Endangered Fur Seals Dying at Alarming Rate Along California Coast
The threatened Guadalupe fur seal is getting stranded on California’s coastline in record numbers, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The marine mammals typically spend their time off Mexico’s coast, but at least 80 of the pinnipeds have ended up on California’s shore emaciated, dehydrated or dead. That’s a rate eight times higher than what’s documented in a typical year.
Of the 80 fur seals, 42 were found dead and only 16 of the 38 found alive survived.
The unprecedented occurrence has led NOAA to declare an unusual mortality event for the seals, meaning its scientists will devote more time to studying the species and more samples from rescued animals will be evaluated.
The fur seal’s struggles come during the same year that a record 3,500 California sea lions have washed ashore along California’s coast.
Scientists think the unusually warm waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean could be affecting the health of marine mammals. The large swath of unseasonably hot water is wreaking havoc on everything from Washington’s crabs to Oregon’s algae and it could be pushing fish species that seals and sea lions rely on as food sources farther north than the animals can travel.
At the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, California, the rescue facility took in four Guadalupe fur seals between January and May. Executive Director Keith Matassa says there haven’t been any reports since then.
“That’s actually more than we typically rescue in a year anyway,” he said and 2015 has been a record year for overall marine mammal recoveries for the facility. “Look at our averages from 1998 to 2014 and we rescue about 188 sea lions and elephant seals a year. For 2015, we’re already at 535 rescues.”
Right now, it’s the slow season. Adult seals and sea lions are out at their rookeries, taking care of their newborn pups, most of which were born in June and July. At about six months old, the pups start to venture out on their own and that’s when the reports start flooding in.
“Hopefully they wait until November or December—when they’re a little more capable of taking care of themselves,” Matassa said.
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A northern mockingbird on June 24, 2016. Renee Grayson / CC BY 2.0
Environmentalists and ornithologists found a friend in a federal court on Tuesday when a judge struck down a Trump administration attempt to allow polluters to kill birds without repercussions through rewriting the Migratory Treaty Bird Act (MBTA).
<p>The issue at the heart of the case is that the Trump administration intended to change decades of established policy to allow the incidental slaughter of migratory birds as long as an individual or corporation could prove they did not intend to intentionally kill the bird, according to The Washington Post.</p><p>In a scathing decision, U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni questioned the humanity of an administration that would interpret the "taking" and "killing" of birds in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act as only applying to actions that specifically targeted birds.</p><p>In upholding the longstanding interpretation of the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act that energy companies and other businesses have opposed as too broad, she quoted the iconic American novel <em>To Kill a Mocking Bird</em>, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-environment-birds-trump/u-s-court-blocks-trump-administrations-relaxation-of-migratory-bird-safeguards-idUSKCN2580EK" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>"It is not only a sin to kill a mockingbird, it is also a crime," the judge wrote, according to Reuters.</p><p>"That has been the letter of the law for the past century. But if the Department of the Interior has its way, many mockingbirds and other migratory birds that delight people and support ecosystems throughout the country will be killed without legal consequence."</p>
<p>As <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/511603-interior-memo-scaling-back-bird-protections-is-contrary-to-law" target="_blank">The Hill</a> noted, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) has for over 100 years offered protections to 1,000 different types of birds, instigating penalties for companies whose projects or infrastructure harm them. Yet, in 2017, the Interior Department's Solicitor Daniel Jorjani, a former Koch Industries employee, advised punishing the oil and gas industry, construction companies, and others only if their work intentionally kills birds, effectively ending the spirit of the law that asks for the migratory patterns of birds to be considered when developing a project.</p><p>"The opinion freezes the MBTA in time as a hunting-regulation statute, preventing it from addressing modern threats to migrating bird populations," Caproni wrote in a decision vacating the opinion, calling it "an unpersuasive interpretation of the MBTA's unambiguous prohibition on killing protected birds," according to The Hill.</p>
<p>As The Washington Post pointed out, the opinion of Jorjani would have meant that BP, the company responsible for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, would not be responsible for the death of roughly 1 million birds that died due to that accident. The law would also mean that if an oil company forgot to cover a tar pit and birds landed it and died, the company would not be responsible, upending decades of existing regulations.</p><p>The opinion was hailed by environmentalists and by advocacy groups. "We're elated to see this terrible opinion overturned at a time when scientists are warning that we've lost as many as 3 billion birds [in North America] in the last 50 years," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that sued over the opinion, as The Hill reported. "To relax rules, to have the unhampered killing or birds didn't make any sense [and] was terrible and cruel really."</p><p>"Today's commonsense ruling is a much-needed win for migratory birds and the millions of Americans who cherish them," said Mike Parr, president of American Bird Conservancy, in a <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2020/200811-0" target="_blank">statement</a>. "The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is one of our nation's most important environmental laws, and has spurred industry innovation to protect birds, such as screening off toxic waste pits and marking power lines to reduce collisions. This decision represents the next vital step on the path to restoring our nation's declining bird populations and is a major victory for birds and the environment."</p>
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A spiny dogfish shark swims in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Washington. NOAA / Wikimedia Commons
By Elizabeth Claire Alberts
There are trillions of microplastics in the ocean — they bob on the surface, float through the water column, and accumulate in clusters on the seafloor. With plastic being so ubiquitous, it's inevitable that marine organisms, such as sharks, will ingest them.
<p>A new study in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-68680-1" target="_blank"><em>Scientific Reports</em></a> investigated microplastic ingestion in four species of demersal sharks found in the North Atlantic Ocean, which were captured as bycatch by a local fishery in Penzance, U.K. A team of six researchers, from the University of Exeter and the University of Leeds, examined the stomachs and digestive tracts of 46 sharks, and found that 67% contained microplastics. A total of 379 microplastics — plastic particles or fibers smaller than 5 millimeters, or a fifth of an inch — were found in the sampled sharks.</p><p>Many of the plastic fibers were synthetic cellulose, the material found in polyester clothing and hygiene products such as face masks, which have become increasingly prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p>"I think there is definitely some cause for concern," Kristian Parton, lead author of the study and researcher at the University of Exeter's Centre for Ecology and Conservation, told Mongabay in an email. "Although many of the particles ingested by these sharks will be excreted eventually, they potentially remain inside the body long enough for inorganic pollutants and chemicals (attached to the particles), to enter into the bodies of these sharks."</p><p>Parton said he found it surprising that sharks living off the coast of Penzance in Cornwall, on the southwestern tip of Britain, would contain so many plastic particles.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU1MzQ1OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NzA2MDY3OH0.SlQlPtL4cHm44O168ztiJ2u5lehmndyIh5eeegL6ozk/img.png?width=980" id="35461" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5f385b06f1e066393241e385c1356746" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Polyproylene fibers found in one of the sampled sharks. Kristian Parton
<p>"I actually didn't expect to find as many as we did in these sharks," he said. "The waters around Cornwall are thought to be some of the most beautiful in the U.K., and so I didn't think there would be much pollution."</p><p>Parton's co-author, Tamara Galloway, holds a similar view.</p><p>"We were not expecting to find microfibers from textiles in so many of our native shark species," Galloway, a marine biologist and professor of ecotoxicology at the University of Exeter, said in a statement. "Our study highlights how important it is to think before we throw things away."</p><p>Demersal sharks can be found at depths of 5 to 900 meters (16 to 3,000 feet), although they tend to live and feed in the demersal zone of the ocean, which is near the seafloor. The four species of demersal sharks used in this study included the small-spotted catshark (<em>Scyliorhinus canicula</em>), starry smooth-hound (<em>Mustelus asterias</em>), spiny dogfish (<em>Squalus acanthias</em>) and bull huss (<em>Scyliorhinus stellaris</em>).</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU1MzY3OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTc5MTE1OH0.5NXu7626Tvj2QfOU8pqFb0287d2sh1SLRD4_CwlhbIA/img.jpg?width=980" id="08a24" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="00d5d52c34bd112e0f91317709c5c82d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Spiny dogfish. NOAA / Wikimedia Commons
<p>"There appear to be two routes for these particles to end up in the sharks," Parton said. "The first through their food source [such as] crustaceans. Their prey may already contain these fibers, and consequently it's passed to the shark through bioaccumulation up the food chain. The second pathway is direct ingestion from the sediment. As these sharks feed, they'll often suck up sediment into their mouths, some of this is expelled straight away, although some is swallowed, therefore fibers and particles that may have sunk down into the seabed may be directly ingested from the surrounding sediment as these sharks feed."</p><p>Some sharks only contained a few plastic particles, but others contained dozens. The larger the shark, the more plastic was in it, the findings suggested. The highest number of microplastics was found in an individual bull huss, which had 154 polypropylene fibers inside its stomach and intestines.</p><p>"It's perhaps likely this individual shark had swallowed a larger piece of fishing rope/netting and this has broken down during digestive processes within the shark, and also broken down into smaller pieces during our analysis," Parton said.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU1MzQ4NC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyODY1MDA3MH0.rtDtmMS6OqC1NXKRw_Eu4GTdCs3DFjBQAcLBWc09FXE/img.png?width=980" id="8d923" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="29cf49b2e78f250aafc9f2354aa7c728" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Lesser-spotted dogfish caught as bycatch. Kristian Parton
<p>While this study only examined the stomach and digestive tracts of demersal sharks, Parton says it's possible that plastic would be present in other parts of the sharks' bodies, such as the liver and muscle tissue. However, more research would be needed to prove this.</p><p>At the moment, there is also limited understanding of how microplastic ingestion would impact a shark's health, although microplastics are known to negatively influence feeding behavior, development, reproduction and life span of zooplankton and crustaceans.</p><p>"If we can show that these fibers contain inorganic pollutants attached to them, then that could have real consequences for these shark species at a cellular level, impacting various internal body systems," Parton said.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU1MzQ5Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjkxMjI5MX0.VUAa_0t4_TRDodF5E8V80QF6hdrwvoy8WGbyIxtomqQ/img.png?width=980" id="a6f5c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b8deabdf3be7d576501f0c4f83810289" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/sharks-contaminated-with-plastic-are-cause-for-concern/" target="_blank">Mongabay.</a></em></p>Parton in the lab. Kristian Parton
<p>This new study demonstrates how pervasive and destructive plastic pollution can be in the marine environment, according to Will McCallum, head of oceans for Greenpeace U.K.</p><p>"Our addiction to plastics combined with the lack of mechanisms to protect our oceans is suffocating marine life," McCallum said in a statement. "Sharks sit on top of the marine food web and play a vital role in ocean ecosystems. Yet, they are completely exposed to pollutants and other human impactful activities. We need to stop producing so much plastic and create a network of ocean sanctuaries to give wildlife space to recover. The ocean is not our dump, marine life deserves better than plastic."</p>From Your Site Articles
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A "vessel of opportunity" skims oil spilled after the Deepwater Horizon well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. NOAA / Flickr / CC by 2.0
By Loveday Wright and Stuart Braun
After a Japanese-owned oil tanker struck a reef off Mauritius on July 25, a prolonged period of inaction is threatening to become an ecological disaster.
<p>Carrying nearly 4,000 metric tons of fuel oil, the tanker ran aground near Pointe d'Esny on the island in the Indian Ocean.</p><p>"Local authorities failed to do enough to prevent what is now the worst ecological disaster in Mauritius," blogger Ish Sookun wrote in a post on August 8. "They started putting buoys and barriers to protect the shore only after the first signs of the oil spill became apparent."</p>
<div id="9dc9c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d314aebd413c6c282d96a9338f135bf8"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291316001984872450" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Wakashio has been wrecked near the #Mauritian lagoon of Pointe d'Esny for the past 12 days. No visibly concrete ac… https://t.co/CuOQK1s7GS</div> — The Logical Mauritian (@The Logical Mauritian)<a href="https://twitter.com/mauritianlogic/statuses/1291316001984872450">1596708701.0</a></blockquote></div><p>By Tuesday, over two weeks after the accident, more than 1,000 tons of fuel had leaked from a crack in the vessel's hull, with the Mauritius government declaring a state of environmental emergency.</p><p>French President Emmanuel Macron responded to calls for international help, sending military aircraft from the neighboring island of Reunion carrying pollution-control equipment and a naval vessel carrying booms and absorbents. According to Mitsui OSK Lines, the company that owns the vessel, some 1,000 tons of oil have been recovered from the ship, and a further 500 from the water. Around 1,500 tons remain on board.</p><p>"Thousands of species around the pristine lagoons of Blue Bay, Pointe d'Esny and Mahebourg are at risk of drowning in a sea of pollution, with dire consequences for Mauritius' economy, food security and health," said Greenpeace in a statement.</p><p>The community has taken matters into its own hands, with hundreds of volunteers building sugar cane pulp buoys and placing them in the water "to try to absorb and contain the oil which had already spread in our lagoons," Sookun reported.</p>
<div id="bb0a7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e5aefc0fff61ab1aea2f4b03c5399864"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291765757013983238" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The #oilspill is devastating but I want to honour the community mobilisation at the Mahebourg waterfront today (to… https://t.co/UWFkZFdjdi</div> — Fabiola Monty (@Fabiola Monty)<a href="https://twitter.com/LFabiolaMonty/statuses/1291765757013983238">1596815930.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"Booms are made of nylon mesh filled with #sugarcane straws all hand-stitched by Mauritian volunteers, empty plastic bottles used as buoys," described Mauritian journalist Zeenat Hansrod in a tweet. </p>
<div id="1c4fc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ba90d41985996749adf21e608ae25347"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1292349790550994944" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Floating #booms are used as barriers to contain the #Wakashio #oilspill in #Mauritius #IleMaurice
In BlueBay, Point… https://t.co/chpuauutrW</div> — zeenat hansrod (@zeenat hansrod)<a href="https://twitter.com/zxnt/statuses/1292349790550994944">1596955175.0</a></blockquote></div>
How to Tackle Oil Spills
<p>The method for tackling oil spills depends on several factors, including the type and amount of oil in question, location and weather conditions.</p><p>"Once the oil comes to shore, the more intensive the cleaning technique. You can risk causing further damage," said Nicky Cariglia, an independent consultant at Marittima, who specializes in marine pollution. </p><p>"If you wanted to remove all traces of oil, the techniques available become increasingly aggressive the less oil that remains. In mangroves, you would have the added risk of causing damage by trampling," Cariglia told DW. Highly sensitive mangrove ecosystems line the Mauritius east coast that is threatened by the current spill.</p><p>Because oil normally has a lower density than water, it floats on the surface of the ocean. This means that for clean-up action to be most effective, it should happen very quickly after a spill, before the oil disperses. </p><h3>1. Scooping It All Up</h3><p>One method of controlling oil spills at sea, which was used after the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/france-brittany-coast-threatened-by-oil-spill-after-cargo-ship-sinks/a-47903844" target="_blank">Grande America cargo vessel sank in March 2019 </a> some 300 kilometers (186 miles) off the French coast, is essentially scooping up the oil from the water's surface.</p><p>This is done using so-called booms, which act like a barrier to prevent the oil from spreading. Once it's contained, boats equipped with so-called skimmer machines can suck up the oil and separate it from the water. After being processed, the oil can even be re-used.</p><p>It seems like a simple method, but it only works when the oil is in one place — and under the right conditions.</p><p><span></span>"Encountering enough oil can be difficult," said response adviser Cariglia. When that's the case, the specialized vessels needed for the process can also make this an expensive and logistically challenging method.</p><h3>2. Burning Oil Off Water</h3><p>In certain conditions, burning the oil off the water's surface can be the most appropriate method. In arctic or ice-covered waters, for example, it might be the only option.</p><p>In situ burning (ISB) would also be used to tackle an uncontrolled oil leak, where a lot of oil is spilling fast. When the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/the-legacy-of-deepwater-horizon-what-researchers-learned-about-oil-spills/a-37662810" target="_blank">Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig caught fire and sank</a> in April 2010, oil gushed from the seabed causing the largest accidental oil spill in history. ISB proved to be a highly effective technique in responding to the disaster.</p><p><span></span>But the method also produces toxic fumes which can have a negative impact on the environment.</p><p>And it comes with challenges, too. "It can be difficult to herd enough oil to make it thick enough to burn," Cariglia said. "If the oil had dispersed over many days, it would not be an option."</p>
<h3>3. Soaking Up Oil </h3><p>Absorbents can be kinder to the environment: They act like a sponge to soak up the spilled oil. But they're more useful for clearing small amounts of oil on land, and are not usually effective in tackling a spill out at sea. In fact, employing these materials on the water can create further pollution.</p><p>"Recovering and disposing of these oiled materials requires a lot of energy," Cariglia said. "There's a risk that oiled debris will get lost at sea."</p><p>Experts also disagree over the effectiveness of different absorbent materials, which can range from natural products such as straw to highly engineered synthetics developed by scientists for the purpose of tackling oil spills.</p><p>Cariglia is wary of solutions purporting to suck up slicks. "It's not that they don't work," she said. "In lab experiments, they can work very well. But in real life, the oil has spread at sea."</p><h3>4. Letting Nature Take Care of Itself</h3><p>When the area of the oil spill is difficult to reach or very far out to sea, nature itself can help tackle the issue. Wind and waves will naturally disperse the oil over time, parts of it will evaporate, and naturally occurring microbes will also do their work to start breaking down the oil.</p><p>But this is a slow and unreliable process that needs to be closely monitored and "should not be confused with 'sitting down and doing nothing,'" according to Marine Insight, a maritime industry information site.</p><p>Chemical agents can also be used to aid this process. Cariglia is keen to allay environmental fears. "Toxicity tests are designed so that the only things that are approved are milder than the soap you would use at home," she told DW.</p><p>Though the dispersants themselves are not toxic, environmental problems can occur when they are used in sheltered or shallow locations. In that situation, using dispersants can mean that the oil spreads around more of the delicate marine environment. "For example, in locations where there are coral reefs, it would be better if the oil stayed on the surface," Cariglia said.</p><p>When it comes to tackling oil spills, she added, "there is no single miracle cure." </p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/mauritius-oil-spill-disaster-tanker/a-48095315?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646956969#/" target="_self"></a></p>From Your Site Articles
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The Mountain Valley Pipeline proposes to carry natural gas for hundreds of miles over dozens of water sources, through protected areas and crossing the Appalachian Trail. Appalachian Trail Conservancy / YouTube
It's been a bad summer for fracked natural gas pipelines in North Carolina.
<p>First, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/atlantic-coast-pipeline" target="_self">Atlantic Coast Pipeline</a>, which would have ended in the state, was <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-coast-pipeline-canceled-2646347475.html" target="_self">canceled</a> by its owners following years of legal challenges. Now, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ) has denied a key water permit for a project that would have extended the controversial <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mountain-valley-pipeline" target="_self">Mountain Valley Pipeline</a> (MVP) 75 miles into the state.</p><p>"Today's announcement is further evidence that the era of fracked gas pipelines is over," <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> Senior Campaign Representative for the Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Joan Walker <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2020/08/breaking-north-carolina-rejects-fracked-gas-mountain-valley-pipeline" target="_blank">said in response</a>. "We applaud the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality for prioritizing North Carolina's clean water over corporate polluters' profits. Dirty, dangerous fracked gas pipelines like Mountain Valley threaten the health of our people, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate</a>, and communities, and aren't even necessary at a time when clean, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" target="_self">renewable energy</a> sources are affordable and abundant."</p>
<p>The MVP Southgate project would extend the main Mountain Valley Pipeline from where it now ends in Chatham, Virginia through Eden, North Carolina and ending in Graham, North Carolina, <a href="http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2020/08/11/breaking-deq-denies-key-permits-for-mvp-southgate-natural-gas-pipeline/" target="_blank">NC Policy Watch explained</a>.</p><p>To do this, it would have to cross 207 streams and three ponds. These include the Dan River, which is home to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a>, and the Stony Creek Reservoir, which is the main source of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a> for the city of Burlington.</p><p>In issuing its <a href="https://files.nc.gov/ncdeq/pipelines/2018-1638v3-MVP-Southgate---Rockingham-Alamance---Denial.pdf" target="_blank">decision</a> Tuesday, NC DEQ ruled the risks to the state's water supply were not worth the trouble, especially since there are doubts over whether the main Mountain Valley Pipeline will ever be built.</p>
<p>Construction on the MVP, which would carry fracked natural gas 303 miles from northern West Virginia to southern Virginia, is currently halted by an order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The pipeline has already racked up more than $2 million in fines owing to more than 300 water quality violations in both states, the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2020/200811" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council pointed out</a>.</p><p>While MVP's owner EQT Corporation claims construction on the project is 92 percent completed, a recent analysis of MVP filings with the FERC revealed the project is only around 50 percent finished, Jonathan Sokolow wrote for the <a href="https://www.virginiamercury.com/2020/08/10/despite-company-claims-only-a-fraction-of-the-mountain-valley-pipeline-is-complete-in-virginia/" target="_blank">Virginia Mercury</a>.</p><p>But beyond the proposed pipeline's dependence on the uncertain MVP, DEQ Secretary Michael Regan also questioned the need for more natural gas infrastructure in general.</p><p>"North Carolina's clean energy future is not dependent on adding more natural gas infrastructure," Regan said in a statement reported by NC Policy Watch. "Projects like this slow down the state's goal to reduce greenhouse gases under North Carolina's Clean Energy Plan and our efforts to address climate change under Executive Order 80. We should invest in clean, renewable energy sources and the economic benefits of energy innovation."</p>
<div id="af879" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="35fd9ebf3cd5f747a00866dbc13e2d9a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1293266496467107845" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">"NC's clean energy future is not dependent on adding more natural gas infrastructure. Projects like this slow down… https://t.co/R4bQrQVpp3</div> — N.C. DEQ (@N.C. DEQ)<a href="https://twitter.com/NCDEQ/statuses/1293266496467107845">1597173735.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The NC DEQ's rejection is also a win for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-rights" target="_self">Indigenous rights</a>. The pipeline would have traveled through Indigenous family lands and potentially impacted Indigenous burial mounds that might be located near rivers and streams.</p><p>"This is huge," activist and citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation Crystal Cavalier told NC Policy Watch. "I'm so excited that North Carolina is taking a stand for indigenous people. Because once you dig up this land, you can't renew it."</p>
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Atlantic puffins courting at Maine Coastal Island National Wildlife Refuge in 2009. USFWS / Flickr
When Europeans first arrived in North America, Atlantic puffins were common on islands in the Gulf of Maine. But hunters killed many of the birds for food or for feathers to adorn ladies' hats. By the 1800s, the population in Maine had plummeted.
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<p>"Puffins were almost completely lost," says Don Lyons of the Audubon Seabird Institute.</p><p>He says that about 50 years ago, conservationists started bringing puffin chicks from Canada and hand-raising them on the Maine islands.</p><p>When those birds reached adulthood, they came back to the islands where they were raised and began nesting themselves.</p><p>Now the puffin colony in Maine has recovered to more than 1,000 nesting pairs. But global warming threatens to undo some of that progress.</p>
<p>"The Gulf of Maine is actually now one of the most rapidly warming water bodies on the planet," Lyons says.</p><p>That's driving many fish to cooler waters, so the puffins are forced to fly farther or dive deeper to catch enough food.</p><p>"The most intense warm years during the last decade have made it very difficult for puffins to raise chicks because of the additional work involved in finding food for them," Lyons says.</p><p>So reducing global warming can help Maine's beloved puffins survive.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/08/global-warming-threatens-atlantic-puffin-recovery-in-maine/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Rescue workers dig through the rubble following a gas explosion in Baltimore, Maryland on Aug. 10, 2020. J. Countess / Getty Images
A "major" natural gas explosion killed two people and seriously injured at least seven in Baltimore, Maryland Monday morning.
<p>The blast destroyed three row homes in the northwestern Baltimore neighborhood of Reisterstown Station and ripped open a fourth, <a href="https://apnews.com/42cb919592a81a4b02f6e2ea30831eb2" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>. One woman and one man were killed, city fire officials said, according to <a href="https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/08/10/explosion-rocks-northwest-baltimore-latest/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=93012117&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8SOy65--Y5_AArJL7murOy3jmRBh-Q-W5S3SxpfpJTK0kMdLbvd1Oq3U-nYf006ihKggpGyAifqyhyENxmsCgoQIppTQ&utm_content=93012117&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">WJZ</a>. Rescue crews and dogs worked to pull others from the rubble.</p><p>"I've never seen anything like that and I've lived in Baltimore City all my life," neighbor Dean Jones <a href="https://www.wbaltv.com/article/baltimore-house-explosion-reisterstown-road/33562013?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=93012117&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8z--i_9dSwni-grj097_Src02t3tz53mGKgyEzO142jpKbAtvWlDzTh6KHO0IZxWF2xSu8pNsp1azQCS6dguzZcp8-qg&utm_content=93012117&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">told WBAL</a>. "It's almost like somebody just took a bomb out the side and dropped it on the three houses. It's completely leveled."</p>
<div id="28f6d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4d600ac330cedba0f01ce5304d60a1f2"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1292866070488010752" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Here some images of today's fatal explosion in northwest Baltimore, 4200 block of Labyrinth Rd. We are assisting… https://t.co/0S8IkGkIbh</div> — Baltimore County Fire Department (@Baltimore County Fire Department)<a href="https://twitter.com/BaltCoFire/statuses/1292866070488010752">1597078266.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The blast occurred just before 10 a.m. Monday. Fire Department spokeswoman Blair Adams told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/us/baltimore-explosion.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=93012117&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--w4G9Xtz4r3sbWY1KTYvfOO6W85UFHIN6Kedso1o2cEDMyLF9gF1zIwmuXMBJ4IY4t4s9hwiOTTGXQXQmARo9LYex1jQ&utm_content=93012117&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> it was a "major gas explosion." She said Monday afternoon that rescue crews would continue to work overnight digging through the rubble if needed.</p>
<div id="1b8f2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1b7fe487c8710b4fad2097c1873631e5"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1293176505363726337" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">As FFs combed through the night, the body of an adult male was located just before 1am. #BCFD @BaltimoreOEM remain… https://t.co/g6lj1DMKq9</div> — Baltimore Fire (@Baltimore Fire)<a href="https://twitter.com/BaltimoreFire/statuses/1293176505363726337">1597152279.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The cause of the explosion is currently unknown. Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), the country's oldest gas company, said it was investigating the incident, according to The New York Times.</p><p>The company said in a <a href="https://www.bge.com/News/Pages/Press%20Releases/labyrinth-road-updates.aspx" target="_blank">statement</a> Monday that there were no gas readings or gas leaks found in the buildings or on the road where the explosion took place. There were also no reports of gas smells from the area before the incident. However, people on the ground told WJZ they smelled gas after the blast.</p><p>"BGE is committed to fully understanding the cause of this incident and will inspect all BGE equipment once rescue efforts are complete," the company wrote in the statement.</p>
<div id="ac373" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7844994ac85eabf19c23548792abe69d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1292831837665009665" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Aerial images of the reported explosion in Baltimore.
https://t.co/GK0dpY9pMR https://t.co/vOR5gIQCT7</div> — ABC 7 News - WJLA (@ABC 7 News - WJLA)<a href="https://twitter.com/ABC7News/statuses/1292831837665009665">1597070104.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>BGE is currently working to replace thousands of miles of aging gas <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipelines</a>, according to a Baltimore Sun story reported by The New York Times. The number of leaks in the city has increased by 75 percent from 2009 to 2016, but the replacement process could take two decades.</p><p>"Founded in 1816, BGE is the oldest gas distribution company in the nation. Like many older gas systems, a larger portion of its gas main and services infrastructure consists of cast iron and bare steel – materials that are obsolete and susceptible to failure with age," the Maryland Public Service Commission wrote when it approved the renovations in 2018, as The Associated Press reported.</p><p>The gas infrastructure in the area where the explosion hit was installed in the early 1960s, BGE said. But when the area was last inspected in June and July of 2019, no leaks were detected.</p><p>Climate campaigner and 350.org founder Bill McKibben wrote that the explosion was another argument for retiring gas heating altogether.</p><p>"Now that we have cheap, effective air source heat pumps, it's time for public policy to help everyone finance them, beginning with the poorest Americans. It is utterly unnecessary to have a tube of flammable gas running into your house," he tweeted.</p>
<div id="397f7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a8ad8a1c091fde87d1c799b912a02f43"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1292881488472616960" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Now that we have cheap, effective air source heat pumps, it's time for public policy to help everyone finance them,… https://t.co/ciJI3zeGHg</div> — Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben)<a href="https://twitter.com/billmckibben/statuses/1292881488472616960">1597081942.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Monday's tragedy comes a little less than a year after <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/gas-explosion-shopping-center-maryland-2640038158.html" target="_self">another gas explosion</a> destroyed part of an office complex in Columbia, Maryland. Luckily, no one was injured in that blast, according to The Associated Press.</p>
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The recalled list includes red, yellow, white and sweet yellow onions, which may be tainted with salmonella. Pxhere
Nearly 900 people across the U.S. and Canada have been sickened by salmonella linked to onions distributed by Thomson International, the The New York Times reported.
<p>The outbreak reached 43 states and 7 provinces in Canada by the end of Sunday, forcing major retailers, including Trader Joe's, Giant Eagle and Publix, to remove onions from their shelves. The outbreak is likely to continue spreading as onions were shipped to all 50 states from the Bakersfield, California-based food distributor, according to <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/08/bad-onions-cause-salmonella-outbreak-in-us-and-canada-sickening-900/" target="_blank">Ars Technica</a>.</p><p>It is possible that an increasing number of cases will be reported over the next few weeks due to the lag between when a person gets sick and gets tested, then having an agency report the illness, Martin Wiedmann, a food safety professor at Cornell University, told The New York Times.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/newport-07-20/map.html" target="_blank">CDC map</a> of the outbreak identifies 640 cases across the country, with Utah, Oregon and California showing the largest number of cases. The recalled list includes red, yellow, white and sweet yellow onions.</p>
<p>The major chains that carried the onions also include Walmart, Kroger, Fred Meyer, Food Lion and H-E-B. According to a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/newport-07-20/index.html" target="_blank">statement</a> Friday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the onions were sold under the following brand names: Thomson Premium, TLC Thomson International, Tender Loving Care, El Competitor, Hartley's Best, Onions 52, Majestic, Imperial Fresh, Kroger, Utah Onions and Food Lion.</p><p>The CDC asked people to proceed with extreme caution. "If you used onions to make any other food and don't know where the onions were from, don't eat the food. Throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one got sick," the CDC said. It added, "Wash and sanitize any surfaces that may have come in contact with onions or their packaging, such as countertops, storage bins, refrigerator drawers, knives, and cutting boards."<br></p><p>The CDC also urged customers to ask restaurants about the source of their onions before ordering at a restaurant or any food shop. In Oregon, five people were sickened after eating at Si Casa Flores restaurant in Grants Pass, according to ABC News affiliate <a href="https://www.kdrv.com/content/news/Josephine-County-salmonella-cases-traced-to-national-outbreak-from-red-onions-572068911.html" target="_blank">KDRV</a>.</p>
<p>"We have been working closely with the managers and staff at Si Casa Flores to ensure the continued safety of its customers," said Mike Weber, the County Public Health director. "This restaurant has done everything right in this unfortunate situation, and customers should feel safe dining there. I recently enjoyed a meal there myself."</p><p>"People who believe they've gotten diarrhea from consuming red onions might want to contact a health care provider," Emilio DeBess, an epidemiologist at the Oregon Public Health Division Acute and Communicable Disease Prevention Section, told KDRV. "However, most people with salmonellosis will recover without antibiotics."</p><p>U.S. infections started in late June, the CDC said. All ages have been affected, with a median age of 39. Women account for fifty-four percent of those sickened. No deaths have been reported in the U.S. or Canada.</p>
<p>The Public Health Agency of Canada announced <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/public-health-notices/2020/outbreak-salmonella-infections-under-investigation.html" target="_blank" title="">239 cases</a> with 29 hospitalizations as of Friday, The New York Times reported.</p><p>According to the CDC, salmonella is a bacteria that can cause salmonellosis, and most human infections are caused by eating food contaminated with it. Salmonellosis can lead to diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps. These symptoms usually appear within three days after becoming infected and usually resolve within four to seven days.</p><p>In some cases, the infection may spread to the bloodstream and other parts of the body. These cases are associated with more severe diarrhea, which can lead to hospitalization. Severe cases can be deadly if not treated promptly with antibiotics.</p>
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