Disasters

Katrina Damage Judgment Against Corps Tossed By Federal Appeals Court

"The Army Corps of Engineers is not liable for billions of dollars in flood damage in the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish during Hurricane Katrina that a lower court said resulted from the agency's failure to maintain the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday. The corps was immune from damages because of a provision in the law governing suits against the federal government that protects an agency when it makes a discretionary decision."

Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 09/26/2012

Earth Journalism Network and SEJ Petition Cambodia To Investigate Journalist's Murder

The petition presses the Cambodian government for a full investigation into the murder of journalist Hang Serei Oudom, who was killed in Cambodia in September 2012. He had reportedly been covering illegal logging activities currently causing massive deforestation of the Cambodian forest.

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Security: Is Exposing Refinery Pollution "Suspicious Activity"?

"As part of his work as a community organizer for environmental causes, Juan Parras takes photos of refineries and petrochemical plants near the Houston Ship Channel. Sometimes, he says he’s made to feel like a criminal for doing it."

Dave Fehling reports for State Impact Texas/NPR September 24, 2012.

Source: State Impact Texas, 09/25/2012

"Report: The Age of Western Wildfires"

"The 2012 wildfire season isn't over yet, but already this year is shaping up to be the one of the worst on record in the American West. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, with nearly two months still to go in the fire season, the total area already burned this year is 30 percent more than in an average year, and fires have consumed more than 8.6 million acres, an area larger than the state of Maryland."

Source: Climate Central, 09/18/2012

Flood Threat To Plants Covered Up By Regulators: NRC Whistleblower

"In a letter submitted Friday afternoon to internal investigators at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a whistleblower engineer within the agency accused regulators of deliberately covering up information relating to the vulnerability of U.S. nuclear power facilities that sit downstream from large dams and reservoirs."

"The letter also accuses the agency of failing to act to correct these vulnerabilities despite being aware of the risks for years.

Source: Huffington Post, 09/17/2012

Terminal May Have Released 191,000+ Gal of Toxic Chemicals Amid Isaac

"More than 191,000 gallons of toxic chemicals may have been released from the Stolthaven New Orleans petroleum and chemical storage and transfer terminal in Braithwaite during Hurricane Isaac, according to a company report filed Tuesday with the U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center. That's just one day after the Louisiana Department of Environmental Qualty assured the public that monitoring at the facility detected no offsite contamination."

Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 09/14/2012

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