REPORT - Fracking by the Numbers - Key Impacts of Dirty Drilling at the State and National Level (47 page .PDF report)

CLICK HERE - Fracking by the Numbers - Key Impacts of Dirty Drilling at the State and National Level

CLICK HERE - Fracking by the Numbers - New Report First to Quantify Damage Done by Gas Drilling

Growing concerns over radiation risks as report finds widespread environmental damage on an unimaginable scale in the US

theguardian.com - by Suzanne Goldenberg
October 4, 2013

Fracking in America generated 280bn US gallons of toxic waste water last year – enough to flood all of Washington DC beneath a 22ft deep toxic lagoon, a new report out on Thursday found.

Operational Biosurveillance - biosurveillance.typepad.com - October 1, 2013

Mexico is reporting upwards of 44 cases of cholera now with one fatality involving Hidalgo State and Mexico City.  The appearance of cholera in Mexico City is deeply concerning from the standpoint of the "tip of the iceberg": we only know of the recognized cases.  There are likely others out there.

A couple of points about this:

1. Totally expected to see expansion of the Nepalese cholera from Haiti to the DR, to Cuba, and now to Mexico. It is likely to include many other countries in that region before all is said and done.

2. It is likely to spread in Mexico in 'fits and starts' due to lack of indigenous immunity and will cause disruption.

3. It will likely spread along trade and migrant labor routes to the US and other countries doing business with Mexico.

4. Communities in the US may be caught unawareness due to basic expectation of border communities in Texas serving as "canaries in a coal mine" for the rest of the country. We propose the migrant labor routes penetrate deep into the US and far from these border communities.

A home destroyed during the landfall of Superstorm Sandy is pictured in Mantoloking, New Jersey March 22, 2013.  Credit: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

reuters.com - by Barbara Liston - September 24, 2013

(Reuters) - More than a million homeowners living in older houses along the coastlines and riverbanks of the United States are being jolted by federal flood insurance rate hikes under a law passed in the wake of devastating storms.

Carol Giovannoni, 51, of St. Pete Beach, a barrier island community off Florida's west coast, is one of the people dreading October 1, when the law takes effect. Giovannoni said the annual flood insurance premium on her standard 1950s concrete-block, ranch-style home on the waterfront will jump from $1,700 to $15,000 over the next few years.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012

Firefighters and trucks gathered in a staging area recently in West before a procession to Waco's Ferrell Center for a memorial honoring victims of the deadly fertilizer explosion.  Michael Ainsworth/Staff Photographer

CLICK HERE - E-Plan - Delivering Vital Hazmat Information to First Responders

dallasnews.com - by Randy Lee Loftis - August 10, 2013

As federal agencies scramble to meet President Barack Obama’s Aug. 1 order to fix a broken chemical emergency system after the West Fertilizer Co. disaster, a small program with the potential to save the lives of firefighters and the public is struggling to survive.

For more than a decade, workers in a controlled-access office at the University of Texas at Dallas have run the nation’s farthest-reaching network offering first responders facility-specific information on chemical risks when they arrive at an industrial fire or leak.

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - July 19, 2013

A Sandia National Laboratories team is gearing up for hurricane season, readying analyses to help people in the eye of a storm. The team has two jobs: conducting annual “hurricane swath” analyses of probable impacts on the Gulf Coast and East Coast, and providing quick analyses of crisis response in the face of an imminent hurricane threat to the United States. A swath analysis looks at how a hurricane might interrupt critical services and at impacts to infrastructure specific to an area, such as petroleum and petrochemical industries in Houston or financial services in New York City. It also looks at such things as the economic impact of the storm or how it could upset food deliveries.

khou.com - July 26, 2013

MATAGORDA COUNTY, Texas --Rice farmers in Matagorda County said they will no longer be able to farm much rice if they don’t get any water within the next two years.

An estimated 200 farmers just southeast of Houston face the same fate.

A canal that was once filled with water is now bone dry. Farmers said it’s the worst drought they’ve ever seen.

inhabitat.com - by Yuka Yoneda - July 12, 2013

It's already hurricane season - would you be ready if another Superstorm Sandy hit today? If you hesitated for a moment, you might be one of the many who meant to prepare for the next big storm but then just got sucked into the daily grind and forgot. The good news is that there's still time to gather up the essentials so that you'll be ahead of the game for the next hurricane instead of having to fight some lady for the last pack of batteries at Duane Reade. Read on for the 12 important items you should have at home in case of an emergency situation like a serious storm or other natural disaster. . .

Less oxygen dissolved in the water is often referred to as a dead zone? (in red above) because most marine life either dies, or, if they are mobile such as fish, leave the area. / NOAA

marcoislandflorida.com - USA Today - by Dan Vergano - June 19, 2013

Environmental biologists foresee a record-size “dead zone” for the Gulf of Mexico this summer, a New Jersey-sized patch of water deadly to marine life, federal officials announced. 

Seen every year off the Texas and Louisiana coasts, the zone forms largely because of fertilizer runoff from the Corn Belt flowing down the Mississippi, where the nutrients spur the growth of the algal blooms that remove oxygen from the water in the Gulf. The especially large size this year of the predicted zone, perhaps 8,500 square miles, appears to be tied to Midwestern floods that washed more nutrients into the river.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Following Hurricane Ike, many towns in Southeast Texas were destroyed or significantly damaged. Inhabitants that had been in these beach communities for generations no longer could afford to rebuild under the economic burdens of new federal and state guidelines. The homes that were rebuilt cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the homes that were there before.

Five years later, towns are beginning to re-emerge in Southeast Texas, but with different demographics and new cultures. The attached story and video hint at what is emerging in Southeast Texas, but say nothing about who was displaced, where they are, and how they are doing today.

nytimes.com - by Kate Galbraith - April 6, 2013

 . . . “Texas does not and will not have enough water” in a bad drought, the state’s water plan warned last year. More than two dozen communities could run out of water in 180 days, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Looking ahead, the already-dry western half of the state is expected to be hit particularly hard by climate change. . .

. . . Wes Perry, an oilman who doubles as Midland’s mayor, put it this way recently: as valuable as oil and gas are, he said, “we are worthless without water.”

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

12newsnow.com - by Vanessa Holmes - March 13, 2013

A Transcanada representative spoke to more than one hundred Rotary Club members about the pipeline project and how it's benefiting the local economy.

However a Cornell University Study Concludes the pipeline could cost more jobs than it creates, and the economic damage caused by potential spills from the Keystone XL pipeline could far outweigh the benefits of jobs created by the project.

http://us.resiliencesystem.org/keystone-xl-pipeline-could-cost-more-jobs-it-creates#comment-633

http://us.resiliencesystem.org/keystone-xl-pipeline-could-cost-more-jobs-it-creates

http://www.12newsnow.com/story/21635251/local-economy-seeing-impact-from-keystone-xl-pipeline

(Please see attachments below for printed materials) 

Mold & Mildew

Cleaning Up Your Flood-Damaged Home

FEMA 606/July 2007

The Problem With Mold

Mildew and molds are fungi - simple microscopic organisms that thrive anywhere there is a moist environment. Molds are a necessary part of the environment; without them, leaves would not decay and aspects of soil enrichment could not take place. It is their ability to destroy organic materials that makes mold a problem for people.

Mildew (mold in its early stages) and molds grow on wood products, ceiling tiles, cardboard, wallpaper, carpets, drywall, fabric, plants, foods, insulation, decaying leaves and other organic materials. Mold colonies can start to grow on a damp surface within 24 to 48 hours. They reproduce via spores - tiny, lightweight ìseedsî- that travel through the air. Molds digest organic material, eventually destroying the material they grow on, and then spread to destroy adjacent organic material. In addition to the damage molds can cause in your home, they can also cause mild to severe health problems. See the Health Problems From Mold section to check for possible mold related health problems.