St. Bernard Parish environmental group and state DEQ discuss air ...

?There?s the official timeline, there?s the official legal process, but we are trying to get a jump on that.? -- Rodney Mallett

A St. Bernard Parish environmental group on Wednesday called on the state Department of Environmental Quality to speed its plans to reduce the emissions of pollutants from local industries as part of a report detailing the group's findings on air quality in parts of the parish. DEQ already has recommended to the federal Environmental Protection Agency that it designate St. Bernard Parish as being out of compliance with standards for how much sulphur dioxide gas is released in an hour.

DEQ will attempt to require compliance with the sulphur dioxide standard sooner than the 2017 deadline, which the EPA is expected to set when it issues its non-compliance directive, according to DEQ spokesman Rodney Mallett. DEQ must submit a state implementation plan to the EPA by mid-2014 that demonstrates how St. Bernard will reach sulphur dioxide standards by 2017.

The EPA standard for sulphur dioxide was reduced to 75 parts per billion in an hour in 2010, from an average of 140 parts per billion in 24 hours, a standard that had been in effect since 1971.

?DEQ?s plan, suggested in a recent Times-Picayune article, is to ?ratchet down? sulfur pollution levels as the permits come up for renewal; that process could take up to five years,? said Suzanne Kneale, a member of the local Concerned Citizens Around Murphy group that authored the recent report, which the group states it compiled from air monitoring data. The report has not been vetted by the DEQ or EPA.

But Mallett said on Wednesday that the DEQ is well aware of the problems and is ?trying to get ahead of the situation and look at some ways that we can address the SO2 (sulphur dioxide) levels in that area.?

?There?s the official timeline, there?s the official legal process, but we are trying to get a jump on that,? Mallett said.

Current scientific evidence links short-term exposures to sulphur dioxide, ranging from 5 minutes to a day, with an array of adverse respiratory effects, such as emphysema and bronchitis, as well as aggravating existing heart disease. The effects can be more profound on asthmatics, children and the elderly.

The three main facilities in the parish that have permits to release amounts of sulphur dioxide are the ExxonMobil Chalmette Refinery, the nearby Rain CII petroleum coke processing plant, and the Valero Energy Corp.?s Meraux refinery, according to the state DEQ. Valero bought that Meraux refinery from Murphy Oil USA in the fall of 2011.

The Concerned Citizens Around Murphy report is based on air monitor readings at the three sites in St. Bernard: two state DEQ monitoring sites, in Chalmette and Meraux, and one monitoring site operated by Valero near its Meraux plant.

St. Bernard?s air quality failed to meet that one-hour health standard for sulphur dioxide on 29 days in 2012, according to the report. The highest readings were from DEQ?s site in the Chalmette Vista neighborhood -? with readings of 241, 229, 216, 211, 184, 174, 164, and 148 parts per billion.

Kneale describes current air quality as a deterrent for people considering whether to return to the parish, which was decimated by the levee breaches during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and which still lacks about half of its pre-Katrina population. Along with sulphur dioxide, the group?s report describes how often air quality in the parish failed to meet standards for particulate matter and hydrogen sulfide in 2012

Based on the air samples at community monitoring sites, the report states that air quality in 2012 failed to meet pollution standards for hydrogen sulfide on eight days, for particulate matter ?PM2.5? on 34 days, and for particulate matter ?PM10? on six days.

Long-term exposure to hydrogen sulfide -? a color, flammable gas -? can cause eye irritation, cough, headache and nasal blockage, along with possible other symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Particulate matter, or particle pollution, is a mixture of solids and liquid drops in the air that can come in a wide range of sizes, with ?PM10? representing particles between 10 micrometers in diameter and 2.5 micrometers in diameter -? smaller than the width of a single human hair. The EPA is particularly concerned about particles 10 micrometers in diameter or smaller because those are the particles that generally pass through the throat and nose and enter the lungs.

Particles 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller -? or PM2.5 -? also called fine particles, often are found in smoke and haze.

Source: http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/01/st_bernard_parish_environmenta.html

casa de mi padre corned beef and cabbage diners drive ins and dives jeff who lives at home 49ers news saint louis university leprechaun

Biden May Be the Most Influential Vice President Ever

Barack Obama just can?t get enough out of Joe Biden these days. And anybody who?s been following Biden?s steady ascent in stature over the last several years -- from gaffe-happy presidential contender to one of the most powerful vice presidents in U.S. history? -- couldn?t be less surprised.

Perhaps the only surprise at all is that, in contrast to a year ago,? it took Biden quite this long to become the president?s point man on the latest round of fiscal talks. The exact reason for the delay is not clear. Perhaps it is that, only a week and a half ago, Obama had called on his vice president to lead a commission to expedite recommendations on a truly serious national issue, gun violence (as opposed to the present trumped-up issue, fiscal reform, which requires only the smidgeon of political courage necessary to depart from? ideological rigidities). Maybe Obama wanted to keep his veep?s powder dry for that.

Or maybe it is just that, in the awkward pattern of political dance partnerships that have emerged over the last couple of years, whenever Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner fail to execute ? as they did after the ?Plan B? debacle -- it?s Biden and his old Senate colleague, Mitch McConnell, who step into the spotlight. The Biden-McConnell duo didn?t cut it during last year?s cliffhanger over the debt limit, of course. But in a sign of just how important a figure the vice president has become in Washington, Biden?s absence until now has been one reason that Republicans doubted Obama?s seriousness about cutting a deal, my colleague Chris Frates reported last week.

As the inevitable brinksmanship plays out, it?s useful to step back and look at just how central a role Biden has played throughout Obama?s presidency.

Over the past four years Biden has insinuated himself into the White House, while seeming hardly to try, in a way that no other vice president in memory has done. He and Obama, both consummate pragmatists though they tend to be liberal in outlook, have achieved something close to a mind meld across a whole range of issues, including foreign policy, the economy, and political strategy. Biden said it outright in his speech during the presidential campaign: ?I literally get to be the last guy in the room with the president. That?s our arrangement.? That?s no small thing in a town where power is often measured in minutes of presidential face time.

It wasn?t long ago that Biden?s predecessor, Dick Cheney, was seen as the gold -- some might say sulfurous -- standard in vice presidential power. Biden himself, ironically enough, once described Cheney as ?probably the most dangerous vice president we?ve had? because of what many observers saw as Cheney?s undue influence over George W. Bush.?

But in terms of the sheer number of issues Biden has influenced in a short time, the current vice president is bidding to surpass even Cheney. Fiscal issues and guns are only a small sampling of this vice president?s portfolio. Back in 2010 it was Biden?s office that, in the main, orchestrated the handover to the Iraqis. It is Biden?s view of Afghanistan that has, bit by bit, come to dominate thinking inside the 2014 withdrawal plan. On financial reform it was Biden who prodded an indecisive Obama to embrace, at long last, Paul Volcker?s idea of barring banks from risky trading, according to Austan Goolsbee, formerly the head of Obama?s Council of Economic Advisers. The VP also tilted the discussion in favor of a bailout of the Big Three auto companies, according to Jared Bernstein, Biden?s former economic adviser. ?I think he made a difference in president?s thinking," Bernstein said. "He understood the importance of the auto companies to their communities, and throughout the country.?

In an interview in the fall of 2010, Biden could hardly contain his enthusiasm for his partnership with Obama. The phrase ?Barack and I ? ? fell from his lips naturally, with no hint of diffidence. He told me then that to his continuing surprise Obama has continued to ?turn over big chunks? of policy to him to handle, whether it?s Iraq, middle-class issues, overseeing the recovery act.? At an early meeting, ?all of sudden Obama stopped. He said, ?Joe will do Iraq. Joe knows more about Iraq than anyone.?. The [Economic] Recovery Act, he just handed it over? to Biden, according to a senior administration official who attended the meetings and would talk about internal discussions only on condition of anonymity.

All of this power makes for quite an irony. Until his ascent to veep, Joe Biden was largely known as an amiable guy with a brilliant smile and a rather big mouth in which he frequently inserted his foot. And it?s not as if anyone could have expected that he?d be much more impressive as vice president. The vice presidency is a job that has tried to be taken seriously throughout U.S. history?and usually failed. John Adams, the nation?s first vice president, bitterly derided his job as ?the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived.?? Like Adams, it was often men who had tasted real power who had the most disdain for the job. John Nance Garner, a former House speaker and FDR?s equally slighted No. 2, declared the job wasn?t ?worth a bucket of warm spit? (it?s believed he used an even saltier term). In modern times the vice presidency began to grow in stature, especially as the hair-trigger calculus of the Cold War required presidents to keep their putative replacements informed. But the job remained for the most part a funeral-attending, snooze-inducing post, barren of almost all constitutional duties.

The previous two vice presidents, Cheney and his predecessor, Al Gore, significantly changed that power dynamic. But on Biden?s watch the ?OVP??Office of the Vice President-- has become something even more: almost a conjoined twin to the presidency, organically linked and indivisible from the Oval Office. Cheney succeeded for a time by creating a kind of shadow presidency, yet there?s nothing shadowy about Biden. Indeed Biden remains, in many respects, the anti-Cheney.

Yet in two critical respects the Delaware Democrat?and the Wyoming Republican do resemble each other. Both are known to be confident in pushing their views, and both became masters of the Washington insider game. Whereas John Adams was not invited to participate in meetings of George Washington?s Cabinet, Biden handles so many issues that when, say, the national security team leaves the Oval Office, he is often left alone chatting with Obama because he needs to be part of the discussion when the economic team arrives to brief the president. He will also often sit down with Obama in the residence before an important National Security Council meeting.?

Now, if Barack Obama does leave a lasting legacy on gun violence that comes out of the terrible tragedy in Newtown, Conn., Biden will be a big part of it. And if anything like an agreement is reached on fiscal issues, Biden is likely to be part of? that as well. His long Senate tenure, and the many relationships he developed across the aisle, are once again proving crucial.? As I reported in the fall of 2010, shortly before the looming congressional election that gave the Republicans?and the Tea Party?the House, no one has more experience working with the other party, reaching across the aisle, and that talent may be critical to just keeping the government going in the coming months. ?He can sit down in foreign policy or other issues and find a common interest and drive the ideas forward. Look at what he did with Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond? in passing the chemical weapons treaty and crime bills, respectively, in the ?90s, his former chief of staff (and later successor), Ted Kaufman, noted back then. ?I mean, Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond! You don?t get more conservative than that.?

Actually, you do, as the current breed of Republicans has demonstrated in this era. But if anyone can talk to Mitch McConnell, it?s Joe Biden. Whose stock is still rising steadily.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/biden-may-most-influential-vice-president-ever-133153208--politics.html

cough matt groening brandon phillips summerfest summerfest fidel castro rick santorum

Video: Photographer killed trying to snap pics of Bieber?s car

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50342169/

the firm new york philharmonic marines urinating on taliban critics choice awards super pac dre kirkpatrick mls superdraft

Vivid pink and snake adornment, extremely well suited for dress up ...

Mary Kia Mary Kia is probably the fashionable group lately quite well-liked manufacturer. The developermichael kors outlet online?structures history, then mix-boundary to Gucci manufacturer as being a dress developer, style of his ability relogio michael kors gradually comfortable, then its offered as Boss of Gucci. Have a look at Mary Ford?s Resume, will find that along with Gucci, younger crowd participated in design for the chalaza, YSL, and other manufacturer. About 2004, Mary Kia started to focus on functioning their unique manufacturer the exact same name.

Vivid white and lizard decoration, quite suitable for dress up far more charm from the girl. Large influx curl, substantial-heeled shoes or boots, is quite desirable. Mary Kia have expertise every item are done on the inside and never typical.

Valentino warren tino is create manufacturer in France in 1960, is currently one of the best high end brands on the planet, especially proficient at sophisticated customization and sophisticated dress, also in the girl?s carrier have triumphs. Beginning from this manufacturer was born, it has always been consistent fashion. Today, will still be plenty of celebrities, the girls of love with high end brands. Specially all sorts of night time dress, can still most suitably echo the woman?s mild and royal character. Valentino Class Locking mechanism Small Carrier ? white, brilliant white, mild environmentally friendly shade, what?s the feeling of the wake of springtime is abundant. Match so extravagant carrier, clothes is just not suitable for too many tips, basic and nimble inside the dark-colored layer is the greatest

Source: http://millonariossite.com/vivid-pink-and-snake-adornment-extremely-well-suited-for-dress-up-much-more.html

randy moss randy moss hunger games premiere the bachelor good morning america red meat bachelor ben

Gunmen in Pakistan kill 5 female teachers, 2 aid workers

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Gunmen in northwest Pakistan killed five female teachers and two aid workers on Tuesday in an ambush on a van carrying workers home from their jobs at a community centre, officials said.

The attack was another reminder of the risks to women educators and aid workers from Islamic militants who oppose their work. It was in the same conservative province where militants shot and seriously wounded 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai, an outspoken young activist for girls' education, in October.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest shootings.

The van was transporting teachers and aid workers from the centre in conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It is an area where Islamic militants often target women and girls trying to get an education or female teachers.

Militants in the province have blown up schools and killed female educators. They have also kidnapped and killed aid workers, viewing them as promoting a foreign agenda.

Last month, nine people working on an anti-polio vaccination campaign were shot and killed.

The teachers were killed along with two health workers, one man and one woman. Their driver was wounded. They were on their way home from a community centre in the town of Swabi where they were working at a primary school for girls and adjoining medical centre.

Swabi police chief Abdur Rasheed said most of the women killed were between the ages of 20 and 22. He said four gunmen who used two motorcycles fled the scene and have not been apprehended.

The gunmen on motorcycles opened fire with automatic weapons, said Javed Akhtar, executive director of the non-governmental organization Support With Working Solutions. The NGO conducts programs in the education and health sectors and runs the community centre in Swabi, he said. The group has been active in the city since 1992, and started the Ujala Community Welfare Center in 2010, he added. Ujala means "light" in Urdu.

The centre is financed by the Pakistani government's Poverty Alleviation Program and a German organization, said Akhtar.

He said the NGO also runs health and education projects in the South Waziristan tribal area, as well as health projects in the cities of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan and the regions of Lower Dir and Upper Kurram. All of those cities and regions are in northwest Pakistan, the area that has been most affected by the ongoing fight with militants opposed to the current government.

Aid groups such as Support With Working Solutions often provide a vital role in many areas of Pakistan where the government has been unable to provide services such as medical clinics or schools. But in some areas like the northwest, they have had to work to overcome community fears that they are promoting a foreign agenda at odds with local traditions and values.

Akhtar said he has directed staff at all projects to stop working for the time being until security measures are reviewed but vowed that they would resume their work soon.

He said that the NGO had not received any threats before the attack.

In a case in the same province that gained international attention, a Taliban gunman shot 15-year-old Yousufzai in the head last October for criticizing the militants and promoting girls' education. She is currently recovering in Britain.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gunmen-pakistan-kill-5-female-teachers-2-aid-150017426.html

the third man 2012 nfl draft order mohamed sanu chris polk chicago bulls st louis blues rueben randle

Pakistan releases 8 Afghan Taliban prisoners

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Pakistan released eight members of the Afghan Taliban from prison on Monday, including the former justice minister under the Taliban, in a bid to boost the peace process in neighboring Afghanistan, the government said.

Pakistan is seen as a lynchpin in efforts to bring about peace in Afghanistan as foreign troops plan to depart the country in 2014. Kabul has been pressing its neighbor to release more prisoners who they hope would bring the Taliban to the negotiating table before the U.S. troops go home.

The Pakistanis appear to have an interest in promoting peace across the border, as a resumption of the civil war there could bring harsh consequences on its side as well.

"We have released some more Taliban prisoners today as our help in the peace process in Afghanistan," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan said.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said eight detainees were released, including Nooruddin Turabi, the justice minister under the Taliban.

Mohammad Azeem, a former guard of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, was also among those released, according to a Taliban official. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters about the sensitive subject.

It was not clear what role the eight released prisoners might play in bringing Taliban leaders to the negotiating table or what links they have to the group's current leadership.

Pakistan has longstanding ties to the Taliban and its support is key to any future reconciliation, just as its opposition would likely block any progress. For example, Pakistan could facilitate travel for Taliban leaders ? many who are believed to reside in or travel to Pakistan frequently ? to third countries for peace talks.

Last month, Pakistan released 18 prisoners at the request of the Afghan High Peace Council, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in its statement. In early December it promised to release more members of the group.

Both developments were seen as signs that Pakistan, long accused of backing militants, was supporting a new push to bring peace to a country with which it shares a long border and tumultuous history. The Afghan and U.S. governments accuse Islamabad of backing insurgents ? an allegation Pakistan denies ? and say many militant leaders are hiding in the country.

So far the militant group's former deputy leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has not been released, although Afghanistan has been pressuring Pakistan to set him free.

The Afghan peace process has made little headway since it began several years ago, hobbled by distrust among the major players, including the United States.

Part of the reason Pakistan is seen to be actively helping the process is that government and military officials are worried that if American troops leave without a plan in place, Afghanistan could deteriorate into another round of vicious infighting. After the Soviets pulled out in 1989, many of the militants who had helped best that superpower then turned on each other in what played out as a vicious war across the country.

A repeat of that scenario could have horrific consequences for Pakistan, such as a flood of Afghan refugees across its borders and increased fighting in Pakistan's tribal areas, where the military is already trying to suppress a stubborn insurgency.

Pakistani intelligence officials said Monday that they found the bodies of nine militants dumped in the North Waziristan tribal region.

The men were shot several times in the head and chest, said three Pakistani intelligence officials. Their bodies were found Monday off a road in Pir Kili village. The officials said the dead men were linked to the Pakistani Taliban, a militant group affiliated with the Taliban in Afghanistan but focused on fighting the Pakistani government.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to reporters.

North Waziristan is a hub of militant activity near the Afghan border.

The militants' bodies were found one day after 21 tribal police personnel who had been abducted were found dead in another tribal region.

___

Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon and Rebecca Santana in Islamabad and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-31-Pakistan/id-b8533607d40f40f0964583738be0e7f7

hallmark grammy winners obama budget woolly mammoth belize resorts nikki minaj grammy performance shel silverstein

Sharp considering raising $1.2 billion to beef up capital: media

TOKYO (Reuters) - Struggling Japanese TV maker Sharp Corp is considering raising more than 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion) this spring to bolster its capital base, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The debt-laden company, whose displays are used in Apple Inc's iPads and iPhones, was forced to seek a bailout from banks in September and has forecast a loss of 155 billion yen for the fiscal year to March 2013, hit by rising costs from a strong yen and tough competition from its South Korean rivals.

Sharp's capital-to-asset ratio is likely to fall to around 8 percent in March. Its main creditor banks want it to raise that ratio to above 10 percent with a mixture of steps including public and preferred share offerings as well as subordinated loans, the Japanese daily said, without citing sources.

Sharp will announce plans for a capital increase in February and hopes to use the proceeds to strengthen its capital base and its main liquid crystal display (LCD) panel business, according to the paper.

The company was not immediately available for comment.

Shares of Sharp have slumped and its credit rating was downgraded to junk status as the company struggles to turn its business around. It recently agreed on a capital and business tie-up with Qualcomm Inc in which the U.S. chipmaker will invest as much as $120 million.

Sharp's shares closed at 303 yen in Tokyo on Friday, well off its year-low of 142 yen hit in October but less than half its value at the outset of 2012.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sharp-considering-raising-1-2-billion-beef-capital-024545695--finance.html

washington redskins New Years Eve New Year kim kardashian pregnant chicago bears redskins adrian peterson