SLOW DOWN AT ROAD WORK SITES, GIVE WORKERS A BREAK: HIGHWAY WORKER STRUCK, KILLED IN SHAWANO COUNTY, WISCONSIN BY DENNIS ST. JOHN FROM HURLEY

MAY 27, 2015

SHAWANO, WIS. (AP)

A 30-year-old highway construction worker has died after he was struck by a minivan on state Highway 47 near the Town of Red Springs.

The Wisconsin State Patrol says Derek Stempa of Shawano was flagging traffic in a construction zone when he was hit late Tuesday morning by man driving a 2003 Dodge Caravan. Stempa was taken to Shawano Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver of the minivan, a 68-year-old Hurley man, wasn't injured.

Authorities are investigating the deadly crash site.

An account has been set up for the family of a Shawano County highway worker who was killed while flagging traffic Tuesday.

The Shawano County Sheriff’s Office says 30-year-old Derek T. Stempa of Shawano was hit by a car on State Highway 47 near County Road G in the Town of Red Springs.

He leaves behind a “loving wife and two young children,” according to Sheriff Adam Bieber. A family of the young family was posted on the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.

Investigators say a 68-year-old man from Hurley, identified as Dennis St. John, was headed south on STH 47 when he hit Stempa.

Stempa was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

St. John was not hurt.

If you would like to help the Stempa family, go to any Capital Credit Union and ask to put money into the account for Heather Stempa or account #7240843.

If you would like to mail a donation, you can send it to Capital Credit Union, P.O. Box 2526, Green Bay, WI 54306-2526, and include the account number or the name Heather Stempa.

You can contact the credit union at (800) 728-4294.

The crash remains under investigation.

Apocalypse Now in Texas: How the GOP-Led Politicians Left the State to Drown

While cities along its rivers are growing the most dramatically, the state continues to forego any and all central planning for floods.  This thanks to the cheapskate GOP politicians.  They got what they paid for (or did not pay in this case). 

Houston is buckling down as a major storm sweeps east in Texas. Between Austin and San Antonio, that system has led to the worst flooding in more than 30 years. Aerial footage captured by a drone shows the bucolic waters of Barton Creek in downtown Austin rushing like a raging river. 

Central Texas hasn’t suffered a storm this severe since the Memorial Day Flood of 1981, when severe storms in Austin claimed 13 lives and caused tens of millions of dollars in property damage. That year, Shoal Creek surged from a flow of 90 gallons per minute to more than 6 million gallons per minute—one of many rivers that flooded dramatically, as the Austin American-Statesman recalls.

In the three decades since, Texas has done little to secure its floodplains against torrential downpours. At the same time, the population in many of Texas floodplains has skyrocketed—including Hays County, a stretch of fast-growing cities between Austin and San Antonio, where 12 people are still missing after the storm.

Texas ranks among the worst of any state for flood-control spending. According to the Texas section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the state is second only to Louisiana the U.S. in terms of dollars paid out in flood claims. 

The state does not require communities to enroll in the National Flood Insurance Program (a part of FEMA), even though Texas ranks second only to Florida in its number of total flood insurance policies across its communities.

Wherever possible, the state leaves it to individual cities and counties to protect themselves against flooding. Texas require cities and counties to meet the eligibility requirements for NFIP, but it does not require cities to enroll, as some states do. (Many Texas cities and counties are enrolled in the program.) More to the point, though: Texas doesn’t fund flood-control infrastructure directly. And Texas doesn’t have a statewide floodplain management plan.

Three Texas agencies are responsible for flood mitigation across the state: The Governor’s Division of Emergency Management, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the Texas Water Development Board. But none of these has true authority to devise or implement flood-control policies for the state’s 23 river basins, according to the Texas ASCE.

These oversights led the ASCE to give Texas a “D” on flood control on its latest infrastructure report card. That grade will only drop if Texas continues to forego any and all central planning for natural disasters while the state’s population booms—especially since cities along rivers prone to flooding are growing the most dramatically.

A failing grade for flood control and prevention is worse than embarrassing for Texas. It’s dangerous, expensive, and fatal, as is evidenced by the 17 people already dead and the dozens missing.

http://www.citylab.com

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Flash Floods Leave Apocalyptic Scenes Across Texas

May 27, 2015

Meghan Keneally More from Meghan »

Digital Reporter

Follow @mkeneally

Tornado Touches Down in Ohio, Texas Recovers From Flooding

A flash flood warning was issued for parts of six counties in Texas that include Houston, and parts of the city remain underwater after a weekend of torrential rain. 

The warning was issued by the National Weather Service at 6:14 a.m. local time and was expected to last for three hours. 

City officials have confirmed today that another body was discovered this morning near his vehicle after water pumps were brought in to drain a portion of a highway. This death marks the sixth storm-related death in Houston since last week. The statewide death toll blamed on the weather has now reached 16 people. 

More rain is the last thing the region needs. In addition to the flash flood threat from rain, a dam southwest of Dallas appears on the brink of breaking. If the water runs over the top of the dam at Padera Lake, one of the state's major highways could be flooded, the Associated Press reported. 

Photos from the most-affected areas show muddy, brown water filling the streets, with the tops of cars visible in some of the most-flooded roadways. 

Elaine Thompson/AP Photo

PHOTO: Kevin Calaway pries apart debris from a cabin shattered from a flood at a resort along the Blanco River, May 26, 2015, in Wimberley, Texas.

Eric Gay/AP Photo

PHOTO: A man walks along the Blanco River

Drivers stuck in rainwater accounted for at least two of the three deaths that Houston Mayor Annise Parker confirmed on Tuesday following a rain storm Monday night into Tuesday morning. She did not identify the victims but said one person was found inside their vehicle and another was outside and appeared to have suffered a heart attack while trying to push a car out of the flooding. 

High water closes exit 78A of I-45 in Montgomery County. Drive safe out there. @abc13houston #HouNews #mapit pic.twitter.com/f3IipdaYHC
— Steve Campion (@SteveABC13) May 27, 2015

One of the grimmest discoveries came on Tuesday morning when a biker found a casket on a roadway in southwest Houston. 

Walter Rubio told ABC News affiliate KTRK that he saw the casket just laying in the middle of a street, and police opened it and found a dead body inside.

Investigators believe the casket was unearthed from a nearby cemetery during the flooding and determined that it was used to bury a woman who died in 2007. Police have not yet identified the body inside the casket. 

KRIV

PHOTO: Police stand near a casket that authorities believe was unearthed from the Riceville Cemetery by recent flooding in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015.

Officials have urged residents to avoid touching any objects in the water and to report debris that they find. 

Today's rain has already led to partial closures of I-45 because of flooding.

On Tuesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott added eight counties to the list of 13 that he had already declared disaster areas. 

Aaron M. Sprecher/AFP/Getty Images

PHOTO: Vehicles sit stranded on a flooded Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015.

Tamir Kalifa/Reuters

PHOTO: A Porsche rests against the foundation of a home destroyed by the Memorial Day weekend floods in Wimberley, Texas, May 26, 2015.

Explosion Narrowly Avoided After Fire Engulfs Ship Off Coast of Germany

May 27, 2015

Task Force Rescue Vessels put out the fire on The Purple Beach freighter.

German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME)

 

A freighter carrying fertilizer -- a potentially explosive substance -- was abandoned by its crew off the coast of Germany after the vessel caught on fire, German officials told ABC News. 

But after more than two days of smoldering, and a failed attempt to extinguish the flames, the ship is no longer at risk of exploding, German officials said.

Dozens of residents from Bremerhaven and nearby towns called Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies on Monday asking about a large cloud of smoke emanating from a ship sailing off the coast, authorities said. 

The 630-foot long cargo named “Purple Beach” was headed for the German port of Brake and had been travelling from the United Kingdom, authorities said.

The fire was initially put out, but it picked up again on Tuesday prompting the crew to evacuate, officials said. Residents were told to keep windows and doors shut as a risk of explosion was reported. 

German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME)

PHOTO: Task Force Rescue Vessels put out the fire on The Purple Beach freighter. 

On Wednesday, authorities managed to pour massive streams of water onto the smoking ship and firefighters were able to board the vessel, a spokesman from the Central Command said. 

“All of the 26 crew members who had been sent to hospital for monitoring have now been released,” the spokesman added. 

Rescue boats are still monitoring the situation, making sure that the temperature of the boat remains stable. In the next few hours, officials will decide whether and how to tow the ship and clear the area.

PADEP Announces Work to Reclaim Hazardous Abandoned Mine Land in Luzerne County

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg PA., 17120
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

05/27/2015

CONTACT:

Colleen Connolly, DEP

570-826-2035

 

PADEP Announces Work to Reclaim Hazardous Abandoned Mine Land in Luzerne County

WILKES-BARRE, PA -- The Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (DEP/BAMR) has announced work is set to begin next month to reclaim abandoned mine lands in Hazle Township, Luzerne County that are classified as a significant health and safety hazard under the federal Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Program.  The 65.5 acres of abandoned strip mind land is considered hazardous due to its proximity to homes and heavily travelled Route 309.
The work involves eliminating a 1500-foot high-wall, with a high point of 100-feet.  The wall is located approximately 350-feet from homes.  It will also include removing 820,000-cubic yards of material, mostly coal refuse, from the Penny’s Bank and Lattimer Basin Mine areas near the Hazleton Airport and filling in an old stripping pit.  The mining operations of the Pardee Brothers Company that created the dangerous stripping pit date back to 1929.

Once the project is complete, approximately 1.2 million cubic yards of on-site and adjacent coal refuse material will be re-claimed and re-vegetated.    Also, runoff from the site will be contained entirely in the backfilled pit.  Two existing culverts will also continue to drain off-site runoff into the reclaimed pit. The pit will contain a low area where rock from the site will act as a sump to drain the runoff into the mine pool.

“This project will not only reclaim mine land that can be reused for recreational or development purposes, but it also helps eliminate what has been a constant reminder of the impacts left behind by the early years of coal mining,” said BAMR program manager Mike Korb.  

DEP has awarded James T. O’Hara Excavating of Moscow, Lackawanna County, a $4 million contract to complete the project, with work set to begin in June.
The project is being funded by Pennsylvania’s federal abandoned mine land grant, which is subsidized by the coal industry via fees paid on each ton of coal mined.  In 2015 Pennsylvania received $44 million from the federal program to support DEP’s abandoned mine land and acid mine drainage reclamation programs. 
For more information, call 570-826-2511 or visit www.dep.state.pa.us.

Clean Water Rule Protects Streams and Wetlands Critical to Public Health, Communities, and Economy

CONTACT:
Robert Daguillard
daguillard.robert@epa.gov
(202) 564-6618
Moira Kelley
Moira.l.kelley.civ@mail.mil
703-614-3992

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
May 27, 2015

Clean Water Rule Protects Streams and Wetlands Critical to Public Health, Communities, and Economy

Does not create any new permitting requirements and maintains all previous exemptions and exclusions

Washington, DC

In a historic, albeit belated, step for the protection of clean water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army finalized the Clean Water Rule today to clearly protect from pollution and degredation the streams and wetlands that form the foundation of the nation’s water resources.

The rule ensures that waters protected under the Clean Water Act are more precisely defined and predictably determined, making permitting less costly, easier, and faster for businesses and industry. The rule is grounded in law and the latest science, and is shaped by public input. The rule does not create any new permitting requirements for agriculture and maintains all previous exemptions and exclusions.

“For the water in the rivers and lakes in our communities that flow to our drinking water to be clean, the streams and wetlands that feed them need to be clean too,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “Protecting our water sources is a critical component of adapting to climate change impacts like drought, sea level rise, stronger storms, and warmer temperatures – which is why EPA and the Army have finalized the Clean Water Rule to protect these important waters, so we can strengthen our economy and provide certainty to American businesses.”

“Today's rule marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the Clean Water Act,” said Assistant Secretary for the Army (Civil Works) Jo-Ellen Darcy. “This is a generational rule and completes another chapter in history of the Clean Water Act. This rule responds to the public's demand for greater clarity, consistency, and predictability when making jurisdictional determinations. The result will be better public service nationwide."

People need clean water for their health: About 117 million Americans – one in three people – get drinking water from streams that lacked clear protection before the Clean Water Rule. America’s cherished way of life depends on clean water, as healthy ecosystems provide wildlife habitat and places to fish, paddle, surf, and swim. Clean and reliable water is an economic driver, including for manufacturing, farming, tourism, recreation, and energy production. The health of our rivers, lakes, bays, and coastal waters are impacted by the streams and wetlands where they begin.

Protection for many of the nation’s streams and wetlands has been confusing, complex, and time-consuming as the result of Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006. EPA and the Army are taking this action today to provide clarity on protections under the Clean Water Act after receiving requests for over a decade from members of Congress, state and local officials, industry, agriculture, environmental groups, scientists, and the public for a rulemaking.

In developing the rule, the agencies held more than 400 meetings with stakeholders across the country, reviewed over one million public comments, and listened carefully to perspectives from all sides. EPA and the Army also utilized the latest science, including a report summarizing more than 1,200 peer-reviewed, published scientific studies which showed that small streams and wetlands play an integral role in the health of larger downstream water bodies.

Climate change makes protection of water resources even more essential. Streams and wetlands provide many benefits to communities by trapping floodwaters, recharging groundwater supplies, filtering pollution, and providing habitat for fish and wildlife. Impacts from climate change like drought, sea level rise, stronger storms, and warmer temperatures threaten the quantity and quality of America’s water. Protecting streams and wetlands will improve our nation’s resilience to climate change.

Specifically, the Clean Water Rule:

• Clearly defines and protects tributaries that impact the health of downstream waters. The Clean Water Act protects navigable waterways and their tributaries. The rule says that a tributary must show physical features of flowing water – a bed, bank, and ordinary high water mark – to warrant protection. The rule provides protection for headwaters that have these features and science shows can have a significant connection to downstream waters.
• Provides certainty in how far safeguards extend to nearby waters. The rule protects waters that are next to rivers and lakes and their tributaries because science shows that they impact downstream waters. The rule sets boundaries on covering nearby waters for the first time that are physical and measurable.
• Protects the nation’s regional water treasures. Science shows that specific water features can function like a system and impact the health of downstream waters. The rule protects prairie potholes, Carolina and Delmarva bays, pocosins, western vernal pools in California, and Texas coastal prairie wetlands when they impact downstream waters.
• Focuses on streams, not ditches. The rule limits protection to ditches that are constructed out of streams or function like streams and can carry pollution downstream. So ditches that are not constructed in streams and that flow only when it rains are not covered.
• Maintains the status of waters within Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems. The rule does not change how those waters are treated and encourages the use of green infrastructure.
• Reduces the use of case-specific analysis of waters. Previously, almost any water could be put through a lengthy case-specific analysis, even if it would not be subject to the Clean Water Act. The rule significantly limits the use of case-specific analysis by creating clarity and certainty on protected waters and limiting the number of similarly situated water features.

A Clean Water Act permit is only needed if a water is going to be polluted or destroyed. The Clean Water Rule only protects the types of waters that have historically been covered under the Clean Water Act. 

It does not regulate most ditches and does not regulate groundwater, shallow subsurface flows, or tile drains. It does not make changes to current policies on irrigation or water transfers or apply to erosion in a field. The Clean Water Rule addresses the pollution and destruction of waterways – not land use or private property rights.

The rule protects clean water necessary for farming, ranching, and forestry and provides greater clarity and certainty to farmers about coverage of the Clean Water Act. Farms across America depend on clean and reliable water for livestock, crops, and irrigation. 

The final rule specifically recognizes the vital role that U.S. agriculture serves in providing food, fuel, and fiber at home and around the world. The rule does not create any new permitting requirements for America’s farmers. Activities like planting, harvesting, and moving livestock have long been exempt from Clean Water Act regulation, and the Clean Water Rule preserves those exemptions.
The Clean Water Rule will be effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

More information: www.epa.gov/cleanwaterrule and http://www.army.mil/asacw