Floodwaters have inundated at least five highly contaminated toxic waste sites near Houston, raising concerns that the pollution there might spread.

The Associated Press visited the sites this past week, some of them still only accessible by boat.

Long a center of the American petrochemical industry, the Houston metro area has more than a dozen such Superfund sites, designated by the Environmental Protection Agency as being among the most intensely contaminated places in the country.

No immediate response

EPA spokeswoman Amy Graham could not immediately provide details on when agency experts would inspect the Houston-area sites. She said Friday that staff had checked on two other Superfund sites in Corpus Christi and found no significant damage.

“We will begin to assess other sites after flood waters recede in those areas,” Graham said.

Near the Highlands Acid Pit, across the swollen San Jacinto River from Houston, Dwight Chandler sipped beer and swept out the thick muck caked inside his devastated home. He worried whether Harvey’s floodwaters had also washed in pollution from the Superfund site just a couple blocks away.

In the 1950s, the pit was filled with toxic sludge and sulfuric acid from oil and gas operations. Though 22,000 cubic yards of hazardous waste and soil were excavated in the 1980s, the site is still considered a potential threat to groundwater, and EPA maintains monitoring wells there.

When he was growing up in Highlands, Chandler, now 62, said he and his friends used to swim in the by-then abandoned pit.

“My daddy talks about having bird dogs down there and to run and the acid would eat the pads off their feet,” he recounted Thursday. “We didn’t know any better.”

Superfund sites a priority

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has said cleaning up Superfund sites are a priority, even as he has taken steps to roll back or delay rules aimed at preventing air and water pollution. President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 budget seeks to cut money for the Superfund program by 30 percent, though congressional Republicans are likely to approve less severe reductions.

Like Trump, Pruitt has expressed skepticism about the predictions of climate scientists that warmer air and warmer seas will produce stronger, more drenching storms.

Under the Obama administration, the EPA conducted a nationwide assessment of the increased threat to Superfund sites posed by climate change, including rising sea levels and stronger hurricanes. Of the more than 1,600 sites reviewed as part of the 2012 study, 521 were determined to be in 1-in-100 year and 1-in-500 year flood zones. Nearly 50 sites in coastal areas could also be vulnerable to rising sea levels.

The threats to human health and wildlife posed by rising waters inundating Superfund sites varies widely depending on the specific contaminants and concentrations involved. But the EPA report specifically noted the risk that floodwaters might carry away and spread toxic materials over a wider area.

In Crosby, across the San Jacinto River from Houston, a small working-class neighborhood sits between two Superfund sites, French LTD and the Sikes Disposal Pits. The area was wrecked by Harvey’s floods, with only a single house from among the roughly dozen lining Hickory Lane still standing.

After the flood water receded on Friday, a sinkhole the size of a swimming pool had opened up and swallowed two cars. The acrid smell of creosote filled the air.

At the Brio Refining Inc. in Friendswood, the floodwaters had receded by Saturday. There was a layer of silt on the road leading to the Superfund site. The company operated a chemical reprocessing and refining facility there until the 1980s, leaving behind polluted soil and groundwater.

Completely underwater

The San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund site was completely covered by water when an AP reporter saw it Thursday. According to its website, the EPA was set to make a final decision this year about a proposed $97 million cleanup effort to remove toxic waste from a paper mill that operated there in the 1960s.

The flow from the raging river washing over the toxic site was so intense it damaged an adjacent section of the Interstate 10 bridge, which has been closed to traffic due to concerns it might collapse.

There was no way to immediately access how much contaminated soil from the site might have been washed away. According to an EPA survey from last year, soil from the former waste pits contains dioxins and other long-lasting toxins linked to birth defects and cancer.

Kara Cook-Schultz, who studies Superfund sites for the advocacy group TexPIRG, said environmentalists have warned for years about the potential for flooding to inundate Texas Superfund sites, particularly the San Jacinto Waste Pits.

“If floodwaters have spread the chemicals in the waste pits, then dangerous chemicals like dioxin could be spread around the wider Houston area,” Cook-Schultz said. “Superfund sites are known to be the most dangerous places in the country, and they should have been properly protected against flooding.”
…

your ad here

VOA Aerial Shots of Post-Harvey Houston
…

your ad here

The smoke from massive wildfires hangs like fog over large parts of the U.S. West, an irritating haze causing health concerns, forcing sports teams to change schedules and disrupting life from Seattle to tiny Seeley Lake, Montana.

 

Air quality has been rated unhealthy across the region because of blazes that show no signs of abating. Officials said Friday that one of the worst U.S. wildfire seasons in terms of land burned is likely to keep scorching Western states and blanketing them with smoke until later this fall.

Headaches, raspy voices

 

People who live in small towns to the populous San Francisco Bay Area have had enough.

 

“Last night, I went to sleep with the windows open and woke up with a stomachache and a headache,” said Tresa Snow, who owns a hair salon in Brookings, Oregon, near a large wildfire. “I knew before I could even smell it that the fire was back. And you can hear my voice, kind of raspy. We’re all kind of like that.”

 

She said business has been down in the town near the California border. 

 

“Businesses are closing because they don’t have their help,” Snow said. “People have been evacuating.”

 

As the long Labor Day weekend approached, several high school football teams changed their season-opening games to avoid the smoke, and other athletic events have been postponed. 

​Fleeing homes in Burbank

 

In Southern California, an erratic wildfire just north of Los Angeles forced the closure of Interstate 210, an essential link to routes in and out of town just as Labor Day weekend travel was starting.

 

Firefighters had reduced the raging flames, but the freeway was expected to be shut down all night.

 

The fire also spurred mandatory evacuations. Residents in the Brace Canyon Park area of Burbank were ordered to leave their homes as the fire got dangerously close. About 50 homes were being threatened late Friday.

Air hazardous, events canceled

 

The poor air quality has caused the cancellation of some performances at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and the Cycle Oregon Classic Ride, a 400-mile bicycle event this month.

 

Smoke from wildfires in British Columbia pushed down into western Washington in August, choking the region and prompting health officials to warn the Seattle area that children, the elderly and people with respiratory problems should stay inside.

 

Smoke has affected the Montana town of Seeley Lake to such a degree that health officials urged people to escape the pollution weeks before an order Tuesday to evacuate part of town because of the encroaching fire. 

 

The town’s air quality had hourly pollution readings classified as hazardous in 26 days in August, topping out the ability of the monitor to measure the pollution in many cases. It was considered hazardous Friday, too.

 

“There aren’t even the correct health categories to describe what they’re seeing,” air quality specialist Saran Coefield said.

 

Most of the smoke entering Washington state this year is coming from neighboring states and British Columbia, said Joye Redfield-Wilder of the state Department of Ecology.

 

“I’m smelling smoke in my office right now,” she said.

Long, destructive season

 

The National Interagency Fire Center said more than 25,000 firefighters and personnel are spread out across the Western U.S. fighting 56 large uncontained wildfires, 21 of them in Montana and 17 in Oregon. 

 

Fire center spokesman Jessica Gardetto said Friday that besides one of the most destructive wildfire seasons, 2017 is turning into one of the longest, starting in the spring in Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico.

 

“Some of these firefighters have been working on fires for six months now,” she said.

 

The 10,600 square miles (27,500 square kilometers) that have burned rank this season as the third-worst in the last decade. The area burned is about 2,600 square miles (6,700 square kilometers) above the 10-year average.

 

In Northern California, a wildfire burning near the town of Oroville has destroyed 20 homes. The blaze about 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of Sacramento had consumed nearly 6 square miles (15 square kilometers) and was threatening 500 homes, officials said.

 

Besides poor air quality, Montana lost a historic backcountry chalet in Glacier National Park this week to a wildfire. Firefighters tried to protect two-story Sperry Chalet, which was built in 1913 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
…

your ad here

Mysterious health attacks on the American diplomatic community in Cuba continued as recently as August, the United States said Friday, despite earlier U.S. assessments that the attacks had long stopped. The U.S. increased its tally of government personnel affected to 19.

The new U.S. disclosures came the same day that the union representing American diplomats said mild traumatic brain injury was among the diagnoses given to diplomats victimized in the attacks. In the most detailed account of the symptoms to date, the American Foreign Service Association said permanent hearing loss was another diagnosis, and that additional symptoms had included brain swelling, severe headaches, loss of balance and “cognitive disruption.”

Investigation continues

At the State Department, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.S. was continually revising its assessments of the scope of the attacks as new information was obtained. She said the investigation had not been completed.

“We can confirm another incident which occurred last month and is now part of the investigation,” Nauert said.

U.S. officials had previously said that the attacks, initially believed to be caused by a potential covert sonic device, had started in fall 2016 and continued until spring 2017. Last week, Nauert had said at least 16 Americans associated with the U.S. Embassy in Havana had been affected, but that the incidents were no longer occurring.

The evolving assessment from the U.S. government suggested that investigators were still far from any thorough understanding of what transpired in the attacks, which officials have described as unlike anything the U.S. has experienced.

Who is behind the attacks?

Moreover, the fact there was an incident as recently as August indicated the attacks continued long after the U.S. government became aware of them and ostensibly raised the issue with the Cuban government. That revelation created further uncertainty about the timeline of the attacks and who was responsible.

Notably, the U.S. has avoided accusing Cuba’s government of being behind the attacks. The U.S. did expel two Cuban diplomats, but the State Department emphasized that was in protest of the Cubans’ failure to protect the safety of American diplomats while on their soil, not an indication the U.S. felt that Havana masterminded it.

U.S. investigators have been searching for a device that could have harmed the health of the diplomats, believed to have been attacked in their homes in Havana, but officials have said no device had been found.

“We can’t rule out new cases as medical professionals continue to evaluate members of the embassy community,” Nauert said. She added that the embassy has a medical officer and has been consistently providing care to those who have reported incidents.

Asked for further details about what the U.S. had learned about the cause or culprit in the attacks, the State Department said it had no more information to share.

Canadian affected as well

But in Canada, a government official said that the Canadian government had first learned in March 2017 that one of its citizens had been affected. Ottawa previously confirmed that at least one Canadian diplomat was involved, but had not revealed any timeline for when it occurred or came to light. The official wasn’t authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

It’s unclear whether Canadians were intentionally targeted or whether there could have been collateral damage from an attack aimed at Americans, given that diplomats from various countries often live in the same areas of a foreign capital. U.S. officials have said the Americans were targeted in their homes in Havana, not in the Embassy.

Canadian officials have been actively working with U.S. and Cuban authorities to ascertain the cause. A Cuban attack deliberately targeting Canadians would be even more confounding, given that Canada, unlike the U.S., has long had friendly ties to Cuba. 

Diplomats suffered brain injury

The American Foreign Service Association, in describing the damage to diplomats’ health, said it had met with or spoken to 10 diplomats affected, but did not specify how many of the 10 had been diagnosed with hearing loss or with mild traumatic brain injury, commonly called a concussion.

Yet the confirmation that at least diplomats suffered brain injury suggested the attacks caused more serious damage than the hearing-related complaints that were initially reported.

Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, typically results from a bump, jolt or other external force that disrupts normal brain functioning, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Short- and long-term effects can include changes to memory and reasoning, sight and balance, language abilities and emotions.

Not all traumatic brain injuries are the same. Doctors evaluate patients using various clinical metrics such as the Glasgow Coma Scale, in which a numerical score is used to classify TBIs as mild, moderate or severe.

“AFSA strongly encourages the Department of State and the U.S. Government to do everything possible to provide appropriate care for those affected, and to work to ensure that these incidents cease and are not repeated,” the union said in a statement.
…

your ad here

When U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson returns to Earth on Saturday from the International Space Station, she will have spent more time in space than any other American.

Whitson will have logged 665 days in space over three separate missions, the equivalent of about one year and 10 months outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

The world record belongs to Russian Astronaut Gennady Padalka, who spent 879 days in space.

Whitson is scheduled to return to Earth Saturday night in Kazakhstan in a Russian Soyuz capsule. She will then travel to Germany before heading home to Houston, which is still crippled from Hurricane Harvey.

Whitson said in an email to the Associated Press that her home was not damaged in the storm. However, she said the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston was temporarily closed except for essential personnel, such as those staffing Mission Control for the space station mission.

“Any trepidations I might have about returning in the aftermath of a hurricane are entirely eclipsed by the all those folks keeping our mission going,” she said.

Whitson, a biochemist, began her third and latest mission on the International Space Station last November. During the mission, she performed a spacewalk and also become the first woman to command the space station twice.

She and the other crew members aboard the International Space Station also pursued hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science.

At 57, Whitson is the oldest woman to have been in space.

The astronaut has said she is unsure whether this most recent space mission will be her last.

NASA had scheduled a news conference earlier this week with Whitson, to be filmed from the space station, but said it had to be rescheduled after she returns because of the impact of Hurricane Harvey in Houston.
…

your ad here

Russia’s foreign ministry has accused the FBI of planning a search of its San Francisco consulate on Saturday, after ordering its closure Thursday.

A spokeswoman for the ministry, Maria Zakharova, said the search, which the United States has not confirmed, would “create a direct threat to the security of Russian citizens.”

Zakharova said in a statement Friday, “American special services intend on September 2 to carry out a search of the consulate in San Francisco including of the apartments of employees who live in the building and have [diplomatic] immunity.”

Black smoke

Meanwhile, the Associated Press has reported that firefighters were called to the site of the consulate, but not allowed to enter, after black smoke was seen billowing from a chimney. Firefighters determined that the fire was confined to a fireplace somewhere in the building.

A spokeswoman for San Francisco Fire Department, Mindy Talmadge, told reporters she did not know what people inside the building would be burning on a day when the outdoor temperature was around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).

On Thursday, the United States ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and two other annexes by this weekend.

The move was in response to a demand from Moscow that Washington reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia.

“In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian government to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, D.C., and a consular annex in New York City,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement Thursday, adding that the deadline for the closures is September 2.
…

your ad here

The U.S. Supreme Court stepped into Texas’ congressional redistricting debate this week, temporarily halting a lower court order to correct two districts found to be drawn with racially discriminatory intent.

The Supreme Court’s stay is the latest turn in a contentious six-year battle over accusations of racially motivated redistricting in Texas.

Given Texas’ sizable congressional delegation, a resolution to the case could have a significant impact on upcoming 2018 midterm elections, potentially altering the Republican Party’s numbers in the U.S. House of Representatives.

As one of eight states nationwide with pending redistricting cases, Texas is a leading example of a broader debate over gerrymandering, which is the manipulation of district boundaries in an age of increasing partisan political tensions.

How districts are drawn

Congressional districts are based on population, not on physical areas. After the 2010 U.S. Census, congressional districts averaged about 711,000 people, with states gaining or losing seats based on shifts in population.

Those shifts can sometimes result in oddly shaped districts as the boundaries are redrawn. But critics say the process turns undemocratic when those lines are drawn to purposely include or exclude certain groups of voters to gain a political advantage.

“In modern-day redistricting, you choose your voters as opposed to your voters choosing the candidate,” Pete Gallego, a Democrat who represented Texas’s 23rd congressional district from 2013-2015, told VOA.

Gallego won the reliably Democratic district after it was redrawn in 2011, before losing the next two elections to Republican Will Hurd in 2014 and 2016 by just a couple thousand votes each time.

“I was able to buck that once — after that the district performed the way the drawers wanted it to,” he said.

Gallego said that when redrawing the district, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature “looked for Latinos that had a high incidence of turnout and they drew them out of the district. And then they looked for Latinos that had a very low rate of participation and it drew them in.

“So the state can stand in front of a federal judge and say well, it’s a very heavily Latino district and by population that may be true,” he added.

​Minority voting rights

But in mid-August, a federal court found previous redistricting violations in Texas’ 23rd District had been resolved, calling it a “Latino opportunity district.” The majority-Latino district is represented by African-American Will Hurd. If the court had ordered the boundaries to be redrawn, it was expected to be one of the most competitive congressional races in the nation.

The court ordered two Texas districts, the 27th and 35th, redrawn because the boundaries either diluted the voting strength of Latinos or relied too heavily on race when drawing the district lines.

Maintaining minority voting strength is a problem at all levels of government, said Ernest Herrera, a staff attorney for MALDEF, a nonpartisan Latino civil rights organization.

“We don’t really care what the party is that the minority group is voting for, what we care about is that they’re voting together for someone,” Herrera said. He explained that district boundaries cutting through communities can dilute the strength of Latino voters, depriving them of the ability to elect their candidate of choice.

The consequences of preserving minority voting strengths are considerable.

“In Texas, because the Republican leaders have gotten their advantage through discrimination, if you undo that, if you unscramble those eggs, if you draw districts that more fairly represent the African-American and Hispanic voting strengths, the political balance of the state starts to come into play, too,” said Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project, one of the groups involved in the challenge.

But assumptions about voting patterns can be problematic, Robert Stovall, chairman of the Republican Party of Bexar County, Texas, told VOA. Stovall pointed to Congressman Hurd in Texas’ 23rd District as an example.

“He’s neither white nor Hispanic. Will Hurd is a very sharp, good black man that has been elected two times to that district and those people know exactly who Will Hurd is, and they want him to stay there. To try to gerrymander this so these voters will go in there and vote for more Democrat-elected officials, it’s just twisting to their advantage,” Stovall said.

Minority groups suing the state to change those district lines have until Sept. 5 to provide a response to the state’s appeal.

The case could return to the U.S. Supreme Court even after that response, as both sides battle a ticking clock to the 2018 midterm elections.
…

your ad here

Administration officials are defending the president’s proposal to cut federal emergency funds even as the southern state of Texas struggles with the aftermath of the worst flooding in its history. The White House said Thursday that adequate relief funds would be available for disasters under President Donald Trump’s proposal. The White House also announced that President Trump is pledging $1 million in personal funds to Harvey storm relief efforts. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
…

your ad here