For today’s first entry, consider this instance of wretched excess from Al Jazeera America:
Parody Twitter account of Peoria, Ill., mayor leads to police raid
The mayor of Peoria apparently ordered the investigation into the account
Police officers trying to find out who was behind a fake Twitter account set up in the name of Jim Ardis, the mayor of Peoria, in Illinois, have raided a home, seizing computers and phones and hauling several people in to be questioned.
Tuesday’s raid was carried out by four plainclothes officers even though Twitter had suspended the account several weeks ago.
The raid has raised questions about how free speech is defined and monitored by governments in the Internet age.
And then there’s the peculiar announcement from People’s Daily, offered without further explanation:
Solemn announcement on fake Twitter account
It has come to our attention that the account The Relevant Organs@relevantorgans made disparaging comments on Twitter in the name of english.cpc.people.com.cn, which has seriously damaged the reputation of our site. We hereby declare that this account is not related to our site.
And from Reuters, household names, behaving wretchedly:
Exclusive: Apple, Google to pay $324 million to settle conspiracy lawsuit
Four major tech companies including Apple and Google have agreed to pay a total of $324 million to settle a lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to hold down salaries in Silicon Valley, sources familiar with the deal said, just weeks before a high profile trial had been scheduled to begin.
Tech workers filed a class action lawsuit against Apple Inc, Google Inc, Intel Inc and Adobe Systems Inc in 2011, alleging they conspired to refrain from soliciting one another’s employees in order to avert a salary war. They planned to ask for $3 billion in damages at trial, according to court filings. That could have tripled to $9 billion under antitrust law.
The case has been closely watched due to the potentially high damages award and the opportunity to peek into the world of Silicon Valley’s elite. The case was based largely on emails in which Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and some of their Silicon Valley rivals hatched plans to avoid poaching each other’s prized engineers.
More wretched behavior, this time from Barry O’s minions, via the Los Angeles Times:
Neutral net may be a lost cause
The FCC’s latest plan could mean a major victory for broadband providers and a costly blow to consumers.
Consumers could end up the losers in a high-stakes battle among regulators, broadband providers and online entertainment giants over access to the Internet’s fastest speeds.
A new proposal from the head of the Federal Communications Commission would allow network owners such as AT&T Inc. to levy extra charges on Netflix Inc. and other online video purveyors for speedier delivery of content.
Those costs, consumer advocates said, ultimately would land on consumers’ monthly bills. The hotly debated changes also could push smaller video content providers out of business, driving up costs for those services as well, the advocates warned.
“It could create a tiered Internet where consumers either pay more for content and speed, or get left behind with fewer choices,” warned Delara Derakhshani, policy counsel for Consumers Union.
More from Salon:
Say goodbye to TV’s golden age: Why Comcast’s rise and net neutrality’s downfall will change everything
The economic model that sustains quality TV is under assault. Does the future have room for any more Walter Whites?
From News Corp Australia, high-flyin’ opportunities for them that’s got:
Four Seasons has launched a $140K around the world flight for the super rich
IT’S ridiculously extravagant and you need to be super rich to do it.
This new luxury jet has been named the limo of the skies and it’s offering outrageously wealthy travellers the chance to take private around-the-world group trips.
For a whopping $140,000 a ticket, the flying limo comes with an on-board concierge, chef, leather flat-beds and staff to cater to your every need.
Seating only 52 passengers, the jet has been launched by the Four Seasons hotel chain and will take to the skies in February 2015.
And from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a rare win for the rest of us:
Vermont ups the ante on genetically modified foods
Vermont has raised the stakes in the debate over genetically modified foods by becoming the first state to pass a bill requiring that they be labeled as such in the grocery aisle, making the move despite the opposition of the powerful U.S. food industry.
Americans overwhelmingly favor such requirements for foods containing genetically modified organisms, but the industry fears a patchwork of state policies. The Vermont bill says genetically modified foods “potentially pose risks to health, safety, agriculture, and the environment” and includes $1.5 million for implementation and defense against lawsuits expected from the food and biotech industries.
The national Grocery Manufacturers Association, the food industry’s main trade group, said it’s evaluating how to respond. Options could include a legal challenge, labeling only foods that are sold in Vermont or making a wholesale change nationwide to avoid multiple labeling systems.
While Wired highlights the ominous:
Police Contract With Spy Tool Maker Prohibits Talking About Device’s Use
A non-disclosure agreement that police departments around the country have been signing for years with the maker of a cell-phone spy tool explicitly prohibits the law enforcement agencies from telling anyone, including other government bodies, about their use of the secretive equipment, according to one of the agreements obtained by an Arizona journalist.
The NDA includes an exception for “judicially mandated disclosures,” but no mechanisms for judges to learn that the equipment was used. In at least one case in Florida, a police department revealed that it had decided not to seek a warrant to use the technology explicitly to avoid telling a judge about the equipment. It subsequently kept the information hidden from the defendant as well.
A copy of the contract was obtained from a police department in Tucson, Arizona, which signed the agreement in 2010 with the Harris Corporation, a Florida-based maker of the equipment used by the department. The police department cited the agreement as one of the reasons it withheld information from a journalist who filed a public records request seeking information about the department’s use of the equipment.
From the Miami Herald, torture by any other name is still as hideous:
Expert testifies accused USS Cole bomber was tortured
The Saudi prisoner awaiting death-penalty trial for the USS Cole bombing was tortured physically, mentally and sexually, an expert in treating torture victims testified Thursday at the war court.
Dr. Sondra Crosby offered the diagnosis in open court during carefully choreographed testimony that never once mentioned that the accused al-Qaida terrorist, Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, 49, got to Guantánamo from four years of CIA captivity during which he was interrogated with waterboarding, a revving power drill and threats to his mother.
“I believe that Mr. al Nashiri has suffered torture — physical, psychological and sexual torture,” Crosby said.
On to Europe on an upbeat note from Reuters:
Rating agencies buy into euro zone recovery story
Ratings agencies gave a broadly upbeat assessment of the euro zone’s creditworthiness on Friday, contrasting sharply with reviews of recent years and reflecting growing confidence in the region’s fiscal and economic recovery.
On a day of credit updates scheduled for three of the bloc’s top four economies, Standard & Poor’s affirmed its ratings on France, while Fitch raised its outlook on Italy and was expected to boost its view of Spain after Europe’s markets close.
S&P also raised its rating on Cyprus, suggesting the recovery is spreading to the peripheral regions left most exposed to the euro zone’s financial crisis, in what was its second upgrade of the bailed-out country since it came close to financial collapse last year.
From EurActiv, frackmania in Old Blighty:
UK shale industry claims it could create over 60,000 jobs
Studies on the impact of shale gas extraction in Europe’s economy and energy security are mushrooming in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. The latest from the UK Onshore Operators Group (UKOOG) claims that the development of shale gas in the UK could generate “€40.2 billion” and “create up to 64,000 jobs” in Britain.
The industry-funded study is based on the “high-case scenario” from a May 2013 report by the Institute of Directors (IoD) of “what a shale pad could look like”, estimating that 4,000 wells would be drilled between 2016 and 2032. Both highlight the benefits of shale gas development over job creation, tax revenues and potentially lower carbon emissions than imported gas.
The authors of the UKOOG study estimate that €40.2 billion would be spent in total by 2024 for activities related to shale gas exploitation – hydraulic fracturing, drilling, waste management as well as storage and transportation.
While The Independent covers calls outrage at the top:
Stop moaning about our bonuses: Barclays boss slaps down investors angry at bank’s pay practices
Barclays was accused of attempting to silence criticism of its bonus culture after one of the bank’s directors slapped down a major shareholder for speaking out against its pay practices.
Sir John Sunderland, chairman of the bank’s remuneration committee, was angrily heckled by shareholders after he told Standard Life’s Alison Kennedy that it “would be good in future if these points could be made during the consultation phase”.
His criticism of Standard Life for publicly voting against the Barclays remuneration report – which increased the bank’s bonus pool despite falling profits – will fuel public suspicion of “backroom” City pay deals.
On to Germany with The Guardian, droning on about herbivore help:
Germany deploys drones to protect young deer from combine harvesters
Trial in Bavaria shows great promise in spotting fawns hiding in tall grass and alerting farmers doing spring mowing
A German wildlife rescue project is deploying small aerial drones to find young deer hiding in tall grass and protect them from being shredded by combine harvesters cutting hay in spring.
According to project spokesman Rolf Stockum, the pilot scheme has shown great promise in spotting the young animals. About 100,000 of them fall victim in Germany every year to the large agricultural machines, he said on Friday.
Next up, a word from Paris via France 24:
French joblessness steadies but a record 3.3 million seek work
France’s unemployment rate stabilised in March with only 1,600 new job seekers, according to data released by the government on Friday, but the total number of people without work is still at a record 3.34 million.
The news is likely to be interpreted as encouraging by the government of socialist President François Hollande, who pledged during his 2012 election campaign to counter rising unemployment. The promise has proved difficult to keep, with joblessness continuing to grow throughout his first year in office.
The number of people under 25 seeking jobs shrank slightly in the month of March by 0.8 percent, or 4,300, bringing the youth unemployment rate to its lowest level since October 2012. In contrast, those over the age of 50 without jobs grew by 7,300 or 0.1 percent, continuing an uninterrupted trend since the global economic crisis hit France in 2008.
Bloomberg offers a more subdued take:
French April Industry Growth Cools as New Business Stagnates
French manufacturing and services growth cooled more than economists forecast this month as new business stagnated and employment fell.
A Purchasing Managers’ Index of factory activity dropped to 50.9 from 52.1 the previous month, Markit Economics said in London today. Economists had forecast a reading of 51.9, based on the median of 10 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. A reading above 50 indicates expansion and the index breached that level in March for the first time in two years. The euro erased a gain against the dollar after the report.
A services gauge fell to 50.3 in April from 51.5 in March, also lower than economists had forecast. A composite measure of both industries declined to 50.5 from 51.8, Markit said.
And from Belgium via TheLocal.fr, a dubious tribute to to a once-powerful bankster:
Sex club named ‘DSK’ after fallen Frenchman
One-time French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s name was the subject of attention once again this week after an infamous French pimp used the disgraced former IMF head’s initials as inspiration for the name of his new sex club.
The former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who saw his presidential hopes shattered after being arrested on charges of raping a New York City hotel maid in 2011, suffered more sex-related indignities this week.
Infamous French pimp Dominique Alderweireld, widely known as Dodo la Saumure, who has been charged with providing prostitutes to Strauss-Kahn, or DSK as he is known in France, unveiled his new Belgian strip club/brothel this week, the Dodo Sex Klub, or just DSK, named in honor of his alleged former client.
On to Lisbon and a major comedown from the Portugal News:
Portugal’s drone flop goes viral
The failure of a new drone to launch correctly has made world headlines, with several British newspapers running pieces on the launch that went wrong. Footage of the failed event has also gone viral, with a field day being had on Youtube by online commentators.
Portugal’s drone flop goes viral
Portugal’s Defence Minister Aguiar-Branco last week visited a Navy Base in Alfeite, where he was invited to witness the testing of a new drone that was made in Portugal and which is hoped to soon carry out coastal surveillance.
But the event took a nosedive immediately after the drone was launched as it crashed straight into the sea.
Speaking to state-run channel RTP, a Navy source explained the drone fell into the sea because it was “launched wrong”.
And the grand fail, via vlogger Pedro Lima:
Failure to Launch
After the jump, mixed news from Greece [both economic and criminal], a downgrade for Russia, economic alarm bells in Latin America, the start of the great undersea mining rush, neoliberalism in Hanoi, politicall failure and harsh memories of World War II in Japan, Japan’s push for more reactors, radioactive oil well woes, and a case of California pollution fined. . .
On to Athens, and the latest austerian demands from Keep Talking Greece:
EC Greece Report: new austerity measures €7.7bn for 2015-2017
The European Commission may hail the “Greek progress” in its April 2014 review of the second Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece. The EC may hail the primary surplus and the structural reforms. However at the same time it stresses the need for additional austerity measures totaling 7.7 billion euro for the years 2-15-2017.
Although the EC does not specify the austerity measures, the EC states the additional austerity needs as:
€2 billion for 2015
€3.8 billion for 2016
€1.9 billion for 2017
The European Commission makes also a weird reference to “vested interests” blocking the progress.
Capital.gr offers qualified endorsement:
Greek Reform Makes Progress, Problems Remain, Says EU
Greece’s reform efforts in the wake of its mammoth bailout still face important hurdles despite a string of wins for the government in Athens, the European Commission said in a review of Greece’s performance, Friday.
Dismantling vested interests and swiftly stemming the rising tide of bad loans on Greek banks’ balance sheets are key sources of trouble for the slowly recovering Greek economy, the commission said.
In a review of how Greece is faring under its EUR240 billion bailout, funded by the euro area and the International Monetary Fund, the European Union executive said the Greek economy was set to grow by 0.6% this year, a further 2.9% in 2015 and 3.7% in 2016.
Greece has lost about a quarter of its economic output over the last six years, but the review said it looks as if the economy has now bottomed out.
A still grimmer assessment from Deutsche Welle:
EU executive says Greece behind schedule in debt reduction efforts
The European Commission has urged Greece to redouble its efforts to bring down the country’s massive debt load faster. It said in a progress report the struggling eurozone nation appeared unable to meet agreed targets.
In its latest assessment of a bailout-related economic adjustment program for Greece, the European Commission concluded Friday the southern eurozone member looked set to miss long-term targets for the reduction of the country’s public debt.
As hopes increased in Athens the domestic economy might finally turn a corner with the nation recently having returned to the bond market, EU officials insisted Greece’s debt load was still a huge nightmare.
And a sliver of hope from To Vima:
Jean-Claude Juncker does not rule out the possibility of a new haircut
The EPP’s candidate for the European Commission presidency claims that Greece is on the “right path”
The European People’s Party candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker believes that while Greece has achieved a number of significant milestones, such as returning to the credit markets and the primary surplus, he has not ruled out the possibility of a new debt “haircut”.
The former head of the Eurogroup told German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung how he struggled day and night with bank and creditor representatives to secure the 100-billion-euro haircut in 2012 and admitted that mistakes may have been made in the aid programs of debt-ridden countries. Mr. Juncker vowed to rectify these “mistakes” if elected Commission president.
While Greek Reporter lays down the law:
Greek Judges Summon Four Golden Dawn MPs
A further four Golden Dawn MPs have been summoned by Greek judges Ioanna Klapa and Maria Dimitropoulou investigating criminal charges against the ultra-nationalist and neo-fascist party.
Eleni Zaroulia (the wife of party leader Nikos Michaloliakos, who is already in custody awaiting trial) as well as Michalis Arvanitis, Dimitris Koukoutsis and Nikos Kouzilos are to appear on May 5 before the Greek prosecutors to answer charges of setting up and participating in a criminal organization.
The Greek parliament has already voted to lift the four MPs’ immunity to prosecution, hence allowing Greek justice authorities to bring a criminal case against the parliamentary members, which could possibly lead to their imprisonment.
Of the party’s 16 MPs in the Greek parliament, 13 face charges of setting up a criminal organization, six of whom are already in pre-trial custody, including Michaloliakos.
And from Kathimerini English, you can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys without a program:
GD probe extends to alleged participation of police officers
An investigation into neofascist Golden Dawn has turned to the possible involvement of police officers in the party’s alleged criminal activities following a report submitted to the prosecutors handling the case by the internal affairs division of the Greek Police.
The report is said to contain the names of certain officers believed to have taken part in crimes committed by members of Golden Dawn, sources said on Friday.
Moscow next, with a ratings broadside from BBC News:
Russia’s credit rating downgraded by S&P
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has cut Russia’s rating to one notch above “junk” status.
The move comes as foreign investors continue to take money out of the country amid tensions over the situation in Ukraine.
S&P downgraded Russia’s rating to ‘BBB-‘ from ‘BBB’.
Also on Friday, Russia’s central bank raised its key interest rate from 7% to 7.5% as it sought to defend the value of the rouble.
Latin America next, starting close to home with Frontera NorteSur:
Mexican Economy Falters
Only a few months ago, the Mexican economy was portrayed in the international press as poised for take-off as the next emerging global powerhouse. Stories appeared of a vibrant middle class primed to join the free-spending club of consumers.
But as the spring of 2014 progresses, Mexico’s economy is stumbling. Dampening projections of high growth, economic indicators show sluggish or declining consumer spending and increased unemployment.
For example, the latest numbers from the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics (INEGI) reported that February’s wholesale and retail sales dropped 1.16 percent and 1.27 percent, respectively, in comparison with January’s figures.
Consumer electronics, clothing, shoes and department store items were among the commodities taking significant hits in the second month of the year. The job market also chalked up disappointing results. March’s official tally of the unemployed came in at 4.8 percent of the economically active population, up from 4.51 percent in March 2013.
Another country, another warning sign, via MercoPress:
Argentina’s poverty index closer to “25% than to the official 5% from Indec”
Argentina’s stats office, Indec failed on Wednesday to deliver the country’s poverty and indigence rates due to “methodological” reasons, the head of ministers explained on Thursday morning adding the measurement of the basic basket “differs totally” from CPI’s calculations. His comments triggered a cataract of criticisms.
Of to Asia, starting in the depths with a potential economic threat from BBC News:
Agreement reached on deep sea mining
Plans to open the world’s first mine in the deep ocean have moved significantly closer to becoming reality.
A Canadian mining company has finalised an agreement with Papua New Guinea to start digging up an area of seabed.
The controversial project aims to extract ores of copper, gold and other valuable metals from a depth of 1,500m.
However, environmental campaigners say mining the ocean floor will prove devastating, causing lasting damage to marine life.
From the country the U.S.A. couldn’t beat on the battlegrounds of war and public opinion, a neoliberal victory via Nikkei Asian Review:
Vietnam may let foreigners hold majority stakes: minister
Vietnam is looking to raise its cap on foreign investment in listed companies from 49% to as high as 60%, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung told The Nikkei on Friday.
In an interview here, Dung said the government would reach a conclusion this year on a proposed easing of restrictions on foreign ownership. He is the first high-ranking Vietnamese minister to publicly discuss details of these plans.
The ability to hold majority stakes in big Vietnamese enterprises would open up new doors to Japanese firms seeking growth in emerging Asia. Around 700 companies are listed on Vietnam’s stock exchanges.
China next, and a crackdown from SINA English:
Beijing declares new’ war on pollution’ with law changes
POLLUTERS are set to face the toughest penalties yet after Chinese lawmakers agreed the most sweeping revisions to the Environmental Protection Law in 25 years.
Amendments agreed yesterday follow a two-year debate among scholars, the government and state-owned enterprises over changes to the law.
They enshrine environmental protection as the overriding priority of the government, but fall short of calls by non-governmental organizations to allow them to file lawsuits against polluters.
On to Tokyo and a story with glonal economic implications via the Yomiuri Shimbun:
Japan, U.S. achieve basic agreement on TPP issues
The Yomiuri Shimbun Japan and the United States reached a basic agreement on Friday in Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations, which they described as identifying “a path forward” in a joint statement released by the two governments on the same day.
The outcome of the talks has become the main focus of attention in relations between the two countries.
On Friday morning, negotiators from Japan and the United States reached a broad agreement during the bilateral working-level talks, after discussions on topics including the key five categories of agricultural products, one of which is beef and pork and another of which is rice, as well as safety standards on vehicles.
But Reuters took a different angle, one dominant in most media:
Obama wraps up Japan visit with security pledge but no trade deal
U.S. President Barack Obama wrapped up a state visit to Japan on Friday during which he assured America’s ally that Washington would come to its defense, but failed to clinch a trade deal key to both his “pivot” to Asia and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic reforms.
Obama and Abe had been seeking to show that the alliance was strong in the face of a rising China. But their success in putting recent strains behind them was partly marred by a failure to reach a deal seen as crucial to a broader regional trade pact.
That failure delayed a joint statement on security and economic ties until shortly before the U.S. leader left for Seoul, the next stop on his week-long, four-nation Asian tour.
Once in Seoul, Obama hawked a logie into Shinzo Abe’s teapot, as the Japan Times reports:
In Seoul, Obama urges Japan to settle ‘terrible’ sex slave issue
U.S. President Barack Obama urged Japan on Friday to settle disputes over the issue of women, mostly Koreans, who were forced to provide sex to Imperial troops in Japan’s wartime military brothels, calling it a “terrible” human rights violation.
“This was a terrible and egregious violation of human rights,” Obama said at a joint press conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye following their summit at the Blue House presidential office in Seoul.
Many women who were forced to work in the military brothels, euphemistically called “comfort women” in Japan, were from the Korean Peninsula.
And Tokyo got another reminder of World War II, reported by the Japan Daily Press:
Japanese protest group pushes for restoration of WWII empire, marches on Hitler’s 125th birthday
A small group of protesters – around 40 in all – paraded through Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district on Sunday to push for the restoration of the “Great East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere,” the main idea that fuelled Japan’s military conquest in the 1940s. The group, known as the Gokoku Shishi no Kai (“Group of Warriors Protecting the Nation”), marched down the streets of Tokyo carrying the highly controversial “rising sun” flag, and openly waving the Nazi flag – an act that is punishable by law in Germany.
The small group assembled in a park in East Ikebukuro, the location of the execution of former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and six other “Class A” World War II criminals in December 1948. “To keep the achievements of our illustrious predecessors from going to waste, we advocate the restoration of the Great East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere, minus participation by China and the two Koreas,” one of the organizers told the assembled demonstrators. They also picked the specific date coinciding with the 125th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birthday, because according to one of the organizers, “The empires of Japan and Nazi Germany have been portrayed as villains, and in Germany glorifying the Nazis will get a person jailed. We would like to re-investigate the 1993 Kono Statement and Nazi Germany as well, to rehabilitate their good acts and restore their honor.”
And now for the latest edition of Fukushimapocalypse Now!
The Japan Times gives us our first story:
Cabinet’s new energy plan praised by pro-nuclear U.S.
The United States on Friday welcomed Japan’s new energy policy, which favors the use of nuclear power despite the three core meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant that tainted much of the prefecture with radiation in 2011.
In a joint statement released after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barack Obama held a summit in Tokyo Thursday, the United States said it “welcomed Japan’s new strategic energy plan, which includes global, peaceful and safe use of nuclear energy and acceleration of the introduction of renewable energy.”
The remarks stand in contrast to the concerns the U.S. is said to have expressed when the previous government, led by the Democratic Party of Japan, now the main opposition party, decided in 2012 on an energy strategy that sought to phase out nuclear power.
While The Mainichi offers a very hot update:
4 crippled Fukushima reactors dogged with 3.4 quadrillion becquerels of tritium
The combined level of radioactive tritium at four reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is estimated at about 3.4 quadrillion becquerels, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said on April 24.
The figure is more than 900 times the annual limit of 3.7 trillion becquerels per reactor set by the central government.
TEPCO reported the estimate at a meeting of the government’s task force on tritium. Of the 3.4 quadrillion becquerels at the No. 1 to 4 reactors, about 2.5 quadrillion becquerels were detected in melted nuclear fuel, 834 trillion becquerels in contaminated water stored on the premises, about 50 trillion becquerels in stagnant water in reactor and turbine buildings, and about 46 trillion becquerels in water in trenches — or underground tunnels from the basements of structures to seawalls.
And we head back home on another radioactive note from a surprising source, via Al Jazeera America:
Second radioactive oil waste site found in North Dakota
Naturally occurring radioactive rock is brought up by oil and gas drilling, and is an increasing problem in boomtowns
North Dakota this week confirmed the discovery of a new radioactive dump of waste from oil drilling – and separately a company hired to clean up similar waste, found in February at another location, said it had removed double the amount of radioactive material originally estimated to be there.
The twin disclosures highlight a growing problem from North Dakota’s booming Bakken oil development, and for other oil and gas operations across the country: the illegal disposal radioactive material from drilling sites.
Rocks deep in the Earth contain naturally radioactive material, and when those rocks are drilled for oil and gas the drilling equipment and water can become slightly irradiated. As more drilling occurs across the nation, experts warn of a brewing crisis of leftover radioactive materials.
And for our final item, more petro problems from the Los Angeles Times:
Oil firm accused of hazardous South L.A. emissions agrees to upgrades
The agreement settles a probe by the EPA, launched after residents of the South L.A. neighborhood complained of health problems.
An oil operation that sent noxious fumes into a South Los Angeles neighborhood has agreed to spend about $700,000 on upgrades to prevent future hazardous emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday.
The settlement capped a four-month investigation by the EPA into Allenco Energy Inc. that was prompted by hundreds of complaints of chemical odors, respiratory ailments, nosebleeds and other health problems in the University Park community, about a half-mile north of USC.
“The company must notify the EPA that they have completed the improvements at least 15 days before reopening,” said Jared Blumenfeld, the EPA’s regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “If they don’t, that is something we would take enforcement action on.”
