025/03/oil-tanker-explodes-is-australia-ready.html

#ClimateChange #EnvironmentalDisaster #Australia

🚨 The Aral Sea is almost gone 😢 Once the world’s 4th largest lake, today it’s mostly desert.

Can it still be saved? Read more: https://www.ryanjhite.com/2025/02/12/the-aral-sea-disaster-a-man-made-environmental-catastrophe/
#AralSea #EnvironmentalDisaster #WaterCrisis #ClimateChange

Not just human health! The #Toxic Blend of LA’s Urban #WildfireSmoke Will Have Lasting Health Consequences

Los Angeles residents are breathing bits of "cars, metal pipes, plastics."

By Zoya Teirstein, January 22, 2025

“These fires are different from previous quote-unquote ‘wildfires,’ because there are so many structures that burned,” said Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. 'Everything in the households got burned — cars, metal pipes, plastics.'

"#Wildfiresmoke is toxic. Burning trees and shrubs produce very fine #particulatematter, known by the shorthand PM 2.5, which burrow deep into the lungs and can even infiltrate the bloodstream, causing cold- and flu-like symptoms in the short term, and heart disease, lung cancer, and other chronic issues over time.

"But the fires that raced through Los Angeles burned thousands of homes, schools, historic buildings, and even medical clinics, blanketing the city in thick smoke. For several days after the first fire started, the city’s air quality index, or #AQI, exceeded 100, the threshold, typically seen during wildfires, at which air becomes unhealthy to breathe for children, the elderly, and those with asthma. In some parts of the city, the AQI reached 500, a number rarely seen and always hazardous for everyone.

"At the moment, air pollution experts know how much smoke fills the air. That’s shown improvement in recent days. But they don’t know what’s in it. 'What are the chemical mixtures in this smoke?' asked Kai Chen, an environmental scientist at the Yale School of Public Health. 'In addition to fine particulate matter, there are potentially other hazardous and #carcinogenic organic compounds — gas pollutants, trace metals, and microplastics.'

"Previous research shows that the spikes in unhealthy air quality seen during such events lead to higher rates of hospitalizations for issues like asthma, and even contribute to heart attacks among those with that chronic disease. A 2024 study on the long-term effects of smoke exposure in California showed that particulate matter from wildfires in the state from 2008 to 2018 contributed to anywhere from 52,000 to 56,000 premature deaths. A health assessment of 148 firefighters who worked the Tubbs Fire, which burned more than 36,000 acres in Northern California in 2017 and destroyed an unusually high number of structures, found elevated levels of the #PFAS known as forever chemicals, #HeavyMetals, and flame retardants in their blood and urine.

"The L.A. County Department of Public Health has formally urged people to stay inside and wear masks to protect themselves from windblown toxic dust and ash. Air quality measurements don’t take these particles into account, which means the air quality index doesn’t reveal the extent of contaminants in the air.

"Zhu and her colleagues have been collecting samples of wildfire smoke in neighborhoods near the fires. It’ll be months before that data is fully analyzed, but Zhu suspects she will find a dangerous mix of chemicals, including, potentially, #asbestos and lead — materials used in many buildings constructed before the 1970s.

"The risk will linger even after the smoke clears. The plumes that wafted over the landscape will deposit chemicals into drinking #water supplies and #contaminate# soil. When rains do come, they’ll wash #ToxicAsh into streams and across the land, said Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, an environmental engineer and interim dean of the University of Colorado Boulder environmental engineering program. 'There’s a lot of manmade materials that are now being combusted. The potential is there for contamination,' he said, noting that little research on how toxic ash and other byproducts of wildfires in urban areas currently exists. 'What we don’t have a lot of information on is what happens now.'

"After the Camp Fire razed Paradise, California, in 2018, water utilities found high levels of volatile organic compounds [#VOCs] in #DrinkingWater. Similar issues have arisen in places like Boulder County, Colorado, where the Marshall Fire destroyed nearly 1,000 structures in 2021, Rosario-Ortiz said, though the presence of a contaminant in a home doesn’t necessarily mean it will be present in high levels in the water. Still, several municipal water agencies in Los Angeles issued preemptive advisories urging residents not to drink tap water in neighborhoods near the Palisades and Eaton fires. It’ll be weeks before they know exactly what’s in the water.

"As wildfires grow ever more intense and encroach upon urban areas, cities and counties must be prepared to monitor the health impacts and respond to them. 'This is the first time I’ve ever even witnessed or heard anything like this,' said Zhu, who raised her daughter in Los Angeles and has lived there for decades, said. 'Even being in the field studying wildfires and air quality impacts, I never imagined that a whole neighborhood, a whole community in Palisades, would burn down.'"

Read more:
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-toxic-blend-of-las-urban-wildfire-smoke-will-have-lasting-health-consequences/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=flipboard_rss&utm_campaign=znetwork
#AirPollution #WaterPollution #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #ToxicMaterials #EnvironmentalDisaster #EnvironmentalDamage #Pyrocene #PyroceneEra