Balisage

The Arctic Council is meeting this week in Kiruna Sweden an appropriately choice for the venue considering that mans’ impacts on the Arctic climate will be high on the agenda. Kiruna hosts the largest underground iron mine in the world where in response to ground deformations caused by mining, the city will be relocated over the coming years. Later this week at Kiruna the eight Arctic States (Russia, Finland, Denmark for Greenland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, the U.S. and Canada) will sign a ‘Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response’ agreement. The agreement aims to strengthen cooperation, coordination and mutual assistance on pollution preparedness and response in the Arctic in order to protect the marine environment from pollution by oil. Despite this noble promise the agreement does little more than reinforce existing international agreements.

The Arctic Council is meeting this week in Kiruna Sweden an appropriately choice for the venue considering that mans’ impacts on the Arctic climate will be high on the agenda. Kiruna hosts the largest underground iron mine in the world where in response to ground deformations caused by mining, the city will be relocated over the coming years. Later this week at Kiruna the eight Arctic States (Russia, Finland, Denmark for Greenland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, the U.S. and Canada) will sign a ‘Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response’ agreement. The agreement aims to strengthen cooperation, coordination and mutual assistance on pollution preparedness and response in the Arctic in order to protect the marine environment from pollution by oil. Despite this noble promise the agreement does little more than reinforce existing international agreements.

Subject : dredging Loctudy (Finistère)

The departmental management scheme for dredging in Finistère promotes stagnation and consolidates bad habits. Dumping mud from the Loctudy and Lesconil ports into the Natura 2000 marine area of the Roches de Penmarc’h proves it. The Natura 2000 site has a kelp forest that shelters a biodiversity of major economic importance. It has been chipped by the currents and the streams. The underwater harbor waste dumping in Finistère will scatter and impact the waters of Morbihan.

Only in French.

The new Japanese Nuclear Safety Authority (NRA – Nuclear Regulation Authority) is considered independent. It will publish this summer 2013 a collection of basic safety rules and prescribe generic or specific work to each nuclear site in the archipelago.

These preventive improvements will take several months to a few years. They will be carried out under the precondition that the political decision to relaunch nuclear power is affirmed and accepted by civil society.

The risks of a transoceanic shipping of spent fuel containing plutonium are unacceptable today, particularly because of political, military and nuclear tensions between North Korea, South Korea and Japan.

The new Japanese Nuclear Safety Authority (NRA – Nuclear Regulation Authority) is considered independent. It will publish this summer 2013 a collection of basic safety rules and prescribe generic or specific work to each nuclear site in the archipelago.

These preventive improvements will take several months to a few years. They will be carried out under the precondition that the political decision to relaunch nuclear power is affirmed and accepted by civil society.

The risks of a transoceanic shipping of spent fuel containing plutonium are unacceptable today, particularly because of political, military and nuclear tensions between North Korea, South Korea and Japan.

The Atlantic Star remained disused in Marseille for more than 2 years. Construction of the Atlantic Star at La Seyne-sur-Mer in 1984 had mobilized, as in all cruise ships, significant amounts of asbestos.

The ship belonged to the Spanish shipowner Pullmantur, a subsidiary of the American company Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. Her operation became prohibitive; replacing her steam turbines with a diesel propulsion was impossible. The Atlantic Star, still in the hands of Spanish interests, remained under the European flag of Malta until March 1, 2013.

Whatever the motivations of the ivory thief at the Museum of Natural History in Paris are, this heist is to be taken seriously. Is it a personal initiative, an order, or the emergence of a new underground ivory trafficking network in France and Europe?

Since 2011, 82 rhinoceros horns were stolen in Europe, including 7 in France. These thefts are attributed to organized criminal networks. They target museums, antique dealers, auction rooms, taxidermists, and private collectors. These thefts are sometimes accompanied by violence. In zoos, rhinos are under increased protection. The development of thefts is parallel to the increase of poaching in Africa and Asia and the increased price per kilo of the rhinoceros horn on the legal and black markets. Some experts suggest the price goes up to 65,000 euros per kilo.

In 2013, when the former Atlantic Star, renamed Antic, leaves Marseille for demolition at Alang without asbestos removal, silence reigns.

In 2006, when the former Clemenceau, renamed hull Q790, went to Alang for demolition after a partial asbestos removal in France, a politically correct, unanimous roar rang out.

The Atlantic Star is a 240m-long ship built in 1984 in the shipyards of La Seyne-sur-Mer in France, an asbestos stronghold. It was abandoned in Marseille in 2010. The Atlantic Star belonged to the Spanish subsidiary of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL).

The ship was docked along the main jetty of the port of Marseille. Since September 2010, she imposed herself as a five-star squatter while, despite her silhouette and red chimney, she tried to blend in and make believe that her port of call was temporary.

Initially her stopover in Marseille was technical. There was talk of replacing steam turbines with diesel engines. From technical, the stopover quickly became economical. There is no future for a ship built 30 years ago without considerable expense and a regulatory upgrade.