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Comment by Jeffrey Michael Paganini 1 hour ago

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Title Oil shale health and environment research
Creator/Author Holland, L.M. ; Tillery, M.I.
Publication Date 1980 Jan 01
OSTI Identifier OSTI ID: 5655636
Report Number(s) LA-UR-80-876; CONF-800334-4
DOE Contract Number W-7405-ENG-36
Resource Type Conference
Specific Type Technical Report
Resource Relation Conference: 2. DOE environmental control symposium, Reston, VA, USA, 17 Mar 1980
Research Org Los Alamos Scientific Lab., NM (USA)
Subject 04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS; 63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.; OIL SHALE INDUSTRY; OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY; OIL SHALES; HEALTH HAZARDS; SHALE OIL; CARCINOGENESIS; BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS; DUSTS; HAMSTERS; IN-SITU RETORTING; INHALATION; MICE; OIL SHALE MINING; RATS; SKIN; SPENT SHALES; ANIMALS; BITUMINOUS MATERIALS; BODY; CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS; ENERGY SOURCES; FOSSIL FUELS; FUELS; HAZARDS; IN-SITU PROCESSING; INDUSTRY; INTAKE; MAMMALS; MINERAL OILS; MINING; OILS; ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; ORGANS; OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; PATHOGENESIS; PROCESSING; RETORTING; ROCKS; RODENTS; SAFETY; SEDIMENTARY ROCKS; SHALES; SYNTHETIC FUELS; SYNTHETIC PETROLEUM; VERTEBRATES
Description/Abstract While there have been sporadic efforts to demonstrate certain shale oil extraction technologies in recent years, none of the techniques have been thoroughly analyzed to determine the extent of potential occupational health impacts and even those technologies that have been demonstrated cannot be regarded as typical of a scaled-up, fully mature industry. Industrial hygiene studies have served to identify operations within certain technologies where mitigating methods can and should be applied to protect the industrial populations. Judging from data developed by on-site sampling it is probable that, with the possible exception of MIS techniques, oil shale mining presents no unique problems that cannot be handled with state-of-the-art control procedures. The conditions that may exist in a mine where in situ retorts are being simultaneously prepared, burned and abandoned have not as yet been defined. The probability of combined exposures to spent shale dusts and fugitive emissions in the form of vapors and gases added to the potential for skin exposure to product oils and other liquid effluents raises more complex questions. It has been shown by both epidemiological evidence and experimental data gathered both in the US and in foreign industries that crude shale oil and some of its products carry a higher carcinogenic potential than most of the natural petroleums. Preliminary data suggest that this particular hazard may be almost self-eliminating if hydrotreating, in preparation for refining, is universally practiced. The determination of specific hazards should be done on a technology-specific basis since it is highly probable that the biological activity of most of the products and by-products of shale oil production is process-specific.

Comment by Jeffrey Michael Paganini 4 hours ago

Dear Jeffrey,

Thank you so much for asking Secretary Salazar to end mountaintop-removal coal mining by restoring and enforcing the decades-old prohibition on mining activities within 100 feet of streams.

Can you forward the following message to your friends and family? It is critical that we get as many people as we can to encourage the Department of Interior to fix and enforce the Stream Buffer Zone and to prevent mountaintop-removal mining from burying more streams valleys with mining waste.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Protect communities from hazardous coal mining waste

Hey,

I just took action protect streams and communities from hazardous coal mining waste and to stop mountaintop-removal mining. You can too.

Check it out here:

http://action.sierraclub.org/stopmtrwaste


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks again for helping us restore and enforce protections for streams and communities, and end mountaintop-removal coal mining.

Ashley Judd

Comment by Jeffrey Michael Paganini 9 hours ago

The Consequences

Penguins are feeling the consequences Global warming is already changing our world. We've known about the potential impacts for decades now. In 1988, NASA scientist James Hansen testified in front of Congress, projecting the very impacts we are witnessing today, and President George H. W. Bush signed the Global Change Research Act in 1990, which stated: "Industrial, agricultural, and other human activities, coupled with an expanding world population, are contributing to processes of global change that may significantly alter the Earth habitat within a few human generations."1

Although it's hard to predict the exact extent or nature of climate change consequences, they are certain to be widespread. It is global warming after all. The news media have reported on receding glacier cover and threatened polar bears, but it has been slow to present the full scope of what is likely to happen in the coming decades. Some of these consequences were detailed in November 2007, when the IPCC released its fourth assessment report, which contained staggering conclusions2:

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions rose 70 percent between 1970 and 2005. Global temperatures have risen 1.8 to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century and sea level has risen an average of six inches. Since 1978, the Arctic ice has shrunk 2.7 percent per decade
A global temperature increase of up to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit would expose up to 30 percent of all animal and plant species to possible extinction. With an increase of about 6 degrees, that percentage is between 40 and 70 percent. Even if emissions are cut between 50 and 85 percent by 2050, temperatures will rise about seven degrees and sea levels will rise about four to five feet
Landscapes will undergo radical alterations. Semi-arid regions will turn into deserts, coastlines will become saturated by rising sea levels, and the remains of the Amazon and other rain forests will turn into savannas
While ecosystems and wildlife will struggle to adapt and survive, the economic and social implications will be felt across the world. As soon as 2020, 75 to 250 million people in Africa will be exposed to water stress, which will lead to further famine, food shortages, starvation and conflict on the continent. In Southeast Asia, flooding will occur regularly and trigger diseases and famine.

Extreme weather conditions will intensify, and dry regions will compete for water and battle chronic wildfires. Hundreds of millions of people will be displaced, especially in urban areas adjacent to water. The whole western U.S. will suffer from drought, and coastal population centers, such as Miami and the San Francisco Bay Area, will have to install sea walls. Island populations will, of course, suffer the most from sea level rise.

Even if we could magically halt all fossil-fuel use tomorrow, human-generated CO2 emissions from the past 150 years would continue to warm the planet for generations.3

Recent natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the cyclone in Burma in 2008 that killed tens of thousands of people, have provided glimpses of what to expect. Even though we cannot attribute every specific weather event directly to global warming, these tragic events are consistent with predicted weather patterns. These storms and the enormous destruction they cause have forced the public to consider whether we are prepared to deal with more severe weather events in vulnerable regions across the United States.4

The precise consequences of climate change are still unknown and although reducing emissions now can lessen the severity of those consequences in the long term, we will still have to prepare for and adapt to a broad range of changes already set in motion.

Comment by Jeffrey Michael Paganini 13 hours ago

Clueless ville, let start here, we belong to a group, there are state directors, one thing lacking is information central, follow ups on membership,I personally have lead 50,000 members, but I made sure in case of what, installed divisions and personel to maintain such a group, what I see and observe is pathatic, lets talk about natual gas hum,Its all going to happen not this year not next like Boone said 7 years I say 10, If you need information read my efforts and what I may do as a member do not whip dead horses.keep in touch with congress and senate, if you review my efforts as a member you may find a clear shot on what may be happening. This group needs to set forth a governing body now or rely on someones health then what? Who is to gain hanging on a coat tail, Be willing to help first a advisery committee then go from there, still watching percent of active people diving, I f you got it so together and happy sorry to bother.............

Comment by Jeffrey Michael Paganini 13 hours ago

Merry Christmas once again, and my friends and Gods creatures I protect every day.

Comment by Jeffrey Michael Paganini 15 hours ago

Geez Sorry To Hear It. NOT>
Dana Chivvis
Contributor
(Dec. 18) – After nearly two weeks of disappointments in Copenhagen, environmentalists can celebrate one small piece of news today: Bottled water sales are down and are expected to continue to fall next year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp.

The $11 billion bottled-water industry saw nothing but growth for three decades, peaking in 2007 when each person consumed 29 gallons of bottled water a year, MSNBC reports. That number was down 3.2 percent in 2008 and is expected to drop another 2 percent this year.

The fall in consumption may have to do with a movement to make people aware of the effects plastic has on the environment. Because it takes plastic up to 1,000 years to break down naturally, water bottles contribute greatly to the buildup of trash in the environment.

One place particularly hard hit is a swirling area of water in the Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas, called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The water in this area is filled with an estimated 3.5 million tons of trash, much of which is plastic.

Environmentalists also point to the toxicity of plastic production and the health hazards that exist from drinking or eating from plastic containers. In 2007, scientists discovered that one of the chemicals used in plastic, bisphenol A, interferes with embryonic development in a way that may lead to obesity in adults.

If that's not enough to make you put down the bottle, the Sierra Club adds that water companies are drying up household wells and lakes, affecting wetlands, and using three times the amount of water that goes into one of their bottles to produce the water itself.

But the environmental movement might not be able to take all the credit for the decline in bottled water sales. The dip could be because of the recession. Bottled water sales fell less than all other beverages this year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp.

"Environmental concerns among consumers may have had an effect on bottled water sales, but the primary reason sales are soft is the economy," said Gary Hemphill, managing director of the Beverage Marketing Corp.

Still, some bottled water producers have taken the environmentalist's message to heart. Nestlé, the world's largest bottler, has begun producing bottles that use less plastic and has introduced a new brand, called Resource, that uses bottles made from 35 percent recycled plastic. The company is also giving out money for local recycling programs, MSNBC reports.

Tom Lauria, spokesman for the International Bottled Water Association, said the industry is even working on plastic bottles made from biodegradable corn.

"We will see in our lifetime biodegradable plastic, and this whole controversy will disappear," he said.

But while he sees the controversy inherent in his industry, Lauria doesn't think the environmentalists have had any effect on bottled water sales.

"People love their bottled water."

Comment by Jeffrey Michael Paganini 23 hours ago

Find, view and share videos about news and entertainment from around the Web.
See Videos » Obama: 'Meaningful breakthrough' reached at talksBy MICHAEL CASEY and JENNIFER LOVEN, AP
posted: 30 MINUTES AGOcomments: 83With HP wireless printers, you could have printed this from any room in the house. Live wirelessly. Print wirelessly.
PRINT|E-MAILMOREText SizeAAACOPENHAGEN -President Barack Obama said the United States, China and several other countries reached an "unprecedented breakthrough" Friday to curb greenhouse gas emissions — including a mechanism to verify compliance — after a frenzied day of diplomacy at the U.N. climate talks.
The agreement, which also includes the developing nations of India, South Africa and Brazil, requires each country to list the actions they will take to cut global warming pollution by specific amounts, a senior Obama administration official said. The official described the deal on the condition of anonymity because specific details had not been announced.
The deal reiterates a goal that eight leading industrialized nations set earlier this year on long-term emission cuts and provides a mechanism to help poor countries prepare for climate change, the official said.
But it falls far short of committing any nation to emissions reductions beyond a general acknowledgment that the effort should contain global temperatures along the lines agreed to by the leading economic nations in July.
A European Union official said an overall agreement involving those nations not included in the deal that Obama announced was still being negotiated.
Obama suggested that the five-nation agreement would be adopted by the larger summit in its closing hours.
"I am leaving before the final vote," he said. "We feel confident we are moving in the direction of a final accord."
If the countries had waited to reach a full, binding agreement, "then we wouldn't make any progress," Obama said. In that case, he said, "there might be such frustration and cynicism that rather than taking one step forward we ended up taking two steps back."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel she viewed the outcome with "mixed feelings," adding that the negotiations were extremely difficult.
Obama spent the final scheduled day of the climate talks huddling with world leaders, including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in a bid to salvage the global warming accord amid deep divisions between rich and poor nations.
In announcing the five-nation deal, Obama said getting a legally binding treaty "is going to be very hard, and it's going to take some time."
"We have come a long way, but we have much further to go," he said.
The president said there was a "fundamental deadlock in perspectives" between big, industrially developed countries like the United States and poorer, though sometimes large, developing nations. Still he said this week's efforts "will help us begin to meet our responsibilities to leave our children and grandchildren a cleaner planet."
The deal as described by Obama reflects some progress helping poor nations cope with climate change and getting China to disclose its actions to address the warming problem.
He said the nations of the world will have to take more aggressive steps to combat global warming. The first step, he said, is to build trust between developed and developing countries.
The five-nation agreement includes a method for verifying reductions of heat-trapping gases, the official said. That was a key demand by Washington of China, which has resisted international efforts to monitor its actions.
"It's not what we expected," Brazilian Ambassador Sergio Barbosa Serra said. "It may still be a way of salvaging something and paving the way for another a meeting or series of meetings next year."
Obama had planned to spend only about nine hours in Copenhagen as the summit wrapped up. But, as an agreement appeared within reach, he extended his stay by more than six hours to attend a series of meetings aimed at brokering a deal.
New Zealand's climate change ambassador Adrian Macey called it "a modest deal."
"I see Kyoto as a first step," Macey said. "This another first step, a global first step."
More than anything, Macey found the U.N. process on climate change "appalling."
John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, decried that "there are no targets for carbon cuts and no agreement on a legally binding treaty."
The two-week, 193-nation conference has been plagued by growing distrust between rich and poor nations. Both sides blamed the other for failing to take ambitions action. At one point, African delegates staged a partial boycott of the talks.
"We are ready to get this done today but there has to be movement on all sides to recognize that is better for us to act rather than talk," Obama had told the conference, insisting on a transparent way to monitor each nation's pledges to cut emissions.
Abandoning any hope of a comprehensive deal, a group of about 25 countries had sought agreement on a two-page political statement setting out critical elements, key among them the mobilization of $30 billion in the next three years to help poor countries cope with climate change and a scaling up to $100 billion a year by 2020.
As negotiations evolved, new drafts of the document, titled the Copenhagen Accord, emerged with key clauses being inserted, deleted and reintroduced with new wording.
In the end, the statement set no overall emissions targets for rich countries.
South Korea's chief negotiator, Rae-Kwon Chung, said one of the sticking points was a clause saying the combined emissions of rich and poor countries should be cut in half by 2050. Some developing countries opposed that target, fearing it would "define their carbon space," he said, declining to identify them.
With the climate talks in disarray, Obama and Wen met twice — once privately and once with other world leaders present — in hopes of sweeping aside some of the disputes that have barred a final deal. Officials said the two leaders took a step forward in their talk and directed negotiators to keep working, but the degree of progress was not immediately clear.
Wen skipped a high-level meeting a second time and sent another envoy instead.
Later Friday, Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held talks with European leaders, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Reporters asked how negotiations were going as Obama walked into the meeting. "Always hopeful," he replied.
Many delegates had been looking to China and the U.S. — the world's two largest carbon polluters — to deepen their pledges to cut their emissions. But that was not to be.
Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, negotiating on behalf of the 27-nation European Union, blamed the impasse on the Chinese for "blocking again and again," and on the U.S. for coming too late with an improved offer, a long-range climate aid program announced Thursday by Clinton.
The U.S. got its share of blame.
"President Obama was not very proactive. He didn't offer anything more," said delegate Thomas Negints, from Papua New Guinea. He said his country had hoped for "more on emissions, put more money on the table, take the lead."
Obama may eventually become known as "the man who killed Copenhagen," said Greenpeace U.S. Executive Director Phil Radford.
Money to help poor nations cope with climate change and shift to clean energy seemed to be where negotiators could claim most success. Pollution cuts and the best way to monitor those actions remained unresolved.
China and the U.S had sought to give the negotiations a boost Thursday with an announcement and a concession.
Clinton said Washington would press the world to come up with a climate aid fund amounting to $100 billion a year by 2020, a move that was quickly followed by an offer from China to open its reporting on actions to reduce carbon emissions to international review.
—
Associated Press writers John Heilprin, Arthur Max, Seth Borenstein and Karl Ritter contributed to this report.
—
Find behind-the-scenes information, blog posts and discussion about the Copenhagen climate conference at http://www.facebook.com/theclimatepool, a Facebook page run by AP and an array of international news agencies. Follow coverage and blogging of the event on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/AP_ClimatePool
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
2009-12-18 19:17:37
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TrishnWalt
6:53PM Dec 18 2009
Obama is an unprecidented idiot - promising to spend money we don't have on a problem that does not exist. And let's PO China in the bargain, since they only hold 90% of our debt - and we can't borrow anywhere else for programs we cannot afford. Unprecidented? You bet.
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MUpthegrov
6:11PM Dec 18 2009
If this clown uses the word "unprecedented" one more time to describe his inept dealing I think I will scream!! The only unprecedented thing about this administration, other than the fact that he is half black, is his unprecedented use of the word unprecedented to try to give himself some credibility!!!!


DOWN WITH THE CLOWN!
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MahalApril
4:18PM Dec 18 2009
The time for talking is over. What we need now is ACTION by the US Militarily to takeover the incompetent Obama Administration and the corrupt Congress to prevent irreversible destruction of our country militarily and economically. Then all of Obama's adminstration cabinet members,advisers,associates,czars and Congress should be arrested,tried and executed by a firing squad of the US Military.They are all out of touch and out of control.
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SWilli9709
2:31PM Dec 18 2009
OH YAH! we are now among the poorest nations, THANKS OBUTTHEAD...HUNGRY OUT OF A JOB or a HOUSE....EAT THE CHANGE.....
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Vpqueen
1:34PM Dec 18 2009
C'mon home Obama. They're laughing at you over in Copenhagen, and worse yet, Hugo Chavez is ridiculing you. Being that Iran has seized an oil well in Iraq, you had better come home and put them on double secret probation.
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HAMMFAM1
1:33PM Dec 18 2009
Who is going to keep an accounting on where this money goes?? The UN, hah. This money will go into the pockets of dictators and tyrants who could care less about the environment. I would like to see what Al Gore's recycling bin looks like at his weekly trash pick up. Mine is overflowing. I bet he doesn't even look at his trash or give one damn. He wants to line his pockets by aligning himself with these alarmists and the companies that will profit from cap and trade.
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TSmith5152
12:44PM Dec 18 2009
What an utter waste of time and ENERGY. President Obama has lost his clout among this nation and others as well. His home nation is on the brink of economic disaster due to his policies. His report card is showing failing grades and he has lost the faith of the people that put him in power. It appears to be the case of "pass anything" just to say he did something. Good or bad. The real problem is, he is willing to throw us all under the bus to stand there and say "this is good". compare campaign speeches to the results of today. You will find two different people.
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MONROE LAW
12:17PM Dec 18 2009
I can't wait for the climate "scientists" to fudge the data on the net, net carbon footprint of getting a collection of hot air artists together in one place.
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Comment by Jeffrey Michael Paganini 1 day ago

Dear Jeffrey,

Thanks for taking action! By sending a comment to the public register you are demonstrating that there is broad public support for the EPA's work to hold big polluters accountable.

The most important thing you can do now is ask your family and friends to join you. It's easy! Just copy and paste the message below into a new email.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Hold Big Polluters Accountable

Hi--

Right now, only a handful of sources, including coal power plants, are responsible for more than half of all US global warming emissions. I just send a comment to the public register supporting the EPA's Big Polluters rule, which is a major step toward holding these facilities accountable.

You should join me! Check it out:

http://action.sierraclub.org/bigpolluters


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for all that you do,

Mary Anne Hitt
Sierra Club Big Picture Campaign

Comment by Jeffrey Michael Paganini 1 day ago

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kristina Johnson, Sierra Club
(415) 977-5619


Sierra Club Pushes for Expanded Habitat to Help Panther Survive Global Warming
Sea Level Rise, Storms, Threaten Current Habitat

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Sierra Club today is calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help the Florida panther survive global warming by protecting its habitat. In a petition filed today, the Sierra Club proposed a critical habitat designation that includes migration corridors and additional land that will help panthers adapt to sea level rise, stronger hurricanes, and other impacts of global warming.

"In many ways, the Florida panther is like the polar bear of the South. Because of its low-lying and exposed habitat, the panther is extremely vulnerable to global warming," said Sierra Club Representative Frank Jackalone. "In order to survive sea level rise and other impacts of climate change, panthers need to be able to migrate to new ground."

Florida panthers were listed as an endangered species in 1967, and at times as few as six Florida panthers have been thought to remain in the region. Today, that number is up to between 90-120 panthers, but unchecked development is whittling away at the limited habitat that remains.

Although the Florida panther is protected under the Endangered Species Act, it is still not protected from the single greatest threat to its survival-loss of habitat. Environmental groups like the Conservancy of Southwest Florida have already called on the Fish and Wildlife Service to take an important first step in designating critical habitat for panthers.

"Of what remains of essential panther habitat, continued threats of fragmentation and development further the plight of the panther and jeopardize its recovery from the brink of extinction," said Conservancy of Southwest Florida representative Andrew McElwaine.

Climate change will intensify threats to the panther’s current habitat, making the need to protect that vital core area from other pressures-like runaway sprawl-even greater. However, protecting only the habitat where panthers currently live will still leave them trapped on islands of protected habitat, much of which is vulnerable to storms and sea level rise brought by global warming.

"In the face of global warming, protecting the places where panthers live right now just isn't enough," Jackalone said. "We need to help the few remaining panthers migrate, adapt, and survive."

The Department of Interior recently made a formal commitment to help wildlife survive global warming by encouraging interagency cooperation and long-term planning for adaptation.

Through its Resilient Habitats program, the Sierra Club is encouraging federal and local efforts to help wildlife adapt to global warming, as well as working to protect the migration corridors that will be necessary for animals like the Florida panther to survive climate change. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org/resilienthabitat

Comment by Jeffrey Michael Paganini on December 17, 2009 at 9:49am

In Spain was fun, lots of action...

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