Environment

Argonne And Los Alamos National Laboratories Team Up To Develop More Affordable Fuel Cell Components

ElectroCat Team: Inside LANL’s fuel cell test lab, graduate students and a post-doctoral researcher work on ElectroCat technology–at rear, Joseph Dumont, Ulises Martinez, Ling Lin. Courtesy/LANL

ElectroCat equipment: An X-ray computed microtomograph (MicroXCT) for non-destructive 3D-imaging of fuel cell components is among the tools that will be of use in the ElectroCat fuel cell project. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne and Los Alamos national laboratories have teamed up to support a DOE initiative through the creation Read More

DOE Announces $80 Million In Funding To Increase SuperTruck Efficiency

DOE News:
 
WASHINGTON D.C.  Building on the notable successes of the SuperTruck initiative, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Reuben Sarkar today announced SuperTruck II, an $80 million funding opportunity, subject to congressional appropriations, for research, development and demonstration of long-haul tractor-trailer truck technology. Sarkar made the announcement at the GreenTruck Summit in Indianapolis, Indiana.
 
Sarkar also announced more than $12 million in selections for three new cost-shared projects focused on the research,
Read More

Tauck Grant Helps Preserve Iconic Mormon Row Structures In Grand Teton National Park

GTNPF News:
 
WILTON, CT  Grand Teton National Park Foundation has announced a major grant provided by Tauck, a leader in premium quality guided tours and cruises, that will help preserve the historic buildings and landscapes at the park’s Mormon Row.
 
A homesteaders’ settlement inside Grand Teton National Park dating back to 1890, Mormon Row is home to a number of structures including the iconic T.A. Moulton barn, an unofficial symbol of the park that attracts photographers from around the world.
 
The Tauck grant will fund a total of three different
Read More

PEEC Offers Yoga Class Beginning March 3

Yoga class. Courtesy photo

PEEC News:

Beginning March 3, the Los Alamos Nature Center will have a different type of class ─ yoga.

The Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) is working with registered yoga instructor, Christa Tyson, to provide weekly yoga sessions with a view of nature.

The yoga classes will take place at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays where participants can enjoy the nature center’s breathtaking view of the Los Alamos canyons, skies, and wildlife. When the weather permits, this class will take place on the patio outside the nature center, where the sounds and smells of nature Read More

Climate Change Lecture: Future Of New Mexico’s Pikas

Marie Westover, a fourth-year PhD student in Biology at UNM present her research on the impacts of climate on pika ecology and evolution at 7 p.m., Tuesday. Courtesy/PEEC

PEEC News:

What does the future hold for alpine animals? Marie Westover will present her research on the impacts of climate on pika ecology and evolution at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 1 at the Los Alamos Nature Center.

This talk is part of a lecture series on climate change organized by Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC).

Westover is a fourth-year PhD student in Biology at the University of New Mexico. She studies Read More

New Mexico, Navajo Nation Prepare For Spring Run-off Carrying Heavy Metals

NMED News:
 
SANTA FE  While temperatures warm and the high altitude snowpack in Colorado’s Southern Rockies & San Juan Mountains begins to melt, Animas/San Juan watershed communities are getting ready for the re-disturbance of toxic heavy metals in their primary water source.
 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that they released 880,000 pounds of metals last summer when they triggered a blowout of impounded mine water at the Gold King Mine.
 
The metals raced through the Animas River in Colorado where the river had faster flows, then
Read More

WIPP’s Reopening Not Certain; Very Expensive

CCNS News:
 
On Feb. 19, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held a workshop in Carlsbad to discuss the detailed budget and schedule to re-open the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in December 2016.
 
Despite having spent about $500 million in the two years that WIPP has been shut down, few significant schedule milestones have been met.
 
The formal budget and schedule document is called the Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB). The PMB is for the period of Oct. 1, 2015 through Sept. 30, 2017, which is the time remaining on the management contract
Read More

Federal Junior Duck Stamp Program And Contest Deadline For Submissions March 15

2015-2016 Junior Duck Stamp featuring wood ducks, art by Andrew Kneeland of Rock Springs, Wyo. Courtesy image

WILDLIFE REFUGE News:

ALBUQUERQUE — Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge is proud to announce the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Program and Contest deadline for art submissions is March 15, 2016.

Students in kindergarten through 12th grades across New Mexico learn about habitat conservation through science, math, technology, and the arts to create an original drawing or painting of waterfowl as their “visual term paper.”

“We are so excited to have Valle de Oro National Wildlife Read More

DOE Launches $40 Million Effort To Improve Materials For Clean Energy Solutions

DOE News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C.  The U.S. Department of Energy announced Wednesday Feb. 24, the launch of its Energy Materials Network (EMN), a new National Laboratory-led initiative that will give American entrepreneurs and manufacturers a leg up in the global race for clean energy.
 
Leveraging $40 million in federal funding in its first year, EMN will focus on tackling one of the major barriers to widespread commercialization of clean energy technologies: the design, testing, and production of advanced materials. By strengthening and facilitating industry
Read More

LANL: Analyzing Genetic Tree Sheds New Light On Disease Outbreaks

Using computational techniques, scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory are working to more clearly understand how diseases such as HIV are spread. In this image, arrows indicate actual transmission; red and blue persons are sampled, and the grey outline person is an unsampled link discovered in the computer analysis of the phylogenetic trees of the disease agents. Image courtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

  • Computational modeling fills in potential gaps in transmission chains

Scientists have a new tool for unraveling the mysteries of how diseases Read More

Crackdown On Poachers In Antarctica Continues

Adelie penguins on an iceberg in Antarctica. Courtesy/Creative Commons
 
SSG News:
 
The crackdown on poachers in the Southern Ocean continues with news that authorities in Senegal, West Africa, have detained the internationally wanted toothfish poaching vessel, Kunlun.
 
Reports allege that the Kunlun had previously falsified its registry, claiming Indonesia as its flag state. This allowed the vessel to be detained in Senegal on formalities regarding its certification and flag status. Out of the six known toothfish poaching vessels, which
Read More

Fort Union National Monument Announces Open House To Launch The ‘Friends Of Fort Union’ Feb. 29

NPS News:
 
WATROUS, NM  Fort Union National Monument and the Las Vegas Citizens Committee for Historic Preservation announce an open house to introduce the “Friends of Fort Union” non-profit support group to the community.
 
The National Park Service and the Friends of Fort Union invite you to celebrate the kickoff of the Monument’s first ever Friends Group. The public is invited to an open house, at 6 p.m., Monday, Feb. 29, at the Santa Fe Trail Interpretive Center, 116 Bridge St. in Las Vegas. Light refreshments will be provided.
 
The goals
Read More

LANL: Study Finds Surprising Variability In Shape Of Van Allen Belts

1. The traditional idea of the radiation belts includes a larger, more dynamic outer belt and a smaller, more stable inner belt with an empty slot region separating the two. However, a new study based on data from NASA’s Van Allen Probes shows that all three regions—the inner belt, slot region, and outer belt—can appear differently depending on the energy of electrons considered and general conditions in the magnetosphere. 2. At the highest electron energies measured—above 1 MeV—researchers saw electrons in the outer belt only. 3. The radiation belts look much different at the lowest electron Read More

Los Alamos Nature Center Closed – Programs Canceled

Los Alamos Nature Center today blanketed in snow. Photo by Jonathan Creel

PEEC News:

The Los Alamos Nature Center is closed today due to snow. In addition, tonight’s nature center program, Los Alamos History Museum Takes Over the Nature Center, also is  cancelled.

Check Pajarito Environmental Education Center’s website for updates and future events. 

The Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) was founded in 2000 to serve the community of Los Alamos. It offers people of all ages a way to enrich their lives by strengthening their connections to our canyons, mesas, mountains, Read More

Roger This: The Good News About The Environmental Management Budget At LANL

By ROGER SNODGRASS
Los Alamos Daily Post
 
The good news about the Environmental Management Budget at LANL.

But first the bad news:

It’s all about the number.

Anybody interested in environmental issues at Los Alamos National Laboratorywas waiting for thenumber. The number this year is 189.

That’s $189 million, of course, and it’s the amount of money in the President’s request to Congress for funding environmental programs at LANL for next year. (The number is actually $189.6, but I’m rounding down because it’s the millions part of the number that counts, not the rounding.). The number Read More

History Museum And Nature Center Join Forces

PEEC News:

Did you ever wonder how homesteaders enjoyed and relied on nature? What did nature mean to the Los Alamos Ranch School?

Find out 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23 at the Los Alamos Nature Center. Enjoy photos and conversations with experts from Los Alamos History Museum about the history of our connection to the Pajarito Plateau. Kids can explore the coloring station with scenes from homesteading and the Ranch School. Come with your own stories to share about what being outdoors in Los Alamos means to you!

Judith Machen, co-author of Homesteading on the Pajarito Plateau, will be on hand Read More

Registration Opens For PEEC Summer Outdoor Adventure Programs

Hunting for insects in the Valles Caldera. Courtesy photo
 
PEEC News:
 
Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) is taking kids outside this summer with four camps that encourage 4th-12th graders to connect with nature through hands-on fun and adventure!
 
From June 6-10, kids entering grades 4th-6th can hone their detective skills with Nature Odyssey: Super Sleuths in the Jemez Mountains. In this camp kids will explore the mountains, rivers, and valleys of the Jemez Mountains including the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
 
Read More

DOE Cites LANS For Health And Safety Violations Related To WIPP

DOE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued a Preliminary Notice of Violation (PNOV) to Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC (NWP) for violations of DOE worker safety and health and nuclear safety requirements.

Concurrently, DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) issued a PNOV to Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS) for violations of DOE’s nuclear safety requirements.  Issuance of these PNOVs marks the completion of DOE’s investigations and enforcement process regarding two events in 2014 at DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Read More

DOE Secretary Says WIPP Will Reopen In 2016

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) has announced that U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Ernest Moniz recently said the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) would again dispose of plutonium-contaminated nuclear weapons waste in the deep geologic dump by the end of 2016.

WIPP has been shut down for two years following a truck fire and radiation release that contaminated 22 workers and the underground facility. Moniz made his remarks on February 9th when the Obama Administration released its proposed fiscal year 2017 budget, which includes $266 million for WIPP. Read More

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