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Duke Energy Does it Again: More Coal Ash in Public Water

March 25, 2014 Add Comment Edit

Coal ash spills came into the popular consciousness with the widely reported Dan River Disaster. However, this is far from the only spill of coal ash. Less than two months after Duke energy spilled 30,000 tons of coal ash which decimated 70 miles of the Dan River, there was a repeat. However, this time was different, this time it was clearly intentional.

Duke energy was photographed deliberately dumping wastewater from toxic coal ash into public waterways. The Waterkeeper Alliance released aerial surveillance photos that caught Duke Energy red handed. The images show workers pumping wastewater from two of Duke Energy’s toxic coal ash lagoons into a canal that drains into the Cape Fear River, a source of public drinking water.

The wanton arrogance of this action is underscored by the fact that the incident occurred just days before a federal grand jury convened in Raleigh to hear evidence in a criminal investigation of Duke Energy.

Duke Energy responded by describing the action as part of “routine maintenance.” Contrary to Duke Energy's contention, they did not contact the appropriate regulatory authorities. Further, it is unlawful to discharge any pollutant into a waterway without a proper permit.

In light of these startling photos and Duke Energy's response, Waterkeeper Alliance and Cape Fear Riverkeeper are demanding answers from Duke Energy and North Carolina DENR.

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Anti-Science Journalism Helped to End Progressive Climate Governance in Australia

November 08, 2013 Add Comment Edit

The popular media's campaign of climate change subterfuge helped to bring down Julia Gillard's government in Australia. Anti-science propaganda has been rampant in the Australian press. A number of extreme weather events (droughts and floods) succeeded in drowning out the voices of those that oppose action on climate change and helped Gillard to get elected in 2010. Subsequently a determined anti-science media campaign eroded Gillard's popularity and ultimately led to her downfall.

Popular media has flouted their journalistic responsibilities on climate change. A widespread campaign against Australia's carbon policy was adopted by the company that controls most Australian metropolitan newspapers. According to a 2013 study of climate science in newspapers, the coverage of the Gillard government’s carbon policy was mostly negative (73 per cent to 27 per cent). Negative coverage (82 per cent) across News Ltd newspapers far outweighed positive (18 per cent) articles. The Daily Telegraph was the most negative (89 per cent). The Daily Telegraph has since continued its campaign against Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and bike riders.

Rupert Murdoch's media empire pushes an editorial slant with an anti-environment agenda. Nowhere was this more evident than in Australia where Murdoch's tabloids regularly derided Gillard and her government's climate policy.

According to a 2011 report, Australia's climate change coverage is rife with anti-science skepticism. This report indicates that there was considerable hostility to the Gillard government climate-change policy particularly in Murdoch's tabloids.

The impact of these media attacks adversely impacted the public's perception of carbon pricing and helped cause the ruling government's popularlity to plummit to historic lows. Ultimately the Gillard government fell.

The net result of this biased news coverage was that Australia's progressive climate policies were replaced by a climate denying government led by Tony Abbott.

Anti-science media coverage contributes to climate change misinformation and prevent progressive governments from getting elected. As the fall of the Gillard government illustrates, they can also help unseat standing governments.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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In India Childhood Malnutrition is Compounded by Deadly Corruption

July 18, 2013 Add Comment Edit

The combination of malnutrition and corruption are proving to be deadly in India. A total of 22 children have died so far from eating a pesticide laced lunch at a Chapra primary school in the rural Indian state of Bihar. Doctors are fighting to save the lives of 25 others. On July 17, the day after the incident, heartbroken parents and their supporters protested the tragic loss of innocent lives outside the school and at a local police station.

The cook complained to the headmistress about the smell and the taste of the food, but she insisted that it be served nonetheless. In response the authorities had suspended a food inspector and are pursuing a criminal case against the school headmistress who fled the scene and is currently being sought. The state has ordered an inquiry and announced that parents of the dead children will receive financial compensation.

The Indian government's free school meals program provides meals for 100 million children. Parents in poorer families depend on these lunches to provide adequate levels of nutrition for their children. The World Bank, statistics indicate that India leads the world with 43 percent of Indian children being underweight. The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has described infant malnutrition levels in India as a "national shame".The government, led by the Congress party, is pushing for an expansion of the country's food subsidy program.

However, more funding may not solve the problem as the lunch program, like so many other segments of Indian society, is plagued by waste and corruption. School meals in India are provided by contractors who commonly source the cheapest ingredients and bribe local officials to turn a blind eye. Sadly this leads to numerous incidents of poisoning, although they rarely lead to death on this scale.

In a 2010 report Nirvikar Singh's report titled "The trillion-dollar question" in The Financial Express indicates that corruption in India is a major issue that adversely affects the nations economy. A 2005 study conducted by Transparency International in India found that more than 62 percent of Indians had firsthand experience of paying bribes or influence peddling to get jobs done in public offices successfully. In its 2008 study, Transparency International reports about 40 percent of Indians had firsthand experience of paying bribes or using a contact to get a job done in public office.

According to Debroy and Bhandari, 2011 report titled "Corruption in India," in the World Finance Review, the state of Bihar has experienced significant improvements in their anti-corruption efforts.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Event - Creative Disruptive (Water) Leadership Workshop

May 27, 2013 Add Comment Edit

Creative Disruptive (Water) Leadership workshop will take place Friday May 31 to Sundany June 2, 2013, in Wyebridge, Ontario.

Great leaders learn to develop a capacity to navigate through complexity, to facilitate collaboration and to disrupt when the time is right. This workshop will focus on offering important techniques to move you along the spectrum of your leadership journey. We will offer you the inspiration and tools to become more creative, more innovative, and to build your leadership potential.

We invite those interested in social innovation, social entrepreneurship, creativity, and new ways of thinking in the water space- along with decision-makers, teams, and leaders at all stages who seek to take their practice to a next level. This workshop is for you if you believe now is the time to use unconventional approaches to address conventional problems.

For more information or to register click here

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May 25, 2013 Add Comment Edit

Water in the Anthropocene (Ambient Version) from Globaïa on Vimeo.

Water in the Anthropocene is a 3-minute film charting the global impact of humans on the water cycle. Evidence is growing that our global footprint is now so significant we have driven Earth into a new geological epoch — the Anthropocene. Human activities such as damming and agriculture are changing the global water cycle in significant ways.

The data visualisation was commissioned by the Global Water Systems Project for a major international conference (Water in the Anthropocene, Bonn, Germany, 21-24 May, 2013).

As datasets build upon one another, the film charts Earth's changing global water cycle, why it is changing, and what this means for the future. The vertical spikes that appear in the film represent the 48,000 large dams that have been built.

The film was produced by Globaïa and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. The film is part of the first website on the concept of humans as a geological force, anthropocene.info.

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Shell Pauses its Arctic Drilling for 2013

February 28, 2013 Add Comment Edit

On Wednesday, February 27th, Royal Dutch Shell PLC announced it will suspend offshore petroleum drilling in the Arctic Ocean for 2013. The Arctic is already suffering from the effects of climate change and Arctic drilling further endangers the rich ecosystem and puts a wide range of animal species at risk.

Last year Shell drilled in both the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast and in the Beaufort Sea off the state's north coast.

However Shell's operations in the far north have been plagued by problems. At the end of 2012, the Kulluk one of Shell's oil rigs, broke free and ran aground in rough seas.

Shell Oil President Marvin Odum described the decision as a "pause" to "to ensure the readiness of all our equipment and people following the drilling season in 2012."

According to the US Geological Survey, there are 26.6 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of natural gas exist below Arctic waters.

Shell does not have resources in place to manage a spill. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico make it abundantly clear that even the best efforts and grossly inadequate to contain a spill.

Ice makes deep sea drilling even more hazardous. Ships belonging to Shell were prevented from accessing the drilling site in the Chukchi Sea which forced a drill ship off a drilling site early in September.

The Coast Guard found 16 safety violations on the Noble Discoverer, which drilled in the Chukchi. The investigation has been turned over to the US Department of Justice.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that his department would perform an "expedited, high-level assessment" and he indicated that drilling in sensitive areas like the Arctic demand a higher level of scrutiny. The Coast Guard also is reviewing the Kulluk grounding.

The pause is intended to repair its ships and Shell has indicated that it is prepared to continue drilling in the Arctic next year.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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The Costs of Oil: BP Liable for up to 90 Billion

November 19, 2012 Add Comment Edit

BP has been ordered to pay an unprecedented 4.5 billion in fines as the costs of their 2010 oil fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico continue to mount. On Thursday November 15, 2012, BP pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts related to the explosion and subsequent oil spill at the site of its Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The plea agreement with federal prosecutors includes charges of manslaughter for the 11 workers who were killed and one felony count for obstruction of justice for false statements made to Congress about the amount of oil leaking from the out-of-control well.

The breakdown of the 4.5 billion in fines is as follows:

$2.4 billion for is to be paid to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for environmental restoration, preservation, and conservation efforts throughout the affected area
$1.3 billion in criminal fines, which the company would pay out in installments over five years
$350 million is to be paid to the National Academy of Sciences over five years
$525 million civil penalty satisfies a Securities and Exchange Commission charge that BP had obstructed Congress by lying to Congress about the amount of oil flowing from the well

BP's cleanup efforts have already cost the company nearly $18 billion which are part of $42 billion in pre-tax accounting charges the company has taken. Here is a partial breakdown:

4.5 billion announced on November 15 (the largest corporate criminal penalty in U.S. history)
$15 billion that BP has paid so far into a $20 billion trust fund to compensate victims of the spill
$7.8 billion settlement for private injury claims from roughly 100,000 fishermen and other business owners in the Gulf region that were affected by the spill

Other civil claims are still pending and they could amount to tens of billions in additional penalties. Potential civil claims under the Clean Water Act allows for fines ranging from $1,100 to $4,300 per barrel (and even higher end if gross negligence is determined) which could amount to additional fines of $20 billion.

These are not the only fines that could be levied, there could also be federal and state sanctions under the Natural Resource Damages Act, and assorted private civil claims, securities claims, or state economic loss claims.

Estimates for the total amount of penalties that BP will ultimately have to pay reach as high as $90 billion. Claims may also be filed against BP's corporate partners including the rig owner Transocean and the well services company Halliburton.

In addition to the fines levied against BP, individuals are also being held accountable. three former BP employees are facing felony charges of manslaughter and obstruction of justice. Two of the three men could face up to 10 years in prison for each of the 11 deaths that resulted form the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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BP Accused of Corporate Recklessness Including Willful Misconduct, Gross Neglect and Making False Statements

September 10, 2012 Add Comment Edit

A recent US Justice Department court filing, accuses British Petroleum (BP) of gross neglect, as well as making false and misleading comments. The accusations stem from BP's handling of the 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon that spilled 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and killed 11 workers.

The Justice Department alleges false statements and misrepresentation over BP's assertion that the Gulf Coast's natural resources are making a "robust recovery" from its massive 2010 oil spill.

The legal papers filed by the US Justice Department charge that BP is guilty of falsehoods in the $7.8 billion settlement with thousands of Gulf Coast residents and businesses harmed by the spill.

The government’s 37-page objection to BP’s legal claims say the corporate giant is guilty of a “culture of corporate recklessness” that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

The challenge seeks to hold BP responsible for a wide array of environmental impacts including dying deep-sea corals, dead dolphins, sick fish and marsh oil. They also allege that BP is ignoring the long-term neurological damage to clean-up workers and other Gulf residents who were exposed to the toxic dispersant Corexit.

In another separate filing, Alabama also accuses the oil company of misrepresentation and argues that BP committed 'willful misconduct' by attempting a risky 'top kill' method to stop the 2010 spill, when it knew that method would fail.

Both the federal government and the state of Alabama are pursuing civil cases. The federal government is also pursuing an ongoing criminal investigation against BP that is expect to begin next year.

BP's TV commercials whitewash what is really going on in the wake of their unprecedented oil spill in the Gulf. It is blatantly dishonest to suggest that everything is back to normal.

The Alabama filing notes that BP misrepresented the flow rate indicating that it was 5,000 bpd (barrels per day), even though they new is was significantly higher.

The court challenge could force BP to pay billions of dollars in fines for the worst offshore oil spill in US history. At the very least it is a warning to all who would cause destruction to the environment.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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