En canot sur la Black River

Photo: whitescreek.blogspot.com

Voici la traduction libre d'une entrée de blog d'un ami virtuel qui habite au Tennessee. Sa passion, c'est le canot-kayak. Et il prend de superbes photos aussi!

C'est juste une rivière d'eau noire du sud qui se faufile au travers un marécage plein d'hiboux, de dindes, d'otaries, et un ours aussi, nous pensons.

Voici la Black River près de Kingstree, en Caroline du Sud.

Nous étions arrêtés sur l'un des ponts qui la chevauchent pour regarder nos cartes routières afin de trouver un bon endroit pour la mise à l'eau. C'est à ce moment-là qu'un gars dans son pickup s'est arrêté et a descendu sa vitre. Çà, c'est un bon signe ou un mauvais signe quand on est en voyage comme çà. M. Kirby voulait savoir si nous aimerions qu'il ouvre la barrière pour que nous puissions s'approcher de la rivière: "Je garde la barrière fermée parce que les gens la salopent tant!" nous dit-il. Je sais exactement ce qu'il veut dire.

Les castors étaient apparemment fâchés de nous voir camper là, près de leur demeure le premier soir. C'étaient comme s'ils jetaient des frigos dans l'eau pour la première partie de la nuit! Je n'avais jamais entendu une telle opposition soutenue de tappages de queues de castor! Ils se bornent habituellement à faire un gros bruit en plongeant puis disparaissent.

Nous avons parcourus 30 milles environs en 3 jours et 2 nuits. Pour nous, c'est un petit voyage agréable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Above is a brief translation of a blog entry of a virtual friend I made after the Tennesse Kingston ash disaster of December 22 2008. The original blog entry in its original English is posted here:
http://whitescreek.blogspot.com/2010/11/where-ive-been-for-last-few-days.html

I do hope to visit that corner of the world one day!Photo: Whitescreek.blogspot.com

Black River dans la mire de l'EPA

Photo: OABONNY

Dans les efforts de nettoyer les Grands Lacs, on essaye de trouver les sources de contamination. Les recherches ont trouvé du BPC dans les sédiments de la rivière Black River qui se jette dans le Lac Ontatio. Le département de l'environnement de l'état ne peut pas déterminer de façon certaine la source de cette contamination: il y a une papetière et le site d'une ancienne fermée, un atelier d'usinage, l'usine de traitement des eaux usées et une centrale hydro-électrique. La contamination pourrait venir de l'une ou de toutes ces installations, mais on croit bien que cela c'est fait dans le passé.

Parce qu'il sera très difficile de trouver l'entreprise coupable de la pollution et lui faire payer la facture, l'état s'est tourné vers l'EPA qui aura plus de moyens pour continuer l'enquête et s'il s'avère qu'il est impossible de passer la facture au coupables, ce sera l'EPA qui payera la note.

Pour des raisons de tourisme et de santé, on considère que c'est important de nettoyer cette source constante de pollution de BPC du lac Ontario. Le BPC peut causer des cancers et affecter les système immunitaire, de reproduction, nerveux et endocriniens.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Black River in EPA sights

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it wants to add sections of the Black River that run through Carthage and West Carthage to its list of the nation's most hazardous contaminated sites. Inclusion on the EPA's Superfund National Priorities List would initiate further study and cleanup of the harmful pollutants in the river's water and sediment. "The reason this site has been proposed is because theBlack River empties into the Great Lakes — Lake Ontario," said EPA spokesman Michael J. Basile, with the agency's Region 2 office in Buffalo. "We're concerned about the fact that this could have an impact on the recreation and fishing, and ultimately on the Lake Ontario basin."

The precise boundaries of a potential cleanup project would be determined through further study if the Black River site is added to the priority list. Previous studies by both the EPA and the state Department of Environmental Conservation Region 6 have detected the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and other hazardous substances in the Black River near the villages of Carthage and West Carthage. PCBs once were produced for industrial uses but are now known to cause cancer and harm the body's immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems.

The contamination poses no immediate public health risk because much of the material is compacted in river sediment, but its presence near Lake Ontario merits attention, Mr. Basile said. DEC Region 6 brought the site to the attention of the EPA after a 2005 attempt to garner funding for the cleanup from the state's hazardous waste remediation program. "The Albany office wanted to have a responsible party that they could go after" to recoup costs for a cleanup, said Philip G. Waite, a DEC Region 6 environmental engineer. "In the end we realized we didn't really know what the source was. We don't have a real smoking gun."That was when regional DEC officials turned to the EPA as a potential funding source for the project. If the Black River is added to the Superfund list, the EPA will try to assign responsibility for the contamination and recover costs for the cleanup — but if that proves impossible, the EPA can fund the cleanup independently. Active and defunct paper mills, a machine shop, the Carthage/West Carthage combined sewage treatment plant and a hydroelectric power plant in the area all could be possible sources of the pollutants, an EPA press release said. Mr. Waite said the current assumption is that the contamination is historical, not ongoing.

Its effects are being felt, though. DEC's concerns about the river were sparked by studies on Lake Ontario's water quality in the early 2000s. Searching for potential sources for PCB contamination in the lake, DEC investigators looked at several sites upstream. "What they discovered was a significant concentration of sediments in a sandbar in Carthage. ... It's definitely an ongoing source into Lake Ontario," Mr. Waite said. Preliminary studies by EPA last summer confirmed elevated PCB levels downstream from present and previous industrial sites."

Excerpts from article written by Joanna Richards published in the Watertown Daily Times here: http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20100304/NEWS03/303049946

Les périls de la fracturation hydraulique

photo: New York State Environmental Review

Nos voisins du sud vivent l'expérience de la fracturation hydraulique en temps réel. Les gazières zieutent la vallée du Saint-Laurent pour y extraire des gaz fossiles, alors il est bon de voir ce qui se passe ailleurs.

Une compagnie du Québec, Gastem Inc., en partenariat avec Covalent Energy Corp, en Virginie a creusé un puit sur une montagne dans l'état de New York, tout près d'un camps d'été de Scouts, près de la rivière Black River qui se jette dans le lac Ontario. Pour le moment, les eaux usées sont traitées par l'usine de traitement de la municipalité de Watertown. Mais les problèmes sont nombreux.

La recette de fluides de la fracturation hydraulique des gazières est gardée secrète. Alors l'usine de traitement ne sait pas à quoi elle a affaire. Chaque voyage de camion est différent. L'article du journal local que j'ai trouvé décrit spontanément l'opération de forage dans le shale: "C'est impressionnant. Il semblait avoir une cinquantaine d'hommes qui travaillaient au forage. Il y avait une douzaine de camions avec un nombre considérable de tuyeaux et de la grosse machinerie. La fumée de diesel était épaisse et il y avait beaucoup de bruit."

Traduit d'un extrait d'un article écrit par Robert Brauchle publié dans le quotidien Watertown Daily Times ici: http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20100117/NEWS03/301179986
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"City treating toxic water
'HYDRO-FRACKING' TECHNIQUE: Groups warn of potential damage to Black River

Environmental groups are warning Watertown officials that if the waste fluid the city is now treating from a hydraulic-fracturing mine isn't processed properly, it could harm the Black River and damage the city's sewage treatment facility.The salinity content of the discharged water can exceed federal limits, killing freshwater species near discharge points. In the city's case, that water is put into the Black River, which then flows into Lake Ontario. The state does not mandate that well operators reveal which chemicals they use in the hydro-fracking process, meaning it does not know the exact contents of what is being pumped into the ground.

Gastem Inc., Quebec, which sent the flowback fluid to Watertown, drilled the Ross No. 1 mine in the town of Maryland, Otsego County. It has received permits from the state to drill five vertical wells at the site that tap into the Utica shale formation.The hydro-fracking technique, which uses high volumes of water, is a relatively new activity in New York. Its development, however, in Pennsylvania and the subsequent flowback water created by the process have overwhelmed that state's municipal treatment plants in the past two years.

Individual treatment plant operators also should be wary that each shipment of hydro-fracking fluid can differ, depending on the company and depth and location of the wells. Because treatment plants are designed to process natural waste, the chemicals could slow or stop the bacteria from working correctly.

The Ross No. 1 well is on 1,923-foot Crumhorn Mountain, close to a Boy Scouts of America camp. "It's impressive. There seemed to be a crew of 50 working with the fracking operation. There were dozens of trucks with a number of hoses and large equipment. The diesel smoke was very thick and there was a significant amount of noise."

Excerpts of article written by Robert Brauchle published in the Watertown Daily Times here: http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20100117/NEWS03/301179986