Containment

The Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) is very pleased to announce the details for a very unique facility tour in Southern Ontario and New York State to visit various waste management facilities. There will be seven facilities on the tour representing new and innovative technologies and/or management practices. The tour will take place 29 and 30 September 2009. Read more about it.

Geomembrane Technologies Inc. (GTI) has participated in a project that qualified for the carbon credit market under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The project is helping show how the use of geosynthetic covers can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas release as well as promote additional environmental and social benefits.

The Minnesota Erosion Control Association (MECA) will hold a course on winter maintenance and affiliated sediment management issues on 14 October 2009. Sediment accrual and release from winter public works is significantly more of an issue than many realize. Each year, winter sanding in the Lake Superior Watershed results in the loss of about 4500 truckloads of sand to ditches, streams, lakes and Lake Superior. The half-day course will include results from the MECA Lake Superior Basin Sediment Study. Learn more here.;

The Asia Mining Congress 2010 has announced its speaker list: Donald Lindsay, CEO, Teck, Canada; Sam Walsh, CEO, Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Australia; Nagi Hamiyeh, Managing Director -Investment, Temasek Holdings, Singapore; Fabio Barbosa, CFO, Vale, Brazil; and Ian Pearce CEO, Xstrata Nickel, Canada. Learn more about this event from Terrapinn at the conference website. Learn more here.;

Glenn Darilek and Daren Laine of Leak Location Services Inc. (LLSI) have published a thought-provoking piece on Action Leakage Rates (ALR) over on the redesigned Geosynthetics Magazine website. At open, Darilek and Laine note not that a certain ALR is achievable with good construction practices but whether there is a practical solution if it is not. Read "A new sensible approach: Are we specifying action leakage rates or actionable leakage rates?" online. Learn more here.;

Irkutsk Oil Company LLC and SIBUR Vostok LLC have signed a Memorandum of Intentions in the field of gas treatment and processing in the Irkutsk Region. Read more in the press release.

Thunder Bay is using clean stone wrapped in geotextile to clean stormwater runoff. The drainage system funnels the water beneath a popular beaches sand, making the beach itself part of the stormwater system. Learn more here.;

Mark C. Arnold has been announced as president, CEO and director of Gundle/SLT Environmental, Inc. (GSE), a global geosynthetics manufacturer. Arnold's follows the sudden death of long-time GSE leader Samir Badawi. Like Badawi, Arnold brings considerable international business acumen to GSE. Prior to joining GSE, he served as vice president and general manager at Lubrizol Corporation, where he focused on growth along the Pacific Rim and in India, South America and the Middle East. Additionally, he spent 15 years with polyethylene pipe giant Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. Read more in the release.

When the Chicago Botanic Garden opens the new Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center to the public on 23 September 2009, it will also be adding a new display garden. The Plant Science Center Gardens will consist of a 16,000-square-foot Green Roof Garden atop the building and a Rainwater Glen that surrounds the building. The Plant Science Center Gardens will provide a beautiful space to contemplate all that plants provide us in our daily lives, and drive home the need to save the plants in order to save the planet. The view from the Green Roof Garden to the Evaluation Garden and adjacent Dixon Prairie and Evening Island will also be spectacular.

Following the dramatic failure of the Kingston, Tennessee wet-coal-ash storage pond, the US federal government initiated a survey of its many similar facilities. The survey details are available. Many of the 584 facilities are more than 30 years old. A 1999 survey by the EPA found that only about one quarter of these structures were lined. Since the Kingston disaster, considerable movements have been made in state legislatures to mandate the use of containment liners, just as they are required for the waste management field. Read more in this article at Solve Climate's blog. Learn more here.;

Following the failure of the Kingston, Tennessee coal ash storage structure, the US government initiated a study of other existing structures. The results of the survey have been released.

On the verge of China's 60th anniversary of its ruling Communist Party, environmental protests have cropped up over the pollution caused by the countries breakneck expansion. Thousands of protesters, many of whom work or have worked in the plants causing some much environmental damage, have clashed with riot police in numerous cities. Even hostages are reported to have been taken. Learn more here.;

In a move that stands to create jobs, boost local economies, improve aging water infrastructure and protect human health and the environment for the people in New York State, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $86,811,000 to the New York State Department of Health. This new infusion of money provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will help the state and local governments finance many of the overdue improvements to water projects that are essential to protecting public health and the environment across the state.

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) is pleased to welcome T. Boone Pickens as the 2009 WASTECON Presidential Keynote speaker on Wednesday, 23 September 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at the Long Beach Convention Center. Mr. Pickens will share his vision for reducing America's dependence on foreign oil with strategies that include renewable energy sources from solid waste. The Presidential Keynote Session will be moderated by SWANA's incoming International President John Hadfield.

Barrick Gold has had installed what it believes to be the first geomembrane cap over a leach pad in mine closure operations. The cap has been installed to prevent cyanide washout from the zone due to snow melt. Roughly 430,000 square feet of geomembrane from Agru America have been installed. Work will be completed on the site in the next few weeks. Sierra Geosynthetics is conducting the installation. Learn more here.;

A blogger has taken on analysis of the track record for the artificial surf reefs constructed over the last 12 years. Grades are poor, with C- being the best. One of those recipients is Narrowneck Reef in Australia. The system in Narrowneck is large and uses geotextile bags. While the reef serves its main purpose--controlling beach erosion--it hasn't turned out to be a surfer's dream (nor was it built to be). Pratt's Reef in the America's also uses geotextile bags, but received a grade of F. The tiny installation has not had an effect and is being dismantled. Learn more here.;

Tiger Woods is ready to take on remediation--via the undulating greens of Liberty National near the Statue of Liberty in New York. The course grounds, built over an old oil refining site, occupy 160 acres and offer an astonishing 4,000 feet of waterfront space and magnificent views of the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan skyline and Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Bob Cupp and Tom Kite designed the course. Geosynthetic liners were used extensively to cap the old polluted soil and separate it from the clean, rolling hills of the very challenging links-style course that now characterizes the area. Learn more here.;

Golf Week weighs in on the former toxic site that has been remediated and capped with geosynthetics and clean soil to create the links-style Liberty National course. The 7,400 yard course is on the water in New Jersey and looks out at New York and the Statue of Liberty. Learn more here.;

While the American dam infrastructure is normally in the news only with the help of ASCE or ASDSO, this week it has caught the attention of WIRED magazine. After the failure of a hydroelectric dam in Russia, more people are turning their attention (seriously, this time) to the hundreds of dams in the United States in need of maintenance or replacement. Read Alexis Madrigal's article "Old American Dams Quietly Become a Multibillion-Dollar Threat." Learn more here.;

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been distributing a draft Environmental Impact Statement regarding the proposed Blackfoot Bridge phosphate mine. Parent-company Monsanto and subsidiary P4 Production LLC intend to make the site one of the most environmentally advanced, with laminated geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) designed for covering selenium waste rock piles. But despite these measures, the recent discovery of 18 cattle found dead--and believed to have been poisoned by exposed selenium--threatens to slow the mine's acceptance. The Capital Press, an agriculture publication covering the American west, reports. Learn more here.;

Over at the Fabricated Geomembrane Institute's (FGI) website, the latest blog entry notes that the FGI's Tim Stark visited CLI/Clearwater Construction during a visit to the Denver area recently. The FGI is hosting a short course there on October 23. Dr. Stark is beginning to tour about and visit the Institute's members. FGI formed officially earlier this year after the PVC Geomembrane Institute (PGI) completed its core goals. Learn more here.;

The North American Geosynthetics Society (NAGS), the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Geo-Institute (GI) have signed an agreement to co-organize Geo-Frontiers 2011. The last Geo-Frontiers was held in 2005 in Austin, Texas. The 2011 edition will be held at the Sheraton-Dallas Hotel 13-16 March 2011. A call for topics and sessions will be issued from IFAI in the near future. Learn more here.;

In 1996, a significant quantity of oil spilled near Milford Haven oil refinery when a ship ran aground. Today, measures are being taken to guard the refinery area against oil spill disasters with the installation of geosynthetic containment berms. Geomembranes, geotextiles and geocells are being installed. Read about it in Construction News UK. Learn more here.;

Edmonton-based Tekle Technical Services (TTS) will soon open what is billed as an experimental fibers plant in Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada. The facility is thought to be the first of its kind in North America. It will convert wood and agriculture fibers into agricultural matting, geotextiles and other materials. Learn more here.;

There have been rapid advances in the markets for photovoltaic cells worldwide including the development of the use of polymers in a variety of applications. Take, for example, the use of solar cells atop the exposed geomembrane cap at the Tessman Road landfill in San Antonio, Texas. Applied Market Information (AMI) has announced a new conference to address this growing sector: Polymers in Photovoltaics 2010. The event will be held 20-22 April 2010 in Cologne, Germany. A Call for Papers has been issued. Dr. Sally Humphreys (sh@amiplastics.com) will accepts abstracts through 20 October 2009. Learn more at the conference website. Learn more here.;