Environmental Geochemistry Issues Semi-Monthly

Man-made earthquakes are a threat to 7 MILLION Americans:  Map reveals how fracking has increased risk of U. S. tremors (Ellie ZOLFAGHARIFARD, Daily Mail UK ; March 28, 2016) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3512784/USGS-revises-seismic-risk-map-include-quakes-caused-humans.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490 USGS Open-File Report 2016-1035 2016 One-Year Seismic Hazard Forecast for the Central and Eastern United States from Induced and Natural Earthquakes (PETERSEN et al., 2016) http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2016/1035/ofr20161035.pdf Video Energy Technologies and Manmade Earthquakes - What's the Connection?   ( National Research Council of the Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine ; July 19, 2013)

Special Report:  State isn't using blood test data that could help focus Exide clean up efforts (Tony BARBOZA and Ben POSTON, Los Angeles Times ; March 25, 2016) http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-exide-health-20160326-story.html Exide plant will pay for blood tests for residents (Jessica HARRISON and Alan ZAREMBO, Los Angeles Times ; September 12, 2013) http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/12/local/la-me-blood-lead-20130913 Website: Exide Update (City of Vernon, California) http://www.cityofvernon.org/exide-update N. B.:   The document history of the Exide Technologies Vernon Battery Recycling plant from January 2013 to January 2016 is available for perusal and download from this City of Vernon website.

EPA Releases Online Mapping Tool to Help Protect Drinking Water Sources [Press Release,  U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ; February 19, 2016] https://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/84b6d36a24667a7985257f5e0050f758?OpenDocument Drinking Water Mapping Application to Protect Source Waters (DWMAPS) [ U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ; March 8, 2016] https://www.epa.gov/sourcewaterprotection/dwmaps User Guide to the Drinking Water Mapping Application to Protect Source Waters [ Office of Water (4606M) , EPA 816-B-16-001; January 2016] https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-01/documents/dwmaps_userguide_public_1-20-16.pdf

Air pollution alert for greater Mexico City lifted (E. Eduardo CASTILLO, Associated Press ; March 17, 2016) http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2842dec4490a471c965a8b64455c8953/mexico-city-extends-air-pollution-alert-4th-day Mexico City declares first air pollution alert since 2005 ( Associated Press ; March 14, 2016) http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d54f3d00d5bd4054959b33d3f67e1032/mexico-city-declares-first-air-pollution-alert-2005 Websites: Ozone Pollution ( State of the Air 2015 ; The American Lung Association) http://www.stateoftheair.org/2015/health-risks/health-risks-ozone.html Air Pollution in Mexico City:  Real-time Air Quality Index Visual Map (World Air Quality Index) http://aqicn.org/map/mexicocity/ N. B.:   Other real time air quality may be searched on the aforementioned World Map site. U. S. EPA Report: Integrated Science Assessment for Ozone and Other Photochemical Oxidants ( Office of Research and Development , EPA 600/R-10/076F; Februa...

Nigeria sets for Ogoniland oil spill clean-up [ StarAfrica.com/l'Agence de Presse Africaine (APA) ; March 6, 2016] http://en.starafrica.com/news/nigeria-sets-for-ogoniland-oil-spill-clean-up.html Two Nigerian communities sue Shell for oil spills in Niger Delta (William WATKINSON,  International Business Times UK ; March 2, 2016) http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/two-nigerian-communities-sue-shell-oil-spills-niger-delta-1546978 Bonga Oil Spill:  Fishermen seek President Buhari intervention to get compensation [Johnson EYIANGHO, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) ; March 2, 2016] http://nannewsnigeria.com/bonga-oil-spill-fishermen-seek-president-buhari-intervention-get-compensation Ogoniland Oil Spills clean up will take up to 30 years (Thomas LAZZERI, Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network ; February 18, 2016) http://www.aefjn.org/index.php/370/articles/ogoniland-oil-spills-clean-up-will-take-up-to-30-years.html N. B.:  For more information on the Ogoniland (Niger Del...

Forget fracking.  Choking and lifting are latest efforts to stem U. S. shale bust (Swetha GOPINATH and Amrutha GAYATHRI, Reuters ; March 9, 2016) http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-shale-analysis-idUSKCN0WB1AI Oil Drillers Bet Choking Wells Will Keep Shale From Going Bust (Dan MURTAUGH and Rebecca PENTY, Bloomberg Business ; October 1, 2015) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-01/oil-drillers-bet-choking-wells-will-keep-shale-from-going-bust Oilfield Review Reports: Artificial Lift for High Volume Production (FLESHMAN and LEKIC, 1999) https://www.slb.com/~/media/Files/resources/oilfield_review/ors99/spr99/lift.pdf Let's Get the Most Out of Existing Wells (BARTZ et al., 1997) https://www.slb.com/~/media/Files/resources/oilfield_review/ors97/win97/exist_well.pdf Video: The Principle of a Choke Valve (Phil HURLEY, Duxvalves)

NC:  Duke Energy coal ash polluting water, fines may follow ( Associated Press/Seattle Times ; March 4, 2016) http://www.seattletimes.com/business/nc-duke-energy-coal-ash-polluting-water-fines-may-follow/ Judge wants to review scope of Duke Energy pollution deal (Emery P. DALESIO, Associated Press ; February 12, 2016) http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2640dc6bbfff464aafc4cb653240785f/environmentalists-fight-7m-duke-energy-pollution-deal Regulator fines Duke Energy nearly $7M for coal ash spill (Emery P. DALESIO, Associated Press; February 9, 2016) http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a27fa1f367024f04a29d1c6a3edd75a4/nc-regulator-fines-duke-energy-nearly-7m-coal-ash-spill Federal judge hits NC agency for Duke Energy coal ash duties (Emery P. DALESIO, Associated Press; October 21, 2015) http://bigstory.ap.org/article/9ec51db233d341c7b1b145f26a9ba8de/judge-hits-state-agency-over-duke-energy-coal-ash-pollution Most wells near Duke Energy ash ponds contaminated (Bruce HENDERSON,...

Samarco to pay at least $5 billion in Brazil dam spill deal (Lisandra PARAGUASSU, Brasilia/Reuters ; March 2, 2016) http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-damburst-lawsuit-idUSKCN0W35U7 Mining Company Samarco's Dam burst in Brazil (Paul KIERNAN, Rogerio JELMAYER and Reed JOHNSON, Wall Street Journal ; November 5, 2015) http://www.wsj.com/articles/mining-company-samarcos-dam-bursts-in-brazil-1446763579 Actions Report/ Balanço das Ações   ( Samarco ; February 23, 2016) English version http://www.samarco.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Dossi--_24_02_ingl--s.pdf Portuguese version http://www.samarco.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Dossi--_24_02.pdf N. B.:   For additional information and photos, please refer to "Blog Archives"  for a former blog post under the following title and date: Mine Tailing Sludge from Brazilian BHP-Vale Samarco Dam Failure reaches the Atlantic Ocean November 25, 2015