Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Mission Organization: Where Do You Store Your Left Over Nerve Agents?
Friday, August 31, 2007
No we aren't talking about agent '007' types with an attitude, we're talking about agents such as phosgene. If you are a member of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission you toss your phosgene in a baggie and toss it in the corner where it stays for the next 11 years.
Frightening enough possibilities leap to mind when considering where other 'agents may be stored and how'.
Apparently the offices of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, Unmovic are being emptied. I'm not certain if they were being emptied so that the decorator could come in and redesign, or maybe the carpets were just going to get a good steam but, this stuff was found left over from 1996 in the UN building.
The good news is the items found, which were thankfully listed in an inventory sheet were screened and found to have no toxic vapours. But, what else is lurking in other 'official' type building across the planet? Are the people that deal with even more deadly hazards any more organized that these Unmovic people?
The vials found at the UN were found by inspectors as they were clearing these offices out. So, the inspectors need inspectors. Who, then, will inspect the inspectors, that inspect the inspectors who just plain inspect?
Day after day we are finding that all the organizations that have been assembled to protect us are actually the most unorganized balls of confusion on earth.
Our plea goes out today to the 'experts' in all the fields that holds society together. Lock the door behind you when you leave the lab that contains the deadly virus you have been 'inspecting'. Call out the repair crews when you find the bridge you have inspected is falling apart. Lock up the people you have found dumping poisons into our oceans. Stop letting companies that are poisoning our children, tainting our food and selling us tires without rubber steal from us our lives, our loved ones and our health. See that not one more nuclear plant is built upon a major fault line. Those are the kinds of things we need the experts to do.
Well take care of the everyday minutia of life like bank robbers, rapists and drunken drivers. You experts need to take of the big stuff, and for heaven's sake please dispose of the phosgene you have inspected 11 years ago safely, turn out the lights, and lock the door behind you when you leave the building!
Photo miniscience.com
Labels: Inspections, North American Union, Phosgene
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Mission Organization: Where Do You Store Your Left Over Nerve Agents?
posted by Pacific Spirit on Friday, August 31, 2007
Rare Chinese White Dolphin Thought to be Extinct Maybe Alive After All!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
China, China China. What am I to think of China. With all the bad news, bad products and bad feelings swirling around China these days suddenly and inexplicably the rare white dolphin has been filmed in the Yangtze River.
The little guy that spotted the, thought to be extinct, rare white dolphin said he had never seen such a large creature in the river before so he filmed it.
What a stroke of good fortune coming on the heels of all that bad fortune. Good fortune on all accounts in fact. China needed some good news to send to the rest of the world.
Good fortune that seemingly the only fellow to see the rare white dolphin, thought to be extinct happened to have a video camera handy.
Good fortune with Beijing hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics they will now be able to sell Olympic accouterments sporting the rare white dolphin. You may remember the white dolphin being sported on everything from ball caps and coffee mugs to kites during the Hong Kong handover celebrations in '97.
Good fortune that after not seeing hide nor hair of the rare white dolphin for years and after a top notch team of Zoologists spent an intense and unprecedented 6 week search for the rare white dolphin and came up empty.
The last time the dolphin had been spotted was in 2002 the same year the last baiji, rare white dolphin, died in captivity. The elite survey team including the US, Britain, Japan and China failed to site or find any evidence there were any surviving baiji.
The baiji as the Chinese call it numbered more than 5,000 less than one hundred years ago. Experts say there needs to be at least 50 to keep the gene pool from degenerating and the rare dolphin from going extinct after an illustrious run of more than 20-million-years.
The white dolphin had no enemies in its natural habitat save man who created devastating pollution, illegally fished, and ran them down with ships...
Good fortune for the Chinese indeed...color me dubious, but ever hopeful.
The timing of the sighting of the white dolphin couldn't be better as Hong Kong Dolphinwatch, a commercial dolphin watching tour company entices tourists to tour their dolphin habitat.
"Welcome to the Year of the Dolphin!
2007 is also the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's reunion with Mainland China. Chinese White Dolphins here were made the official mascot of the 1997 Handover; ten years have passed, how are those mascots doing today? What has Hong Kong done to protect them? Can anyone say that we have done enough to eliminate the threats that they have been facing? What does the Hong Kong Government have in mind for their future?"
"Hong Kong Dolphinwatch has been dolphin watching since 1995 and witnessed the changes before and after the Handover. We hope we will have the chance to take you to our dolphins' habitat and show you the remaining population of our lovely threatened pink dolphins, and let us tell you what our answers to the above questions are."
Labels: China, Chinese, Dolphin, Rare, White Dolphin
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Rare Chinese White Dolphin Thought to be Extinct Maybe Alive After All!
posted by Pacific Spirit on Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Whose Line is it Anyway? Whose Passage is it Anyway?
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
George Bush says the Northwest Passage is an 'international passageway'. That seems like a lot of syllables for Bush to be using in only two words, but Bush says a lot of things. Bush also used a lot of syllables when he said 'serious consultations' need to take place regarding border security. Some language attributed to Bush just don't sound very Bush'esque. Though he followed up with a Bushism we can believe when he added they were "working hard to get a plan ready"...now that is some Bush language we've all grown familiar with.
Paul Cellucci, US ambassador to Canada recently said it would benefit the US if Bush would accept Canada's claim to the Northwest Passage.
I think we can safely read that as 'if we all agree the Passage belongs to Canada, then it will be up to Canada to fund, protect and oversee the Passage.
Canada gearing up with a C$100m military training center in Resolute, and a deepwater facility near the Northwest Passage is certainly the first step toward giving Canada the ability to protect and oversee the Passage.
11 ships were able to use the Passage in 2006. With more and more of the polar ice melting more and more ships will be attempting to cut thousands of miles off their voyages.
No good deed goes unpunished. After the US handed the Panama Canal over to Panama they found the monumental canal in the hands of the Chinese. This illustrates the desperate need for another passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific if the opportunity arises.
It would do the free world quite a lot of good to assess in what hands the Northwest Passage should rest. The canal was cut through the very core of the Continental Divide. Until and if the Northwest passage opens up and becomes a truly viable route, the Panama Canal remains the most vital piece of water on the planet. Illustrating the importance of the this little bit of water is the fact that it shaves 4,500 miles off a trip by sea from Tokyo and London. Forget what that means to commerce, and just consider the meaning in military terms.
Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line through a land so wide and savage
And make a northwest passage to the sea
Stan Rogers
Photo American University ICE project
Labels: Arctic, Canada, Global Warming, North Pole, Northwest Passage, Ocean, Russia, USA
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Whose Line is it Anyway? Whose Passage is it Anyway?
posted by Pacific Spirit on Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Was Homer Simpson Right After All? Giant hole found in the Universe!
Monday, August 27, 2007
For years I've been worried about a giant black hole sucking our galaxy into where ever it is black holes suck things. Nothing is more hungry than a black hole. A black hole will even eat light that comes too close. But, for now anyway, scientists are saying the new 'void' that was found isn't a black hole. That's a relief for now anyway.
This new 'void' is nearly a billion light-years wide. I can't even begin to fathom, or illustrate just how large that may be. At a billion light-years wide I also suspect there isn't any reason for me to try to determine how tall it may be either.
I've always tried to imagine what 'infinity' may look like. I wanted there to be a brick wall on the outskirts of forever, I'm told that isn't possible. But, this new discovery leads me to believe that indeed anything is possible in the universe. In fact I'm now considering we need to have another name that better describes something that is obviously 'beyond' the universe. Apparently the universe is not infinite because there must be something lying beyond it...
Apparently naming what ever it is that lies beyond the universe isn't such a silly idea. It also turns out right now that the 'vast majority of the the cosmos is missing'. I'm going out on a limb here and saying it's cuddled up against that brick wall at the end of the universe hiding from everyone.
Michael Turner, cosmologist at the University of Chicago explained the 'great mystery of the dark side of the universe as being dark matter and dark energy. He also said that just "So far, the greatest achievement with dark energy is giving it a name," "We are really at the very beginning of this puzzle." Dark energy is "really weird stuff". But, this newly discovered 'dark energy' is not the same as the giant this huge hole that has been found.
This new hole is void of matter. Any matter. Anti-matter, dark matter ...or for that matter even dark energy.
This is being called a gargantuan hole. Now for a few minutes at least we can all become theoretical physicists. Any theory, that any of us have as to what this enormous hole really means, is as good as any other theory at this moment.
Maybe Homer Simpson is right.
Photo thanks NASA/Hubble, The Simpsons Movie
Labels: black hole, Giant hole, homer simpson
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Was Homer Simpson Right After All? Giant hole found in the Universe!
posted by Pacific Spirit on Monday, August 27, 2007
An Unforgetable Meeting; Polar Bear and Dog at Play! Trust Where We Least Expect It.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Please click here for an unforgetable pleasure!
Photo thanks Scott Schiebe USFWS
Labels: Play, Polar Bear and Dog, Polar Bears
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
An Unforgetable Meeting; Polar Bear and Dog at Play! Trust Where We Least Expect It.
posted by Pacific Spirit on Friday, August 24, 2007
Wholesome Glass: Progress isn't always better.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Progress: The very nature of the word gives us a feeling of hope, the patient is making progress. The mission is progressing. The progress of research. In nearly every situation where we use the word progress something good is waiting at the end of the line. Maybe not all things new, should be called progressive.
Remember how wonderful a small ice cold glass bottle of soda tasted on a hot summer day? Pulling an icy wet bottle that had been resting in a chilling cooler made from metal was one of the most pleasant experiences I can recall as a kid. There were actually grids of some sort that kept the bottle from floating up in the icy waters of the soda machine. The bottles were small, they fit in the hand and cooled not only our throats, but our hands as well. Those days are gone.
It turns out glass was a good thing.
Glass can be recycled into infinity. One glass container can be recycled over and over without losing any of its quality or purity.
Arguments for using plastic containers range from safety issues, as falling down with a glass bottle in hand may result in injury to transporting glass requires more fuel. True that glass poses some hazard when broken, we need to weigh the risk benefit of using BPA vs. Glass to contain the products we ingest into our bodies.
Glass is made from sand, soda ash, and lime stone. Once a glass container is manufactured the cost of reincarnating it into another container is even less expensive than making a new glass container.
If you've ever taken glass containers to a recycling center you will have noticed that glass is separated by color. Once color is added to glass it cannot be removed. There for the colored glass is segregated by color. Color in glass does not effect its ability to be turned into another colored container.
There are certain types of glass that cannot be recycled. Window panes, light bulbs and some types of ovenware are not easily recycled. These types of glass are manufactured using a different method than food and beverage containers. Be sure to look for the 'G' on the glass you use. This means it has already been recycled into the container you are holding and it can be recycled again. Glass is amazing stuff folks.
As we have become more aware of the benefits of recycling, the amount of new plastics products have done nothing but risen. We are recycling more plastic, and yet more and more new plastic is being manufactured. In fact much of the plastic we do recycle is being sent to third world countries. We are simply tossing more weight on the backs of the people that are least capable of withstanding additional stress.
Generating one plastic bottle can generate more than 100 times the toxins emitted into the air and water than making the same container into glass.
Americans alone toss away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. That's more than 22 Billion bottles tossed every year, only by Americans. wow!
For every ton of glass that is recycled 9 gallons of fuel are saved. Recycled glass also requires using up to 32% less energy to reincarnate.
Labels: BPA, Plastic, Recycle
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Wholesome Glass: Progress isn't always better.
posted by Pacific Spirit on Friday, August 17, 2007
Let China Off the Hook? Accepting Tainted Chinese Products is Our Own Fault.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Yes, one more bit of bad news when it comes to your babies today. Now it turns out there is lead in certain baby bibs.
Lead bibs would, of course, makes sense with all the gamma rays and what not contained in strained peas and apple sauce. This bib thing really may be the straw that breaks the camels back. Not every kid puts toys in their mouths, not every kid stuffs things up their noses, but unlike the lead paint issue, and the inhaling of magnets: Every baby spits food out...therefore the bib.
Feeding a baby is all about attrition. Who will last the longest, the spooner or the spoonee. Younger babies may be amateurs when it comes to eating solid foods, but they are professionals when it comes to pushing that food right back out
Every mother has take the spoon and in a scrapping motion reclaimed food from babies face. Every mom too must admit to reclaiming food that has been rejected from a clean bib. My kids had dozens of bibs, some were even plastic so they could be wiped down instead of tossed in the laundry after every use. This is the long way of saying, if lead is being used in baby bibs, the babies that were being fed in those bibs most certainly have lead in them. Conversely all children that played with the most recently recalled toys will not have magnets in them.
Importing goods from China has become the same as feeding a baby. China is the spooner that keeps sending us products for which we do not have a taste. We spew those distasteful tainted products back.
The interesting portion of this serving is going to be seeing who gives up first. Will we at some point say enough is enough, we won't accept dangerous, unwholesome products from anywhere any more? Or, will we be worn down, until ultimately years from now our sallow ed faces and blank stares sing the refrain of:
it was gluten from China wot dun 'em in.
Gluten, toothpaste, tainted fish, lead based paint, jewelry, baby bibs, pet food....you fill in your own blanks.
We need to contact our domestic manufactures and let them know they appear to be engaging in practices that are UNACCEPTABLE. We will not continue to return or spew back their products, but that those products will remain on the shelves....unless and until they change their practices!
We work hard for our money, we love our families, and our pets...we've come to expect better, we deserve better.....let's not lose the game of attrition.
Labels: China, Chinese Tooth paste. DEG, lead paint, Tainted
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Let China Off the Hook? Accepting Tainted Chinese Products is Our Own Fault.
posted by Pacific Spirit on Thursday, August 16, 2007
China-Free, Mattel-Free: It's time to put our 'collective' foot down!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Healthy and safety officials in the US are saying that parents shouldn't trust Mattel to make safe toys for their children. That it is the parents responsibility to be sure products are safe! Just think about that statement for a moment. How in the world would anyone that wasn't an engineer or a chemist be able to do that?
Of course a parent knows what pieces and parts can choke, pinch, or harm a child. But, there is no way on earth a parent can detect the hidden dangers in any product.
In a statement totally from left field the acting head of the Consumer Products Safety Commission in the US told viewers during a press conference that 9 million toys in the US, (18.5 million in total) recalled yesterday that were made in China, was only a small drop in the bucket. The vast majority of imports, when looking at the picture in totality, were safe. Oh really? This leaves the impression they are all being tested or monitored; clearly not so.
The very idea that the vast majority of imports from China, be they toys or any other product is ludicrous. How would anyone know? China knew.
Reuters is reporting today that China knew of the problems ..."with magnets on toys as long ago as March".
Lead paint has been banned from any type of use in the US since 1978. There is no presumable way the Chinese didn't know the paint they were using was lead based.
The whole idea that any of these tainted products from China were honest mistakes would be comical were it not so serious. Deadly serious.
There are obviously no checks or balances when it comes to the poison being allowed to be shipped out of China.
Adding further insult CNN produced their in-house-doctor expert telling people if they think their child may have been exposed to lead they should have them tested. Okay.....and will Mattel be receiving the bill for that testing?
My opinion is, telling people not to depend on the safety of Mattel toys is the same as telling them not to depend on the safety of Gerber Baby Foods, or Heinz Baby.
Mattel is fact more responsible than the Chinese. It is their fiduciary responsibility to make sure the manufacturing of their products results in a safe product. They have shipped their production overseas to bulk up their profits, they need to spend some of those profits on inspection at the source.
Are we really to believe Mattel can't afford to have one man on the ground at each manufacturing site that is in their pocket? Another ridiculous idea.
Are parents now being asked to preform their own lab tests on children's products? What in the name of government are people paying the gate keepers of health and safety to do these days?
Confidence is the only currency any company has when it comes to gaining and keeping customers, one would think they would guard that confidence.
Are we to believe Mattel can't or won't afford a 'standard' steward at manufacturing plants no matter where they are located? INCREDULOUS.
In light of China's documented inability to produce safe products the public needs to start demanding truth in labeling, starting first with 'China Free' labels.
A company in Utah, food for Health International thinks so too. They have plans to start putting stickers on their products saying "China-Free".
It has become nearly impossible to determine what portion of ingredients in any one product originate in China. International trade be damned. I'm fed up with being fed the party line.
"China-Free" stickers are an idea whose time has come....come and gone... in fact it's way overdue.
Contact Mattel, Inc. and tell them you are going to be "Mattel-Free", AG Brands-Free, Fisher-Price-Free until and unless they can prove they are putting the safety of our children and grandchildren ahead of their greed.
http://service.mattel.com/us/contactus.aspx for toll free numbers to call
http://www.mattel.com/contact_us/ US email
Labels: China, Chinese, imports, lead paint, Mattel, Recall, Tainted
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
China-Free, Mattel-Free: It's time to put our 'collective' foot down!
posted by Pacific Spirit on Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Don't Miss 'The Trouble with Touch Screens' Dan Rather
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Dan Rather will be Reporting on Electronic Voter Fraud tonight.
At 7 PM ET on CNN's Situation Room Rather will be promoting his hour long investigation into 'the trouble with touch screens'.
Dan Rather will be exposing how defective electronic voting machines have altered the outcome of multiple elections.
Rather is now doing hour long broadcasts on HDNet. Dan's show can be viewed online.
It should be an enlightening hour that will be available for viewing on demand after its original air date. So pass this one on.
Remember, it doesn't matter for whom you vote, what matters is who counts your vote.
You won't want to miss this.
Labels: Dan Rather, eballot, electronic voting, voting fraud
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Don't Miss 'The Trouble with Touch Screens' Dan Rather
posted by Pacific Spirit on Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Santa Facing Competition at The North Pole: Move Over Fat Man in Red!
Denmark is but the next nation in the race to stake a claim to the Arctic's north pole and its potentially vast oil and mineral deposits. Helge Sander, Denmark's Minister of science , technology and innovation believes ..."there are things suggesting that Denmark could be given the North Pole."
Begging the question sir...PSMI would like to know: Given by whom?
Peter MacKay, the Canadian Foreign Minister has said of the Russians "...You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say, 'We're claiming this territory'."
Apparently the Russians don't believe this to be the case. The Russians claim to have planted a rust-proof Titanium flag which, as Akademik Fedorov claims will be there 100, or even 1,000 years from now planted in Yellow colored gravel 4,261 meters beneath the North Pole.
One might wonder who would be going 13,980 feet below the North Pole besides Mrs. Claus, looking for the mister. But, there is an apparent rush by several nations to reach just that depth.
Among the Russian plummeting the depths of the deep sea beds were a Swedish Pharmaceuticals millionaire and an Australian who co-sponsored the expedition along with the Russian Government. As a special bonus, Putin awarded Artur Chilingarov, who led the expedition, the status of "presidential envoy to the Arctic".
Samples were taken of the soil in an effort to scientifically and legally claim the 'yellow gravel' under the North Pole is Russian Gravel.
Now the line to lay claim to the vast wealth that could be sleeping below the North Pole forms behind the Russians. Next in cue: Canada as they have no Titanium flag planted yet, followed by Denmark, Norway and the US.
Until recently the biggest challenge, or more succinctly put hindrance, was the Arctic Ice. Until global warming came to melt it all away there really was no point in becoming involved in a race that could have no profitable outcome.
With so many nations, peppered with the occasional mogul, one has to start wondering in what language they should print their "snow cone hut' signage.
Open voor Zaken, Open for Business Eh, Open, Open, Open!
Labels: Arctic, Canada, Global Warming, North Pole, Ocean, Russia
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Santa Facing Competition at The North Pole: Move Over Fat Man in Red!
posted by Pacific Spirit on Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Gay by Nature or Nurture debate takes a backseat to environmental toxins!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Let's see if we can wrap our minds around this scenario! It turns out that scientific studies have now proven exposure to BPA, bisphenol A, creates all kinds of reporductive 'confussion'.
BPA is, but one more toxic chemical that has been absorbed into the envirnment and into humans...for generations. BPA is the substance used to create the slightly stiffer plastic items we use daily to take in much of our food and drink.
First let's address only a few ways this toxin gets inside of us.
Many of the foods we eat come from cans that are coated on the inside with BPA to prevent the leaching of metal into the foods. We're jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Speaking of heat, studies show that heating items that are made with BPA increases its 'leaching' or contamination with the BPA molecules. Millions of baby bottles are made with plastic containing BPA. As any parent knows baby bottles are continually exposed to heat. Many of todays water bottles are also manufactured using BPA. Beer and wine fermentation vats and even sealants used to protect children from cavities. The exposure to BPA is ubiquitous. There is no possilbe way for me to list all the ways this toxin is absorbed by humans.
To put the use of BPA into some perspective, more than 6 billion, that's billion with a b, are produced yearly. The wide use of this chemical started in the 1950. Simply put, for more than a half century we have been slowly changeing the face of our own genitic make up, now reaching critical mass.
Now let's look at just one ramification of BPA, which is quite simply amazing. Females reproductive eggs are established, formed and grown while still in the womb. When a woman has been exposed as we all have since the 1950's to BPA, not only were our grandmothers eggs, ie, our parents who started growing their reproductive systems in utero and then in turn our own, but our children are now representing the 4th generation of BPA 'scrambled eggs'.
To understand this completely I've drawn a comparison from BPA in human 'eggs' to pearls. As a small particle of sand is at the core of a pearl, these BPA molecules are at the very beginning of the formation of our eggs and sperm. What BPA was absorbed by our grandmothers, was passed then in utero to our parents, this before they were ever exposed to any outside products containting BPA. You can see how the passing on, and the continuous exposoure of this chemical is having a cumulitive effect on all of us.
More than 700 published studies have been decrying the use of BPA. These studies have been summarily dismissed over the years by 'experts' in the field of plastics.
Studies have shown in lab rats that low doses of BPA have caused gender confussion. The feminazation of males, and the defeminazation of females, are giving the scientific community great cause for concern. Females when exposed to far lower doses of BPA than the equivilant 'recomended safe' exposure to humans caused them to take on masquline traits such as agression, sexual prowess and a lack of maternal nurturing towards their offspring. The females spent far less time in the nest, and took on male traits.
Bisphenol A is only one of far too many toxins we are exposing ourselves and future generations to that are used by us daily. It's time for us to start turning the tide back to clean wholesome glass containers for our food and drink.
Labels: Bisphenol, BPA, Feminization, Human Reproduction, Plastic, Poison, Toxin
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Gay by Nature or Nurture debate takes a backseat to environmental toxins!
posted by Pacific Spirit on Monday, August 13, 2007
US killing as many as 2.700 Canadians anually? May hospitalize 12,000 per year with ill-winds.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
While Ontario plans to close the 4 remaining coal-fuelled plants by 2014 the US is continuing to relax its emission standards for coal fuelled plants.
Coal emissions are a hot topic in the US. Some are even suggesting a form of coal powered autos. The relaxed emissions for coal pollution in the US may have quite a lot to do with that. Even China is making a move to eliminate coal to liquid synthetic petroleum. The process for turning coal to synthetic liquid fuel consumes nearly as much non-renewable energy as it returns. Liquid coal fuel is a fools folly.
The US clearly plans to exploit its cheap and abundant coal supply. The cost to convert is estimated at $25.00 a barrel. Compare that with the estimated $100.00 a barrel it could garner and coal to fuel looks like an appetizing investment. Meanwhile Canadians will be dying prematurely and those that don't die will be suffering sever health consequences.
With more than 600 coal plants in the US Midwest many with no pollution scrubbers the winds that blow into Ontario contain as much as 90% of the pollution in Windsor and Sarnia. The cost of this pollution from the US is growing exponentially. The cost to human lives can't be calculated.
Huge volumes of sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide, ozone and mercury flowing over the border from the US have spurred the government to lodge yet another formal complaint southward to the US EPA.
More trouble brewing on the winds would be the prospect of using CTL (coal to liquid) fuel in jets traveling over Canada. The US Air Force has been working on synthetic CTL mixtures to feed its need for less expensive fuel plans to increase its use of CTL mixed fuels to 100 million gallons in the next 2 years. This is a daunting number when one considers that the US military accounts for only 1.7% of the US fuel consumption.
Commercial airlines always trying to find ways to cut their expenses will be on board the CTL pipeline.
The 2Nd attempt to pass a Bill, in as many years, as it applies to CTL federal funding and inclusion in the nearly non-existent US national 'energy policy' went down in flames in a vote of 39-55. The thumbs down on these proposals is fueling speculations that many coal producing States in the US will be more determined to pass their own legislation stoking the CTL fires.
It may be quite demoralizing to nearly everyone concerned, but the fight must continue to prevent the cross contamination of the Canadian environment by the America's ill-winds.
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
US killing as many as 2.700 Canadians anually? May hospitalize 12,000 per year with ill-winds.
posted by Pacific Spirit on Saturday, August 11, 2007
