Haliaeetus leucocephalus

This is the range of the American Bald Eagle, the national symbol of the USA. The purple color is it's permanent range. Right there along the Missouri River in Montana and South Dakota.

Distribution (click here)

Bald eagles are widely distributed throughout the United States and Canada. They winter in open valleys in the Black Hills, in the lakes area of northeastern South Dakota, and along the Missouri River and its tributaries. Winter roosts of eagles are especially common below the reservoir dams from Pierre to Yankton. Although historically bald eagles nested in southeastern South Dakota, there have been no confirmed nesting records in the state during this century. In the spring of 1992, a pair began nesting in Sand Lake NWR in Brown County in northeastern South Dakota, but abandoned their nest before laying eggs....

...Strict guidelines to manage and protect existing bald eagle populations have been implemented by federal and state conservation agencies. One effective measure establishes buffer zones around eagle nesting areas to help minimize disturbance from humans. It is illegal to disturb bald eagles when they are nesting. It is also a federal offense to shoot, trap, or harm these birds in any way. The National Wildlife Federation offers a reward of $500 for information leading to the conviction of anyone who kills a bald eagle. Even possession of eagle feathers is illegal except for those American Indians who obtain a permit to have the feathers for religious ceremonies. 

REASONS FOR CURRENT STATUS: (click here)

The major factors leading to the decline of the bald eagle were persecution by humans and lowered reproductive success following the introduction of the pesticide DDT in 1947. DDT residues caused eggshell thinning which led to broken eggs. Bald eagle populations began to show signs of recovery 10 to 20 years after DDT use was banned. Population increases have been assisted by protective buffer zones around nests, reduced shooting, and restoration of aquatic habitat.  Currently, shoreline development may be the most limiting factor impacting populations.

The Black Footed Ferret is critically endangered across it's range.

Conata Basin /Badlands site: (click here) Black-footed ferrets were reintroduced into the Conata Basin/Badlands area of southwestern South Dakota in 1994-1999. Thirty-six ferrets were released in 1994. In 1995, there were at least two wild-born litters. Thirty-three more ferrets were released in 1995 and in 1996 there were as many seven as wild-born litters. Releases at this site indicated that “preconditioning” ferrets to the site prior to release resulted in higher success. As of 2000, this site had at least 200 ferrets and appeared to be the first established, self-sustaining wild population since reintroductions began. In 2005 245 ferrets were reported and because plague was confirmed in prairie dog colonies near the ferrets, a preventative treatment program was initiated.

In 2004, 93 ferrets were released onto the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. In 2005 42 survivors were counted and 15 new kits were observed later that year.

Charadrius melodus is endangered throughout it's range.

This is there range. They primarily live and eat in the Midwest and Southern Canada during the summer.

The Piping Plover is endangered, except where it spends some time in the summer along the New England coast where it is considered Threatened. But, New England coastal communities are not it's greatest preference. These lovely little birds are most often found along the Missouri River.

They like the sand along waterways. they eat a wide variety of aquatic marine worms, insects, mollusks, and crustaceans.

They live and nest on land. They fly, but, they don't nest in trees.
 
When pairs are formed, the male begins digging out several scrapes (nests) along the high shore near the beach-grass line. 

The males also perform elaborate courtship ceremonies, including stone tossing and courtship flights featuring repeated dives. Scrapes, small depressions in the sand dug by kicking the sand.. Females will sit and evaluate the scrapes, then choose a good scrape and decorate the nest with shells and debris to camouflage it.

Size: 18 cm (7.25 in) in length. Color: Breeding season: Pale brown above, lighter below; black band across forehead; bill orange with black tip; legs orange; white rump. Male: Complete or incomplete black band encircles the body at the breast. Female: Paler head band; incomplete breast band. Winter coloration: Bill black; all birds lack breast band and head band.

The mighty Missouri River is actually connected to the Yellowstone River.

It's true.

Right there at the border of Montana and North Dakota.

How did Exxon manage to build an oil refinery on the Yellowstone River?

This is the beauty of the Yellowstone River.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014 5:57 pm 
Updated: 5:47 pm, Thu Feb 13, 2014.  
 LAURA LUNDQUIST, Chronicle Staff Writer
 
A Bozeman environmental group (click here) was disappointed but not surprised to hear that a Billings Exxon refinery had an oil spill.

On Tuesday afternoon, an unknown individual from the refinery called the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Response Center to report that the ExxonMobile refinery in Billings had spilled an unknown quantity of petroleum product into the Yellowstone River....

...Montana Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Chris Saeger said a foot-wide oil sheen around 100 yards long was visible in the river.

John Meyer, executive director of Cottonwood, said the spill occurred at one of dozens of facilities that his group has tried to bring to the attention of the DEQ.

In April, Cottonwood, formerly known as the Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, and Montana River Action sued the DEQ under the Clean Water Act for failing to monitor several facilities, including the ExxonMobile refinery....

Scaphirhynchus albus, endangered species of a ray-finnned fish in the Missouri River throughout.

Pallid Sturgeon

Reasons for Decline: All of the 3,350 miles of riverine habitat within the pallid sturgeon's range have been adversely affected by man. Approximately 28% has been impounded, which has created unsuitable lake-like habitat; 51% has been channelized into deep, uniform channels; the remaining 21% is downstream of dams which have altered the river's hydrograph, temperature and turbidity. Commercial fishing and environmental contaminants may have also played a role in the pallid sturgeon's decline.

They were once a sporting fish and there have been programs to recover the fish through releases in the Missouri River.

US Counties within South Dakota in which the Pallid sturgeon, Entire is known to or is believed to occur: (click here)

The current recovery plan was signed January 28, 2013 (click here)

These fish are known to live beyond 60 years old, grow to six feet in length and weight over 100 pounds. As game fish they are valued for their meat which is considerable at maturity.

The pallid sturgeon, an ancient species that has existed since the days of the dinosaurs, is also one of the most poorly known and infrequently seen freshwater fishes in North American. It was listed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as endangered on September 6, 1990, in accordance with provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. Similar in appearance to the shovelnose sturgeon, the pallid has a flattened and shovel-shaped snout and is distinguished by pale, bony plates instead of scales, a reptile-like body, a sucker-type mouth and large barbels (whisker-like growths next to it’s mouth). The barbels, used to sense the river bottom and identify prey, allow the protrusible, vacuum cleaner-like mouth to quickly capture it. Prey consists of aquatic insects successfully fed goldfish, crayfish, and minnows.

It is interesting how the Missouri River supports so many rare, threatened and endangered species.

Beautiful flower. It grows in areas where there are rocks and where no other flower will grow. It is Rare and Threatened.

Astragalus barrii

Barr's Milkvetch

Centered in the Powder River Basin of northeastern Wyoming (Campbell, Johnson, Natron, Niobrara, Sheridan and Weston counties) and adjacent southeastern Montana (Big Horn, Carter, Powder River and Rosebud counties), to southwestern South Dakota (click here) (Fall River, Shannon and Pennington counties) and northwestern Nebraska (Dawes County).

Number Left 

Montana: 33 occurrences (Fertig 2000).
 
Nebraska: 1 occurrence (Weedon 2001).
 
South Dakota: 7 occurrences (Ode 1988).
 
Wyoming: 26 occurrences (Hartman and Nelson 1995)

The primary flyway (click here) for the Missouri River is number 2, the Central Flyway – Over the Great Plains, east of the Rocky Mountain.

A flyway is a pathway used by migratory birds and insects.  Birds tend to take predictable routes to get from the winter feeding grounds to the summer breeding grounds and back.  Flyways usually occur along coastlines, major rivers and near mountains.  Conservationists can help threatened bird and butterfly populations by protecting habitat along major migratory flyways.

Flyways are important to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act(click here) makes it illegal for anyone to take, possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, barter, or offer for sale, purchase, or barter, any migratory bird, or the parts, nests, or eggs of such a bird except under the terms of a valid permit issued pursuant to Federal regulations....

The Missouri River is a magnificent river that flows through many states in the Midwest. If flows through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.

The Missouri River (click here) drains one-sixth of the United States and encompasses 529,350 square miles. It flows 2,341 miles from its headwaters at the confluence of the Gallatin, Madison, and Jefferson Rivers in the Rocky Mountains at Three Forks, Montana, to its confluence with the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri.

The basin is home to about 10 million people from 28 Native American tribes, 10 states (Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming), and a small part of Canada.

Precipitation in the basin varies from an annual mean of 40 inches in the interior highlands of the Missouri Ozarks to 10 inches in the dry upland plains of North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. The basin’s elevation drops from 14,000 foot peaks at its northwestern boundary to about 400 feet where it joins the Mississippi.

It is Sunday Night

Sissel (Click here for official website)

Joaquin Cuzman Loera back in prison after 13 years a fugative.

Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera aka "el Chapo Guzman" (C), is escorted by marines as he is presented to the press on February 22, 2014 in Mexico City. (AFP Photo / Ronaldo Schemidt) 

Forbes listed him as the #67 most powerful person in the world (click here)

XXII Olympic Winter Games

The medal count has been reshuffled. Russia has surpassed the other nations. They won the Men's 4x7.5-kilometer Biathlon Relay, the last competition for the Sochi Games.

Norway has the even won when the last leg of the race went to Russia when Norway could not finish their final shooting requirement and took a penalty for leaving one target intact. 

Russia came into the final shooting range behind Norway, rapidly fired at the required targets and was the first out of the blocks of the shooting range. The crowd roared with joy for this victory. 

There were 88 countries competing, some for the first time. The blue nations are making their debut at the winter games.

Of the 88 countries, 26 are taking home medals, but, all are taking home great stories.

Racist shooting video from Matt Steele Outdoors

Syria has submitted a new 100-day plan (click here) for the removal of its chemical weapons after failing to meet a Feb. 5 deadline, but the international mission overseeing the operation believes it can be done in a shorter time frame, diplomats said on Friday. 

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons executive committee met on Friday in The Hague to discuss the joint OPCW and UN mission amid growing international frustration at Syria falling behind on its commitments. 

Syria failed to meet an OPCW deadline of Feb. 5 to move all of its declared chemical substances and precursors out of the country. The final deadline under the OPCW plan is for all of Syria's declared chemical materials to be destroyed by June 30.... 

Why are there still airstrikes if there have been meetings of all the parties? The airstrikes are Assad, not the opposition groups.

A man holds a baby who survived what activists say was an airstrike by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo on February 14. The United Nations estimates more than 100,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011.

Destruction: Another strike in the Haydariyeh quarter of Aleppo killed at least six civilians

There are many sources of information in Syria. It is difficult to discern the accurate sources, so the best information at this point comes from the United Nations. This photo is from January 8, 2014 of Aleppo following an airstrike and 10 civilian deaths. 

The anarchy is the enemy. Airstrikes isn't going to cure it. Ground forces isn't going to do anything either. The leadership as we have witnessed in the Mideast comes from the holy men to organize their following to survive the day. 

Assad has resorted to barrel bombs in an attempt to end the resistance. He has to stop the attacks, seek cooperation with opposition leaders who have contact with the religious sects. Killing mass amounts of people is genocide and not peace. Assad needs to be very careful, he is an Alawite. His mistreatment of his people is reverberating through the region.  

An Alawite Abdel Rahman Youssef, (click here) was shot dead on Thursday as he drove through Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city,

By Mohammed al-Khatieb, Syria Deeply

February 22, 2014

It has been three months (click here) since the Syrian government launched its offensive on this city’s opposition neighborhoods using barrels packed with explosives. After a two-week lull imposed by winter weather conditions, President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have reportedly increased the intensity of the raids.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that over 400 people have been killed in Aleppo by these makeshift “barrel bombs” since the beginning of February, as Geneva II peace talks were under way.

Most rebel-held areas in Aleppo have turned into a no man’s land as residents flee; entire neighborhoods such as Maysar, Jazmati, Marjeh and Meisraniyeh are deserted, their shops shuttered. The exodus from the city is reportedly the largest since the Free Syrian Army first entered in July 2012...

This is just peaceful gatherings.

The people are going to find the need to assert themselves because of the legitimate fear they believe is still their reality. The speech and affirmation should never be interrupted with violence or escalation of fear again.

The sirens are of a hospital. I saw the ambulances there earlier during daylight. People get sick and have emergencies not necessarily connected with any political presence.

In reading some of the news and information in the media there is underlying fear this struggle will continue forever. That has to stop. Inflammatory rhetoric is not nearly appropriate. They have no peace of mind. What kind of government does that to it's people? That level of fear in a society reverberates through the idea their children will have no peace. That kind of fear promotes long lived resistance. The Ukrainian fears are deep seated and will only resolve in time. This won't go on forever, but, stating they are wrong in their assertions in public speech will not resolve anything.

Timoshenko freed. Yanukovych refuses to resign (click here)

The people stood with her and there are now elections set for May. Many died in belief she would bring about peace. She needs to lead in peace and the world should pay attention. 

The United Nations needs to bring in election observers. There should be no lies, no escalation of fear that would lead to greater instability and possible violence. The people are important above any manipulation of the outcome, no matter the outcome.

Elections and the opportunity to be elected needs to be fair and the former Prime Minister needs to be safe in her person from here forward. 

8:30 PM  Peace 

9:15 AM The rally continues. 

Parliament in Ukraine has named its speaker as interim president. (click here)

Oleksandr Turchynov takes charge following the dismissal of President Viktor Yanukovych on Saturday. Mr Turchynov told MPs they had until Tuesday to form a new unity government.
Parliament also voted to seize Mr Yanukovych's luxury estate near Kiev, which protesters entered on Saturday.
The whereabouts of Mr Yanukovych, who described parliament's decision to vote him out as a coup, remain unclear.
Thousands of opposition supporters remain in Independence Square, where the atmosphere is described as calm... 

There was some violence in Kharkiv, the second largest city in the Ukraine. Those causing the violence can't tolerate the light of day. They moved to where cameras can't see them.

EuroMaidan in Kharkiv gets attacked (click here)
Feb. 23, 2:35 a.m. In Kharkiv EuroMaidan rally was attacked by unknown men. The men drove two cars into the crowd of anti-government protesters and started shooting, reports local news website ATN. The people ran to the building of the governor's office to hide. At least two are wounded. -- Olga Rudenko

I would expect citizens of Ukraine to be angry with the former President Yanukovych, but, they should not act against him. They are more civilized than that and willing to honor the findings of the parliament and courts. If he has committed abuses of power and human rights abuses he needs to stand trial.

3 hours ago

Parliament has voted to seize President Yanukovych's luxury estate near Kiev, (click here) which protesters entered on Saturday.
The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse visited the retreat and described seeing tennis courts, a boxing ring and the presidential sauna.
Watch the full report on Newsnight, BBC Two, Monday, 22:30 GMT

The statues of Lenin are left over from the time the Ukraine was "Soviet Ukraine" and a vital part of the Soviet Union. Even Russia has at times wanted to remove Lenin from his display in the mausoleum. But, the building was renovated and reopened last year. Soviet Ukraine was second only to Russia within the USSR. It was a strong economic engine. When one examines the credentials of most of the professionals in the Ukraine, regardless of their trade they have economic educations in tandem. 

22 February 2014 Last updated at 15:06 GMT

Protesters have toppled statues (click here) of Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin in various Ukrainian cities.
The latest footage shows protesters destroying statues in Bila Tserkva, Khmelnitsky and Zhytomyr.
When anti-government protests erupted in Kiev in December, protesters toppled a Lenin statue in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
 

When Human Rights fighters are victims the commitment to their cause becomes enamored in history.

There has to be a commitment by Europe and the USA to be vigilant and prevent such problems in the Ukraine again. These are good people and they only want their lives in an order they understand and love.

There is simply no reason for tensions between Russia and The West that encompasses countries in need of stability and good economies. Every power of The West and Russia should be able to find success in their economies and welcome in their tourism. These tensions have to end. If The West and Russia were more partners than they have been, the negotiations for peace would be far more smooth and affable than they are today. Cause and effect. The more hostile the politics within the USA, the more other nations believe they will find that tone of their relationships and even to fear.

The West states they believe when extremists in Iran refer to the Holocaust as a lie that justifies the removal of Israel to return to Palestine; however, The West believes their words to be saintlike and above such scrutiny by other nations. The world has had enough and this is proof of the discord and the problems no nation can afford.

Yury Vebytsky is as much a victim of negligence of The West as hatred of others. We need peace in this world, not more of this.

24.01.14
 
Yury Verbytsky, murdered EuroMaiden protester (click here)

On Jan 24 thousands of people in Lviv attended the funeral of Yury Verbysky, a Lviv seismologist and EuroMaidan protester whose mutilated body was found in the Boryspil forest outside Kyiv on Wednesday.  He had been abducted from the Oleksandrov hospital by unidentified men, together with the well-known journalist and civic activist Ihor Lutsenko.  

Whoever is behind his death, it is clear from Lutsenko’s account that he was particularly badly beaten because he was from Lviv.  The current regime has been assiduously pushing dangerously primitive stereotypes of people from Western Ukraine, and particularly Lviv, as being “Bandera supporting”, which is generally accompanied by words like “facist”....

Closing ceremonies are tomorrow. Time has passed quickly, but, one again the medal count has changed.

Norway is holding on the most number of gold medals, but, Russia has now surpassed Canada, the USA and Germany.

The commentary began with Bob Costas being out front in stating the snowboarding competition was a jackass sport. Why deprive him the last of the commentary?

February 22, 2014 (AP)
By DAVID BAUDER 
AP Television Writer

TOUGH STUFF: (click here) Bob Costas' sharp, if jarring, commentary Friday changed the narrative for those who thought NBC ignored or displayed a naive attitude about the world outside of the Olympic Village. The NBC host noted how Ukrainian athletes at the games were showing their concern for their country's political unrest, and tied what was going on there to Vladimir Putin's Russia. Costas said the Sochi Olympics had gone off better than many people feared going in, "all of which is truly wonderful, but should not serve to obscure a harsher or more lasting truth. This is still a government which imprisons dissidents, is hostile to gay rights, sponsors and supports a vicious regime in Syria — and that's just a partial list." While the games' may burnish Putin's reputation in some eyes, "no amount of Olympic glory can mask these realities," he said....

Privatizing law enforcement. Who are these companies customers? Mass public surveillance? You've got to be joking.

This is a front for privatization of government. The police and any other law enforcement agency as they currently exist don't need this. They already have all the information they need at their fingertips in their police cruisers. This is among the first steps to privatize government and take civil rights away from citizens.

Vigilant Solutions (click here) creates intelligence by merging previously disparate data sets such as fixed and mobile license plate recognition, public records, facial recognition, and more. Vigilant’s LEARN Intelligence Network provides an easy to use and intuitive interface to all of this information for unmatched investigative capability in a secure, hosted environment to reduce demands on agency IT resources and to facilitate nationwide interoperability and data sharing. 

Currently, if private security officers run into suspicious circumstances they have to at the very least call the local police to officially apprehend criminals. This is among the first steps to remove the authority of government and place it in the hands of private agencies and private courts.

"The Free Capitalist Network" (click here)

"If all government is inefficient then it might as well be abolished correct? However, if we have private courts, wont the courts be influenced by the one who pays the most money? I know that this is probably the same with state courts, but how would a private system of courts be better than a government system of courts?"

What makes anyone believe this is a foolproof method of finding a Vehicle Indentification Number (VIN). What will happen here is that the criminals are already ahead of the game and will find an identical vehicle and swap license plates. The game of chance will go on forever and the victims will be the innocent. 

These systems are Sci-Fi, impractical, expensive and an ultimate burden to consumers. This is ridiculous. 

Utah: Repo Men Sue To Overturn Private License Plate Reader Ban (click here)
 Repossession industry claims free speech rights in bid to photograph and track license plates in Utah.Private companies that spy on motorists are suing the state of Utah over a law that limits commercial use of automated license plate readers (ALPR, also known as ANPR in Europe). The firms Digital Recognition Network Inc and Vigilant Solutions told the US District Court for the District of Utah that they have a First Amendment right to photograph motorists, identify the vehicle and record the time and GPS coordinates in a searchable database accessible to clients nationwide.

Digital Recognition Network (DRN) mounts license plate reader cameras on tow trucks so it can distribute the collected data to "clients and partners," usually repossession firms and collection agencies. In Utah, Swift Towing, American Automotive Recovery, Inner Global Recovery and Repros Recovery together spent $120,000 buying license plate reader cameras from the firm. Vigilant Solutions typically offers information from these cameras to law enforcement agencies....

Where does the data come from for these privacy invasion industries? The industry claims they don't use police or FBI or CIA records that might be available through MetaData or otherwise, but, through their own SURVEILLANCE.

Digital Recognition Network (DRN) (click here) is a data and analytics provider that drives measurable business value for the Financial Services, Insurance and Asset Recovery industries. Leveraging our data and services on a real-time basis, our clients more effectively optimize their portfolios, reduce losses, detect fraud, and manage risk. 

Innocent people are being surveyed on a regular basis as they go about their own business and put into computer storage systems to be tracked by private industry. Where is my life did I ever give government or private industry the right to invade my privacy to track any of my activities?

The government and/or private industry has NO RIGHT and is operating unconstitutionally within the USA in regard to private citizens' rights to privacy. Such mass surveillance is AGAINST the law without proper authority through the courts.

Amendment XIV

Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

So, therefore, private information companies operating today are doing so illegally through mass collection of information.

North Carolina has a dire environmental air and water quality problem.

It has existed and the laws in North Carolina primarily favor the hazards to citizens then effect the profits of the company. The politicians have been so very successful in lying about that reality the rhetoric is legendary.

Bird’s Eye View of Coal Ash (click here)

Coal contains heavy metals by its very nature. Heavy metals are toxic and oftentimes, a little dab will do ya. For example, just one teaspoon’s worth of mercury can contaminate a 20 acre lake to the extent that the fish become contaminated enough that they can become unsafe to eat.

When coal is burned for electricity, heavy metals are concentrated in the resultant coal ash (known more technically as “coal combustion waste”). Heavy metals of concern include but are not limited to arsenic, lead, mercury, manganese, and selenium. Each of these heavy metals can have differing negative effects on the body.... 

The liars are real and the lies manufactured as if true. The federal EPA need to have a presence among the environmental groups in NC and dispel the lies, otherwise the danger to citizen lives will go on forever. 

This display of solidarity with Duke Energy's Mr. Everett is proof enough the government is corrupt to the core and willing to lie along with companies to insure their profits. North Carolina needs a truth teller and the only authority left that needs to stand exactly in the same place as Everett is here are Federal authorities. Federal regulators and EPA need to speak directly to the NC legislature AND have it televised to the people of the state.

The environmental groups need to be stated BY NAME, have them present as a citizen has the right to attend legislative sessions, highly praised while stating they are correct and have been vigilant the entire time. It has to be said they are to be known to be accurate reporters of the environmental circumstances the people face. The citizens of North Carolina have truth tellers in their environmental groups that are far too numerous to list here.

The truth will be valued by those that believe lying is a sin. 

George Everett, Director of Environmental and Legislative Affairs for Duke Energy, center front, explains what measures Duke Energy took following a coal ash spill into the Dan River from one of their facilities during the N.C. Legislature's Environmental Review Commission meeting Monday morning in the Legislative Office Bldg. in Raleigh, Feb 17, 2014. Above him is a photo of the site. The lawmakers heard from Duke Energy, state officials with DENR and the Division of Water Resources and the public on the accident.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/17/3630919/nc-lawmakers-get-update-on-duke.html#storylink=cpy

By John Murawski

jmurawski@newsobserver.com

February 17, 2014  

RALEIGH — State environmental regulators and a Duke Energy executive (click here) assured state lawmakers Monday that Duke’s accidental spewing of tons of coal ash into the Dan River poses no immediate threat to public health.
The hastily scheduled hearing was the first update lawmakers had received on the environmental accident, but it offered few specifics on how and when North Carolina will go about cleaning up the river and preventing other coal ash accidents.
The N.C. Environmental Review Commission, consisting of House and Senate legislators, heard nearly three hours of statements on the spill in Rockingham County that has resulted in a public warning not to eat fish from the Dan River and nationally televised images of a grayish, batter-like goop clogging the waterway that winds through the North Carolina-Virginia border....