The natural gas storage report from the EIA for the week ending April 23rd indicated that the amount of natural gas held in underground storage in the US rose by 15 billion cubic feet to 1,898 billion cubic feet by the end of the week, which left our gas supplies 302 billion cubic feet, or 13.7% below the 2,200 billion cubic feet that were in storage on April 23rd of last year, and 40 billion cubic feet, or 2.1% below the five-year average of 1,938 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have been in storage as of the 23rd of April in recent years..the 15 billion cubic feet that were added to US natural gas storage this week was more than the average forecast of a 9 billion cubic foot addition from an S&P Global Platts survey of analysts, but measured well below the average addition of 67 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have typically been injected into natural gas storage during the same week over the past 5 years, as well as well below the 66 billion cubic feet added to natur
Researchers at Tulane University in New Orleans are studying songs sung by mockingbirds to determine the effects of lead levels in the environment.
Dr. Renata Ribeiro – an adjunct professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology – has been studying the Northern Mockingbird. As the name implies, these birds often imitate the songs sang by other birds as well as car alarms, emergency sirens, and other sounds. The singing ability of male mockingbirds is crucial to finding a mate.
Ribeiro and other researchers are studying how the Northern Mockingbird and its songs are affected by lead pollution which contaminates much of the soil in The Big Easy. A 2011 study by Tulane University found that nearly two-thirds of New Orleans homes and yards contain “dangerous” levels of lead. Researchers attributed the high levels of lead to the demolition and renovation of houses after Hurricane Katrina as well as the large number of homes constructed before lead was banned
Louisiana Refineries to Pay $5.5M for Lake Charles-Area Contamination April 28, 2021
Nine oil refineries and chemical companies in the Lake Charles area have agreed to pay the federal government $5.5 million for their contamination of parts of the northern Calcasieu River estuary.
The settlement was announced by the U.S. Justice Department, according to The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate. The latest in a series of federal and state legal actions against more than a dozen industrial plants for polluting the river basin with toxic chemicals and heavy metals, including dioxin and mercury, it covers less than half of the Environmental Protection Agency’s $13 million response costs for contamination caused by this group.
Air Monitoring at five Louisiana refineries revealed benzene above EPA action level
4/28/2021
Cancer-causing benzene emissions from oil refineries exceeded the federal action level for five refineries in Louisiana last year, putting at risk the health of neighboring communities.
Nationally, 13 refineries had benzene monitoring readings at their fencelines in 2020 that averaged above EPA’s action level, a regulatory threshold that requires companies to investigate and take action to reduce the dangerous pollution.
That was more than the 11 refineries nationally over EPA’s action level in 2019, and two in Louisiana that year, according to a report by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), “Environmental Justice and Refinery Pollution.”
Refineries to pay $5.5M for Lake Charles-area contamination
April 26, 2021
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LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) Nine oil refineries and chemical companies in the Lake Charles area have agreed to pay the federal government $5.5 million for their contamination of parts of the northern Calcasieu River estuary.
The settlement was announced this month by the U.S. Justice Department, according to nola.com. The latest in a series of federal and state legal actions against more than a dozen industrial plants for polluting the river basin with toxic chemicals and heavy metals, including dioxin and mercury, it covers less than half of the Environmental Protection Agency s $13 million response costs for contamination caused by this group.