Disasters

"Hundreds of activists protesting fossil fuels marched to the Department of the Interior's headquarters [Monday] and swarmed inside, calling for the abolition of offshore oil drilling, coal mining and tar sands extraction."
 

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission exists to police, not promote, the domestic nuclear industry -- but diplomatic cables show that it is sometimes used as a sales tool to help push American technology to foreign governments."

"Every year, Volodymyr Palkin spends at least two months in a Kiev hospital. He was one of hundreds of thousands of rescue workers sent to fight the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant and says his health has been permanently ruined by his work."

There is a construction boom in nuclear power reactors in parts of Asia. Some of those reactors are built close to the sea in areas that are likely quite vulnerable to quakes and tsunamis.

"At least 45 people have been confirmed dead after a furious storm that has reportedly spawned over 100 tornadoes during the past week tore through the Midwest and moved on to southern states...." Meanwhile, budget cuts in the stopgap 2011 spending bill will diminish the National Weather Service's ability to predict weather that may harm people, property, or businesses.

The Louisiana sand spit called Elmer's island belongs to the state of Louisiana, and is supposed to be open to the public. But guards hired by BP denied a CNN reporter access when he tried to see how the post-spill cleanup was going. BP and its contractor say the secrecy is to protect equipment, but the only equipment is rakes. BP says the area is accessible to the public even though it isn't. The U.S. Coast would not return CNN's calls.

As recently permitted oil companies turned in their plans for deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, environmental groups said the plans fall short of what is needed to prevent another blowout and pollution incident like the Deepwater Horizon well.

"Levels of radioactive materials have risen sharply again in seawater near the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northern Japan, raising the possibility of new leaks at the complex, the government said Saturday."

"Scuffles between protesters and security guards marred BP's first annual shareholder meeting since the Gulf oil spill Thursday, as investors registered their disapproval with sizable protest votes against company directors."

The fiscal year 2011 budget deal just passed by Congress slashes funds for weather satellites. That may hurt the bottom lines of small and large businesses from farming to shipping and insurance that depend on accurate weather forecasts. It is also wasteful of taxpayer funds, since the temporary budget cut is just show, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and laid-off workers in the program will need to be hired back at greater cost. It may also mean that people will die in weather disasters.