Environment

15 Aug 2020; MEMO: Time is running out to prevent a decaying tanker stranded off the coast of Yemen from dumping its load of 1.1 million barrels of oil into the Red Sea, the UN warned Friday, Anadolu Agency reported.

Miami (US), Aug 15 (AP/PTI) Tropical Storm Kyle was moving away from the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States late Friday as Tropical Storm Josephine continued its crawl toward islands in the Caribbean.

Threats to land appeared to be minimal from both storms, according to the US National Hurricane Centre's 11 pm advisories.

New Delhi, Aug 15 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said efforts are on to make the Union Territory of Ladakh a carbon-neutral region.

Carbon neutrality means having a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing it from the atmosphere in carbon sinks. It is significant as greenhouse gas or carbon emissions adversely affect the climate.

Idukki, Aug 12 (PTI) The death toll in the landslide at Pettimudi near Munnar in the high-range Idukki district has gone up to 55 with three more bodies being recovered from the debris on Wednesday, officials said.

Operations led by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are continuing in the area even on the sixth day today to trace 15 more missing people.

"Till now, we have recovered 55 bodies.Earlier we rescued 12 people.Now 15 people are missing.

New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) Hindon, a tributary of Ganga, is one of the polluted river stretches and no meaningful action has been being taken to clean it, the National Green Tribunal said Tuesday while directing the UP chief secretary to ensure coordination for rejuvenation of the waterbody.

The green panel said instead of shifting of blame from one department to another, steps should be taken for the restoration of water quality of Hindon.

Guwahati, Aug 10 (PTI) The second attempt to shut Oil India's damaged well at Baghjan in Assam, which has been spewing gas uncontrollably for 76 days, failed on Monday when the iron cable to lift the lid snapped, the PSU said.

This was the second attempt in ten days.

The company said in a statement that when the blow out preventer (BOP) stack alignment was underway to insert the studs one of the two bull lines connected with the Athey Wagon, the equipment for fighting oil field fire which was lifting it, came out from the socket due to excessive heat.

New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday stepped up his attack on the Centre over the draft environment impact assessment (EIA), saying it must be withdrawn to stop "environmental destruction".

Gandhi alleged that the aim of EIA 2020 draft was clear -- "loot of the nation".

05 Aug 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has constructed a facility for extracting uranium “yellowcake” from ore with help from China, Western officials revealed to the Wall Street Journal yesterday.

New Delhi, Aug 2 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has directed UP Jal Nigam to expeditiously complete the work of sewer connectivity to households at Narora town in Bulandshahr district to ensure that no untreated water is discharged into the Ganga.

The green panel slammed the Jal Nigam over non-functional sewage treatment plant at Narora and discharge of untreated sewage in a pond adjacent to the river.

02 Aug 2020; MEMO: Iranian teams have cleaned up an oil slick near field in the northern region of the Gulf that had extended over a six-square-km (2.3 square mile) area, an Iranian maritime official said on Saturday according to a report by Reuters.

The cause of the spill, which occurred on Wednesday, was being investigated, the director general of ports and maritime in Iran’s Bushehr Province, Siavash Arjomandzadeh, told the official IRNA news agency.