• Canadian Mining Company to Assess Columbia River Contamination
  
• Firefighting Air Tankers Will Fly Despite Safety Questions
  
• New York Invests $16 Million to Improve Public Transportation
  
• Walt Disney Orlando Theme Park Declared StormReady
  
• Hawaii Luxury Home Builder Will Pay $200,000 for Runoff
  
• Tanning Beds Linked with Human Cancer
  
• Artists Celebrate the Beauty of Wind Turbines
  

Canadian Mining Company to Assess Columbia River Contamination

Firefighting Air Tankers Will Fly Despite Safety Questions

The federal government expects to have at least 16 air tankers ready for this wildfire season, about half the tankers used in 2004, when they were grounded temporarily due to questions about their airworthiness.

Two fatal crashes in 2002 led to the grounding of large air tankers that year. The National Transportation Safety Board report on these crashes said they resulted from "fatigue fractures," fractures caused by stress during flight maneuvers. The board also warned that there were no systems in place to ensure that air tankers were safe to fly.

On April 20, 2005 a Lockheed P-3B air tanker crashed immediately following a fire retardant training drop near Chico, California.

This year, the P-2V and P-3 tankers in the fleet are expected to have cockpit voice recorders in place, said Larry Brosnan, the Forest Service's assistant director for fire and aviation.

The P-2Vs, which are older, also will be inspected for weak spots in the planes' surfaces.

P-2Vs and P-3s are converted military craft, and the National Transportation Safety Board noted in a 2004 report that companies operating the tankers often did not have ready access to useful information such as the number of hours individual tankers had flown.

Government and industry officials are just beginning to understand how the firefighting environment - the turbulence, the force, the retardant loads - affects the tankers. But they say they are confident in the maintenance and inspection programs and in the safety of the tankers being cleared for flight.

A consulting firm that crafted the new maintenance program for P-2Vs found 47 spots on the wings and tail that require more detailed inspections to find problems early, said James Burd, co-owner of the consulting firm, Avenger Aircraft and Services.

The new inspections so far have found some wing cracks that could have caused problems if untended, but no widespread problems, Burd said.

Monitoring equipment will be placed on tankers this year to evaluate the certain stresses of firefighting. The inspection program will be adjusted to reflect the results, Burd said.

Inspection of the P-3s, a successor to the P-2Vs, is based on a Navy program that takes into account factors such as metal fatigue, said John Nelson, an aviation management specialist with the Forest Service. P-3s were cleared for a return to service in mid-2004, when the government said the tankers' airworthiness had been determined. While cockpit voice recorders are to be added this year, flight-data recorders that experts like Hall have recommended are not.

Today, very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico and Utah.

There is minimal large fire activity nationally according to the National Incident Information Center. Most geographic areas have low to moderate fire danger, and there is little or no commitment of national fire management resources.

National Transportation Safety Board 2004 report on structural failure of firefighting aircraft is online at: http://ntsb.gov/recs/letters/2004/A04_29_33.pdf

New York Invests $16 Million to Improve Public Transportation

Walt Disney Orlando Theme Park Declared StormReady

Walt Disney World is the first theme park and resort in the nation to achieve this recognition, although there are more than 1,050 StormReady communities throughout the United States.

"More than 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 2,500 floods and 1,000 tornadoes affect the United States annually, and hurricanes pose a significant threat - especially to the coastal regions of the Gulf and southeastern states," said National Weather Service Director David Johnson. "The National Weather Service developed the StormReady program to help protect every American from such hazardous weather."

To be recognized as StormReady, a community must:

• Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center
• Have more than one way to receive severe weather forecasts and warnings and to alert the public
• Create a system that monitors local weather conditions
• Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars
• Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises

"StormReady encourages communities to take a proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations and public awareness in partnership with their local National Weather Service office," said Bill Proenza, director of the National Weather Service southern region. "StormReady helps communities improve communication and safety skills needed to save lives before, during and after the event."

Hawaii Luxury Home Builder Will Pay $200,000 for Runoff

HONOLULU, Hawaii, June 2, 2006 (ENS) - The Hawaii State Department of Health is proposing a settlement with Oceanside 1250 Partners for muddy storm water discharges from the construction of a luxury home development located between Kealakekua and Keauhou Bay, Kona on the island of Hawaii.

The settlement resolves an administrative Notice and Finding of Violation and Order that the Department of Health issued to Oceanside on November 22, 2000.

Without admitting liability, Oceanside has agreed to pay $200,000 to settle permit and water quality violations alleged by the Department of Health.

The site of the luxury home development, called Hokuli’a, covers about 1,500 acres of coastal land on the west side of the island of Hawaii.

Hokuli’a CEO John De Fries called the proposed settlement "fair and constructive."

In October 1999, Oceanside received a water pollution control permit from the Department of Health for construction activities. Oceanside was grading and in other ways disturbing the land to build a golf course, clubhouse, and home lots when storms in September and November 2000 washed soil, dirt, silt, and sediment into the Pacific Ocean.

Although Oceanside had implemented storm water erosion control measures, they were overcome by the storms.

After the discharges Oceanside took immediate and extensive measures, reviewed by Department of Health, costing nearly five million dollars, to prevent further discharges of pollutants from the project site.

Oceanside paid for a full-time, independent on-site inspector, supervised by the Department of Health, to monitor Oceanside’s implementation and compliance with their revised erosion control plan and established an expanded ocean monitoring program.

The waters offshore from Hokuli’a have renowned SCUBA diving areas. While there were effects in the receiving waters in 2000, there appeared to be no lasting reef damage in the area.

"We are pleased to finally resolve this case. Our primary goal after the 2000 storms’ runoff was to make sure Oceanside prevented any repeat of water pollution, and we recognize the efforts they made," said Laurence Lau, deputy director for environmental health.

If the settlement is approved by the court, $50,000 in cash will go to the State Environmental Response Revolving Fund, and $150,000 will go for the design and repair of loading docks at the launch ramps at Keauhou Boat Harbor in Kona, which will benefit ocean users in the coastal area where the discharges occurred.

"While any settlement involves compromises on both sides, this agreement will provide benefits to the community and is in the public’s best interest. We will continue to monitor the site as construction resumes," Lau said.

The public has 30 days to comment on the proposed Consent Order. A copy of the proposed Consent Order is available on the Clean Water Branch’s Website at www.hawaii.gov/health/environmental/water/cleanwater/pubntcs/index.html

Tanning Beds Linked with Human Cancer

CINCINNATI, Ohio, June 2, 2006 (ENS) - Skin cancer experts at the University of Cincinnati (UC) say that the "healthy glow" most people equate with a summer tan is not good for your health - especially if you are getting it in a tanning bed.

"Research has shown a strong relationship between tanning bed exposure and human cancer," says Hugh Gloster, MD, associate professor of dermatology at UC. "The longer the exposure, the greater your risk - particularly if you’re under 30 or experienced severe burns as a child."

Skin pigmentation cells, known as "melanocytes," produce a chemical called melanin that helps block out damaging rays from the sun. Overexposure and severe skin "burn" leaves the skin susceptible to intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation, electromagnetic radiation emitted from the sun and certain artificial light sources, including tanning beds.

"For many people, being tanned is a confidence booster," says Dr. Gloster. "But in reality, tanning is the body’s natural defense system for fighting off the harmful effects of the sun."

"Most skin cancers can be linked to unprotected UV exposure," he says. "When you tan under artificial light, you’re not only saturated with high dosages of UV radiation, you’re also getting that harmful exposure without any of the protective effects of sunscreen."

According to the American Cancer Society, more than one million people are diagnosed with sun-related non-melanoma skin cancers. The most common form of the disease, skin cancer accounts for nearly half of all cancers in the United States.

There are three types of skin cancer: melanoma, an aggressive form that grows in the melanocytes, and non-melanoma basal and squamous cell cancers, both of which occur on the outer layer of the skin.

"If the appearance of tan is important to you, sunless tanning sprays can be a good alternative," says Dr. Gloster. "The important thing is to recognize that those sprays have absolutely no protective effect against the sun, so you still need to slather on the sunscreen."

The good news, he says, is that many skin cancers can be avoided with smart sun safety habits - avoid the sun between 10 am and 4 pm; wear protective clothing, and a hat that shades your face, ears and neck; and buy sunglasses that protect from UV radiation.

"The most important thing you can do for you and your family," says Dr. Gloster, "is keep a large bottle of sunscreen and use it every time you’re exposed to the sun, whether it’s for half an hour or five hours."

He recommends using a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 to 30, applied every two to three hours any time you’re spending time outside, even on overcast days.

Artists Celebrate the Beauty of Wind Turbines

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, June 2, 2006 (ENS) – Critics of wind turbines sometimes view the huge towers and enormous blades as unsightly, but the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) does not agree.

To display the beauty of wind turbines, the first-ever exhibit featuring wind energy artwork from around the world will be held at the association's 2006 conference opening Sunday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

REimaginations and AWEA are partnering to create the Inaugural Wind Energy Art Exhibit which will be centrally located at the four day conference. Through its website and art exhibitions, REimaginations serves as a forum for makers and buyers of renewable energy artworks.

"REimaginations was created on the simple premise that wind energy is beautiful," said Andrew Perchlik, founder and president of REimaginations. "Wind turbines have both aesthetic and symbolic power that translates well into artistic expression. We believe that this is the first national wind art exhibit in the country and possibly the world," said Perchlik.

"It’s no accident that there is a long tradition of wind energy in artworks," said Sakura Emerine, education manager at AWEA. "Wind energy is an elegant blend of form and function, and artists have worked to capture the power of this combination for hundreds of years in everything from sketches to paintings to photographs to sculptures."

Artwork from artists across American and Europe will be exhibited at the conference and will include original paintings, photographs, prints, and mixed-media pieces. The artwork will be available for purchase at the exhibit and through the website.

"We’re excited to host the exhibit at this year’s Windpower conference," said Emerine. "The concept of depicting wind energy through art is consistent with everything our organization believes – that wind energy is not only an important energy source but an aesthetically pleasing form that speaks to the best of human creation. We think this show will be well received and may be the beginning of a long tradition."

Emerine expects more than 250 exhibitors and 4,500 attendees at this year’s conference. More information on the conference can be found at www.awea.org.

REimaginations is currently accepting submissions from artists for artwork related to wind energy and other forms renewable energy for their on-line gallery and for future exhibits.

Images of the art can be seen on the REimaginations website: www.REimaginations.com