The history of the chemical industry is long, but, rather dangerous. Regulation is necessary and enforcement is vital. Whether industrialists want to realize it or not, the fines and lawsuits companies pay do make an impression and protects Americans from future blundering by industry.

There is a safer chemistry to look toward in the 21st Century and it is called "Green Chemistry." 

The larger the population anywhere on Earth, the more space is demanded for living lives. That means space on Earth is at a premium and growing more and more precious as the heating of Earth's troposphere continues to force people into areas where water and food can be found.

When thinking about green chemistry, the less dangerous our world is the less problems we carry forward to our health systems, etc. Reflect on the penalties alone to companies that were reckless in their production of their products. Would it not be better to clearly think through danger? Wouldn't it be better to actually respect LD50s (lethal dose to 50 percent of the population) in research of health? The USA has to once again value life and it's potential.

Looking at Japan, despite all of the poor choices in energy; it is a model for any country when it comes to valuing space and air space while preserving the natural world. Japan is a remarkable country with great resilience to population pressures. They build up and keep the foot print of human dwellings to a minimum, while people are happy with the size of their dwelling. Cities are where it is happening. Be part of it in Japan.

And the highways in the USA cannot not continue to expand horizontally. Highways in the USA need to expand vertically. Major cities in the USA have been doing exactly that for a long time. Perhaps the best known stacked highways is Los Angeles. 

The future and population growth on Earth demands better use of resources and better answers for our time and better devotion to preserving the natural world. The human race has to be more accommodating to nature. There are reasons for reverence for our common home. Our common home has to take priority. 

I want to add a quick note about the "Flint River Water Project." I stated on Friday I would begin writing the work, but, that doesn't mean it will be immediately published. I fully expect to look at the work I compiled and realize there are holes in the information. I hope there isn't, but, the initial work of any project that is sincerely conducted for a purpose usually results in closing of information to be sure it flows. Continuity through a written work is important. Frequently, the more information reviewed the bigger the picture becomes and reveals the best way forward. I had no intention of deceiving anyone to think it would be published tonight. Sorry if anyone was disappointed. The Friday landmark is notice to the progress of the project. I will clearly state when I expect to publish the work I am doing. It will be logical and will probably be constructed over weekly printings. I think that makes for easier reading and absorption of information. I did say this was going to be a lengthy project and it is proving to be so.

Until later.

The indignity of that Polar Bear alone should shame the American people.

"Polar Bears' Path to Decline Runs Through an Alaskan Town" (click here)

by Erica Good

Kaktovik, Alaska — Come fall, (click here) polar bears are everywhere around this Arctic village, dozing on sand spits, roughhousing in the shallows, padding down the beach with cubs in tow and attracting hundreds of tourists who travel long distances to see them.

At night, the bears steal into town, making it dangerous to walk outside without a firearm or bear spray. They leave only reluctantly, chased off by the polar bear patrol with firecracker shells and spotlights.

On the surface, these bears might not seem like members of a species facing possible extinction....

Thank you for writing this article. It is very important there is no shifting baseline.

The scientists evaluating the Oklahoma seismicity were looking at a quake deceleration that FITS THE OMORI LAW.

"A generalized Omori law for earthquake after shock decay."

By Robert Shcherbakov, Donald L. Turcotte and John B. Rundle

An Agu Journal, 12 June 2004

Abstract (click here)

[1] Earthquake aftershock sequences have been found to approximately satisfy three empirical scaling relations: i) the Gutenberg-Richter frequency-magnitude scaling, ii) Båth's law for the difference in the magnitude of a mainshock and its largest aftershock, and iii) the modified Omori's law for the temporal decay of aftershock rates. The three laws are incorporated to give a generalized Omori's law for aftershock decay rates that depend on several parameters specific for each given seismogenic region. It is shown that the characteristic time c, first introduced in the modified Omori's law, is no longer a constant but scales with a lower magnitude cutoff and a mainshock magnitude. The generalized Omori's law is tested against earthquake catalogs for the aftershock sequences of the Landers, Northridge, Hector Mine, and San Simeon earthquakes....

These laws of physics that have been studied repeatedly to validate the law of aftershocks do not apply to the Oklahoma quakes even with lower levels of water injected into the rock. The Oklahoma quakes are induced by human activity and are different than quakes that happen because of the Earth's many pressure to it's plate system. The induced quakes are outside the definition of ordinary physics. The Omori law does not apply.

NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE CORRUPT ADMINISTRATION OF DONALD TRUMP SHUFFLES THE PAPERS, THE REALITY AND FACTS WILL DISPUTE EVERY ASPECT OF THEIR MANIPULATIONS.

We are in for a lot of trouble with this administration.

This is an article from "Tulsa World." It is a news media out of Oklahoma.

December 18, 2016
By Corey Jones

...Specifically, (click here) whether there’s a definitive human fingerprint on the unprecedented Prague earthquake sequence in 2011 remains murky, according to some of the latest research available. The magnitude-5.7 main quake was sandwiched by a 4.8 foreshock and 4.8 aftershock.

A study published Nov. 30 by two Stanford University geophysicists developed a model to show how man-made quakes are expected to respond to the substantial cutbacks in 2016 of wastewater injection. The peer-reviewed article reported that the three largest Prague quakes occurred “unexpectedly early” in the induced seismicity sequence, the beginnings of which the authors pegged as 2009.

“Because the Prague sequence does not fit our overall model, it does not allow us to conclude whether it was triggered by injection or not, as our model characterizes the general relationship between an injected volume and seismicity in a crustal volume as a whole,” according to the study. “A localized pressure increase in a limited area could always trigger seismicity on a given fault.”

The scientists say it’s unclear if Prague was a definitive product of human actions because that particularly strong sequence happened on the front end of the state’s rise of induced seismicity, not conforming to their general model of the situation....

Corey Jones took a scientific article and applied his own meaning to it. This is called living a lie for economic goals. I would not expect this either. It is well established by scientists in Oklahoma these quakes are directly related to hydraulic fracturing.

The water, with corrosive chemicals, introduced into the drilled wells was like adding grease to gears. The gears seize up and become immobile without grease or oil to allow them to move freely. That is exactly what corrosive chemicals mixed in water did for the land. It allowed methane out of cracks all right, but, it did so with methods that permanently damaged the land under the wells. The water was the hydraulic part that moved into cracks in the rock and provided pressure to move the rock and increase the seismic activity.

The article looks at the decreased volume of water injected into the wells to determine if that is enough to end the quakes. The article has nothing to do with whether or not the practice of hydraulic fracturing caused the quakes. Of course, the hydraulic fracturing caused the quakes. Oklahoma was a state that rarely had quakes and not they happen at least weekly if not once a day with aftershocks.

"How will induced seismicity in Oklahoma respond to decreased injection rates"
By Cornelius Langerbruch and Mark D. Zoback

Scientific Advances, 30 November 2016, Vol. 2, No. 11

In response to the marked number (click here) of injection-induced earthquakes in north-central Oklahoma, regulators recently called for a 40% reduction in the volume of saltwater being injected in the seismically active areas. We present a calibrated statistical model that predicts that widely felt M ≥ 3 earthquakes in the affected areas, as well as the probability of potentially damaging larger events, should significantly decrease by the end of 2016 and approach historic levels within a few years. Aftershock sequences associated with relatively large magnitude earthquakes that occurred in the Fairview, Cherokee, and Pawnee areas in north-central Oklahoma in late 2015 and 2016 will delay the rate of seismicity decrease in those areas....

That statement in the articles abstract states there will be continued seismicity in this area of the country BECAUSE OF LARGE MAGNITUDE QUAKES in the recent time of 2015-2016. This article is not about whether or not the quakes are caused by hydraulic fracturing or not, it validates there is increased seismic activity and due to that increased seismic activity, even with less water in the wells the quakes will continue to happen.

The graph below is from the article. It clearly shows the increased quake activity with hydraulic fracturing. Prague M = 5.6 was the first warning shot. The quakes increased after that. Prague M=5.6 was the quake that was the grandfather to all the quakes to follow.

Normalized pressure does not mean the pressures within the rocks are normal, it simply means the pressure causing the quake was not found at that depth of 3 kilometers below the well.

Prague M = 5.6 was the beginning of more and deeper cracks in the rock that would lead to increased instability in the land. The more water introduced with corrosive chemicals the more quake activity was going to occur. With less water in the wells today, there is also less corrosive chemicals and less hydraulic pressure. The future of quakes in Oklahoma depends on whether or not the land has finally settled into a stable balance. That means Oklahoma stops it's hydraulic fracturing. If that continues there will be continued instability in places where cracks were induced by human activity.

More than trivia.

History of the Chemical Industry (click here)

1760 the population of the USA was 1,593,625

1880 the population of the USA was 50,189,209

The industrial revolution served the purpose of expansion as well. The population of the USA was growing. The movement westward would bring about places for Americans to settle. The Industrial Revolution brought about opportunity not realized before in Western society. It was a new freedom. It was a freedom won by wars within the boundaries of the USA.

The Industrial Revolution provided mechanization that allowed faster growth of a new country. This part of American history provides vast expanse of land for new settlers. The mechanization was welcome. It did not compete with American jobs. Before the industrial revolution, there was no such thing as a train engineer.

Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927) (click here) was a Swedish scientist that was the first to claim in 1896 that fossil fuel combustion may eventually result in enhanced global warming. He proposed a relation between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature. He found that the average surface temperature of the earth is about 15oC because of the infrared absorption capacity of water vapor and carbon dioxide. This is called the natural greenhouse effect. Arrhenius suggested a doubling of the CO2 concentration would lead to a 5oC temperature rise. He and Thomas Chamberlin calculated that human activities could warm the earth by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This research was a by-product of research of whether carbon dioxide would explain the causes of the great Ice Ages. This was not actually verified until 1987....

Wall Street was there from the beginning. So, the stage was set between wealth and a healthy planet. It is amazing to realize the USA is still in opposition to established science and the future of Earth as a benevolent common home.

The history of the New York Stock Exchange (click here) begins with the signing of the Buttonwood Agreement by twenty-four New York City stockbrokers and merchants on May 17, 1792, outside at 68 Wall Street under a Buttonwood tree. In the beginning there were five securities traded in New York City with the first listed company on the NYSE being the Bank of New York....

The largest or near largest private corporation in the USA. It invested nearly a billion US in the 2016 elections.

Koch Industries (click here) environmental crimes, violations, and contamination include:

- Two chlorine dioxide chemical leaks from a Koch-owned cellulose facility in Taylor County Florida in May, 2014.

- Subsidiaries of Koch Carbon have accumulated massive piles of petroleum coke in U.S. cities like Detroit and Chicago, where the toxic dust has blown into peoples' homes from a 5-story-tall pile of petcoke. Petcoke is a byproduct of refining tar sands that is usually burned like coal. Petcoke, which is more carbon-intensive than coal, is typically exported and burned in other countries with little to no air or climate regulations. While Detroit's mayor ordered Koch to move its petcoke pile, Chicago regulators and politicians have not acted with the same urgency despite sustained local protests from community members, nurses, and threats of lawsuits from environmental groups. In response, Koch claims it will add protections to its unlined pile, which could take two years.

- Facing "enormous" cleanup costs for soil and groundwater contamination and high crude oil prices, Flint Hills announced in 2014 that it would permanently close its North Pole refinery outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. Koch blames contamination on the refinery's previous owner, Williams Companies. 

This is an example of 'hiding' dangerous environmental production in a remote area, primarily Republican, where most Americans have no idea what is happening. Alaska and it's beautiful wilderness is also remote enough to carry out environmental contamination unchecked.

- Ongoing releases of benzene and other chemicals from Koch's oil refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, where refinery communities experience high rates of illnesses.

- Hundreds of thousands of pounds of toxic chemical contamination from Koch-owned Georgia-Pacific facility in Crossett, Arkansas, as reported in 2011.

- In 2009, the US Justice Department and EPA announced in 2009 that Koch Industries' Invista subsidiary would pay a $1.7 million penalty and spend $500 million to fix environmental violations at facilities in seven states, in an agreement with the US EPA and Department of Justice.

- In May 2001, Koch Industries paid $25 million to settle with the US Government over a long-standing suit brought by Bill Koch - one of the brothers bought out in 1983 - for the company's long-standing practice of illegally removing oil from federal and Indian lands.

- In late 2000, the company was charged with covering up the illegal releases of 91 tons of the known carcinogen benzene from its refinery in Corpus Christi. Initially facing a 97-count indictment and potential fines of $350 million, Koch cut a deal with then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to drop all major charges in exchange for a guilty plea for falsifying documents, and a $20 million settlement.

- In 2000, the EPA fined Koch Industries $30 million for its role in 300 oil spills that resulted in more than three million gallons of crude oil leaking into ponds, lakes, streams and coastal waters.

- In 1999 a Koch subsidiary pleaded guilty to charges that it had negligently allowed aviation fuel to leak into waters near the Mississippi River from its refinery in Rosemount, Minnesota, and that it had illegally dumped a million gallons of high-ammonia wastewater onto the ground and into the Mississippi.

- Koch's negligence toward environmental safety has led to tragic losses of life. In 1996, a rusty Koch pipeline leaked flammable butane near a Texas residential neighborhood. Warned by the smell of gas, two teenagers drove their truck toward the nearest payphone to call for help, but they never made it.  Sparks from their truck ignited the gas cloud and the two burned alive. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that "the probable cause of this accident was the failure of Koch to adequately protect its pipeline from corrosion" and the ineffectiveness of Koch's program to educate local residents about how to respond during a pipeline leak.

- The inability of Koch companies to avoid pollution incidents stands in contrast with Charles Koch's "Guiding Principles" of his trademarked corporate management theory, "Market-Based Management," which states, "Strive for 10,000% compliance with all laws and regulations, which requires 100% of employees fully complying 100% of the time." This also excludes from consideration the ways in which Koch is permitted to legally pollute.

FORMALDEHYDE, CANCER, AND DAVID KOCH

While David Koch, a victim of prostate cancer, has donated millions to cancer research institutions and is a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board, Koch Industries subsidiary Georgia-Pacific is actively working to downplay the dangers of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.

Formaldehyde (click here) is classified as a human carcinogen. Short-term exposure to formaldehyde can be fatal. Long-term exposure to low levels of formaldehyde may cause respiratory difficulty, eczema, and sensitization. The following references aid in recognizing formaldehyde hazards in the workplace.

- Formaldehyde. OSHA Fact Sheet, (2011, April). Provides information on the harmful effects of formaldehyde on workers and how employers can protect them.

- Formaldehyde. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), (1994, May). Provides an Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH) document that includes acute toxicity data for formaldehyde....

A company's union can be tapped regarding work place safety and education of the employees. 

How do I find out about employer responsibilities and workers' rights? (click here)

Workers have a right to a safe workplace. The law requires employers to provide their employees with safe and healthful workplaces. The OSHA law also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for exercising their rights under the law (including the right to raise a health and safety concern or report an injury). For more information see www.whistleblowers.gov or Workers' rights under the OSH Act....

The nightmares today occurred because of the lack of respect for water and air.

The American Cyanamid Superfund Site (click here) is located in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey and was added to the National Priorities List in 1983 after contamination was found at the site. Prior owners used the 575-acre site for numerous chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing operations for more than 90 years, resulting in the contamination of waste disposal areas (referred to as impoundments), soil and groundwater with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semi-VOCs, and metals. In 1998, EPA deleted a 140-acre portion of the 575-acre site from the National Priorities List, leaving 435 acres to be addressed. The 140 acre parcel of land, which primarily consisted of administrative and laboratory buildings, has been redeveloped for commercial use. All manufacturing at the site stopped in 1999, with most buildings demolished by 2000. Wyeth Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., acquired the site in 2009 and assumed responsibility for its cleanup. The long-term cleanup of the site is ongoing.

The rectangular areas are the chemical impoundments.


Flooding at the American Cyanamid Superfund Site in 2011.

The American Cyanamid Superfund site (click here) (Bridgewater Township, New Jersey) is located next to the Raritan River above the Brunswick Aquifer - New Jersey's second largest source for drinking water. The area had been used for manufacturing chemicals and as a disposal site of chemical sludge and other wastes. The site's soil, ground water and waste disposal areas are contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semi-VOCs, metals and other harmful chemicals. In 2011, Hurricane Irene dumped seven inches of rainfall in 48 hours and the site flooded. Although there was no major release of contaminants from Hurricane Irene, the flooding caused significant damage to the facility. To anticipate and better prepare for future events, the site owner raised critical infrastructure components to several feet above previous flood events and reinforced the berms surrounding two impoundments to increase their strength and prevent flood-related scour. In addition, a remedy selected by EPA in 2012 required that all future engineered caps be designed and constructed to withstand the effects of a 1-in-500 year flood event, at a minimum....

Dow had less issues, but, the one in particular was extremely serious, dioxins.

Environment (click here)

Although terms like “environment” and “pollution” were not used at the time, Dow Chemical had problems with noxious emissions from its operations in Midland, Michigan almost from the very beginning. Only much later did the issue move from one of the annoyance of local residents at offensive odors to charges of serious health hazards.

(In Vietnam) Although the main controversy over the use of Dow’s Agent Orange during the Vietnam War concerned the vast number of deaths and suffering it caused, there were also environmental issues. The deforestation upset the ecological balance of many areas, and the lingering dioxin in soil and water caused ongoing contamination of the food chain.

The use of Agent Orange also had repercussions back in the United States. The company also found itself the target of thousands of lawsuits filed by Vietnam veterans who charged that the dioxin in Agent Orange had caused liver damage, nervous disorders, birth defects, and other health problems. For a long time, Dow downplayed the risks of dioxin, but after the Agent Orange lawsuits were consolidated, documents were disclosed showing that the company was aware as early as 1965 that dioxin was exceptionally toxic. The case against Dow and other Agent Orange producers was settled out of court in 1984 with the creation of a $180 million fund.

During the early 1980s Dow led a campaign to reverse a ban on the production of an herbicide called 2,4,5-T—an ingredient in Agent Orange. Remaining stocks of the defoliant, which had been produced by Dow since 1948, continued to be used after the war to spray rice fields and range lands in the United States.

As concerns over dioxin exposure widened, Dow resisted giving the EPA some key documents about dioxin contamination at its plant in Midland. It also came to light that an EPA official had allowed Dow to edit an agency report on dioxin to remove references to the company’s contamination of waterways in Michigan. In 1983 Dow launched a $3 million campaign to persuade the public that dioxin was nothing to worry about. That campaign struggled to compete with news reports such as those that in the 1960s Dow tested dioxin on inmates at a prison in Pennsylvania.

Dow’s resistance to a dioxin clean-up in Midland continued for years. In 2004 an article in the Detroit Free Press headlined BATTLE RAGES OVER CLEANUP OF DOW’S TOXIC LEGACY stated: “For 16 years, since a federal study said Dow Chemical Co. dioxin posed substantial health risks, the state and Dow have bickered over how and when a cleanup should begin, amid charges of Dow foot-dragging and spotty state enforcement.”

In 2007 the Free Press obtained a confidential EPA report describing Dow’s efforts to delay a cleanup and mislead the public about the dangers of dioxin. The following year the EPA’s top administrator in the Midwest said she had been forced to resign by the Bush Administration because of her efforts to get Dow to finally start dealing with dioxin contamination. Finally, in 2009, Dow and the EPA announced an agreement on a cleanup plan. In July 2011 the Dow agreed to pay $2.5 million to the EPA to settle alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at its Midland operation.

From the WHO. When this administration shuts down the US EPA out of greed, there will always be other agencies throughout the world that will investigate and report when citizens are concerned. I might add, agencies in the Executive Branch require a vote by the legislature to end that agency.

Key Facts (click here)

Dioxins are a group of chemically-related compounds that are persistent environmental pollutants (POPs).

Dioxins are found throughout the world in the environment and they accumulate in the food chain, mainly in the fatty tissue of animals.

More than 90% of human exposure is through food, mainly meat and dairy products, fish and shellfish. Many national authorities have programmes in place to monitor the food supply.

Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.

Due to the omnipresence of dioxins, all people have background exposure, which is not expected to affect human health. However, due to the highly toxic potential, efforts need to be undertaken to reduce current background exposure.

Prevention or reduction of human exposure is best done via source-directed measures, i.e. strict control of industrial processes to reduce formation of dioxins.

Dioxin was not Dow’s only environmental controversy. For example: In 2002 Dow Chemical agreed to spend $3 million on wetlands restoration in California to settle a lawsuit brought by the environmental group San Francisco BayKeeper charging that the company had unlawfully discharged contaminated water at its Pittsburg, California plant....

...When it acquired Union Carbide in 2001, Dow became embroiled in the controversy surrounding the Bhopal disaster, one of the worst industrial accidents of all time. In 1984 a pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India released a vast quantity of the highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate. More than 8,000 people died...

Union Carbide paid compensation of $470 million, far below what many advocates felt was necessary to care for the victims and their families. After the merger, Bhopal advocates began to pressure Dow to do more, but the company insisted that it had not assumed Union Carbide’s liabilities and thus had no responsibility to help.

On the 20^th anniversary of the disaster in 2004, an activist-prankster impersonating a Dow spokesperson pretended to announce during an interview with the BBC that the company had decided to take financial responsibility. In 2012 Wikileaks disclosed documents indicating that Dow later hired a private intelligence group to monitor Bhopal activists. The announcement that Dow had been chosen to supply fabric used for the exterior of the stadium at the 2012 London Olympics set off international protests.

Legal actions continued to be brought against Dow in Indian courts. In 2012 the Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed a petition filed by Dow, thus increasing the possibility that Bhopal victims may once again have their day in court.

There are always reason to justify the operation of the US EPA.

Environment by Dupont (click here)

The business of DuPont was dangerous from the start. The black powder that the company produced during its early decades was extremely volatile, and fatal explosions were a frequent occurrence for its workforce. So perilous was the powder that the company had difficulty getting ships and trains to transport it to customers. For a long time the most common means of conveyance was the mule train, though that became controversial after three DuPont wagons loaded with 450 kegs of powder exploded in 1854 while traveling through the middle of Wilmington, Delaware, killing the drivers, the mules and several bystanders while also digging a large crater in the street. Many towns consequently passed ordinances barring powder wagons from their thoroughfares.

In the mid-1970s DuPont was put on the defensive by growing evidence that Freon, its product used in aerosol cans and in refrigerants, was contributing to the destruction of the earth's ozone layer, in turn creating an increased danger of skin cancer from the sun's rays....

...In 1988 DuPont’s Conoco subsidiary agreed to pay a $250,000 civil penalty for violating the Clean Air Act at an Oklahoma oil refinery and also agreed to spend more than $1.5 million on pollution controls at the facility....

...In 1989 evidence emerged that the Savannah River nuclear weapons plant, which DuPont had built and operated for the federal government since 1951, had serious structural flaws and safety problems that the company failed to report. Numerous accidents at the South Carolina plant, which made plutonium and the tritium gas needed in nuclear warheads, were also kept secret....

...In the early 1990s DuPont was hit with hundreds of lawsuits than after a wave of reports that its fungicide Benlate was causing widespread plant damage. The company had to take the product off the market and initially paid more than $500 million in compensation....

...The company has also had a mixed record regarding other hazardous materials. In the late 1980s it was responsible for more toxic releases than any other manufacturing company.

In 1991 DuPont was fined $1.9 million for dumping corrosive acids and toxic solvents at a plant in New Jersey.

In 1993 the EPA charged DuPont with Toxic Substances Control Act violations for failing to include test data in a pre-manufacture notice submitted in 1984; the agency proposed a fine of $158,375.

In 1998 DuPont was fined $1.9 million by the EPA for misbranding and mislabeling pesticides.

In 2000 DuPont agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle alleged EPA violations related to a 1995 release of more than 23,000 gallons of a sulfuric acid solution into the air at the company’s plant in Wurtland, Kentucky.

In 2002 the EPA announced that it had settled charges brought against Pioneer Hi-Bred, which had been acquired by DuPont three years earlier, concerning the mishandling in Hawaii of genetically modified corn grown for seed.

In 2003 DuPont paid $550,000 to settle charges that it violated the Clean Air Act with a chemical release at a fluoroproducts plant in Kentucky.

DuPont was a pioneer in developing and continues to be a major producer of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), which over the past decade have come to be regarded as one of the most highly toxic, extraordinarily persistent and likely carcinogenic group of chemicals that work their way into the bloodstream of humans and wildlife. DuPont’s highest profile PFC-based product is Teflon, best known for its use in non-stick cookware.

In 2004 the Environmental Protection Agency charged that for two decades DuPont failed to report signs of health and environmental problems linked to perfluorooctanoic acid (or PFOA), the PFC used in making Teflon. Residents living near the plant in West Virginia where DuPont produced PFOA sued the company, which agreed to pay about $100 million to settle the case......In 2011 DuPont reached a preliminary $8.3 million settlement with a group of residents living near a company plant in New Jersey.

In 2005 the EPA and the Justice Department announced that DuPont had agreed to pay more than $2.3 million to settle Clean Air Act charges related to leaks of ozone-depleting refrigerants at a plant in Tennessee.

In 2006 the federal government and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources reached an agreement with DuPont and Ciba under which the companies agreed to pay more than $1.6 million to clean up the DuPont Newport Superfund Site...

...In 2007 the EPA and the Justice Department announced that they had settled Clean Air Act charges against DuPont with an agreement under which the company would spend at least $66 million on emissions control equipment at four sulfuric acid production plants in Louisiana, Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky....

...In 2009 the EPA revealed that after Koch Industries acquired a dozen synthetic fiber plants from DuPont, the company reported to the EPA that the facilities had extensive environmental compliance problems. An audit found more than 600 violations.

In 2010 DuPont agreed to pay $70 million to plaintiffs to settle a class-action suit concerning decades of pollution by the company’s former zinc smelter in West Virginia. DuPont also agreed to fund a 30-year medical testing program that was estimated to cost another $80 million.... 

Also in 2010 DuPont agreed to pay a penalty of $3.3 million to the EPA to resolve 57 Toxic Substances Control Act violations involving the failure to immediately notify the EPA of research results showing substantial risks found during the testing of chemicals for possible use as surface protection.

In 2011 the EPA ordered DuPont to halt immediately the sale or distribution of the herbicide Imprelis that had been found to be harming a large number of trees....

...Also in 2011, the EPA, the Justice Department and state agencies in Delaware entered into a consent decree with DuPont under which the company agreed to pay a penalty of $500,000 for numerous water quality violations at its Edge Moor plant....

In 2014 the EPA announced that DuPont would pay a $1.275 million penalty and take corrective actions to settle charges relating to the toxic releases at the Belle facility.

A few weeks later, the EPA announced that DuPont would pay $1.853 million to settle allegations that it failed to submit reports about potential adverse effects of is Imprelis herbicide and that the company sold the product with labeling that did not ensure its safe use.

Western countries are still seeking higher standards of environmental safety.

In most Western countries the natural world is valued. It is valued to support the ecosystems that result in life on Earth.

In New Zealand a group of citizens is looking to increase the scrutiny of fresh water quality.

October 18, 2016

A grassroots environment group (click here) is ramping up a lobbying campaign for more stringent "bottom line" rules around freshwater quality.

It comes as Kiwis head for their favourite swimming holes this summer and recently-issued report cards show the water quality in many of the Auckland region's rivers and streams are poor.

The student-led Choose Clean Water group, which this year presented a 12,000-signature petition to Parliament, last week appeared before a parliamentary select committee to discuss its call for freshwater quality bottom lines to be "swimmable" rather than "wadeable".

Spokesperson Marnie Prickett remained hopeful the Government would take its message on board when it consulted further on freshwater reforms.

"The public has really made it clear that a wadeable bottom line is not good enough," she said.

"There has been a lot of pressure around that and I think the Government is really feeling it."...

Rachel Carson was the pioneer that caused the USA to pause to realize what the chemical industry was doing to the natural world and human health.

"Things get out of kilter" (click here)

In its 12 October 1962 issue, Life magazine included this photo of Carson talking with children in the woods by her home

...Carson, a renowned nature author and a former marine biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or FWS, was uniquely equipped to create so startling and inflammatory a book. A native of rural Pennsylvania, she had grown up with an enthusiasm for nature matched only by her love of writing and poetry. The educational brochures she wrote for FWS, as well as her published books and magazine articles, were characterized by meticulous research and a poetic evocation of her subject....

Rachel Carson would die two years after her book, "Silent Spring" was published. She succumb to breast cancer.

"Silent Spring" was published in 1962.

Rachel Carson can take credit for the Clean Air Act of 1963, the Environmental Protection Agency of 1970 under Richard Nixon and the Clean Water Act of 1972.

This is a good a history as any. It isn't simple, but, it sort of rounds it out.

Chemical industries (click here) can be traced back to Middle Eastern artisans, who refined alkali and limestone for the production of glass as early as 7,000 B.C., to the Phoenicians who produced soap in the 6th cent. B.C., and to the Chinese who developed black powder, a primitive explosive around the 10th cent. A.D. In the Middle Ages, alchemists produced small amounts of chemicals and by 1635 the Pilgrims in Massachusetts were producing saltpeter for gunpowder and chemicals for tanning. But, large-scale chemical industries first developed in 19th cent. In 1823, British entrepreneur James Muspratt started mass producing soda ash (needed for soap and glass) using a process developed by Nicolas Leblanc in 1790. Advances in organic chemistry in the last half of the 19th cent. allowed companies to produce synthetic dyes from coal tar for the textile industry as early as the 1850s.

The star performer in the USA was DuPont, but, also Dow Chemical (click here). Dow was originally a Canadian company, but, WWII came along and Dow produced a lot of the chemicals for the military.

In the 1890s, German companies began mass producing sulfuric acid and, at about the same time, chemical companies began using the electrolytic method, which required large amounts of electricity and salt, to create caustic soda and chlorine. Man-made fibers changed the textile industry when rayon (made from wood fibers) was introduced in 1914; the introduction of synthetic fertilizers by the American Cyanamid Company in 1909 led to a green revolution in agriculture that dramatically improved crop yields. Advances in the manufacture of plastics led to the invention of celluloid in 1869 and the creation of such products as nylon by Du Pont (click here) in 1928. Research in organic chemistry in the 1910s allowed companies in the 1920s and 30s to begin producing chemicals for oil. Today, petrochemicals made from oil are the industry's largest sector. Synthetic rubber came into existence during World War II, when the war cut off supplies of rubber from Asia.

In the history of the USA, the chemical industry has always had a warm and fuzzy place. Then came the reality of it all.

Since the 1950s growing concern about toxic waste produced by chemical industries has led to increased government regulation and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency (1972). The leakage of toxic chemicals at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India (1984), was the worst industrial disaster in history and heightened public concern about lax environmental regulations for chemical companies in developing countries. Beginning in the 1980s, U.S. corporations faced expanding competition from foreign producers, including some Third World oil producers who have set up their own oil refining and petrochemical industries. In 1997 the U.S. chemical industry produced about $389 billion worth of products and employed 1,032,000 workers. It exported about $71 billion worth of chemicals.       

It's Sunday Night

"Chemistry" by Semisonic (click here for official website - thank you)

I remember when I found out about chemistry
It was a long, long way from here
I was old enough to want it but younger than I wanted to be
Suddenly my mission was clear

So for awhile I conducted experiments
And I was amazed by the things I learned
From a fine fine girl with nothing but good intentions and a
Bad tendency to get burned

All about chemistry
Won't you show me everything you know
Ah wonder what you do to me
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh

Some time later I met a young graduate
When I had nobody to call my own
I told her I was looking for somebody to appreciate
And I just couldn't do it alone

So for awhile we conducted experiments
In an apartment by the River Road
And we found out that the two things we put together had a
Bad tendency to explode

All about chemistry
Won't you show me everything you've learned
I'll memorize everything you do to me so I can
Teach it when it comes my turn

Fine spring day, California waves
Sweet Pacific scenes through the
Windows of airplanes and hotel rooms

So when I find myself alone and unworthy
I think about all of the things I learned from the
Fine fine women with nothing but good intentions and a
Bad tendency to get burned

All about chemistry
Won't you show me everything you know
Ah wonder what you do to me
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh

All about chemistry
Won't you show me everything you've learned
I'll memorize everything you do to me so I can
Teach it when it comes my turn

It's all about chemistry
It's all about chemistry
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh

It's all about chemistry
It's all about chemistry
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh

Trump does not care about the laws of the USA, he wants them destroyed, this is the beginning of it.

A USA President willing to use loopholes where they might exist does not respect the office or the country. This is another outrageous idiocy of the Trump camp/White House. It is the responsibility of the President of the USA to improve the function of government, not take advantage of it.

December 15, 2016
By Walter Einenkel

Donald Trump’s team of psychos (click here) went out to the airwaves today to run interference for the fact that Donald Trump once promised a big press conference for today about resolving his business conflicts of interest. Kellyanne Conway was on Morning Joe, where she put away her normal fiery red costume in order to present a more serious and sober charcoal outfit. She also was wearing a necklace that looked like it was made out of the chains Trump and company plan on enslaving Americans in. They discussed Syria (Trump will be a business man and not “study” but will “act”) and also Trump’s nepotistic family issues....

Trump should be seeking legislation to close loopholes. This blatant abuse of office is what the Republicans are calling 'a reset.'

This is the fact about loopholes. How much legislation has to take place in order to close every so called loophole? The fact is there could be huge volumes of law, as if there isn't enough already, and there still would be loopholes.

The function of government is to identify the perils of discovered loopholes and close them if they are an injury to our country. 

This is not a President. 

Additionally, what is the issue already that he has to have his children within shouting distance? They weren't elected. They are going to be peeling him off the walls and advice him to what end?

It is important to realize we are facing the Climate Crisis.

This is massive movement of Arctic air over the lower latitudes. This air is very, very cold. The majority of the country and Canada are below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. 

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO MOVE TEMPERATURES ABOVE ZERO GIVEN THE STARTING TEMPERATURE IS FROM -22 TO 31 DEGREES?

People have to come to understand this is a very dangerous storm.

What occurs when there is some kind of melting ingredient is a chemical interaction. In any chemical reaction there is a saturation point whereby one element in the reaction is USED UP while the other element of the reaction continues to exist or pour into the reaction, such as ice on roads.

I think there are a couple of observations I can make that might help. If there is more water than melting ingredient the freezing will occur because the melting ingredient is no longer on the roads. 

There is something else, too. 

It is a phenomena that occurs with salt (NaCl) and water (H20). Salt when reacting with water actually lowers the freezing point of water and increases the amount of heat it takes to melt the ice. So while there is plenty of melting ingredient on the roads, when it comes to salt there will be a resistance in the melting point on the road surface.

The reaction between Na Cl (salt) and H2O (water) uses heat to facilitate the reaction between the salt ions and the water ions. In other words, there is less melting because the reaction takes some of the heat.

...Enthalpy and Energy

If you add up the total amount of energy (click here) required to pull the sodium and chloride ions apart then subtract the energy released when they form new bonds with water molecules, you get the total amount of energy released or absorbed by the dissolving salt; in other words, the change in enthalpy. It turns out that at room temperature and atmospheric pressure this quantity is positive, meaning that more energy is absorbed than is released. For each 58.44 grams (2.06 ounces) of salt that dissolves, 0.717 kilocalories (3 kilojoules) of heat is absorbed, meaning that dissolving salt causes the solution to become colder. The change is so slight you are unlikely to notice it in everyday life....

In order for melting to occur, the reaction has to go forward between the two ionic solutions. That melting COSTS energy. So, while the salt and water do melt, the melting is resistance because the reaction requires heat to go forward. Therefore the heat requirement is higher than let's say sunlight.

I think it is the amount of the melting agent that is the culprit this time. There is no way of knowing the entire amount of ice that will fall out of the sky. So, to realize this is a very dangerous storm with uncertain roadway outcomes, it is best to stay home. It would be a far better decision if employers are making it. People will risk their lives, even if they fully understand the danger, to maintain their employment. Employers need to make that call, no different than school systems have snow days in their learning calendar.

There is no doubt people faced great danger with this storm. Stay home and stay warm.

I have stated this before, road graders work really well when the ice is too cold to remove with spreaders. 

December 17, 2016

By Michael S. Rosenwald and Rachel Weiner

Four people were killed (click here) and dozens more were injured in vehicle wrecks across the Washington region early Saturday as winter’s first blast of precipitation covered the area in a sheet of ice, crippling roadways and grounding flights at local airports.

Though Maryland and Virginia transportation crews pre-treated highways and major roadways to thwart icing, officials said a steady stream of freezing rain fell longer than expected, outlasting the salt and other treatments applied to roads before and during the storm.

Stretches of the Beltway and Interstate 95 were closed for hours.

“After a while the salt becomes diluted,” said Charlie Gischlar, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Transportation. “People travel too fast for the conditions, and once you lose control, that’s it.”...