Posts Tagged ‘Payday Loans’

Halliburton Oil Spill - Is Halliburton To Blame For Gulf Disaster?

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

As the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to spread, allegations are coming to light that this may be the Halliburton oil spill. BP claimed all the responsibility for paying for the oil spill cleanup, and Transocean was operating the oil drilling platform - but both may now be looking to Halliburton for oil spill answers.

How Halliburton was involved with the oil spill

Being leased to BP although the Deepwater Horizon was owned by Transocean, Halliburton was working as a contractor when the oil spill started. The oil well was supposed to be cemented by Halliburton who was hired by Transocean. Cementing an oil well is done by pumping cement into an oil well to plug it and prevent an oil spill and combustible gas from leaking. Natural gas and oil will push through the cement when the cement is cracked, improperly pumped, or improperly mixed. Halliburton had just finished cementing the well when Deepwater Horizon exploded. To convince others it wasn’t their fault, Halliburton will need more than payday loans.

Oil spill concerns with Halliburton

Halliburton oil spill concerns are centered on this oil-rig-cementing process. Halliburton is the largest oil well cementing business in the world which is also 11 percent, rather $ 1.7 billion, of the business the company has. A Halliburton oil spill is usually a result of when the cementing process goes wrong. A study done in 2007 found that “cementing was a factor in 18 of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14-year period.” In other words, Halliburton cementing issues are more common than equipment failure and pipe failure when it comes to the cause of Gulf of Mexico oil spills. Other countries such as Australia have experienced oil spills as well.

Halliburton and oil spill lawsuits

There are a lot of lawsuits that are based off of the Halliburton oil spill. One of the Transocean employees killed has a wife named Natalie Roshto that is filing a lawsuit. The lawsuit suggest the explosion and ensuing oil spill are Halliburton’s fault. The lawsuit specifically states that “prior to the explosion, (Halliburton) was engaged in cementing operations of the well and well cap and, upon information and belief, improperly and negligently performed these duties, which was a cause of the explosion.”

Halliburton will not claim responsibility of oil spill

Though BP has agreed to pay for part of the cleanup of the oil spill, and Transocean is taking responsibility for a portion of the oil spill, Halliburton has not claimed any responsibility. Halliburton has only confirmed that the corporation had just completed cementing about 20 hours before the explosion.

Sources for the article

Financial Times

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/48419230-57a3-11df-855b-00144feab49a.html

The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2010/05/halliburton-could-be-at-fault-for-oil-spill/56131/

Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572504575214593564769072.html

CBS News

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20004069-503544.html

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Ocean Garbage Patch Discovered In The Atlantic

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

As if one legacy to human waste and carelessness weren’t enough - witness the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the world’s largest garbage dump - now an ocean garbage patch has been discovered in the Atlantic, reports Red Orbit. It’s specifically placed between Bermuda and the Azores Islands in the Sargasso Sea, but those kinds of semantics pale in significance when compared with the petroleum-based plastics that are poisoning birds, fish and human beings, by some extension.

An ocean garbage patch within the Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle apparently is the place where plastic waste goes to die, along with lost ships and planes, if this newly discovered ocean garbage patch is any indication. Opening into regions of calm winds and seas, Gulf Stream currents run toward the area. The rather unique peril of being stranded in the dead of the Triangle has been experienced by several unpowered ships recorded throughout history. Countless sailors jumped ship when food supply ran low and madness ran high, which may have contributed to some of the many made-up stories of the Bermuda Triangle. Now all it takes is a loan company to fund the average consumer’s foray into science texts to see that it’s not mysticism.

The environmental impact of the ocean garbage patch is no joke

As told by the Associated Press, Anna Cummins and Markus Eriksen took samples every 100 miles on their recent trip across the Sargasso Sea. Once they began to discover plastic waste with every draw of the trawl, they knew they’d discovered “the great Atlantic garbage patch.” Nearly all of the plastic bits found were smaller than pencil erasers, but that’s more than enough to catch the attention of birds and fish.

To help people understand the global significance of plastic ocean pollution, the couple’s discovery has inspired them to start an education campaign. Ocean-born plastic waste causes the deaths of “as many as 100,000 marine mammals” yearly, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Nearly 80 percent of plastic ocean waste comes from land as well, says the United Nations Environmental Program.

There should be no more plastic bottles

Commercially bottled water has been proven no safer to drink than tap water - and according to the Government Accountability Office, it could be even more dangerous in some instances. Therefore, there is no good reason for any human being on Earth who has access to clean public water to continue to buy bottle water. Our season are being polluted with millions of plastic bottles that are creating an ocean garbage patch wherever major current run. This will eventually catch up to us.

The quality of life will soon be hampered by the damage to the ecosystem and we will have to look to the stars to find an inhabitable world, since prospects for such projects as chucking the plastic into the sun is cost prohibitive. Start making a difference where you live. Inaction is no longer acceptable. Get payday loans if you can’t afford a washable thermos for water - they can help a great deal.

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Aral Sea | Pictures of the Aral Sea shrinking in Uzbekistan

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Situated between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea is a body of water that has been disappearing steadily since the 1960’s. A picture of ecological and health effects of Soviet eco-engineering, the Aral Sea has been constantly changing. In the 1940’s, the Soviet government took the equivalent of payday loans of water from the two rivers that fed the Aral Sea in attempt to water desert crops. Since the 1960’s, the Aral Sea water level has been consistently dropping.

History of Aral Sea changes

The “Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature” was the Soviet government’s plan that called for canals to be built to divert water from the Aral Sea. Before the diversion, the Aral Sea had 68,000 square km of water. In an attempt to irrigate desert land to grow rice, cotton, grains, and melons, the Soviet government diverted water from the rivers that feed the Aral Sea. Uzbekistan has used the Aral Sea diversion to become a world-class cotton exporter.

Aral Sea shrinks constantly

Since the Soviet government saw agriculture as the best loans for people with bad credit, they diverted water from the Aral Sea. The Aral Sea started shrinking after twenty years of diversion. There were several factors that caused the Aral Sea to disappear. Agriculture diversions started causing significant water drops. Evaporation also caused a significant drop in the Aral Sea. A large project intended to refill the Aral Sea was also abandoned in 1986. The original size of the Aral Sea was reduced by over 3/4.

Impacts of the Aral Sea

The Aral Sea had been a center of both fishing and commerce for the area around it. The fishing industry has since practically disappeared. The salt level of the Aral Sea has risen to the point of toxicity. Toxic dust storms also blow up off the Aral Sea plain, with runoff from chemical testing, fertilizers, weapons testing, and industrial projects all becoming airborne. There are also theories that the loss of the sea has caused severe climate change in the area.

Improving the state of the Aral Sea

Many groups have been working on restoring at least some of the Aral Sea. The World Bank and UNESCO, as well as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have all put money towards Aral Sea restoration. About 98 feet of depth has been restored to the Aral Sea in the last 5 years or so.

Sources:

AP News

Aral Sea Foundation

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Bloom Energy Promises Reliable Energy Affordable for Everyone

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Get energy for eight to nine cents per kilowatt hour

Bloom Energy has launched a new energy server with patented solid-oxide fuel-cell technology that can generate 100 kW, enough to power one small office building or 100 average U.S. homes. With the Bloom Energy Server, it will be possible to generate electricity locally, instead of purchasing it from a utility company.

Excluding fuel costs, the company says a server costs from $700,000 to $800,000, and will cost eight to nine cents per kilowatt hour to generate electricity. Proponents hope that the servers will someday provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy around the world. Places like FedEx, Cox Enterprises, eBay, Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, and even Google are already using the new energy server.

It is not for everyone . . . yet

In a NewsFactor.com article, Bloom Energy CEO Dr KR Sridhar said the company is “dedicated to making clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world.” At this time, however, it would take a lot more than a payday loan, even multiple numbers of payday loans, to get a Bloom Energy Server. The thrilling launch of the energy server probably was not attended by the everyday normal folks who need a cash advance from time to time, but high-profile types like venture capitalist John Doerr and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger were present.

Cleaner than traditional methods by a hundred percent

According to the NewsFactor.com article, the Bloom Energy Server contains thousands of ceramic fuel cells that generate electricity using an electrochemical process rather than the traditional combustion method. When the Bloom Energy Server cells are powered by biogas or some other renewable fuel source, the electrical generation process is 100 percent cleaner than traditional coal-fired electrical generation. Compared with traditional methods, the Bloom Energy Server is about 67 percent cleaner when powered with fossil fuels.

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Whale War Heats Up as an Anti Whaling Boat is Rammed by a Japanese Whaler

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Payday Loans Won’t put it Back Together Again

“He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.” – Herman Melville, “Moby Dick”

Whaling is an ancient practice that most of the modern world views with abject horror. Sure, it may provide employment and a large number of export products (making payday loans unnecessary for the beneficiaries), but the dangers of excessive hunting and the resulting legacy of blood are too hard for many to ignore. Japan is one of the few nations that still permits whaling, and they harvest from the Antarctic “for research purposes and the sale of surplus meat”. They harvest in excess of 1,000 whales a season, through an loophole in international law.

Groups who protest whaling are often labeled “terrorists” by those in the industry. The Ady Gil, a Sea Shepherd anti-whaling pursuit craft, appears to have been a casualty of the whale wars, bearing the brunt of that hot heart’s shell. The Japanese whaler Shonan Maru 2 blasted the Ady Gil with water cannons – before, during and after the time that they sawed the smaller vessel in half via collision.

You Can’t Stop that Great White Whale

The Ady Gil is a small pursuit craft belonging to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an activist group that opposes Japanese each season in the Southern Ocean, which is south of Australia and New Zealand and encircles Antarctica. While Sea Shepherd Australia Director Jeff Hansen told the New York Times that the Ady Gil wasn’t sunk, “it’s in two pieces, and we’re trying to salvage what we can.” Ady Gil crew was rescued by an accompanying vessel, the Bob Barker. One crew member was injured.

The Price is Wrong, Whaler Man

The video below shows the Shonan Maru 2 plow through the Ady Gil, breaking off the nose of the smaller ship. No doubt the Japanese Whaling Industry considers it payback for all the stalking and harassment the Sea Shepherd group has caused their whalers, but they have yet to come forward with such a statement. Not surprisingly, Sea Shepherd is not undaunted. The whale wars will continue, at no doubt a great expense. Will payday loans be necessary?

“They’ve really upped the ante this year,” said Hansen. “But we definitely won’t be leaving.”

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