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Release Date: 02/16/2012Contact Information: Elias Rodriguez, 212-637-3664, rodriguez.elias@epa.gov

(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a cleanup plan for contaminated soil, ground water and six waste disposal areas at the American Cyanamid Superfund Site in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, located on the Raritan River. The soil, ground water and waste disposal areas, called impoundments, are contaminated with volatile organic compounds and other hazardous materials. The ground water underlying the site is highly contaminated with benzene. Area residents are serviced by a public water supply that provides a safe source of drinking water.

The EPA is encouraging the public to comment on the plan through March 31, 2012 and will hold a public meeting on March 8, 2012 at 7:00 PM at the Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School, 14 Vogt Drive, Bridgewater, New Jersey.

"The cleanup plan for the American Cyanamid site is an important milestone in the EPA efforts to protect the health of people who live or work near the facility and water quality in the Raritan River," said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “EPA encourages the public to comment on the proposed plan and to learn more about it at the March 8 public meeting.”

Many volatile organic compounds are known to cause cancer in animals and benzene can cause cancer in people. Some volatile organic compounds have no known health effects. The extent and nature of potential health effects depend on many factors, including the level and length of exposure.

The American Cyanamid Superfund site has a history of industrial pollution dating back to 1915. For nearly 100 years, prior owners used the location for manufacturing chemicals. The site was placed on the federal Superfund list in 1983 after hazardous chemicals were found in the soil and ground water. The 435-acre Superfund site contained various areas used for the disposal of chemical sludge and other waste. In 1998, the EPA deleted 140 acres of the site from the Superfund list after they were evaluated and determined to be acceptable for redevelopment. The TD Bank Ballpark Stadium was subsequently built on a portion of the area. In 2009, Pfizer Inc. assumed responsibility for the American Cyanamid site as part of its purchase of the Wyeth Holding Corporation, a prior owner.

Because of the nature and complexity of the contamination at the site, the EPA divided the investigation and cleanup into phases. The plan announced today is the first phase of the cleanup. The proposed plan announced today details approaches to address contaminated soil, ground water and six waste disposal areas (Impoundments 3, 4, 5, 13, 17 and 24). Two additional impoundments (Impoundments 1 and 2) are the focus of a separate study to consider the feasibility of options to address them.

The highly toxic material in Impoundments 3, 4, and 5 will be treated at their current locations by introducing a mixing agent into the waste to make it more solid. This treatment method is a proven technology that immobilizes contaminants to prevent their migration. After this step, the waste disposal areas will be covered with a barrier system that traps vapors and prevents contaminated air from escaping into the atmosphere.

The soil at the site will be addressed using three different methods depending on the extent of the pollution in the soil. Soil that consists of tarry material or is highly toxic, similar to the waste within Impoundment 3, 4, and 5, will be excavated and combined with the material in the three impoundments. It will be treated with the existing waste in Impoundments 3, 4 and 5. Soil that contains volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds will be covered with a vapor control barrier and mitigation system to prevent the release of vapors into the air. Soil that has a lower level of pollution will be covered by a 24-inch thick engineered cap that will serve as a barrier that prevents direct contact. Additionally, the EPA will conduct an ecological study of the waste in Impoundments 13, 17 and 24, which are located in the flood plain of the site, to determine the appropriate treatment for these materials.

A currently operating ground water collection system, which has already treated millions of gallons of contaminated ground water at the site, will be improved by relocating the primary extraction wells to a more central location. Several new extraction wells will be added to enhance the efficiency of the ground water collection system. In addition, a recovery system for collecting and treating shallow contaminated ground water from portions of the site will be constructed at several locations. This system will prevent contaminated ground water from seeping into the Raritan River, Cuckhold’s Brook and Middle Brook. The details of these improvements will be developed during the remedial design phase of the cleanup project.

The proposed plan also calls for the placement of controls such as legal restrictions on land use to minimize the potential of future exposure and to ensure that the cleanup measures are not disturbed. Throughout the cleanup, monitoring will be conducted to ensure the effectiveness of the remedy. The EPA will conduct periodic reviews to ensure that the cleanup remains protective of public health and the environment.

The EPA is accepting public comments on the proposed plan until March 31, 2012. Written comments may be mailed or emailed to:

Joseph Battipaglia, Remedial Project Manager
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
290 Broadway, 19th Floor
New York, New York 10007-1866
Email: Battipaglia.joseph@epa.gov

The EPA has a website to inform the community about the site at: http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/american_cyanamid.

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.

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Story By: Weekend Edition Sunday

The United States has reportedly started talks with the Taliban about reconciling before the 2014 NATO pullout from Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his government is involved, a claim the Taliban deny. Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin talks with U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman.

Umar Patek, an alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombing, denied meeting al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in the Pakistani town they were both in.

In a video of his interrogation obtained by the AP news agency, Mr Patek said his presence in Abbottabad at the same time was "a coincidence".

He is facing six charges in Jakarta, Indonesia, including two that are terrorism-related.

He is believed to be a key member of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah.

Mr Patek's lawyer also said on Monday that his presence in Abbottabad at the same time as Osama Bin Laden was a coincidence.

"He went to Pakistan as part of his plans to migrate to Afghanistan. He never had plans to meet Osama bin Laden," defence lawyer Asludin Hatjani is quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

Security analysts believe, however, that it was no coincidence that he was caught in the same town in which al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was later killed. Officials cannot confirm whether the two met.

Mr Patek, who was arrested in January 2011 in the town where Osama bin Laden was later killed in a US raid, faces charges for pre-meditated murder, bomb-making and illegal firearms possession ref. Some of his charges carry the death penalty.

In August, the 45-year-old militant was extradited to Indonesia in a move seen at the time as a significant coup for anti-terror agencies in the country.

Mr Patek is not facing terrorism charges for the Bali bombings, as the terrorism law came into effect only in 2003 and cannot be applied retrospectively.

But he is facing terrorism charges for allegedly harbouring terrorists and possessing ammunition used to launch militant training in Aceh province in 2010.

He is also facing murder charges for the Bali bombings and Jakarta church bombings in 2000.

On Monday, his lawyers objected to the murder charges, telling the court that he was not involved in the planning of the attack.

In a document obtained by the BBC from the defence, his lawyers argued that he was not directly involved in any actual killings, as his role was limited to making the bombs.

The trial, which began last week, is expected to go on for months, with a verdict likely to be delivered at the end of May or early June.

Prosecutors in Indonesia have said that they will push for the maximum death penalty, but some analysts think he could be given life imprisonment instead if found guilty.

The Bali attack in 2002 took place at Paddy's Bar and the Sari Club in the resort of Kuta. It targeted at foreigners and those killed were from 21 countries, including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians and 28 Britons.

According to a court document obtained by the BBC last week, he fled to the Philippines after the attacks in Bali, and joined the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) there, with the intention of going to Afghanistan.

In June 2009, he returned to Indonesia with his Philippine wife Ruqayyah Husein Luceno, hiding for a year in Jakarta and other parts of the country, before heading to Pakistan where he was finally apprehended.

Criticism is being levied at bankers in the US, where opinion does not divide neatly along party lines. But it is mild compared with some previous attacks, such as the ferocious and sustained one unleashed by Franklin D Roosevelt, writes David Cannadine.

As this suggests, the issue of bankers and bonuses doesn't divide neatly along party lines. President Obama may insist that he speaks for ordinary citizens when he opines that the rich need to be reined in.

But when he assembled his treasury team after his election in November 2008, many of them had close connections with Wall Street, and he's been much criticized for this in some quarters ever since. But this issue is no more straightforward in the case of the Republicans.

Since the 1980s, one section of the party has been determined to implement a political agenda that's favourable to the rich, especially in regard to tax cuts for those on higher incomes and the deregulation of the financial system. It's beneficial, they argue, to the economy as a whole.

But the Republicans also claim to speak for ordinary Americans, many of whom are supporters of the Tea Party movement, and who aren't millionaires and have no prospect of ever becoming so. And these people wouldn't necessarily be in favour of a Republican Party that's preoccupied with making the world a better and more secure place for those who are already very wealthy.

There's more common ground between the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements than you might think – a kind of populist revulsion at what seems to be the irresponsible excesses of the American financial sector and at the unwillingness or inability of the lawmakers in Washington to do enough about it.

Those who defend the bankers and their bonuses denounce their critics for practising "the politics of envy". Those who attack the bankers and their bonuses retaliate by denouncing them for practising "the politics of greed". And somewhere in between is Barack Obama, who is trying to get a hearing for what he calls, "the politics of fairness".

Meanwhile, American bankers, like their British counterparts, feel increasingly hard done by. Many of them are losing their jobs as their bonuses are cut and as more regulation will soon be coming into force with the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which President Obama signed into law in 2010 – and which one of the Republican candidates, Mitt Romney, has pledged to repeal.

As in Britain, so in America, much of the current discussion of these vexed and contentious issues seems over-simplified and under-informed. Those who criticise an allegedly monolithic group called "the bankers" show little awareness that in terms of what they actually do, banking is a very varied and diverse profession, with salaries that are correspondingly varied and diverse.

Those who seek to defend "the bankers" seem very bad at explaining just what it is they do, why they do it, how they do it, and why they are paid what they are for doing it. And while some bankers seem to be genuinely shocked, outraged or upset by what they see as the current wave of hostile criticism and negative stereotyping, they should draw comfort from the fact that they're working now in the 2010s and not in the 1930s when President Franklin Roosevelt's denunciation of bankers and his determined regulation of their activities make Barack Obama's words and actions seem mild and charitable by comparison.

Like his earlier presidential cousin Theodore, Franklin D Roosevelt felt a strong patrician disdain for big business and upstart wealth. This was partly because the Roosevelt clan was never very rich but it was also because in terms of their lineage and their lands, they were about as close to being aristocracy as it's possible to get in a country, which came into being by proclaiming that all men were created equal.

Theodore Roosevelt's hostility to the excessive accumulation of money took the form of a Progressive-Era crusade against giant corporations, such as Standard Oil, which was owned by the prodigiously rich Rockefeller family, and he denounced this new breed of multi-millionaires as "malefactors of great wealth".

But this was mild-mannered compared with the sustained and ferocious onslaught that Franklin Roosevelt unleashed against American bankers during the era of the New Deal. When campaigning for the presidency in the autumn of 1932, he attacked them as "financial titans", who had made too much money in the boom years of the 1920s, and who also bore responsibility for the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression.

In his first inaugural address, FDR excoriated the bankers as "unscrupulous money changers", he called for "an end to speculation with other people's money", and one of the earliest pieces of New Deal legislation was the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated commercial banking from investment banking (and the repeal of which, in 1999, is widely regarded as one of the main causes of America's present economic woes).

Roosevelt also went after particular bankers and sought to make examples of them, encouraging the Internal Revenue Service to prosecute them for tax evasion.

One such figure whom FDR went after was Andrew W Mellon, who was not only an extremely rich banker, but had also served as Secretary of the US Treasury during the 1920s and on into the Great Depression. Mellon was thus a doubly marked man, his closing years were darkened by accusations that he had committed tax fraud on an epic scale and his belated vindication only came after his death.

Andrew Mellon's relatives never forgave Roosevelt for inflicting such pain and humiliation on him, yet the patrician president revelled in his role as a class warrior on the side of ordinary people. When seeking re-election in 1936, he again denounced "business and financial monopoly, speculation [and] reckless banking". "I should like it to be said of my first administration," he thundered, "that in it the forces of selfishness and lust for power met their match. I should like it to be said of my second administration that in it these forces met their master."

Roosevelt duly won the 1936 election by a landslide, carrying virtually every state, but hubris was soon followed by nemesis. He tried to pack the Supreme Court so it would deliver more favourable judgements to the New Deal, but failed. And after showing some fragile signs of recovery, the American economy turned down again in 1937, in what the president's critics delighted to call the "Roosevelt recession".

If FDR had retired in 1940, he wouldn't rank as the greatest American president of the 20th Century – only during his third, unprecedented term did he achieve that unassailable position and acquire a corresponding reputation as a global statesman.

But that's not been an option for any of his successors because a constitutional amendment passed in 1951 prevents any president from being elected more than twice. Yet as with FDR, so with subsequent presidents who were re-elected, their second terms have often been less successful than their first four years in office, as in the case of Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and George W Bush.

If Barack Obama does get re-elected this November, these precedents suggest his second term may be even harder going than his first. But in becoming the first black person to be elected to the White House, Obama has already demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to disregard precedents, and if he's re-elected this autumn, he may yet surprise us all again. He may even surprise "the bankers".

DAKAR (Reuters) – Senegalese police fired tear gas and chased protesters from the center of the West African nation’s capital Saturday in a fourth day of protest against the candidacy of incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade in the February 26 presidential poll.

As about 23,000 security personnel including the police and army voted in early balloting Saturday, protesters took to the streets, strewn with debris from the previous night’s protest, setting up barricades, burning tires and trash, and clashing with riot police.

The protesters are trying to gain access to Dakar’s Independence Square, near the presidential palace, but have been pushed back by riot police using tear gas and water cannons.

The government has banned all opposition protest around the square citing security reasons.

Opposition leaders and civil society group M-23 have vowed to make the country ungovernable if Wade does not step down and withdraw his bid to seek a third term, arguing that his bid breaches rules setting a two-term presidential limit.

Authorities said a 21-year-old tailor died in the city of Kaolack, about 190 km (125 miles) southeast of Dakar, from wounds he suffered during a protest Friday.

At least five people have been killed in street clashes since last month when Wade’s candidacy was validated by the country’s top legal body. World leaders have called on all sides to show restraint, warning the West African nation’s democratic credentials are at stake.

Leaders of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, meeting in Nigeria Friday, said they would send a joint mission with the African Union, headed by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, to engage Senegalese politicians in dialogue.

“I’m counting on President Obasanjo to come and look at President Wade eye-to-eye and tell him that at nearly 90 years old, it is time to retire,” said Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, a former foreign minister in Wade’s government who is one of the 13 candidates in the presidential poll.

(Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Release Date: 01/27/2012Contact Information: Media Contact: Mary Simms, simms.mary@epa.gov

Leveraging Stimulus Funding To Launch Successful Green Jobs Training Program
San Francisco Community College to offer sustainability course at multimillion dollar facility

SAN FRANCISCO — Tomorrow, Nancy Stoner, the acting Assistant Administrator for Water at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., will tour the EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park during a visit to California. Nearly every feature of the 1,500-square-foot facility pushes the envelope for innovation and is used to educate the public about renewable energy, pollution and greenhouse gas reduction, wastewater treatment, “green” building materials, and the green economy. The Bayview Hunters Point center was built in a disadvantaged area and made possible through stimulus funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Media are invited to participate in the open-press tour and interview Stoner along with key state, local and non-profit leaders to discuss this innovative public partnership aimed at increasing green jobs.

WHERE: San Francisco EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park, 1 Heron’s Head Park
Intersection of Jennings & Cargo Map: http://www.tinyurl.com/hhpmap

WHEN: Friday, January 27th at 9:30 a.m

For more info, please visit the EcoCenter website: http://www.lejyouth.org/ecocenter/eco.html

To see more photos of this project visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/101244591056625637029/EcoCenterPhotoTour?feat=flashalbum#5541364979804335458

Members of the media: To RSVP for the tour please send an email with your name, contact and media affiliation to Mary Simms at simms.mary@epa.gov.

Additional Resources:
Brochure: Experience the EcoCenter (PDF)
Factsheet: Heron’s Head Park ARRA Project Facts (PDF)
EcoCenter Overview Presentation slides

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The world’s tallest and biggest flag will be planted at Jeddah’s Tariq bin Ziyad roundabout (formerly Al-Sofon roundabout). (AN photo)

By ARAB NEWS

Published: Feb 17, 2012 22:43
Updated: Feb 17, 2012 22:43

JEDDAH: In cooperation with Jeddah Municipality, ALJ Community Initiatives (ALJCI) has agreed to create the world’s tallest and biggest flag in Saudi Arabia.

Jeddah Municipality has dedicated Tariq bin Ziyad roundabout (formerly Al-Sofon roundabout) to host the flag, taking into consideration the prominent location of this roundabout.

The flag will be the entry point for arrivals from Makkah, and the end of King Abdullah Street and the beginning of King Abdulaziz Street (Al-Andalus). The location is near strategic points in Jeddah, such as Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jeddah Municipality and Jeddah central Corniche, which hosts the tallest fountain in the world.

Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, president of ALJCI, announced that ALJCI has suggested to Jeddah Municipality a year ago to gift the Kingdom the tallest and biggest flag in the world, as a gift from ALJCI on the return of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah from his treatment abroad.

Jameel said that ALJCI would be responsible for the costs of maintaining the flag for four years after planting. Hani Abu Ras, mayor of Jeddah, appreciated ALJCI for its initiatives, saying that this project will be an important landmark in Jeddah.

A year ago, ALJCI introduced the flag idea to the municipality. To choose the most appropriate company for implementing this project, ALJCI communicated with specialized leading international companies to submit their offers. The project will be equipped with an automatic system for raising the flag, advanced cameras, a system for measuring wind speed, in addition to lighting system for prominent annual occasions.

The flag will be 165 meters tall, and its area will be 2,000 square meters. A virtual film of the anticipated flag, which will be an important landmark of Jeddah, can be viewed at http://www.aljci.org/en/saudi-flag.

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Ireland has plenty of ancient settlements and monuments. But on Achill Island, off the far west coast – up a mountain and in the middle of a bog – sits a different kind of monument that locals are calling Achill-henge.

And then, rising out of the bog as if it is some science fiction creation, it comes into view – a massive circular concrete construction of 30 columns, each more than 4m (13ft) high.

There are varying opinions about Achill-henge: even those virulently opposed to the construction admit it is a considerable feat of engineering – built over a weekend in November without planning permissions – by a team of workers hauling giant concrete slabs up the mountain side and sinking them in the bog.

 How to listen to From Our Own Correspondent:

BBC Radio 4: A 30-minute programme on Saturdays, 11:30 GMT.

Second 30-minute programme on Thursdays, 11:00 GMT (some weeks only).

Listen online or download the podcast

BBC World Service:

Hear daily 10-minute editions Monday to Friday, repeated through the day, also available to listen online.

Read more or explore the archive at the programme website.

Guinea's entrepreneur Moustapha Naite opened a small cyber cafe in Conakry, the capital, 10 years ago. Now his company, Mouna Internet Technologies, has grown into the country's largest web provider.

He asked some friends in the US to send him 10 computers in order to start an internet cafe.

"This is because we thought that business should adapt to the environment. We went from a small cyber cafe to become an internet service provider and a major player in the technology field in Guinea.

African Dream is broadcast on the BBC Network Africa programme every Monday morning.

Every week, one successful business man or woman will explain how they started off and what others could learn from them.