Link: Clogged by plastic bags, Africa begins banning them | csmonitor.com
Rulings on Endangered Species Are Reversed – New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 28, 2007The Fish and Wildlife Service reversed seven rulings that denied increased protection for endangered species, after an inquiry found that the actions had been tainted by political pressure from a former Interior Department official. In a letter to Representative Nick J. Rahall II, Democrat of West Virginia, the agency acknowledged that the actions had been “inappropriately influenced” and that “revising the seven identified decisions is supported by scientific evidence and the proper legal standards.” The ruling affects species including the white-tailed prairie dog, the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse and the Canada lynx.
The strange, slow-motion disaster of the mud volcano
PORONG, INDONESIA – On one side of the levee, a line of trucks waits on a clogged, two-lane road under a broiling sun. On the other, a vast lake of mud stretches to the horizon. Neither appears to be moving.
In the distance, a trail of white smoke rises from a hole in the ground where the mud flow began 18 months ago. Despite attempts to stanch the sludge, such as by dropping giant concrete balls from helicopters into the fissure, the mud continues to gush, swallowing everything in its path.
Prone to earthquakes and volcanoes, Indonesia is no stranger to natural disasters. But what befell this densely populated slice of Java Island was, by most accounts, a man-made calamity.
Last May, an Indonesian energy company drilling for natural gas accidentally opened a fissure in the ground from where hot, viscous mud began erupting. The unstoppable stinking ooze has since swallowed up 11 towns, destroying homes, factories, schools, and farms, and forcing some 16,000 people to uproot.
But its calm oily surface is deceptive. The mud, which contains heavy metals and chemicals such as benzene and sulfurdioxide, has also contaminated rivers and wells in a city-sized area that was semi-industrial farmland and a shrimp production zone. Indonesia’s national planning agency has put the economic damages at $334 million a month and says the final bill could be as high as $8.6 billion.
A network of dams now holds back the mud, and engineers are trying to pump some of the sludge out to sea. Already, an estimated 1 billion cubic feet of mud has inundated an area of 2.5 square miles.
Read more: The strange, slow-motion disaster of the mud volcano | csmonitor.com
Eighth wonder of the world? The stunning temples secretly carved out below ground by paranormal eccentric
Move over Winchester Mystery House…
Gas guzzlers get new lives — as tire-smoking hybrids
Link: Gas guzzlers get new lives — as tire-smoking hybrids – CNN.com
(includes picture of Neil Young’s 1959 Lincoln Continental)
Court Rejects Fuel Standards on Trucks – New York Times
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 15 — A federal appeals court here rejected the Bush administration’s year-old fuel-economy standards for light trucks and sport utility vehicles on Thursday, saying that they were not tough enough because regulators had failed to thoroughly assess the economic impact of tailpipe emissions that contribute to climate change.
Link: Court Rejects Fuel Standards on Trucks – New York Times
The Dump 