Crews begin installing a protective boom across the mouth of Mobile Bay in Alabama May 11, 2010. Oil workers, volunteers and the military have been battling to shut off a gushing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and stop the huge spreading slick from reaching major ports, tourist beaches, wildlife refuges and fishing grounds. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Crews will aim to capture oil “moving into waters off eastern Alabama and the western tip of the Florida Panhandle, as well as some large patches of sheen moving onto the west Florida shelf and southward to Cuban waters,” the advisory said. [MSNBC]

Photo: A view of the oil slick from space by NASA on May 24, 2010.

The Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill is the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history. It is an oil gusher from the sea floor of the Gulf of Mexico that started April 20, 2010 about 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast in the Macondo Prospect oil field.

The explosion killed 11 platform workers and injured 17 others. Ninety-eight workers survived.

The gusher originates 5,000 feet below the ocean surface. British Petroleum estimates over 5,000 barrels to 100,000 barrels of crude oil is being infused into the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally an unknown amount of natural gas is in the mixture.

The oil slick covers 2,500 square miles. Immense underwater plumes of oil, not visible, lie below the water’s surface.

From 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil continue to flow into the gulf per day. As of May 27 it is estimated between 440,000 and 700,000 barrels as of that date have poured into the gulf.

It is predicted the oil will be picked up by the Gulf Stream and carried around Florida and up the eastern coastline of the United States.

How long will the oil spill last?

Nobody knows. Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia has said it could take the ecosystem years, possibly decades, to recover from the infusion of oil and gas. CNN reports that BP is not expected to contain the spill until August, if then.

The fishing industry along the gulf has been closed down. Losses from tourism have been estimated at $3 billion. Five corporations connected to the spill have lost $21 billion in market capitalization since the explosion.

BP argued against new, stricter safety rules proposed last September by Minerals Management Service saying additional regulation of the oil industry was unnecessary; that the voluntary system of safety procedures was adequate, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Hurricanes

The hurricane season officially started June 2 causing the worry that “a hurricane might turn the millions of gallons of floating crude into a crashing back surf,” according to the Associated Press. It is feared that the combination of damaging winds and large waves will push the oil deeper into the Louisiana estuaries and wetlands leaving miles of debris-littered coastline. The furthering damage to the coast line will weaken as future tropical storms and hurricanes arrive in the years ahead.

Regulate, Baby, Regulate

Over the years the federal government has been deregulating corporate industry. You’ve heard the arguments about big government’s intrusion into private enterprise.

BP argued against new, stricter safety rules proposed last September by Minerals Management Service saying additional regulation of the oil industry was unnecessary; that the voluntary system of safety procedures was adequate, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Around 80 “oil spills” have occurred across the globe since 1937, according to Wikipedia. The most recent occurred in the Singapore Strait resulting from a collision of two marine vessels.

We Must Get Off Oil

T. Boone Pickens says the United States today imports 65% of the oil we use. That is up from 24% in 1970. “Every day 85 million barrels of oil are produced around the world. And 21 million of those are used here in the United States.” That’s 25% of the world’s oil demand. Used by just 4% of the world’s population. America imports 12 million barrels a day, and Saudi Arabia only produces 9 million a day.

Pickens adds, “In additional to putting our security in the hands of potentially unfriendly and unstable foreign nations, we spent $475 billion on foreign oil in 2008 alone. That’s money taken out of our economy and sent to foreign nations, and it will continue to drain the life from our economy for as long as we fail to stop the bleeding.”

Photo credit: Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar visited a wildlife treatment center in Louisiana on Saturday. Jim Wilson, The New York Times.

Scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given. [New York Times]

Bad news.

Dann Weeks wrote an informative article last week in the Pahrump Mirror about radioactive groundwater making its way from the Nevada Test Site toward Beatty. Tests showed the groundwater contains radioactive contamination.

Next time you fill your glass with water from your tap you may want to carry it into a dark closet to see if it glows. The radioactive ingredient is Tritium. What is Tritium? Well it is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. [Read more →]

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has opened a public comment period for a third solar project in Nevada: a 180-megawatt solar plant called the Crescent Dunes project, planned by Tonopah Solar Energy, a subsidiary of Solar Reserve. [Pahrump Valley Times]

Progress in solar energy is slowly inching ahead in Nye County.

“BLM will accept comments on the project until Dec. 24. Public hearings have been scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Dec. 17, at the Tonopah Convention Center and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Dec. 18, at the BLM Southern Nevada District Office at 4701 N. Torrey Pines Drive in Las Vegas. Representatives from the BLM and Tonopah Solar Energy will be present to answer questions.

“Comments submitted in writing have to be postmarked before Dec. 24. They may be sent to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, attention Tom Seley, field manager, Tonopah Field Office, 1553 S. Main St., PO Box 911, Tonopah NV 89049. Comments will also be accepted by fax, at 1-775-482-7810 or by e-mail to crescent_dunes@blm.gov.

“A megawatt is roughly enough to power 200 to 250 homes, meaning the plant could supply power to almost 50,000 homes.”

“Tonopah Solar Energy will use an array of 17,350 mirrors called heliostats that follow the sun and reflect light onto the top of a 633-foot tower with a holding tank of molten salt. The salt liquid, heated to 1,000 degrees, is then routed to an insulated storage tank. When electricity is to be generated, the hot salt is routed to a heat exchanger to produce steam, which generates electricity.”

So, if you have questions or input now is your chance to speak up.

Glaciers worldwide are melting faster than anyone had predicted they would just a few years ago. It offers a clear indication of an accelerating climate change and warming earth, according to the authors. [CNN]

These changes are taking place in Washington State and Alaska in three different climate regimes,” said Edward Josberger, the lead researcher on the study with the USGS Washington Water Science Center in Tacoma, Washington. “So we feel it’s definitely something going on, probably on a global scale, and of course, if you look at other such measurements around the world and put it all together, yes, glaciers are retreating and retreating rapidly.”

Show your support for a Clean Energy Plan

Let our elected officials know we need green jobs.

Host: Nevada State Democratic Party

Type: Meetings – Informational Meeting

Date: Monday, August 10, 2009

Time: 8:30am – 10:00am

Location: Steps of the Cox Pavilion of the UNLV campus

Street: UNLV campus at Tropicana and Swenson

City/Town: Las Vegas, NV

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Email: kirsten@nvgreenvote.org

Description

Friends,

Last year, Americans voted overwhelmingly for change, including an energy policy for the 21st Century.

Members of Congress are working to jumpstart our economy and create new, green jobs in Nevada by passing a historic Clean Energy Plan. Unfortunately, big oil and gas companies are using scare tactics to stall this work and are organizing a protest Monday against any sensible reform to our nation’s outdated energy policy.

PLEASE JOIN US — Monday, August 10, at 8:30 a.m. on the steps of the Cox Pavilion of the UNLV campus — to let our elected officials know we need green jobs and a Clean Energy Plan now! It’s important that we show our support for a Clean Energy Plan.

Join other Nevadans to send a public “thank you” to Sen. Harry Reid for the work he is doing to support a Clean Energy Plan in Congress and call on other senators to vote in favor of jobs that can’t be exported overseas. Sen. Reid recognizes that we must harness Nevada’s vast solar, wind and geothermal energy potential to stabilize our energy costs and create much-needed jobs!

Free parking is available in the Cox Pavilion parking lot on the UNLV campus at Swenson and Tropicana. For more information, please go to www.rebuildnevada.org. To RSVP, please email kirsten@nvgreenvote.org.

Jobs and the New Economy

Host: U.S. Senator Harry Reid, UNLV, and Center for American Progress Action Fund

Type: Meetings – Convention

Network: Global

Date: Monday, August 10, 2009

Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm

Location: UNLV – Cox Pavilion

Street: 4505 S. Maryland Parkway (corner of Tropicana Ave. & Swenson Ave.)

City/Town: Las Vegas, NV

View Map

Description

JUST ADDED: Former PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON!

PENDING: Keynote Address by GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

WHAT: High-level industry leaders, scientists, policy experts, and public officials, along with citizens and the media, will gather in Nevada for a day-long summit hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, U.S. Senate Majority Leader HARRY REID (D-NV), and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

This year’s summit will bring together the nation’s top minds, including former Vice President AL GORE, Secretary of Energy STEVEN CHU, energy executive T. BOONE PICKENS, White House Council on Environmental Quality Special Advisor VAN JONES, Nevada State AFL-CIO executive DANNY THOMPSON, and many others to chart a course for our nation’s clean energy future.

WHY: 2009 provides a pivotal opportunity for our nation to come together to define a policy agenda that accelerates the deployment of clean energy and energy efficiency, creates good jobs, advances energy independence, and ensures long term economic prosperity for Nevada, the nation, and the world. We hope you will join the conversation.

For more information on the summit and to register online, visit: http://www.cleanenergysummit.org

$25 discounted admission price for students!!!

Want to participate in a different way? Volunteer at the event by applying at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SS_2fKOgcDwWwNwh6armDwVw_3d_3d

NASA reports:

Arctic sea ice thinned dramatically between the winters of 2004 and 2008, with thin seasonal ice replacing thick older ice as the dominant type for the first time on record. The new results, based on data from a NASA Earth-orbiting spacecraft, provide further evidence for the rapid, ongoing transformation of the Arctic’s ice cover. [NASA]

Take a look at the NASA pictures.

President Barack Obama

Organizing for America (OFA) has officially landed in Nevada. Organizing for America is dedicated to forwarding President Obama’s agenda through grassroots action, and to creating a progressive, grassroots movement in the State of Nevada.

In order to best serve Nevada, OFA will visit cities throughout the state to re-engage and mobilize the grassroots movement in support of President Obama.

For Organizing for America to succeed, we need to hear from you – your effort and commitment are the backbone of this movement, and your input will help guide our action in Nevada. [Read more →]