Cutting Edge Drilling Rig Arrives in the Gulf of Mexico

Shell and Noble Corporation announce the Gulf of Mexico arrival of the Noble Bully I, a state-of-the-art offshore drilling rig that is designed to raise the bar in terms of safety and performance. The Noble Bully I is the first of two Bully rigs, jointly designed by Shell and Noble, and can be equipped to drill in up to 10,000-feet of water. The Bully rigs also feature a compact box-type drilling tower, known as a Multi-purpose Tower, instead of a conventional derrick. As the name indicates, a Multi-purpose Tower is designed to maximize productivity and safety, yet it allows for a significantly smaller vessel when compared to other deep water drill ships of similar capacity. The ships also feature an attention to energy efficiency, use less fuel and are shorter and lighter than comparable drill ships. The Noble Bully I and Noble Bully II, are dynamically positioned drill ships and can, therefore, be positioned at a favorable angle toward wind, waves, and currents, and feature ice-class hulls. Shell and Noble have increased the automated technology on the Bully rigs, increasing personnel safety on board. The Noble Bully I has now arrived in the Gulf of Mexico from Singapore and will complete commissioning and acceptance testing this month before beginning operations. The Noble Bully I will first drill in Shell's Mars B, "Olympus," development while the Noble Bully II drill ship is expected to begin operations early next year in Brazil.

Melvin Wylie

Environmental Standards for Farm-Raised Seafood Often Fall Short

A new report released today by the University of Victoria ranks eco-labels intended to distinguish seafood produced with less damage to the environment. It is the first study to evaluate how eco-labels for farmed marine fish compare to unlabeled options in the marketplace. "How Green is Your Eco-label?" is designed to help seafood buyers sort through competing sustainability claims and better identify those labels that result in farming methods with less damage to the ocean. Key findings include:

• "Organic" labels lead the pack, although a few fall noticeably short;
• Many eco-labels are not much better than conventional farmed seafood options when it comes to protecting the ocean environment;
• Scale is a big challenge for eco-labels: For the most part, eco-labels are awarded based on an individual farm's environmental footprint. However, the cumulative environmental effects of many farms can quickly overwhelm the benefits of reductions in impacts by a single farm or small group of certified farms.

"Our research shows that most eco-labels for farmed marine fish offer no more than a 10 percent improvement over the status quo," said John Volpe, Ph.D., a marine ecologist at the University of Victoria and lead author of the report. "With the exception of a few outstanding examples, one-third of the eco-labels evaluated for these fish utilize standards at the same level or below what we consider to be conventional or average practice in the industry." Supported by the Pew Environment Group, the study, which was reviewed by several independent experts, uses a well-established quantitative methodology derived from the 2010 Global Aquaculture Performance Index (www.gapi.ca) to determine numerical scores of environmental performance for 20 different eco-labels for farmed marine finfish, such as salmon, cod, turbot, and grouper. These scores were used to rank performance among the various eco-labels. The assessment did not look at eco-labels for freshwater farmed fish, such as tilapia or catfish. The authors used 10 environmental factors to assess the eco-labels, including antibiotic use, the ecological effect of farmed fish that escape from pens, sustainability of the fish that serve as feed, parasiticide use, and industrial energy needed in aquaculture production. "Eco-labels can help fish farmers produce and consumers select environmentally preferable seafood, but only if the labels are based on meaningful standards that are enforced," said Chris Mann, director of Pew's Aquaculture Standards Project. "Seafood buyers at the retail or wholesale level should demand that evidence of sustainability be demonstrated, not merely asserted." The report concludes that government policies and regulations, as well as effective eco-labels, are necessary to limit the environmental impacts of production.

Melvin Wylie

The Evolution of Microfinance

 Zadisha Inc. is the new leader in Micro (P2P) Finance. Find out more information about this company here  

Melvin Wylie

27th Episode of GreenNews4U

Problems and Solutions with E-waste In this edition I will be talking about e-waste in other words electronic recycling. Electronic recycling is in its infancy stages. So many components are being used to extend the life (battery life) of electronic products that it becomes a challenge on the recycling end. It seems there are very few laws on e-waste that the black market is thriving and in the process eco systems and human lives are being destroyed. Just watch the documentary GHANA: DIGITAL DUMPING GROUND. It's so easy to focus on the negatives on e-waste so let's begin to focus on âchangeâ and the positive things taking place to correct this problem. To do this my special guest is Steve Skurnac who is the North American President with Sims Recycling Solutions.

Melvin Wylie

Teamsters Sue To Close Border To Unsafe, Polluting Mexican Trucks

WASHINGTON - The Teamsters on Wednesday sued to block the U.S. Department of Transportation from opening the U.S. border to dangerous Mexican trucks through an illegal pilot program.   "Opening the border to these dangerous, dirty trucks is an attack on highway safety, an attack on American truckers and warehouse workers, an attack on border security and an attack on our environment," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "It's outrageous enough that we've outsourced millions of jobs to foreign countries, but now we're bringing foreign workers across the border into the United States to take our jobs. This is another pressure the American middle class doesn't need." The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Public Citizen and the Sierra Club challenged the program in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The suit claims the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration breaks the following laws: It waives a law that trucks must display certain proof that they meet federal safety standards. It breaks the law requiring the pilot program to achieve an equivalent level of safety because Mexican drivers don't have to meet the same physical requirements as U.S. drivers. It breaks the law that Mexico must provide simultaneous and comparable access to U.S. trucks. Mexico cannot do so because of the limited availability of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel in Mexico. It breaks the law that the pilot program must include enough participants to be statistically valid. The FMCSA's proposal ensures that only the best Mexican trucks participate, which would allow it to justify letting any Mexican truck over the border in the future. It doesn't comply with the environment requirement of the National Environmental Policy Act. "Congress has repeatedly and overwhelmingly set tough safety conditions for any cross-border trucking program, and this one clearly doesn't meet those conditions," Hoffa said. The pilot program got off to a rocky start when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration approved trucking operator Grupo Behr from Tijuana, Mexico. The carrier owned one 20-year-old semi-tractor trailer with numerous safety issues. FMCSA had to disqualify it from the program after the Teamsters Union and others brought Grupo Behr's safety record to light. A second carrier, Transportes Olympic, of Monterrey, Mexico, started operating in the U.S. last month. Safety concerns have also been raised about Transportes Olympic.

Melvin Wylie

SustainU Opens Its First Retail Store

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - SustainU, a leading producer of apparel using fabrics made from 100% recycled materials that are manufactured in the USA, today announced the opening of its first retail store in Morgantown, WV on Tuesday, November 29th. Located in the Wharf District, the store will feature SustainU's line of t-shirts, hoodies and polos made from 100% recycled material and manufactured entirely in the United States. "We are the only apparel company in the United States that uses only recycled material and American labor to manufacture its clothing," said Chris Yura, CEO and founder of SustainU. "It is important for future generations that businesses become more sustainable. This is why we are trying to bring back jobs to the US and do it in an environmentally responsible way." Using recycled cotton scraps and plastic bottles, SustainU partners with factories like the Winston-Salem Industries for the Blind (WSIFB) to manufacture its apparel. The White House recently recognized the young West Virginia company in its blog: "Chris hoped to create a more authentic garment, one that embodied the social, environmental and economic values with which he was raised. With a small loan from his parents, he moved to North Carolina, a vibrant textile region, to learn how to make quality, affordable apparel. He brought this knowledge back to his home state of West Virginia and in June of 2009, at the age of 28, Chris founded SustainU." The SustainU retail store, located at 63 Wharf Street across from Oliverio's Restaurant, will be open weekdays from 9 am to 7 pm and Saturdays from 12 noon to 5 pm and will carry SustainU and WVU merchandise. Products can also be purchased online at SustainUclothing.com/store.

Melvin Wylie

Diseased Dogs Rescued From Dinner Plates in China

BEIJING - Hundreds of dogs who narrowly escaped the fate of being on a restaurant menu, received emergency vaccinations provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare - IFAW (www.ifaw.org). At the same time, IFAW issued an open letter to the Chinese authorities, calling for enforcement of health and quarantine regulations to prevent the illegal, unsafe and inhumane inter-province transport of dogs for human consumption. On October 14, concerned residents intercepted a truck packed with more than 800 dogs in Zigong, Sichuan province heading to Guangxi for slaughter. The dogs were cramped into 100 cages without food or water for three to four days. Veterinarians conducted health examinations and found the dogs were not only suffering from various degrees of dehydration, fractures and trauma, but many were also infected with potentially lethal infectious diseases, such as canine distemper and Parvovirus and serious illnesses caused by fungi and mites. Twenty-seven dogs have died so far due to injury and disease. "The transport of live animals in urban and rural areas carries a high risk of spreading infectious diseases to both animals and people. It also brings great challenges to the prevention of epidemics," said Dr. Kati Loeffler, IFAW's Veterinarian Advisor. "It poses a direct threat to human health and public safety." IFAW questions the mishandling of the case by local authorities who failed to uphold existing regulations to ensure public safety. In a letter to authorities, IFAW appeals for strengthening existing regulation to protect companion animals from the illegal meat trade and advocates for the anti-cruelty legislation to protect all animals, including dogs and cats. "This is the second time this year that concerned citizens have intercepted companion animals headed for slaughter – showing that times are changing," said Grace Gabriel, IFAW's Asia Regional Director. "The Chinese public is speaking up and taking action against animal cruelty. IFAW's team on the ground will continue to call for China's laws to catch up with the growing desires of Chinese people for greater dog protection." About IFAW (the International Fund for Animal Welfare) Founded in 1969, IFAW saves animals in crisis around the world. With projects in more than 40 countries, IFAW rescues individual animals, works to prevent cruelty to animals, and advocates for the protection of wildlife and habitats. For more information, visit www.ifaw.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Melvin Wylie