Sunday, November 8, 2009
BlacklistedNews.com | November 8, 2009
| With the disastrous Copenhagen treaty in sight, selling the overpopulation story is obviously considered crucial for the agenda | |
| As President Obama ponders whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, there is mounting evidence the Taliban is supported by the CIA. If correct, the Afghan war is a charade with a hidden agenda. | |
| The government is considering establishing work camps in the south of the country, where illegal migrant workers will receive shelter, food and medical care, Army Radio reported Wednesday. In exchange, illegal migrants would perform manual labor outside the camps, but would not earn a salary. | |
| The U.S. Senate approved the $65 billion 2010 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill Nov. 5 by a vote of 71 to 28. The spending package, which includes $18.7 billion for NASA for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, must now be reconciled with companion legislation that passed the House in June. | |
| Investigators also suspect Monfort in the October 22 arson of four police vehicles with homemade explosives, Pugel said | |
| According to figures released by the Department of Labor, the real marker of American unemployment stands at 17.5 percent -- a figure which takes into account under-employed workers and those who have not sought work in the last four weeks, according to a published report. | |
| Banks in California, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota and Missouri were shuttered, costing the FDIC a total of $1.5 billion. | |
| According to The Nation, the US firm has offered some of the retired Pakistani officials a whopping salary package of 60,000 dollar per month. | |
| CEO at leading parts supplier: "Energy independence...ultimately means that fuel has to be more expensive" | |
AP | PC owners caught with child porn loaded on their computers -- by a computer virus
Heinous pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses -- the malicious programs better known for swiping your credit card numbers. In this twist, it's your reputation that's stolen.
Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they'll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites.
Whatever the motivation, you get child porn on your computer -- and might not realize it until police knock at your door.
An Associated Press investigation found cases in which innocent people have been branded as pedophiles after their co-workers or loved ones stumbled upon child porn placed on a PC through a virus. It can cost victims hundreds of thousands of dollars to prove their innocence. FULL STORY
SpaceWeather.com | Brilliant Fireball seen over San Francisco Bay on Saturday November 7, 2009
On Saturday, Nov. 7th, just as the sun was setting over San Francisco Bay, a brilliant meteor glided across the sky and disappeared into the sunset. Witnesses say it was "slow-moving," "white and green," and that it left behind "a trail of smoke and sparkles of debris." Alerted by a friend, Rick Baldridge of Campbell, California, rushed outside and snapped this picture of the fireball's aftermath.
ABC7.com | Living near volcano may cause cancer
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A new study suggests that living near a volcano puts people at a higher risk of developing a type of thyroid cancer.
Researchers examined the rates of newly diagnosed thyroid cancers on the island of Sicily.
Researchers found that those living near the Mount Etna volcano had more than double the rate of papillary thyroid cancer than those who lived elsewhere on the island.
It is the most common and most treatable type of thyroid cancer.
Burst pipe probed in Utah refinery blast as questions asked over safety
PRINCE CHARLES UPDATE | Sunday November 8, 2009
The royal couple joined a congregation in Victoria, British Colombia, Canada
GlobalResearch.ca | The Responsibility of the US in Contaminating Iraq with Depleted Uranium
The following text was presented to the Kuala Lumpur International Conference to Criminalise War, Putra World Trade Centre, 28-31 October 2009.
November 8, 2009 - For two decades, the administrations of the United States of America and the United Kingdom have been waging continuous wars on Iraq to occupy this oil rich country.
The armed forces of those two countries attacked civilians with different kinds of conventional, non-conventional, and banned weapons such as cluster bombs ammunitions, napalm bombs, white phosphorous weapons and depleted Uranium weapons.
Depleted Uranium (DU) is a radioactive and chemically toxic heavy metal. If ingested, inhaled, or it enters the human body through wounds or skin, it remains there for decades.
Within the human body the (DU) particles would be a continuous source for emitting alpha particles. With its toxic effects, published research & epidemiological studies have proved that it causes serious health damages to the human body. Some of the damage to the human body is to lymph tissue, kidneys, developing fetuses, neurological system, the bones, lung fibrosis, and an increase in the risk of many types of cancer and malignancies.
Hundreds of tons of (DU) expenditure have been fired & exploded on Iraqi highly populated areas like Basrah, Baghdad, Nasriya, Dewania, Samawa, and other cities.
Exploration programs and site measurements by Iraqi and non-Iraqi researchers all proved the existence of (DU) related contamination over most Iraqi territories.
Iraq's Minister of Environment admitted in July 23, 2007 in Cairo that "at least 350 sites in Iraq are contaminated with (DU)". She added that the nation is facing a tremendous number of cancer cases and called for the international community to help Iraq cope with this problem.
A few years after exposure to (DU) contamination, multifold increase of malignancies, congenital malformations, miscarriages, children leukemia, and sterility cases have been registered in suburb areas of Basrah and other surrounding areas. Similar problems appeared in Falluja, where illegal weapons were also used intensively in the 2004 attack of occupation forces on the city. More than two million of the Iraqi population died since 1991 because of the synergic multiple impact of using (DU) weapons, economical sanctions, and the destruction of the health care systems. FULL STORY
Nuclear-News.net | Secrecy, radioactive leaks, in South Australia’s uranium mines owned by US weapons and energy producing giant Quasar Resources
November 9, 2009 - Secretive US Arms Tycoon behind New Uranium Mine in AustraliaA Media Freedom International 9 Nov 09 US mining company is threatening the sacred lands of Aboriginal peoples in Australia. In the outback of the Southern Australian Adelaide and Flinders Ranges, the United States weapons and energy producing giant: Quasar Resources is venturing with Alliance Resources to mine over 3.9 million tons of U308, also known as yellowcake or depleted uranium from the newly discovered Four Mile Mine.
Quasar is controlled by billionaire James Neil Blue, who holds over a billion dollars in Pentagon contracts for energy and weapons manufacturing.
Blue was instrumental in designing the unmanned Predator aircraft currently being used in Afghanistan and Iraq.The local communities, traditional owners, and Adnyamathanha Aboriginals are outraged with the Australian government, stating that their voices haven’t been heard during the negotiations for the Four Mile uranium mine, and that Quasar Resources and the Government are simply ignoring their cultural and health concerns.
The other uranium enriched Beverly Mine, located next to the Four Mile Mine has already had a recorded 59 spills of radioactive material since the past decade, according to the South Australian Department of Primary Industries and Resources. Mining U308 is highly dangerous and can cause dermatitis, renal damage and acute necrotic arterial lesions and death.
CBC.ca | Possible meteor spotted in British Columbia sky - it was bright white, with red and green and some blue colours, with a bit of a trail behind
Last Updated: Sunday, November 8, 2009 | 3:44 PM PT
People throughout British Columbia were treated to a spectacular light show Saturday after what's believed to be a meteor lit up the sky.
Stephen Dalley and his wife were driving north of Comox, on Vancouver Island, at about 7 p.m. PT.
"We were shocked … I mean, it wasn't what you'd expect, but it was bright white, with red and green and some blue colours, with a bit of a trail behind it and it was a large fireball," he said.
"[It was] approximately what the size of the moon would have been if we were looking at the moon."
Dalley said the intense light only lasted for about three seconds.
The streak of light was also seen about 500 kilometres northeast of Comox, near Vanderhoof.
In an email to CBC News, one witness in the area said, "a blue light flashed a moment before the meteor came down."
David Dodge, a retired astronomer who worked at the HR MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver, said it was likely a rock from space.
He said this type of event is not unusual.
"These are happening all the time. We've had some very spectacular fireballs in the Malayasia area just a few weeks ago," he said.
"Earlier this year, there was a spectacular fireball that actually ended up in meteorites over Sudan, and a few weeks ago we had one over Vancouver, so these sorts of things are happening all the time."
Dodge said astronomers will use the sightings in the hopes of triangulating the spot where the rock may have landed.
USGS | Large 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit Sumbawa Region, Indonesia - 54 km from Mount Tambora an active stratovolcano - November 8, 2009
Tambora from the International Space Station| MAG | UTC DATE-TIME y/m/d h:m:s | LAT deg | LON deg | DEPTH km | Region | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAP | 6.7 | 2009/11/08 19:41:45 | -8.316 | 118.697 | 18.3 | SUMBAWA REGION, INDONESIA |
| Magnitude | 6.7 |
|---|---|
| Date-Time |
|
| Location | 8.316°S, 118.697°E |
| Depth | 18.3 km (11.4 miles) (poorly constrained) |
| Region | SUMBAWA REGION, INDONESIA |
| Distances | 15 km (10 miles) NNW of Raba, Sumbawa, Indonesia 310 km (190 miles) ENE of Mataram, Lombok, Indonesia 330 km (205 miles) W of Ende, Flores, Indonesia 1335 km (830 miles) E of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia |
Sumbawa lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire. It is a volcanic island, including Mount Tambora (8°14’41”S, 117°59’35”E) which exploded in 1815, the most destructive volcanic eruption in modern history (roughly four times larger than the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, between Java and Sumatra, in terms of volume of magma ejected). The eruption killed as many as 72,000. It also apparently destroyed a small culture of Southeast Asian affinity, known to archaeologists as the Tamboran kingdom. It launched 100 cubic kilometers of ash into the upper atmosphere, which caused 1816 to be the "year without a summer."
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/read/index.php?pageid=seism_read&rid=161369
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Mount Tambora (or Tomboro) is an active stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, on the Sumbawa islands, Indonesia. Sumbawa is flanked both to the north and south by oceanic crust, and Tambora was formed by the active subduction zones beneath it. This raised Mount Tambora as high as 4,300 m (14,000 ft),[2] making it one of the tallest peaks in the Indonesian archipelago, and drained off a large magma chamber inside the mountain. It took decades to refill the magma chamber, its volcanic activity reaching its peak in April 1815.[3]
Tambora erupted in 1815 with a rating of seven on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, making it the largest eruption since the Lake Taupo eruption in about 180 CE.[4] It was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The explosion was heard on Sumatra island (more than 2,000 km (1,200 mi) away). Heavy volcanic ash falls were observed as far away as Borneo, Sulawesi, Java and Maluku islands. Most deaths from the eruption were from starvation and disease, as the eruptive fallout ruined agricultural productivity in the local region. The death toll was at least 71,000 people (perhaps the most deadly eruption in history), of whom 11,000–12,000 were killed directly by the eruption;[4] the often-cited figure of 92,000 people killed is believed to be an overestimate.[5] The eruption created global climate anomalies; 1816 became known as the Year Without Summer because of the effect on North American and European weather. Agricultural crops failed and livestock died in much of the Northern Hemisphere, resulting in the worst famine of the 19th century.[4]
Aljazeera.net | Chinese government has pledged to give African countries billions of dollars in cheap loans at a two-day Africa-China summit in Egypt
China is well on the way to investing a trillion dollars in Africa in less than a decade [AFP]Sunday, November 08, 2009
16:07 Mecca time, 13:07 GMT
Addressing hundreds of Chinese and African businessmen at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday, Wen Jiabao, China's premier, said he would also cancel debts of African countries.
"We will help Africa build up its financing capabilities ... we will provide $10bn for Africa in concessional loans," he said.
Wen insisted that his attempt to boost trade ties with Africa was not being pursued at the expense of the continent.
He rejected critics who say that resource-hungry China ignores the human-rights records of many of the continent's nations.
"Our efforts are sincere and selfless, without political strings attached," he said.
"China's training of 15,000 African professionals has provided the continent with a human resource more valuable than gold."
FULL STORY
TheLocal.de | Every eighth German wants the Wall back
With celebrations underway across Germany to celebrate the opening of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Communist East German regime, a new survey says a surprising number of Germans wouldn’t mind seeing the barrier go back up.
- Wall anniversary celebrations kick off - National (8 Nov 09)
- Putin feels 'nostalgia' for East Germany - National (8 Nov 09)
- The man who opened the Berlin Wall - National (7 Nov 09)
Those who want to see the Wall rebuilt are mostly unemployed, working class and vote for The Left party, successors to the East German Socialist Unity Party which ruled the country until 1990 before being voted out of power months before German reunification on October 3, 1990.
The poll’s respondents were generally happy that the Wall opened and that Germany reunited, with 79 percent describing the event as a godsend and again, almost no difference in perception between eastern and western Germans.
Inequality in the new Germany was the biggest complaint for those surveyed, with 35 percent saying that generous social protections in both parts of the once-divided country have fallen away since 1989. Eastern Germans were more concerned about inequality, with 49 percent describing it as a problem, compared to 32 percent of West Germans.
A quarter of the respondents said their standard of living has fallen since 1989 - though western Germans complained of this more than those from the East.
Performed by the Leipzig Institute for Market Research for the daily Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper, the pollsters conducted interviews with 1008 representative adults from across Germany in late October.
The Local - Germany's News in English | Germans against offering aid to GM-owned Opel
Published: 8 Nov 09 11:16 CETOnline: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091108-23103.html
After last week’s shock decision by General Motors to hold onto Opel rather than selling it to the Canadian company Magna, a new poll shows that a clear majority of Germans against offering aid to the company if it asks for state aid.
- More construction in former West Germany called for - National (8 Nov 09)
- Bad economy spurs jobs agency deficit - National (7 Nov 09)
- One in six German voters regrets voting decision - Politics (7 Nov 09)
GM is highly likely to ask Germany, as well as other European countries where Opel facilities are located, to help pay for the company’s reinvention, though the political winds in Germany in particular are blowing against it.
When news of GM’s decision broke last week, the newly sworn-in Economy Minister Rainer Brüderle said the move was “totally unacceptable” and has since said he is sceptical that Germany will offer additional assistance.
Opel is currently operating in a trusteeship set up by the German government in spring to help facilitate a quick sale to another company. The government also extended a €1.5 billion line of credit to keep the company solvent through the process.
Brüderle and many other German politicians have demanded that GM repay the credit - initially due to be repaid by the end of November - immediately now that it has decided to hold onto Opel.
GM’s restructuring plans are said to be similar to the one put forward by Magna and will entail approximately 10,000 layoffs throughout Europe out of a workforce of approximately 50,000. Unlike the Magna plan, which to satisfy the German government proposed closing none of Opel’s German facilities, GM is thought to plan the closure of at least one German site.
Las Vegas Sun | Small earthquake rattles under downtown Las Vegas
Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009 | 9:03 a.m.
A small earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 2.6 occurred about 3 a.m. Sunday beneath downtown Las Vegas.
The quake, recorded on a seismograph in Boulder City, 30 miles southeast of the epicenter, was also felt by a resident in Boulder City.
The University of Nevada, Reno's seismology laboratory also recorded the quake.
Although it is possible to feel a quake of that magnitude, no damages or injuries occur with a temblor of that size.
The magnitude is measured in Nevada on the Richter scale. Typically a quake larger than 4.0 magnitude can cause damages.
Gerald Celente - Trend Research Institute : American unemployment rates really around 20% (YouTube video)
NewsWithViews.com | Headlines - Morning November 8, 2009
No Joy in Mudville (USA)
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the galleys, heard in the very hall of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor- he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims, and wears their face and their garment, and he appeals........
http://www.newswithviews.com/Schwiesow/jim158.htm
by Sheriff Jim Schwiesow, Ret.
Are You in Touch With Reality?
One of the great problems in today's synthetic world is the inability of people to get a firm grip on reality. Whatever world you live in, real or imagined, it seems real to you. How can you determine if you're living in a real or imagined world? To those who work hard each day, or watch their family break apart, or become a victim of crime, their worlds seem very real. Truth is a great revealer of reality. Failure makes clear that someone made a faulty assumption and it resulted in an altered reality........
http://www.newswithviews.com/Barnewall/marilyn119.htm
by Marilyn Barnewall
In spite of the growing opposition by the American people, US Senate Democrats rammed an unprecedented climate bill (S. 1733) through a Senate committee on Thursday. California Senator Barbara Boxer, who chairs the powerful Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, had postponed the bill's vote for several days due to her need to address Republican members' protests. The major disagreement is the cost of the bill and its impact on the US economy......
http://www.newswithviews.com/NWV-News/news170.htm
by NWV News
thinkSPAIN.com | Unexplained Tunnel Collapse in Andorra on the Spanish-French border - Kills Three
Sunday, November 8, 2009A TUNNEL has collapsed in Andorra on the Spanish-French border, killing three people.
Further bodies are expected to be found.
The three fatal victims of the collapse in Dos Valiras are Portuguese workmen.
A further six are seriously injured, one of whom had to be transferred to Barcelona hospital.
Emergency services say a tenth person is currently trapped under the wreckage, and another missing.
The Aviation Herald | Unexplained Diversion - Passengers suspect crew confused Santa Cruz in Bolivia with Santa Cruz on the Canary Islands
Incident: Air Comet A333 near Tenerife on Nov 1st 2009, unexplained diversion
A few days later Brazil refused overflight permission to another Air Comet flight, see Incident: Air Comet A332 over Atlantic on Nov 6th 2009, bureaucratic problems. The flight route from Spain to Bolivia requires to fly through Brazilian Air Space unless a very long detour is being accepted.
FULL ARTICLE
TheOilDrum.com | Finite Resources: One Possible Explanation for the Energy Crisis
Finite Resources: One Possible Explanation for the Financial Crisis from Rembrandt Koppelaar on Vimeo.
McClatchyDC.com | Obama leaning toward 34,000 more troops for Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is nearing a decision to send more than 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year, but he may not announce it until after he consults with key allies and completes a trip to Asia later this month, administration and military officials have told McClatchy.
As it now stands, the administration's plan calls for sending three Army brigades from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. and the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y. and a Marine brigade, for a total of as many as 23,000 additional combat and support troops.......
BBC.co.uk | Thousands of Japanese protest against US base on southern Japanese Okinawa Island
Thousands of people have protested on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa demanding the removal of a US military base thereNovember 8, 2009 - The local mayor called on new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama "to put an end to Okinawa's burden and ordeal".
Japan and the US agreed in 2006 to relocate the Futenma base from an urban area to reclaimed land but the PM's election has rekindled opposition.
The protest comes ahead of this week's visit by US President Barack Obama.
The BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo says the row over the relocation of the base threatens to sour relations between Japan's new government and the country's key security ally.
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada warned it was unlikely to be resolved before Mr Obama arrives in Japan on Friday.
Japan's new government has expressed a determination to have a less subservient relationship with the US.
KansasCity.com | House Roll Call: How they voted on abortion issue
20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
People walk along the restored segment of East Side Gallery, the largest remaining part of the former Berlin Wall, in Berlin November 6, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) 
This Nov. 10, 1989 file photo shows East Berliners getting helping hands from West Berliners as they climb the Berlin Wall which divided the city since the end of World War II, near the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). Monday, Nov. 9, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
This Nov. 10, 1989 file photo shows Berliners from East and West in front of the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), standing atop and below the Berlin Wall, which divided the city since the end of World War II. Monday, Nov. 9, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Salt Lake Tribune | Shallow landfills of depleted uranium - could spread long-lived radioactive material throughout the Great Salt Lake Basin
Geologist Stephen T. Nelson and climatologist Summer B. Rupper, both of Brigham Young University, and Kansas State University geologist Charles G. Oviatt, say it is "absurd" for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deem depleted uranium safe for surface disposal.
The uranium enrichment waste gets increasingly hazardous for a million years, and that's too long to reasonably ensure the safety of any shallow landfills, especially one like the Tooele County site that is underwater a few hundred of every several thousand years. Those wet cycles could spread long-lived radioactive material throughout the Great Salt Lake basin, the scientists say.
The criticism comes in a letter to the regulators, who are fielding public input on whether large amounts of DU can be safely disposed at sites like EnergySolutions'.
NRC spokesman David McIntyre said his agency will consider the scientists' comments as part of its in-depth review. But, he added, the agency won't approve any more DU disposal in Utah "if we don't think it's safe."
The company said it's looking at the impacts of rising lake levels on the landfill cover, erosion potential and leaching. FULL STORY
USGS | Animation of the week’s seismic activity in California-Nevada
http://sciencedude.freedomblogging.com/2009/11/07/animation-of-this-weeks-oc-area-earthquakes-2/67189/
It was seismically quiet week in and around Orange County, with the region mostly recording microquakes that weren’t felt by many people. One tiny shake occurred on an unidentified fault not far from Disneyland. Another happened east of Rancho Santa Margarita. And there was a hiccup on the Newport-Inglewood fault, in the Newport area. The notable action occurred to the south, along the U.S.-Mexico border, where a series of small quakes led to a 4.0 shaker. Both sides of the border have been twitching for about a week.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
LA Times | Texas is the new retirement mecca - The Lone Star State's attractions include its low cost of living and no income tax.
MercuryNews.com | Commercial construction nears standstill in Vegas
Applied Analysis says nine major commercial projects are under construction in southern Nevada, and development will essentially cease once most of them wind down early next year.
Jake Joyce, an analyst with the firm, said that's in sharp contrast with 2007, when commercial development was booming and there were 75 to 100 projects under construction. FULL STORY
Straits Time | Friendly fire kills 7 Afghanistan Security Personnel with mis-targeted NATO air strike in remote NW
KABUL - November 8, 2009 - SEVEN Afghan security personnel were killed in a mis-targeted Nato air strike in the remote northwest, the defence ministry said on Saturday, signalling further trouble for a fraying Western military effort.
The 'friendly fire' incident occurred when Nato and Afghan forces searching for two missing American paratroopers in the barren, rugged area clashed with the Taleban.
'Due to a Nato forces air strike on November 6 in Badghis province, seven Afghan security personnel (both army and national police) were martyred and also some were wounded,' the ministry said in a statement.
Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said that more than 25 ISAF and Afghan security personnel were killed or wounded during the joint operation.
It said it was investigating whether some of those casualties resulted from friendly fire. However, one Western military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to AFP that it appeared to be a 'blue-on-blue incident' - a military term for friendly fire - with 'a huge number of casualties'.
Afghan defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP there was no doubt Afghan personnel had been killed and injured by their international partners. 'It was an erroneous air strike which caused casualties to friendly forces,' he said. -- AFP
Denver Post | Drilling Related Sink Hole Forming in Carlsbad, NM
The New Mexico Transportation Department has installed signs along U.S. 285 warning drivers of a potential sinkhole. (Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press )CARLSBAD, N.M. — The bright yellow signs on U.S. 285 are the first indication that things aren't right in Carlsbad.
"U.S. 285 south subject to sinkhole 1,000 feet ahead," motorists are warned.
But there is little other evidence that in southeastern New Mexico's oil country, a giant cavern sits below the surface, ready to swallow part of the highway and possibly a church, several businesses and a trailer park.
The cavern was formed over three decades as oil-field service companies pumped fresh water into a salt layer more than 400 feet below the surface and extracted several million barrels of brine to help with drilling. State regulators flagged it as a potential danger after concluding that it was similar to two wells northwest of Carlsbad that collapsed without warning last year.
Over the past few decades, communities in Texas, Kansas, Michigan, Canada and Europe learned of similar underground danger only after cracks appeared and the ground began to sink. Regulators are trying to determine how to prevent collapses by better managing a practice that is used throughout the world.
Most brine wells operate far from homes and businesses, but Carlsbad's is unique because it is in a population center.
"It would be a mess. It would be like a bomb going off in the middle of town," said Jim Griswold, a New Mexico Oil Conservation Division hydrologist.
The City Council and the Eddy County Commission declared a state of emergency Thursday, the first step to free state and federal funds that could be used to figure out a way to stabilize the cavern.
The city of about 26,000 residents knows caverns well. It is home to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, a network of some of the largest natural caverns in North America.
Officials have set up a monitoring system that takes readings from tilt meters and pressure sensors every two seconds and averages them to determine whether there are changes drastic enough to trigger alarms. The alarms are expected to give authorities several hours to evacuate people in advance of a cave-in that could span anywhere from 200 to 500 feet.
I&W Trucking, the oil-field service company that owns the site where the cavern is located, contends the state is overreacting because of the previous collapses on state land and criticized the Oil Conservation Division for not doing more tests to establish the size of the brine cavern before forcing it to plug the well.
RELATED:
Latin American Herald Tribune | More than 200,000 Affected by Flooding in Southeastern Mexico
Inhabitants of the Cardenas community, in Tabasco state, Mexico, leave their house on 6 November 2009, due to the floods caused by the last days of heavy rain, which according to official reports, have stranded close to 21,000 people. EPA/Marco Polo Guzmán
Children stay inside a house in the Cardenas community, in Tabasco state, Mexico, on 06 November 2009, due to the floolds caused by the last days of heavy rain, which according to official reports, have stranded close to 21,000 people. EPA/Marco Polo Guzmán
A man looks at one of the rooms of his house located at the community of Cardenas, southern state of Tabasco, Mexico, 05 November 2009, flooded after the heavy rains that have hit the region since last weekend. Two men and a woman died due to the rains that have left 44.000 people affected and 90 rural communities flooded in the state of Tabasco. EPA/Marco Polo Guzmán
Inhabitants walk amid flooded waters in the community of Cardenas, Mexican State of Tabasco, Mexico, 05 November 2009. Heavy rains had provoked overflows of rivers since last week end with a death toll of two men and one woman. EPA/MARCO POLO GUZMAN
In Tabasco, the most affected area, the number of people whose homes have been flooded due to heavy rains has climbed from 79,000 to 200,000, Gov. Andres Granier said on Friday.
“There are more than 200,000 Tabasco residents who are in a desperate situation at the moment and, of course, I’m worried about this,” Granier said during a public event.
Official reports indicate that some 24,225 hectares (60,000 acres) of crops have been destroyed by the flooding in two municipalities of that southeastern state, where heavy rains two years ago left 80 percent of the state underwater and killed more than two-dozen people.
After rivers in the Tabasco towns of Cardenas and Huimanguillo burst their banks, the state government said the agricultural zone known as “El Plan Chontalpa” is practically “broken” and that rice, sugarcane, pineapple and lemon crops have been lost.
“The situation is serious. Crops have been lost and federal government funds are needed to cope with the crisis,” Granier said.
“Soon we’ll know the extent of the losses, and that won’t be until the water retreats,” the leader in Tabasco of the National Peasants’ Confederation, or CNC, Juan Jose Cadenas, said.
The Tabasco Agriculture Secretariat, meanwhile, said that at least 10,000 hectares (24,690 acres) of pastureland have been flooded and that ranchers have been forced to move more than 40,000 head of cattle to higher ground.
“If the cattle keeps getting thinner, we’ll lose a lot of (those animals),” said a source of that department.
In Cardenas and Huimanguillo, where more than 150 rural communities have been inundated and 12 damaged roads remain closed, ranchers reported the death of at least 50 head of cattle and an equal number of sheep.
In addition, some 145 schools in those two municipalities have been flooded and many others are being used as temporary shelters.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring state of Veracruz, authorities said Thursday that the homes of some 6,000 people in eight different towns have been flooded as a result of the torrential downpours.
Those municipalities have suffered flooding in both urban and rural areas due to both heavy rains and the swelling of rivers that flow into the state from Tabasco and Chiapas.
For its part, the National Defense Secretariat, or Sedena, said in a statement Friday that it has implemented an emergency plan to assist flood victims in Tabasco and Veracruz states, where the army thus far has evacuated 2,065 victims and set up nine shelters housing another 2,468 people.
Sedena has deployed 455 soldiers to the area, including a general, and said the military contingent in the Mexico City metropolitan area is on alert “to attend to other emergency situations that may arise due to the rains.”
The Mexican government said that, in addition to the current cold front, southeastern Mexico could be affected in the coming days by Tropical Storm Ida, which drenched Nicaragua on Friday but has begun re-strengthening as it moves north over the warm waters of the Caribbean.
(Act Surprised) U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said a “day-by-day” tax on speculation is “not something we’re prepared to support.” at G20
Geithner, Brown Split on Tobin Tax at Group of 20 Meeting
Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Group of 20 governments split on whether to tax financial trading as part of a broader strategy to ensure the global economy’s expansion is less crisis-prone.
U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a meeting of finance chiefs in St. Andrews, Scotland yesterday that such a levy could prevent excessive risk taking and fund future bank rescues, adding momentum to a debate begun by France. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said a “day-by-day” tax on speculation is “not something we’re prepared to support.”
The dispute over a so-called Tobin tax suggests that the unity the G-20 showed in battling the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is unraveling as its focus intensifies on how far to rein in the banking system. The outcome may determine the strength of markets as the recovery builds as well as the scope for banks to profit from them.
“The initial market reaction to talk of a Tobin tax is likely to be negative,” said Julian Jessop, a former U.K. Treasury official and now chief international economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London.
A day after U.S. data showed the unemployment rate rose more than economists forecast to a 26-year high, the G-20 also agreed to keep stimulating their economies until recoveries take hold. They mapped out a time plan to show how they will make growth across the world more even and less reliant on Chinese savings and U.S. domestic demand. FULL STORY
Cave Editor's Note - Just tax the taxpayers - not the banksters and wall street gamblers??
Alex Jone's InfoWars.com | Headlines - November 7, 2009
DailyTech
November 7, 2009
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