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Egypt: Militants blow up gas pipeline in Sinai

Egyptian security officials say suspected al-Qaida-inspired militants have blown up a natural gas pipeline in the restive Sinai Peninsula. The officials say the explosion took place early Tuesday in a desert area south of el-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai. The pipeline carries natural gas to Jordan and feeds heavy industry factories in central Sinai. The officials say pipeline technicians were forced to shut the flow of gas in order to get the fire under control. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to media. There have been scores of attacks on the pipeline since the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak and the security vacuum that ensued. A Sinai-based militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for several such bombings. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]

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Diabetes Epidemic Hits Persian Gulf Region

Mohammad Najih is a typical diabetic in the Middle East: diagnosed at 24, he spent six years ignoring the disease until he was forced to begin injecting insulin. Now aged 32, the Emirati from the desert state of Dubai has vowed to help other Arabs avoid the same mistake. Last year, the Type 2 diabetic set up an anonymous Twitter account where diabetics can ask questions about the disease and talk to other sufferers. Having gained more than 2,000 followers in a few months on @diabetesUAE, he now plans to launch a self-help group to meet in coffee shops and eventually go into schools and universities to educate youngsters. "In the U.S., people who have diabetes would wear a band that shows that they’re diabetic but if you do it here, [people] will see that this is a stigma," says Mr. Najih, who believes this stigma is worsening an […]

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China's power capacity up 94 mln kw in 2013

China’s installed power capacity increased by 94 million kilowatts (kw) in 2013, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said on Monday. Thermal power accounted for the bulk of the capacity growth, topping 36.5 million kw, followed by 29.93 million kw from hydropower, 14.06 million kw from on-grid wind power, 11.3 million kw from on-grid solar power and 2.21 million kw from nuclear power. The country’s total installed power capacity topped 1.25 billion kw at the end of 2013, up 9.3 percent year on year. Thermal power accounted for the bulk of the total capacity at the end of 2013, reaching more than 860 million kw, up 5.7 percent year on year. On-grid solar energy capacity increased by 340 percent from a year earlier. China’s electricity consumption, a key indicator of economic activity, rose 7.5 percent year on year to 5.32 trillion kilowatt hours in 2013, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China’s power capacity up 94 mln kw in 2013

China’s installed power capacity increased by 94 million kilowatts (kw) in 2013, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said on Monday. Thermal power accounted for the bulk of the capacity growth, topping 36.5 million kw, followed by 29.93 million kw from hydropower, 14.06 million kw from on-grid wind power, 11.3 million kw from on-grid solar power and 2.21 million kw from nuclear power. The country’s total installed power capacity topped 1.25 billion kw at the end of 2013, up 9.3 percent year on year. Thermal power accounted for the bulk of the total capacity at the end of 2013, reaching more than 860 million kw, up 5.7 percent year on year. On-grid solar energy capacity increased by 340 percent from a year earlier. China’s electricity consumption, a key indicator of economic activity, rose 7.5 percent year on year to 5.32 trillion kilowatt hours in 2013, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Tight Propane Supply Reaches Crisis

Federal and state officials are pushing emergency measures to get propane to people who need the gas to heat their homes in the Midwest and other regions of the country beset by persistent frigid temperatures. The measures, which include extending working hours for truckers and ordering a pipeline company to prioritize shipments to areas with tight supplies, are meant to alleviate a propane crunch that has sent prices for the fuel to record highs in some parts of the country. "The propane shortage has been a crisis for thousands of families and farmers in Minnesota and across the region," Sen. Al Franken, who represents the North Star State, said in a statement. He has been asking various federal agencies to help route more propane to places in need. Governors in affected states are trying to increase propane deliveries and make funds available for residents to pay higher heating bills. […]

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Tokyo election win a victory for nuclear power?

The victory of Yoichi Masuzoe in Tokyo’s gubernatorial election Sunday could be a boost for Japan’s return to nuclear power, though the anti-nuclear camp still urges against it. Masuzoe wants less dependence on nuclear power in the long run, while his main rivals, former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa and Kenji Utsunomiya, a former head of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, favored an immediate end to nuclear power. Utsunomiya won about 983,200 votes and Hosokawa about 956,000 votes against Masuzoe’s approximately 2,112,000 votes, the Japan Times reported Monday. All of Japan’s 48 operable nuclear reactors remain offline, pending safety checks after the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami. Prior to the Fukushima crisis, nuclear power provided nearly 30 percent of Japan’s electricity Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe , who has called for restarting Japan’s idled nuclear […]

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Exclusive: Duo tracks double-dipping in U.S. oil firms' toxic tank cleanup

A pioneer in cleaning up toxic messes, Thomas Schruben long suspected major oil companies of being paid twice for dealing with leaks from underground fuel storage tanks – once from government funds and again, secretly, from insurance companies. Schruben, a detail-oriented Maryland environmental engineer who helped draft government pollution rules going back 30 years, looked for a lawyer to help ferret out what he believed could in some cases be fraud. He found a partner in Dennis Pantazis, a buoyant, mustachioed son of Greek immigrants in Alabama known for bringing environmental and civil rights cases. "Together we started unraveling the mystery," Schruben said. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Schruben’s former employer, has called the rusted, leaky steel tanks the single largest threat to groundwater in the United States. Often built for gas stations during the 1950s and ’60s highway construction boom, the tanks corroded over […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Exclusive: Duo tracks double-dipping in U.S. oil firms’ toxic tank cleanup

A pioneer in cleaning up toxic messes, Thomas Schruben long suspected major oil companies of being paid twice for dealing with leaks from underground fuel storage tanks – once from government funds and again, secretly, from insurance companies. Schruben, a detail-oriented Maryland environmental engineer who helped draft government pollution rules going back 30 years, looked for a lawyer to help ferret out what he believed could in some cases be fraud. He found a partner in Dennis Pantazis, a buoyant, mustachioed son of Greek immigrants in Alabama known for bringing environmental and civil rights cases. "Together we started unraveling the mystery," Schruben said. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Schruben’s former employer, has called the rusted, leaky steel tanks the single largest threat to groundwater in the United States. Often built for gas stations during the 1950s and ’60s highway construction boom, the tanks corroded over […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. Utilities Tighten Security After 2013 Attack

PG&E Corp. says it will build opaque fences around critical transmission substations, including at the Metcalf substation that was heavily damaged by gunmen firing from outside a chain-link fence last year. The San Francisco-based utility, which serves Northern California, is also staffing important locations overnight. The company had eliminated some nighttime shifts after it built a power-system control center in Vacaville, Calif., in 2009. PG&E and other utilities announced new safety measures after The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the attack on the Metcalf transmission substation raised concerns about the vulnerability of the electric grid to physical sabotage. Jon Wellinghoff, the former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, called the incident an act of terrorism. The attack on the Metcalf substation, south of San Jose, Calif., began after 1 a.m. April 16 by gunmen who took out 17 of the 20 giant transformers that funnel power […]

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Relief at the pump far away, AAA says

AAA spokesman Michael Green said Monday gasoline prices may reach a seasonal peak in March or early April because of regular refinery maintenance. The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline during last year’s winter maintenance season peaked Feb. 27 at $3.79 per gallon. AAA reported a national average price Monday of $3.29, two cents higher than last week but 56 cents less than the same time last year. Green said prices tend to increase as winter ends because refineries shut down for upgrades and regular maintenance. This in turn leads to a tight gasoline market and higher prices for consumers. "It looks like the peak maintenance period this year will be in March, so it is likely that drivers will pay the highest prices sometime in March or early April," he said in response to email questions. Green said some […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple