MEC&F Expert Engineers : 05/14/15

Thursday, May 14, 2015

SCARED SHITLESS: White House briefly on lockdown after drone incident


White House reportedly on lockdown after drone incident

The South Lawn of the White House on Jan. 26, 2015. A device, possibly an unmanned aerial drone, was found on the White House grounds during the middle of the night while President Barack Obama and the first lady were in India. It was unclear whether their daughters, Sasha and Malia, were at home at the time of the incident with their grandmother, Marian Robinson. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was put on lockdown Thursday afternoon when a man reportedly attempted to fly a remote-controlled drone over the White House fence, a senior official told ABC News. 

The man, whose identity has not yet been revealed, was detained by Secret Service agents for questioning. According to a federal law enforcement official who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, it was not immediately clear whether the man was simply using the aerial device to take photos or actually aiming it at the White House. 

President Barack Obama is at Camp David and was absent for the commotion. Still, ABC News reports, the White House was briefly locked down and the traffic outside on Pennsylvania Avenue stopped while the Secret Service investigated. 
Thursday's incident is the second this year involving a drone at the White House. 

In January, a drone crashed on the White House lawn after the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency employee who had been flying the unmanned aircraft around downtown D.C. lost control of it. The 3 a.m. crash startled Secret Service agents, but was it was ultimately determined to be an accident and its clumsy pilot was absolved of criminal charges.

THE SILENCE OF THE BEES: U.S. HONEYBEE LOSSES SOAR 42 PERCENT OVER LAST YEAR. WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO OUR ENVIRONMENT WITH ALL THE PESTICIDES? WHAT PRICE WE WILL PAY?









MAY 12, 2015

Honey bees, critical agents in the pollination of key U.S. crops, disappeared at a staggering rate over the last year, according to a new government report that comes as regulators, environmentalists and agribusinesses try to reverse the decline.

Losses of managed honey bee colonies hit 42.1 percent from April 2014 through April 2015, up from 34.2 percent for 2013-2014, and the second-highest annual loss to date, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report issued on Wednesday.

"Such high colony losses in the summer and year-round remain very troubling," Jeff Pettis, a USDA senior entomologist, said in a statement. 

The results are based on survey responses from about 6,100 beekeepers managing about 400,000 colonies, or roughly 15.5 percent of U.S. bee colonies.
The 2014-15 decline was down from the 45 percent fall in 2012-2013 but well above the other three years of annual measurements and well above the 18.7 percent benchmark considered economically unsustainable, the USDA said.
Honey bees are needed to pollinate plants that produce a quarter of the food consumed by Americans. Beekeepers travel the country with managed hives to help the process. 

Over the past few years, bees have been dying at a rate the U.S. government says must be addressed, and the issue has become politically charged.
Beekeepers, environmental groups and some scientists blame a class of insecticide known as neonicotinoids, or neonics, used on crops such as corn as well as on plants used in lawns and gardens. Some lawn and garden retailers have cut the use of neonics. 

Bayer, Syngenta and others that sell neonic products say mite infestations and other factors are the cause. 



A subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture is holding a hearing on Wednesday, and the White House has formed a task force to study the issue. The Environmental Protection Agency is requiring a series of studies on neonic effects on bees and plans to release the first in a series of assessments later this year. 

Pettis said on Wednesday that the high summer losses weakened the argument that mites are behind the large losses as the mites are most active in winter. He said pesticide exposure was likely at least one factor.

"The bees should be surviving better, but the numbers say otherwise," he said.
This is the first time the USDA has released information about summer month bee losses, though it has gathered the information since 2010-2011. 

The 2014-2015 season was the first that summer losses exceeded winter, at 27.4 percent and 23.1 percent, respectively. Winter losses the prior year were 23.7 percent and summer losses 19.8 percent.

Bayer CropScience called the report "good news," citing the winter loss decline, in a statement issued on Tuesday. Bayer said summer losses were "expected and common," and experts did not agree on what was a "normal range for summer losses."

A full report will be published later this year, the USDA said.


ANOTHER ULTRA-LIGHT HITS THE DUST: 2 KILLED IN A FIERY ULTRA-LIGHT PLANE CRASH IN QUEBEC, CANADA






MAY 14, 2015

MONTREAL, CANADA

Two people died when an ultralight plane appeared to plunge straight down and crash west of Montreal this afternoon.

The aircraft came to rest in a field near Cité des Jeunes Boulevard, not far from the St-Lazare, Que., airport.

Danielle St-Hilaire was looking out her bicycle shop window when she saw the aircraft.

"The plane was completely vertical to the ground, going straight down," she told CBC News. 

St-Hilaire's shop looks out onto the field where the plane crashed.

She said the impact of the crash caused a huge fireball and then the tail of the plane broke off.

Victims pronounced dead at scene.

Provincial police said the crash happened about 12:30 p.m. ET. 

The co-operative of paramedics for the Montérégie region, in southwest Quebec, confirmed the plane was an ultralight.

Firefighters were called to the scene to put out the fire after the crash.
"Unfortunately, two people were in the airplane and were pronounced dead," said provincial police Sgt. Joyce Kemp.

Kemp said the two people haven't been identified. 

The Transportation Safety Board said Thursday afternoon investigators are on the way to the scene. 

Source:cbs.ca.com
 
Ultralights: have fun, die young.  RIP.


/////////------------------/////

 
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in a statement that a team of investigators has been deployed to the site.

Deployment notice

TSB deploys team to the site of a fatal aircraft accident in St-Lazare, Quebec
Dorval, Quebec, 14 May 2015 - The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is deploying a team of investigators to the site of a fatal ultra-light aircraft accident in St-Lazare, Quebec. The TSB will gather information and assess the occurrence.

 ///------------------------////

Date:
14-MAY-2015
Time:
12:30
Type:
ultralight
Owner/operator:
private
Registration:

C/n / msn:

Fatalities:
Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:
0
Airplane damage:
Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:
Near Montreal/St Lazare Airport (CST3), St Lazare, QC - http://aviation-safety.net/database/country/flags_15/C.gif  Canada
Phase:
Unknown
Nature:
Unknown
Departure airport:

Destination airport:


Narrative:

The aircraft impacted farmland terrain in a near vertical descent near Montreal/St Lazare Airport (CST3), St Lazare, Quebec. The airplane was consumed by the post-impact fire and the two occupants onboard received fatal injuries.

Sources: 


Duke Energy Subsidiaries Plead Guilty and Sentenced for 9 Clean Water Act Crimes. The companies will pay a $68 million fine and conduct community service and wetlands mitigation valued at $34 million.








May 14, 2015

Duke Energy Subsidiaries Plead Guilty and Sentenced for Clean Water Act Crimes. The companies will pay a fine and conduct community service and wetlands mitigation.

WASHINGTON – Three subsidiaries of North Carolina-based Duke Energy Corporation, the largest utility in the United States, pleaded guilty today to nine criminal violations of the Clean Water Act at several of its North Carolina facilities and agreed to pay a $68 million criminal fine and spend $34 million on environmental projects and land conservation to benefit rivers and wetlands in North Carolina and Virginia.  Four of the charges are the direct result of the massive coal ash spill from the Dan River steam station into the Dan River near Eden, North Carolina, in February 2014. The remaining violations were discovered as the scope of the investigation broadened based on allegations of historical violations at the companies’ other facilities.

Under the plea agreement, both Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress, must certify that they have reserved sufficient assets to meet legal obligations with respect to its coal ash impoundments within North Carolina, obligations estimated to be approximately $3.4 billion.

Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, EPA’s Office of Inspector General, the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and the three U.S. Attorney’s Offices in North Carolina, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigations and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) made the announcement following a plea hearing at the federal courthouse in Greenville, North Carolina today.

“Over two hundred sixteen million Americans rely on surface water as their source of drinking water. Duke Energy put that precious resource at risk in North Carolina as the result of their negligence,” said Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Companies that cut corners and contaminate waters on which communities depend, as Duke did here, will be held accountable.”

“The massive coal ash spill into North Carolina’s Dan River last year was a crime and it was the result of repeated failures by Duke Energy’s subsidiaries to exercise controls over coal ash facilities,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “The terms of these three plea agreements will help prevent this kind of environmental disaster from reoccurring in North Carolina and throughout the United States by requiring Duke subsidiaries to follow a rigorous and independently verifiable program to ensure they comply with the law.”

“Duke Energy's crimes reflect a breach of the public trust and a lack of stewardship for the natural resources belonging to all of the citizens of North Carolina,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker for the Eastern District of North Carolina.  “The massive release at the Dan River coal ash basin revealed criminal misconduct throughout the state -- conduct that will no longer be tolerated under the Judgment imposed by the court today.”

On Feb. 20, 2015, the three U.S. Attorney’s Offices in North Carolina filed separate criminal bills of information in their respective federal courts, alleging violations of the Clean Water Act at the following Duke facilities: the Dan River steam station (Rockingham County), the Cape Fear steam electric plant (Chatham County), the Asheville steam electric generating plant (Buncombe County), the H.F. Lee steam electric plant (Wayne County), and the Riverbend steam station (Gaston County).  The alleged violations included unlawfully failing to maintain equipment at the Dan River and Cape Fear facilities and unlawfully discharging coal ash and/or coal ash wastewater from impoundments at the Dan River, Asheville, Lee and Riverbend facilities.

As part of their plea agreements, Duke Energy Business Services LLC, Duke Energy Carolinas LLC and Duke Energy Progress Inc. will pay a $68 million criminal fine and a total $24 million community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for the benefit of the riparian environment and ecosystems of North Carolina and Virginia.  The companies will also provide $10 million to an authorized wetlands mitigation bank for the purchase of wetlands or riparian lands to offset the long-term environmental impacts of its coal ash basins.  In addition, they will pay restitution to the federal, state and local governments that responded to the Dan River spill and be placed on a period of supervised probation for five years.

Duke’s subsidiaries operating 18 facilities in five states, including 14 in North Carolina, will also be required to develop and implement nationwide and statewide environmental compliance programs to be monitored by an independent court appointed monitor and be regularly and independently audited.  Results of these audits will be made available to the public to ensure compliance with environmental laws and programs.  The companies’ compliance will be overseen by a court-appointed monitor who will report findings to the court and the U.S. Probation Office as well as ensuring public access to the information.

Approximately 108 million tons of coal ash are currently held in coal ash basins owned and operated by the defendants in North Carolina.  Duke Energy Corporation subsidiaries also operate facilities with coal ash basins in South Carolina (approximately 5.99 million tons of coal ash), Kentucky (approximately 1.5 million tons of coal ash), Indiana (approximately 35.6 million tons of coal ash) and Ohio (approximately 5.9 million tons of coal ash).

The companies must also meet the obligations imposed under federal and state law to excavate and close coal ash impoundments at the Asheville, Dan River, Riverbend, and Sutton facilities.

Additionally, at the insistence of the United States, the holding company Duke Energy Corporation has guaranteed the payment of the monetary penalties and the performance of the nationwide and statewide environmental compliance plans.

The criminal investigation was conducted by the EPA-CID, EPA-Region 4, EPA-OIG, IRS-CI and NC SBI with assistance from the F B I and the Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

TRAIN, 18-WHEELER COLLIDE IN JOHNSTON, SOUTH CAROLINA











THURSDAY, MAY 14TH

JOHNSON, SOUTH CAROLINA
An eyewitness has given us a first-hand account of the crash.

Jacoria Plair, tells us when the train crashed into the tractor-trailer, it dragged it down the tracks and took out several nearby cars which hit the town library. 

And as bad as it was, she says it could have been worse. "The man just happened to be out of his truck to see why he was stuck on the tracks when the train arm came down and warning lights started flashing and he knew...

There was a fuel truck about to go around him in the road and if the fuel truck wouldn't have backed up in time, he would have also been hit but he backed up and I'm glad," she told us.
It was a close call for the driver of the 18 wheeler...and the driver of that fuel tanker! Imagine if it had been dragged down the tracks.

We will continue to follow this story and provide updates as they become available.

Source: http://www.wjbf.com