Tag: Natural Disasters

Topic

Florida Power Company to Build Huge Coal Plant in the Everglades

Trish

It’s not just because I finally watched “An Inconvenient Truth” this weekend that I find the news that Florida Power & Light is planning to build one of the country’s largest coal-fired generating plants in the Everglades so infuriating.

The plant would emit 16 million tons of climate- changing carbon dioxide, making it the largest single source of global warming pollution in the state.

It’s also the unmitigated gall of a company that sucks every last dime of profit from its customers while feeding at the public trough. Floridians will be a long time forgetting how FPL used hurricane damage as an excuse to raise rates and then asked the state legislature for money to fix its equipment and lines. And got both.

But this latest news takes the cake.

Florida Power & Light’s rush to build one of the largest coal plants in the nation sets back the state’s efforts toward a clean energy future and dramatically increases global warming pollution…

The proposed coal plant would be a 5,000-acre industrial facility constructed in the heart of the Everglades, in the city of Moore Haven in Glades County, and would emit harmful pollutants 24 hours a day for more than 50 years.

The pollutants include: sulfur dioxide, that would acidify lakes, rivers, and the Everglades; nitrogen oxide, which is a precursor to smog and exacerbates respiratory diseases like asthma; soot that has been scientifically linked to lung cancer and cardiac arrest; and mercury, which is a potent neurotoxin that has already contaminated every major water body in Florida, leading to fish consumption advisories by the Department of Health. Lastly, the plant would emit 16 million tons of climate-changing carbon dioxide, making it the largest single source of global warming pollution in the state.

FPL does not talk about the emissions from the plant and its effect on our health and environment but rather on the low cost of coal as compared to other fuels.

It also talks, on its web site, about what a great friend to the environment it is.

We strive for more efficient operations and improved performance with less impact on the environment.

…Our commitment to reduce emissions has yielded important dividends for air quality.

…We look for ways to improve our operations to minimize impacts on wildlife near our facilities.

If, like me, you can’t let this plan stand, contact FPL and tell them what a bunch of money-grubbing hypocrites they are. As you might expect, they make it hard to give them feedback by requiring names and addresses in an online form but make something up. And give them an earful.

Ex-FEMA Head Says Bush Targeted Democratic Louisiana Governor

Trish

If Michael Brown is lying, he sure is good at it. Despite White House denials (by a third-tier spokesperson), Brown’s latest tidbits about the handling of Hurricane Katrina — and taking over Louisiana operations — sound awfully credible.

“Certain people in the White House were thinking we had to federalize Louisiana because she’s a white, female Democratic governor and we have a chance to rub her nose in it”

Some in the White House suggested only Louisiana should be federalized because it was run by a Democrat, Gov. Kathleen Blanco, Brown told a group of graduate students at a lecture on politics and emergency management at Metropolitan College of New York.

Brown said he had recommended to President Bush that all 90,000 square miles along the Gulf Coast affected by the hurricane be federalized, making the federal government in charge of all agencies responding to the disaster.

“Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking we had to federalize Louisiana because she’s a white, female Democratic governor and we have a chance to rub her nose in it,” he said…

Blanco reacted sharply on hearing what Brown had said.

“This is exactly what we were living but could not bring ourselves to believe. Karl Rove was playing politics while our people were dying,” Blanco said through a spokeswoman, referring to President Bush’s top political strategist. “The federal effort was delayed, and now the public knows why. It’s disgusting.”

Rocket Scientists, Brain Surgeons Agree: End is Near

Trish

Really smart people think, after six years of Bush, the world is in big trouble. But Bush is probably still trying to figure out how to “bring it on” faster.

The world edged closer toward nuclear holocaust and environmental catastrophe, a prominent international group of scientists warned today, moving their symbolic Doomsday Clock ahead two minutes.

“It is now five minutes to midnight,” said Kennette Benedict, executive director of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. “This change reflects the global failures to solve the problems posed by nuclear weapons and by climate change.”

It is now five minutes to midnight on the Doomsday Clock

…The symbolism of the move is significant because the organization, which includes more than a dozen Nobel laureates, has moved the clock only 18 times since it was set to seven minutes to midnight in 1947. The clock has been closer to midnight, two minutes away after the Eisenhower administration tested a nuclear bomb in 1953. But it is also a long way from its most optimistic setting, at 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Today’s change was the first since 2002.

The organization cited North Korea’s recent test of a nuclear weapon, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a renewed emphasis on military uses and proliferation of nuclear weapons and the presence of 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia. The organization added global warming to its concerns, saying in its statement, “the dangers of climate change are nearly as dire as those of nuclear weapons.”

Gale Norton is Going to Hell

Trish

I hope all those cynics who said former Interior Secretary Gale Norton was too damn friendly to industry are listening. Because, man, were you guys right!

Shell’s getting a bargain, no matter how much Norton sold her soul for

Former Interior Secretary Gale Norton is returning to Colorado to work for Shell, the energy behemoth that is pouring millions of dollars into an ambitious research project to produce oil shale on the Western Slope…

Norton will provide legal advice and services to Shell beginning in mid-January. She was unavailable for comment.

Or just unable to come up with anything to say that could ever in a million years put a good face on this.

But let’s face it. Shell’s getting a bargain, no matter how much Norton sold her soul for.

“I think Shell is serious about going in for commercial production of oil shale,” [Director of the Community Office for Resource Efficiency in Aspen, Randy] Udall said. “They would need permits for air quality, permits for water quality, and Norton’s Colorado background plus her experience in the Interior Department makes her the perfect person to spearhead their permitting process.”

Yeah, perfect. Say hi to everyone in hell for me when you get there, girl.

Um, That Global Warming Stuff? It’s Happening

Trish

What were you doing on Aug. 13, 2005? If you were a Canadian ice shelf, you were melting and breaking free. Yikes.

“What surprised us was how quickly it happened,” Copland said. “It’s pretty alarming.”

A giant ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields has snapped free from Canada’s Arctic, scientists said. The mass of ice broke clear 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 497 miles south of the North Pole, but no one was present to see it in Canada’s remote north. Scientists using satellite images later noticed that it became a newly formed ice island in just an hour and left a trail of icy boulders floating in its wake.

Warwick Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, traveled to the newly formed ice island and could not believe what he saw.

“This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are loosing [sic] remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many thousands of years. We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead,” Vincent said Thursday…

Laurie Weir, who monitors ice conditions for the Canadian Ice Service, was poring over satellite images in 2005 when she noticed that the shelf had split and separated.

Weir notified Luke Copland, head of the new global ice lab at the University of Ottawa, who initiated an effort to find out what happened.

Using U.S. and Canadian satellite images, as well as data from seismic monitors, Copland discovered that the ice shelf collapsed in the early afternoon of Aug. 13, 2005.

“What surprised us was how quickly it happened,” Copland said. “It’s pretty alarming. Even 10 years ago scientists assumed that when global warming changes occur that it would happen gradually so that perhaps we expected these ice shelves just to melt away quite slowly, but the big surprise is that for one they are going, but secondly that when they do go, they just go suddenly, it’s all at once, in a span of an hour.”

Heading to Mecca for Hajj? Better Get Your Shots

Buck Banks

Holy vaccinations: If you are of the Muslim persuasion and plan to join a couple million fellow believers for the Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, between Dec. 29, 2006, and Jan. 3, 2007, better make sure you have your vaccination records up to date. When it comes to the potential of the annual gathering of Allah’s faithful to serve as a giant petri dish for the world’s most popular diseases, the Saudis don’t mess around. Sounds like a good place to get really sick:

The congregation of so many people from different parts of the world in unavoidably overcrowded conditions within a confined area for a short period of time presents many public health challenges. The combination of physical exertion, overcrowding and any pre-existing health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, chronic chest conditions, renal and liver disease favour local and possibly international spread of communicable diseases, including meningococcal infections, influenza, tuberculosis and gastrointestinal infections.

This year’s vaccination requirements and advice have been issued by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj for the most serious communicable disease risks:

Meningococcal meningitis
All Hajj pilgrims are now required to submit proof of vaccination with the quadrivalent vaccine against meningococcal meningitis types A, C and W135Y as part of the Hajj visa application to Saudi Arabia. This should be recorded in a vaccination book showing the traveler’s full name.

Chemoprophylaxis against meningococcal infection will also be given to all people arriving in Saudi Arabia from countries in the African meningitis belt.

Polio
All travelers to Saudi Arabia are advised to ensure their polio vaccination is up to date. Travelers whose last dose of polio was more than ten years ago should receive a booster, using the trivalent tetanus, diphtheria and polio vaccine.

The WHO considers the following countries to be polio-affected (as of Oct. 4, 2006): Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Namibia, Nepal, Sudan, Yemen.

Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B virus is found in body fluids and can be transmitted either through skin breakages or by close sexual contact. Transmission through the skin may occur through the use of contaminated medical, dental, or other instruments; all pilgrims should consider hepatitis B vaccine. One of the rites of Hajj is for men to have their head shaved. Although the Saudi authorities provide licensed barbers who use a new blade for each pilgrim, other barbers may not conform to such standards. Shaving with a previously used blade could carry a risk of hepatitis B and other bloodborne infections, and so communal use of a razor or blade to shave each other should be avoided. Pilgrims should consider taking with them a disposable razor for this purpose. This will also help to protect against hepatitis C virus infection.

Influenza
Recent studies have shown a high incidence of influenza infections during the Hajj, and so it would seem prudent to regard all Hajj pilgrims as at risk. The Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia recommends that pilgrims be vaccinated against influenza before arrival, particularly those with pre-existing conditions (e.g., the elderly, people with chronic chest or heart diseases, or those with cardiac, hepatic or renal failure).

Vectorborne diseases
Yellow fever
All travelers arriving from countries endemic for yellow fever must present a valid yellow fever vaccination certificate in accordance with the International Health Regulations. In the absence of such a certificate, the person will be vaccinated upon arrival and placed under strict surveillance for six days from the day of vaccination or the last date of potential exposure to infection, whichever is earlier.

Saudi authorities also require that aircraft and other means of transportation arriving from areas infected with yellow fever are requested to submit a certificate indicating disinfection in accordance with international health regulations.

Malaria
Malaria is not normally present in Medina or Mecca, but is a risk in other areas of Saudi Arabia including the southwestern region and rural areas of the western region. Pilgrims may also plan further travel before or after Hajj to countries in Asia and Africa, and should seek advice about malaria prevention. Pilgrims are advised to practice insect bite avoidance measures that also protects against other vectorborne diseases.

Helluva way to get to heaven ….

Earthquakes — Another Reason Florida Is More Dangerous than Southern California

Buck Banks

Magnitudes of disaster: Editor-In-Chief Jon always takes on a slightly condescending attitude when Co-Editor Trish and I complain about hurricanes. As a denizen of West Hollywood, Jon likes to point out that he lives right on top of a REALLY BIG FAULT LINE THAT COULD GO AT ANY MINUTE, WITHOUT WARNING (emphasis mine).

While Jon always is sympathetic to Trish and my plight as huge weather systems hundreds of miles across containing as much enegery as several atomic bombs come barreling toward the Sunshine State, he always plays the earthquake trump card — while we know for days ahead of time that a hurricane is coming and can prepare and/or evacuate, his cats tell him only minutes before he gets a temblor.

So what if we didn’t feel the quake and a killer tsunami didn’t materialize — it’s the idea that it could happen that counts in the game of potential- disaster one-upsmanship.

Well, buddy, we in Florida got our own earthquake this weekend, and a pretty big one, too, at 6.0 on the Richter scale. And we also had a 5.3 one last February. And — unlike Los Angeles — our earthquakes have the potential to generate that third horseman of the apocalypse for Florida: a tsunami! Top that, Jon Boy!

So what if we didn’t quite feel the quake and our killer tsunami looked like a typical two-foot Gulf wave — it’s the idea that it could happen that counts in the psychological game of potential-disaster one-upsmanship.

So let’s review: Dangers that Jon faces in L.A. inlcude earthquakes, not mudslides (since he doesn’t live in Topanga Canyon), traffic, not wildfires, rap-related drive-by gang violence, smog and the actions of a depraved Austrian fascist governor.

The dangers that Trish and I face include earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, alligators, several species of poisonous snake, West Nile virus, fire ants, Africanized bees, falling coconuts, sharks and, following Steve Irwin’s unusual death, stingrays. On top of that, we have the Army Corps of Engineers, which is capable of creating disasters on an epic scale; the dangerously incompetent Florida Legislature; Miami’s emotionally unstable Cuban community, and a chunky, sleazy, untrustworthy born-again governor.

So, Jon, the next time you are awakened by your collection of Hummel figurines crashing to the floor, take comfort in knowing that it was not an angry 10-foot alligator smashing the china cabinet, it was probably just a minor earthquake — and they get those in Florida, too.

Repost: Democratic Party Should Take the Lead in Post-Katrina Aid

Buck Banks

This is a repost of an article from Pensito Review’s coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. It originally appeared one year ago today, Sept. 1, 2005.

Now is the time for the Democratic Party to mobilize its significant resources and come to the aid of the Gulf region devastated by Hurricane Katrina. As chairman, Howard Dean should activate the party’s communications and fund-raising apparatus to get money flowing from Democrats and liberals nationwide to the party, which could then direct the funds to relief organizations.

Bush and the Repugs diverted money that could have averted death and disaster in New Orleans, now let the Dems step up and mobilize their resources and provide needed aid in a hurry.

What? You say this is no time for partisan politics? Let’s wake up and take a lesson from the Republicans and the neocons and the God-knobs and the whacko wingnuts — it’s always partisan politics, all the time.

Let’s take the opportunity of this horrendous natural (and manmade) disaster and Bush’s high disapproval rating to energize the Democratic Party and accomplish something positive for the first time in five years.

Revisited: Here we are a year later and, needless to say, the Democratic Party did not step up to the plate following Katrina. Yeah, they criticized the administration and pointed out shortcomings in Bushco’s response and raised money for aid, but I don’t think they took the political advantage the situation offered. Sure, it might have appeared unseemly to “use” the nation’s worst natural and manmade disaster for political ends, but don’t you think if the Dems had been in charge and botched it as badly, the GOP would have shown restraint? Don’t think so.

Gitmo Has Survived Ernesto, Army Ready to Help FEMA

Buck Banks

Gimme shelter: Tropical Storm Ernesto did less damage to the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, today than Paris Hilton’s recent vow to remain celibate did to the straight males of the world. The storm rolled over the controversial base earlier this morning in a direct hit that didn’t hurt too much.

DoD is working with FEMA experts to prepare for any eventuality.

According to a press release hastily dispatched by the Department of Defense, the base experienced on 33-knot winds with gusts up to 38 knots, or a 40-50 mph range, and only had 2.1 inches of rain fall on the detainee camp.

“We were prepared,” base spokeswoman Satcey Byington said. “Most people sheltered in place and came out when the ‘all clear’ sounded this morning at about 10:30.”

Does that mean the guys in organge jump suits and face masks just curled up in their chain-link cubes and hunkered down? Strangely, the release did not mention the hundred-odd remaining detainees, though it did hail the shelter-in-place talents of the 7,000 military personnel.

Then, in a move that did little to quell the fears of those of us in danger of being molesto’d by Ernesto tomorrow, the DoD said that the military was already cooperating with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on delivering assistance in the storm’s aftermath.

DoD is working with FEMA experts to prepare for any eventuality. “We have the defense coordinating officer and the defense coordinating element from FEMA Region 4 deployed to the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee, Fla.,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. DoD also has representatives at the Regional Response Coordination Center in Atlanta.

“There has also been a determination that should there need to be logistical staging, that Fort Rucker and Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and Homestead Air Reserve Base and Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida will serve as FEMA logistical staging areas,” Whitman said.

Well, I guess that’s better than having ice trucks in Maryland, but Miami is still a 10-hour drive from Tallahassee, a good seven-hour hike from Jacksonville, and don’t mention Alabama — and that’s with clear, dry roadways and working traffic signals.

Anyway, a co-worker reports that Winn-Dixie is out of water already as of her lunch break, and long lines have formed for gasoline. And though we’re being told there’s no need to panic, people are already getting testy over who gets the last loaf of Wonder Bread.

Kind of reminds me of how Michael Brown and Michael Chertoff and George Bush were “ready” for Katrina’s landfall in New Orleans last year and the job they all did. On the eve of Ernesto, Jon and Trish and I think it might be interesting to mine the archives and revisit some of the low lights of Bushco’s performance a year ago.

Stayed tuned for a look back at the “heckuva job” done by our goverment in response to the nation’s worse natural disaster.

Preparation H (Hurricanes, That Is)

Trish

When a hurricane strikes, there is an undercurrent in other parts of the country of victim-blaming. “What do those idiots expect if they live on the coast?” “Why don’t those morons evacuate when there’s a hurricane out there?”

The obvious answers to the first question are a) It wasn’t like this when I moved here 37 years ago…and I don’t really want to start over in Fargo at my age, and b) Like there’s no weather where YOU live?

For the answer to the second question, you just have to be here. In the time since we (meaning those of us in Florida and the Gulf states) started tracking Ernesto, it has been variously forecasted to hit New Orleans, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Cedar Key, Tampa, and the Keys. At what point do you say, “O.K., this is it! I’m packing the car!”

When Rita hit last year, post-Katrina, people in South Florida were chastised (mostly by the governor and other Republican officials) for not stocking up on enough emergency supplies. After all, they should be prepared to fend for themselves for a couple of weeks now that everyone’s had fair warning government will not save them. But what does it mean, exactly, to fend for yourself?

Here’s an idea. This helpful piece of advice is in my local paper today, since my town is in the current forecast to be the exit point for Ernesto as it leaves Florida.

Disaster checklist for pets:

Your written family/pet disaster plan

Crate/carrier and bedding

Food, water, manual can opener, dishes

Plastic bags, paper towels, newspaper (when shredded, can be used as cat litter)

Cleaning supplies, disinfectants

Collar, leash, harness

Muzzle, gauze rolls

Identification tags

Current medical and vaccination records

Extra bottles of daily medications or copies of prescriptions with expiration dates

Current photos of you and your pet(s) together

Pet comfort items: towels, blankets, toys

A list of hotels, motels and boarding kennels that accept pets

Detailed instructions for animal care and rescue workers

First aid kit for your pet(s)

Flashlights, batteries

Flat tire repair kit

Out-of-state telephone contact number

Label all pet supplies with your name, address and telephone number

Source: St. Johns County Office of Emergency Management

I can’t imagine what the flat tire repair kit is used for, but maybe my dog and cat will appreciate it.

The list seems a tad ambiguous. Why do I need detailed instructions for animal care and rescue workers if I’m taking my pets with me? What’s the out of state phone number for? Should I be teaching Pepsi and Stinky how to dial on my cell?

The point is, hurricanes are a crap shoot, and the best we can hope for is to make the right last-minute decision — because until the science of meteorology gets a little more precise, that’s all we can do. So please, Fargoans and the rest of you, don’t get mad at us if we get hit. We really did try to think of everything.