Earth Watch Report – Saturday August 25th, 2012
August 25, 2012 by desertrose
Biological Hazards / Wildlife / Hazmat
| Today | Biological Hazard | Canada | Province of Manitoba, [Pelican Lake] |  |
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Biological Hazard in Canada on Saturday, 25 August, 2012 at 03:51 (03:51 AM) UTC.
| Description | |
| As beach season winds down, a number of Manitoba lakes are dealing with blue-green algae. Pelican Lake in southwest Manitoba reported toxic algae – signs have been posted and drinking and swimming is not recommended. Algal blooms were reported at Rock Lake, Oak Lake beach, Inverness Falls beach, Ochre Beach, Victoria, Patricia and West Grand beaches on Lake Winnipeg. Algal blooms were also reported at Stephenfield Reservoir, Big Whiteshell Lake, Lake Minnewasta and Poplar Bay on Lac du Bonnet, and the Salt Lake campground beach. | |
| Biohazard name: | Blue-Green (cyanobacteria) Algae bloom |
| Biohazard level: | 0/4 — |
| Biohazard desc.: | This does not included biological hazard category. |
| Symptoms: | |
| Status: | |
| 25.08.2012 | Biological Hazard | USA | State of California, Burbank [700 block of Screenland Drive] | |
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Biological Hazard in USA on Thursday, 23 August, 2012 at 06:35 (06:35 AM) UTC.
| Updated: | Saturday, 25 August, 2012 at 03:38 UTC |
| Description | |
| Health officials are trying to stop the spread of the potentially deadly disease Typhus, primarily transmitted by fleas. “Murine typhus, which is a disease transmitted primarily by fleas, has been slowly increasing in Los Angeles County,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the L.A. County Department of Health. “It is not an epidemic. We had a total of 38 cases reported last year. We’ve had 15 confirmed this year and another 17 that we’re investigating.” Health officials say people can get typhus when their pets come in contact with wild, flea-infested animals like possums, rats, feral cats and others. “And some of the fleas have moved from those animals to your animals,” said Fielding. If one of those fleas from your pet bites you, you could end up with typhus. Health officials say the symptoms of typhus are similar to a bad case of the flu: headaches, high fever, chills, muscle aches and more. Another sign of typhus is a rather large rash that can break out over your body. “The good news is when it’s diagnosed it’s very treatable with antibiotics,” said Fielding. At least one human infection had been confirmed so far this year in Burbank, and two have been verified in the San Fernando Valley. Another three cases are under investigation, according to public health officials. In Los Angeles County, 15 cases of typhus have been confirmed so far this year, while another 17 were still under investigation, according to Fielding. The latest infections are part of a trend in which county officials have noticed a slight increase in flea-borne typhus cases over the past five to six years. | |
| Today | HAZMAT | USA | State of Texas, Mount Pleasant [Pilgrim's Pride Corporation] |  |
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HAZMAT in USA on Saturday, 25 August, 2012 at 03:53 (03:53 AM) UTC.
| Description | |
| An ammonia leak at a northeast Texas meat packing plant has sickened dozens of people. A spokeswoman at Titus Regional Medical Center in Mount Pleasant says hospital staff was advised to prepare to receive as many as 40 patients. Spokeswoman Shannon Norfleet says the cases were said to be minor and examinations were expected to be precautionary. The leak was reported about 2:30 p.m. Friday at the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Mount Pleasant, about 110 miles northeast of Dallas. Pilgrim’s Pride spokeswoman Margaret McDonald said she was gathering details on how the leak occurred. |
| Today | Environment Pollution | USA | State of Alaska, [Fort Knox Gold Mine] | |
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Environment Pollution in USA on Saturday, 25 August, 2012 at 03:40 (03:40 AM) UTC.
| Description | |
| About 45,000 gallons of cyanide water solution spilled onto a mine road at the Fort Knox gold mine late Thursday after a bulldozer struck a supply line, according to a Friday notice from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. The DEC reported that much of the spill zone is atop a lined area of the heap leach pile, which is an area that holds material that is treated with the cyanide water solution. The buried 12-inch pipeline carrying the cyanide solution was broke open when it was struck by the bulldozer’s ripper blade, the DEC report said. The rupture and spill were discovered at 9 p.m. Thursday and were reported to DEC less than an hour later. The DEC report said mine operators used heavy equipment to create a raised berm along the spill area to prevent the liquid from spreading and to keep it away from vehicle traffic. DEC sent an investigator to the site and will monitor the cleanup, the report said. The area is also being surveyed to determine the extent of the affected area. Fort Knox is located 26 miles northeast of Fairbanks. The mine, owned by Kinross, began operating in 1996 and in April 2011 poured its 5 millionth ounce of gold. It is expected to continue operating until 2021. |
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Articles of Interest
Collapse of New Bridge Underscores Worries About China Infrastructure
By KEITH BRADSHER
HONG KONG — One of the longest bridges in northern China collapsed on Friday, just nine months after it opened, setting off a storm of criticism from Chinese Internet users and underscoring questions about the quality of construction in the country’s rapid expansion of its infrastructure.
Hao Bin/European Pressphoto Agency
A collapsed section of the Yangmingtan Bridge’s ramp, in the city of Harbin, dropped 100 feet to the ground on Friday, killing three people and injuring five.
Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The collapse left three people dead and five others injured.
A nearly 330-foot-long section of a ramp of the eight-lane Yangmingtan Bridge in the city of Harbin dropped 100 feet to the ground. Four trucks plummeted with it, resulting in three deaths and five injuries.
The 9.6-mile bridge is one of three built over the Songhua River in that area in the past four years. China’s economic stimulus program in 2009 and 2010 helped the country avoid most of the effects of the global economic downturn, but involved incurring heavy debt to pay for the rapid construction of new bridges, highways and high-speed rail lines all over the country.
Questions about the materials used during the construction and whether the projects were properly engineered have been the subject of national debate ever since a high-speed train plowed into the back of a stopped train on the same track on July 23 last year in the eastern city of Wenzhou. The crash killed 40 people and injured 191; a subsequent investigation blamed in particular flaws in the design of the signaling equipment.
Photographs on Chinese Web sites on Friday appeared to show that the collapsed section of the Yangmingtan Bridge’s ramp had fallen on land, not in the river.
According to the official Xinhua news agency, the Yangmingtan Bridge was the sixth major bridge in China to collapse since July 2011. Chinese officials have tended to blame overloaded trucks for the collapses, and did so again on Friday.
Many in China have attributed the recent spate of bridge collapses to corruption, and online reaction to the latest collapse was scathing.
“Corrupt officials who do not die just continue to cause disaster after disaster,” said one post on Friday on Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging service similar to Twitter.
Another Internet user expressed hope “that the government will put heavy emphasis on this and investigate to find out the real truth, and give both the dead and the living some justice!” A third user was more laconic, remarking, “Tofu engineering work leads to a tofu bridge.”
Chinese news media reported that the bridge had cost 1.88 billion renminbi, or almost $300 million.
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