“The two types of dispersants BP is spraying in the Gulf of Mexico are banned for use on oil spills in the U.K. As EPA-approved products, BP has been using them in greater quantities than dispersants have ever been used in the history of U.S. oil spills. BP is using two products from a line of dispersants called Corexit, which EPA data [2] appear to show is more toxic and less effective on South Louisiana crude than other available dispersants, according to Greenwire.”

To Read the Rest of this Article:

http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/In-Gulf-Spill-BP-Using-Dispersants-Banned-in-UK

“John Lapoint of Packgen in Auburn, Maine, says he’s got plenty of floating oil containment boom and can make lots more on short notice. There’s just one problem: no one will buy it from him.”

Follow the link and read the rest of this Article:

http://www.educationnews.org/mobile/business/92657.html

“Suddenly, creating jobs is out, inflicting pain is in. Condemning deficits and refusing to help a still-struggling economy has become the new fashion everywhere, including the United States, where 52 senators voted against extending aid to the unemployed despite the highest rate of long-term joblessness since the 1930s. Many economists, myself included, regard this turn to austerity as a huge mistake.”

Paul Robin Krugman is an American economist, columnist and author. He is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times.

In 2008, Krugman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his contributions to New Trade Theory and New Economic Geography. He was voted sixth in a 2005 global poll of the world’s top 100 intellectuals by Prospect.

To Read the Rest of this Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/opinion/18krugman.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Professor Paul Krugman:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Krugman

Potentially toxic waste is being transported for dumping in a sewer near the Phoenix Park because the €500,000 plant built to treat it "doesn’t work", say councillors.

It has emerged that a treatment facility that was meant to deal with the waste at source in Balleally landfill is not fit for the job and is lying idle. Balleally is currently the largest landfill in the Dublin Region, accepting all waste generated within Fingal County Council and those wastes from Dublin Corporation and South Dublin County Council

The Evening Herald reported on April 12th 2010 that the untreated leachate — described by a councillor as "the chemical equivalent of nuclear waste" — is being driven five times a day from Balleally in north Dublin to a sewer at the Phoenix Park train station.

A meeting of Fingal County Council has now heard the plant that opened in 2005 was never able to treat the waste to the standards set out in a licence given by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Cllr Kieran Dennison tabled a motion calling for an explanation. "The question arises — how can a plant like this be built, that doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do?" he said.

"If there was a spillage, how could it be cleared up because this stuff has everything in it. It’s the chemical equivalent of nuclear waste."

PJ Howell, the council’s environment director, explained the plant had not been able to meet the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) limit in the waste licence.

"We have applied to the EPA for a variation to the licence to increase this limit similar to other landfills and which would allow us to discharge directly to the (Rogerstown) estuary," he said.

He stressed that the disposal of the leachate posed no threat to the public as it was being carried out under the supervision of inspectors.

When the plant was not able to meet the COD limits, the council investigated installing additional treatment works.

"Following analysis of the options, we chose to tanker the effluent on the basis of cost and reliability," he said.

The waste enters a closed sewage system, he said.

"We appear to have built a waste treatment plant that is not fit for purpose", said Mayor Ciaran Byrne (Lab).

Source:

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/euro500k-waste-on-treatment-centre-that-doesnt-work-2135690.html

 http://wikimapia.org/4047922/Balleally-Landfill

“The ecological destruction of the oil disaster in the Gulf is perhaps most aptly embodied in the pictures of brown pelicans made lifeless by a thick coating of toxic sludge. However, the true toll may spread far beyond these dreadful images. Scientists warn that the gravest threat, including possible ecosystem collapse, is posed by the poisoning of organisms at the base of the food chain.”

Louisiana Wetlands Aerial View

To Read the Rest of this Article:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/oils-j30.shtml

“The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU)’s public service committee voted last week to formally agree a four-year strike ban, wholesale rationalisations in public services, unknown thousands of “voluntary” job losses and a continued pay freeze. The so-called Croke Park agreement is the worst so far agreed by any union federation in Europe in response to the economic crisis.

Some €4 billion cuts, 3 percent of GDP, have been implemented this year alone, €3 billion more are intended in 2011 and 2012 and subsequent years. These cuts are in line with the Fianna Fail/Green Party coalition government’s drive to reduce the public sector deficit from 14 percent to 3 percent by 2014.”

To Read the Rest of this Article:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/irel-j28.shtml

A major operation is under way to finish a section of the new M7 motorway after part of the road collapsed into a bog.

Road authorities last night confirmed that the final section of the Limerick to Nenagh bypass would be completed by the end of the year.

The €425m road — which was due to open last year — will link the Limerick southern ring road with the Nenagh bypass.

The construction of the 38km road from Annacotty to Nenagh, Tipperary, was contracted to Bothar Hibernian almost four years ago and was due for completion in May 2009.

Contractors have run into serious difficulties at Annaholty bog, home to an iron age causeway and and where the almost-completed road collapsed earlier this year.

A large timber causeway was excavated in Annaholty Bog during archaeological works in advance of the N7 Nenagh to Limerick High Quality Dual Carriageway. Annaholty Bog covers a large area traddling the Limerick-Tipperary border between Castleconnell village and the Silvermines Mountains and would have been a major obstacle to north-south travel.

The causeway was originally 65-70 metres long, connecting two dry islands in the bog and at 7 metres wide would have been capable of taking heavy two-way traffic. The method of construction was the same as that of the renowned trackway at Corlea, Co. Longford:

It is understood that thousands of steel-reinforced concrete piles were driven into the bog to support the sinking road.

But following the collapse of the road surface, a concrete and steel bridge is to be constructed over the entire area in the hope of establishing a stable base for the road.

The National Roads Authority (NRA) says the final section of the road will open by the end of the year.

"We are being reassured by the contractor that the project will be completed by the end of the year, but this is a design-built contract so any of the costs incurred due to difficulties with the Anaholty bog is borne by the contractor," an NRA spokesman said.

Limerick County Council said it was satisfied that the contractor was dealing with the difficulties as best it could. A spokesman for the council stated that the contract company must itself address any difficulties that arise during the construction of the motorway.

"Under the terms of the contract between Limerick council and Bothar Hibernian, any issues arising from the construction of the motorway are to be addressed by the contractor in question."

Sources:

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/new-bid-to-save-8364425m-road-that-sank-into-bog-2234519.html

http://tvasireland.ie/n7.html

http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/s003_abstracts_wetland_archaeology_in_ireland_and_beyond.pdf

http://wordsbygina.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/m7-a-building-scandal/

A Commercial Court Judge has ordered a ban on naming more than 25 new housing estates where residents have complained that their homes have been damaged due to the use of pyrite.

To prevent “panic” among homeowners, the Commercial Court has ruled that a list of the estates — along with several quarries alleged to have supplied the defective material that caused floors and walls to heave and crack will be kept secret.

The list, compiled by Homebond, the builder’s insurers, comes as politicians have warned of a pyrite "epidemic" in Ireland, with up to 20,000 homeowners complaining about cracked floors and walls and swelling.

It is feared that publication of the list would have a dramatic impact on the valuations of homes and that people living adjacent to the homes in question will assume, incorrectly, that their properties are also affected.

Fine Gael TD Shane McEntee has told the Oireachtas transport committee that two homes in his Co Meath constituency had "exploded" because of the inappropriate use of pyrite in their construction.

Mr. McEntee, who has been involved in a high-profile campaign to have remedial works carried out on behalf of constituents, claimed that there were thousands of homeowners in Dublin, Kildare and Meath who were desperate as their homes had been damaged due to the use of pyrite.

In a separate development, it was revealed in the Oireachtas Committee on Transport on April 7th, that Pyrite was also used in the construction of the M3 Motorway, the NRA are claiming that there is no need for an independent audit of the M3 motorway, just opened last June 4th.

Sources:

Read the Rest of this Article at –

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/courts/location-of-25-estates-in-pyrite-probes-to-stay-secret-2230728.html

Pyrite -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrite

M3:

http://tara-foundation.org/blog/?p=1012

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/96981

The bill itself can be downloaded at the following link:

http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/bills28/bills/2010/2510/b2510d.pdf

France and German will put forward proposals to strip European Union countries of their voting rights if they breach deficit rules. If these were implemented, Governments which breach European Union budgetary guidelines would have their EU voting rights "suspended" to prevent any resurgence of the debt and euro crisis, France and Germany stated on June 14th. If necessary, EU Treaties would be amended to allow this to take place.

Sources:

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2010/gb20100615_086025.htm

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jt6BMLbbL353kzg8BK_8Y4-CxMQQD9G8H5S82

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0615/1224272519463.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/7830474/Franco-German-relations-hit-new-low-over-EU-recovery.html