Exxon Mobil has reached an agreement with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to pay $1.6 million in penalties over the Yellowstone River oil spill, according to the Associated Press. The agreement specifically details that the oil company will spend $1.3 million on future environmental projects, pay $300,000 in cash, and reimburse state agencies for $760,000 in emergency response costs. The penalty is the largest in the history of the agency.
With this landmark decision, here are some facts and information about the Yellowstone River oil spill and the following events leading up to Thursday's announcement:
* KTVQ Billings reported that the spill occurred on the night of Friday, July 1, 2011, after an underground line underneath the Yellowstone River broke and the initial spill estimates were 750 to 1,000 barrels.
* In less than 24 hours, the unrefined crude oil had spread from the town of Laurel, Mont., to Hysham, a town about 100 miles east.
* CNN added that the about 200 residents were evacuated after the oil company reported the spill but were allowed back to their homes the following morning.
* Ecological concerns have also been raised since the river is home to trout and helps provide habitat and food for geese, otters, and bald eagles, all of which could be at risk for ingesting toxins.
* Cleanup efforts included utilizing 48,000 feet of absorbent boom, 2,300 absorbent pads, and vacuum trucks and tankers.
* In light of the $1.6 million agreement, Exxon Mobil increased its estimate of the total number of crude oil spilled by 50 percent from the earlier estimate of 1,000 barrels to at least 1,509 barrels, according to the Billings Gazette.
* Gov. Brian Schweitzer had disputed with Exxon, saying that the 1,000-barrel estimate was too low and, in addition, only about 10 barrels of crude oil were recovered by cleanup crews.
* The New York Times reported that 10 days into the spill, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) testing showed that air and drinking water quality did not pose safety risks.
* During the time of the spill, raging flood waters prevent water tested and the EPA was unable to proceed until flood waters receded.
* In October, eight landowners filed a lawsuit against Exxon seeking unspecified damages for harm to their property and businesses as a result of the oil spill, reported the Associated Press.
* The rupture happened in a pipeline buried 5 to 7 feet below the river and since the burst, a 12-inch pipeline was been reburied about 60 to 70 below the river and oil transport has resumed.
Rachel Bogart provides an in-depth look at current environmental issues and local Chicago news stories. As a college student from the Chicago suburbs pursuing two science degrees, she applies her knowledge and passion to both topics to garner further public awareness.
It may not be widely recognized as the deepest division in the world, but the bantamweights are starting to carve out quite a reputation in the UFC.
Mike Easton and Jared Papazian added to the cause by putting in some awesome work tonight on the UFC on FX 1 card in Nashville.
At the end of the fight, both fighters were still standing after throwing over 400 strikes at each other. Easton got the nod via majority decision, 30-27, 29-29 and 29-28, in a crowd-pleasing brawl that got better as the fight went along.
"He's a tough dude. He was the champ back in the division where he was at," Easton told UFC play-by-play voice Jon Anik. "All we wanted to do was please the fans and we rapped. We the 35ers baby! Nothing but non-stop action. We love to fight."
Papazian (14-7, 0-1 UFC) making his UFC debut, was a huge underdog at plus-275, but he didn't look intimidated whatsoever. Easton (12-1) is now 2-0 with the UFC.
Easton generally takes a while to get going, but when he did tonight it made for an awesome final round. With the fight on the line, Easton fired up the pace and Papazian, 23, stood in front him willing to bang. The fighters combined to wing 213 shots at each other over the final five minutes.
COMMENTARY | At Thursday's Republican debate in South Carolina, the pressure got turned up a notch on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns. Given how removed his financial situation is from that of most Americans, this seems a reasonable request.
In any case, and despite the candidate's obvious reluctance, it is one that is likely to be fulfilled. There is another matter Romney is even more unwilling to discuss but which is guaranteed to cause an even bigger problem for Republicans if not brought out into the open at the earliest possible date: his faith. Just as Romney's finances are foreign to most Americans, so is his Mormon religion. Full disclosure is required in each case.
I take it that unless we want to be accused of ascribing to a massive double standard we can put aside the question of whether a candidate's faith is a legitimate subject of inquiry. The obsessive coverage in 2008 of President Barack Obama's relation with Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago has demonstrated that a potential president's religious affiliation is a justified focus of press coverage.
Indeed, the controversy surrounding the teachings of Rev. Jeremiah Wright provides a single standard that could be reasonably applied to any candidate's religious affiliation: When a candidate's faith, creed, or teaching veers wildly from mainstream religious thought, it deserves an added level of scrutiny.
If there is one defining trait of the three great world Abrahamic religions -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--it is that they all are monotheistic. That is, they all believe there exists a single, all-powerful God. This contrasts with polytheism found in many ancient religions as well as with the conception of divinity in Hinduism or Buddhism. By comparison, Mormonism teaches that there are many Gods and that humans can become gods and goddesses in the celestial kingdom. As it was famously put by Lorenzo Snow, fifth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may be." So when Bob Jones III declares, as he recently did on CNN, that "Mormonism is not Christianity," he is not uttering hateful or even untrue words but stating what is theologically uncontroversial.
Given that a large majority of Americans identify themselves as Christian, this puts Romney's church outside of mainstream American religious thought. Of course in a country that is founded on religious freedom, this does not disqualify Romney from the presidency. But it does make it more than likely that a full accounting of Romney's faith will be even more essential than a full accounting of his finances if America is ever to become comfortable enough with the man to elect him president.
A man mysteriously dies of arsenic poisoning and his perfect wife becomes suspect number one on??Snapped? airing January 22 at 9PM ET/PT.?Follow the show @SnappedonOxygen on Twitter and tweet live with fans during the show using #Snapped. Looking from the outside in, Ann and Eric Miller appeared to be living the American dream. The well-educated [...]
Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed has located John McCain?s 200-page opposition reasearch book on Mitt Romney.? It?s embedded below.
I turned to the section on Bain, and at page 136 found this sentence:
Romney Served As CEO Of Bain Capital Through August 2001, Even Though He No Longer Ran Daily Operations. ?Although he gave up running day-to-day operations at the venture capital firm in order to head the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, he remained CEO and held his financial interest in the company through August 2001.? (Stephanie Ebbert and Yvonne Abraham, ?Camps Spar Over Romney Word Choice,? The Boston Globe, 10/31/02)
If accurate, that contradicts one of the key components in the WaPo Fact Check of King of Bain, in which WaPo exonerated Romney from any responsibility for the KB Toys deal because it closed in December 2000 ?more than a year after Romney left for the Olympics.?
In this image released by priceline.com, William Shatner is shown in a scene from a Priceline.com commercial. In a new commercial, William Shatner's Priceline pitchman, the Negotiator, makes a costly sacrifice for a deal. In a new 30-second TV spot set to begin airing next week, the Negotiator rescues panicked vacationers from a bus teetering on a bridge's railing. (AP Photo/priceline.com)
In this image released by priceline.com, William Shatner is shown in a scene from a Priceline.com commercial. In a new commercial, William Shatner's Priceline pitchman, the Negotiator, makes a costly sacrifice for a deal. In a new 30-second TV spot set to begin airing next week, the Negotiator rescues panicked vacationers from a bus teetering on a bridge's railing. (AP Photo/priceline.com)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? William Shatner's stalwart Capt. James T. Kirk died in the line of duty. Now the actor's bargain-touting Priceline Negotiator is headed heroically to his final frontier.
In a new 30-second TV spot set to begin airing Monday, the Negotiator rescues panicked vacationers from a bus teetering on a bridge's railing.
"Save yourselves ? some money," he says, handing his cellphone to a passenger as he and the bus tumble into a dry creek bed. A violent explosion, real and computer-generated, follows.
"I'm in grief mode," a droll Shatner said by phone Wednesday. "It's not the first time I've had an iconic character die off."
He's been a pitchman for Priceline for 14 years, five of those as the relentless Negotiator preaching the gospel of travel bargains. But an advertising change was needed to reflect the company's broader strategy, said Christopher Soder, CEO of Priceline.com North America.
"The challenge is harder to get people's attention than it used to be. ... So we decided to do something really over the top to get the message across," Soder said. The new spot will be on his company's website and, he hinted, may be part of next month's Super Bowl commercial extravaganza.
Shatner promoted Priceline as a site where travel prices are subject to bidding. But Priceline is also a set discount-price booking site for more than 200,000 hotels in 140 countries, an expanding service that is not widely known by consumers, Soder said.
The new direction makes sense, according to a marketing strategist.
"It's a tough decision, but the bottom line is Priceline had to do it," said Peter Sealey, adjunct professor at the Claremont Graduate University's school of management. "They're changing their business model from a name-your-price model to a fixed-price approach."
Shatner's Negotiator was just too good at representing the old approach, Sealey said.
"Had he been less effective, he could have been allowed to fade away," he said. "I don't know if I would have gone as far as the bus exploding."
Shatner, whose Kirk arguably had a less memorable death in 1994's "Star Trek: Generations," is philosophical about the turn of events. He's looking ahead to the debut next month on Broadway of "Shatner's World: We Just Live in It," his one-man show.
"It was a great run," the Emmy-winning actor ("Boston Legal" and "The Practice") said of the Priceline gig. But "if the management says this is the end, this is the end."
Is it? Could the Negotiator be resurrected? Or might Shatner, who previously appeared as a troubadour in spots for the website, play another role for Priceline?
"I'm not going to speculate on future campaigns," said the company's Soder.
Great pitchmen have been born from the ashes before. Fast-food chain Jack in the Box's commercials routinely feature "Jack," a man wearing a version of the clown-faced symbol that the company dramatically blew up in 1980 to signal a menu change ("Waste him," an elderly female customer said in the spot). Some Americans were upset by Jack's demise.
Does Soder fear backlash from those fond of Shatner and the Negotiator?
"We certainly hope not. We had a great, long association with Mr. Shatner," Soder said, adding hastily, "I didn't mean to use the past tense. He's still under contract with us."
True, said Shatner, an indefatigable 80 years old. So whether they use him again or not, he said merrily, "I'm going to make them pay through the nose."
___
EDITOR'S NOTE ? Lynn Elber is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. She can be reached at lelber(at)ap.org.
Contact: Jason Maderer maderer@gatech.edu 404-385-2966 Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Tech findings advance glaucoma research
Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness. Nearly 4 million Americans have the disorder, which affects 70 million worldwide. There is no cure and no early symptoms. Once vision is lost, it's permanent.
New findings at Georgia Tech, published in January during Glaucoma Awareness Month, explore one of the many molecular origins of glaucoma and advance research dedicated to fighting the disease.
Glaucoma is typically triggered when fluid is unable to circulate freely through the eye's trabecular meshwork (TM) tissue. Intraocular pressure rises and damages the retina and optic nerve, which causes vision loss. In certain cases of glaucoma, this blockage results from a build-up of the protein myocilin. Georgia Tech Chemistry and Biochemistry Assistant Professor Raquel Lieberman focused on examining the structural properties of these myocilin deposits.
"We were surprised to discover that both genetically defected as well as normal, or wild-type (WT), myocilin are readily triggered to produce very stable fibrous residue containing a pathogenic material called amyloid," said Lieberman, whose work was published in the most recent Journal of Molecular Biology.
Amyloid formation, in which a protein is converted from its normal form into fibers, is recognized as a major contributor to numerous non-ocular disorders, including Alzheimer's, certain forms of diabetes and Mad Cow disease (in cattle). Scientists are currently studying ways to destroy amyloid fibrils as an option for treating these diseases. Further research, based on Lieberman's findings, could potentially result in drugs that prevent or stop myocilin amyloid formation or destroy existing fibrils in glaucoma patients.
Until this point, amyloids linked to glaucoma had been restricted to the retinal area. In those cases, amyloids kill retina cells, leading to vision loss, but don't affect intraocular pressure.
"The amyloid-containing myocilin deposits we discovered kill cells that maintain the integrity of TM tissue," said Lieberman. "In addition to debris from dead cells, the fibrils themselves may also form an obstruction in the TM tissue. Together, these mechanisms may hasten the increase of intraocular pressure that impairs vision."
Together with her research team, Lieberman produced WT and genetically defected myocilin variants that had been documented in patients who develop glaucoma in childhood or early adulthood. The experiments were conducted in collaboration with Georgia Tech Biology Professor Ingeborg Schmidt-Krey and Stanford Genetics Professor Douglas Vollrath. Three Georgia Tech students also participated in the research: Susan Orwig (Ph.D. graduate, Chemistry and Biochemistry), Chris Perry (current undergraduate, Biochemistry) and Laura Kim (master's graduate, Biology).
###
The National Institutes of Health (award number R01EY021205 from the National Eye Institute) funded the research. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Eye Institute or the National Institutes of Health.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Jason Maderer maderer@gatech.edu 404-385-2966 Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Tech findings advance glaucoma research
Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness. Nearly 4 million Americans have the disorder, which affects 70 million worldwide. There is no cure and no early symptoms. Once vision is lost, it's permanent.
New findings at Georgia Tech, published in January during Glaucoma Awareness Month, explore one of the many molecular origins of glaucoma and advance research dedicated to fighting the disease.
Glaucoma is typically triggered when fluid is unable to circulate freely through the eye's trabecular meshwork (TM) tissue. Intraocular pressure rises and damages the retina and optic nerve, which causes vision loss. In certain cases of glaucoma, this blockage results from a build-up of the protein myocilin. Georgia Tech Chemistry and Biochemistry Assistant Professor Raquel Lieberman focused on examining the structural properties of these myocilin deposits.
"We were surprised to discover that both genetically defected as well as normal, or wild-type (WT), myocilin are readily triggered to produce very stable fibrous residue containing a pathogenic material called amyloid," said Lieberman, whose work was published in the most recent Journal of Molecular Biology.
Amyloid formation, in which a protein is converted from its normal form into fibers, is recognized as a major contributor to numerous non-ocular disorders, including Alzheimer's, certain forms of diabetes and Mad Cow disease (in cattle). Scientists are currently studying ways to destroy amyloid fibrils as an option for treating these diseases. Further research, based on Lieberman's findings, could potentially result in drugs that prevent or stop myocilin amyloid formation or destroy existing fibrils in glaucoma patients.
Until this point, amyloids linked to glaucoma had been restricted to the retinal area. In those cases, amyloids kill retina cells, leading to vision loss, but don't affect intraocular pressure.
"The amyloid-containing myocilin deposits we discovered kill cells that maintain the integrity of TM tissue," said Lieberman. "In addition to debris from dead cells, the fibrils themselves may also form an obstruction in the TM tissue. Together, these mechanisms may hasten the increase of intraocular pressure that impairs vision."
Together with her research team, Lieberman produced WT and genetically defected myocilin variants that had been documented in patients who develop glaucoma in childhood or early adulthood. The experiments were conducted in collaboration with Georgia Tech Biology Professor Ingeborg Schmidt-Krey and Stanford Genetics Professor Douglas Vollrath. Three Georgia Tech students also participated in the research: Susan Orwig (Ph.D. graduate, Chemistry and Biochemistry), Chris Perry (current undergraduate, Biochemistry) and Laura Kim (master's graduate, Biology).
###
The National Institutes of Health (award number R01EY021205 from the National Eye Institute) funded the research. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Eye Institute or the National Institutes of Health.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vv8JezTlWn2Ze3n7DtwFpVBb1Ktl1DI3Ppn_KBc7FB9-UbKT67vZsu_A5u4Y7ESCmV51l48GZqxdCTdyvN_6NtCcatXVnJ7rHifFjOs8I=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 17-Jan-2012
Share ]