McSally, immigration agency directors decry ‘loopholes’ in asylum law
Hawaii volcano producing toxic lava haze plume called 'laze'
The eruption of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii sparked new safety warnings about toxic gas on the Big Island's southern coastline after lava began flowing into the ocean and setting off a chemical reaction.
The molten rock started pouring into the sea over the weekend. It's been generating plumes of lava haze or "laze" as it interacts with seawater.
It's just the latest hazard from a weeks-old eruption that has so far generated earthquakes and featured gushing molten rock, giant ash plumes and sulfur dioxide. The eruption has destroyed more than 40 buildings forced more than 2,000 people to evacuate.
There has been continuous low-level ash emission from Kilauea's summit with larger explosions every few hours, said U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Mike Poland. Two small eruptions happened late Monday afternoon and early Tuesday morning, producing ash clouds that did not reach the 10,000-foot (3,048-meter) level.
On Monday, lava entered and then stalled on the property of a geothermal plant near one of Kilauea's new volcanic vents. Officials earlier this month removed 50,000 gallons (190,000 liters) of stored flammable gas from the plant to reduce the chance of explosions.
Here are key things to know about the latest volcanic threat:
WHAT IS LAVA HAZE?
It is made of dense white clouds of steam, toxic gas and tiny shards of volcanic glass. Janet Babb, a geologist with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, says the plume "looks innocuous, but it's not."
HOW IS IT CREATED?
Laze is formed when lava enters the ocean and triggers a series of chemical reactions.
The seawater cools the lava, which forms a glass that shatters. Tiny pieces are picked up by the steam cloud, which contains hydrochloric acid that also is created by the interaction of lava and the ocean.
"Just like if you drop a glass on your kitchen floor, there's some large pieces and there are some very, very tiny pieces," Babb said. "These little tiny pieces are the ones that can get wafted up in that steam plume."
Scientists call the glass Limu O Pele, or Pele's seaweed, named after the Hawaiian goddess of volcano and fire.
Maritime emergency response ongoing this week
Dear anon, I agree with you that they deserve exemplary punishment, but I remind you that hatred and anger cloud the spirit, foul the soul, and weaken the bodily faculties.
Huge sinkholes are now appearing in the wrong places
Sinkholes are not a new phenomenon in the United States, especially in a half dozen states where the geology makes them more likely. But a recent spate of huge, sudden-appearing caverns is prompting alarm because they're happening in places where they shouldn't, and now seem to be proliferating nationwide.
The usual cause: crumbling water, drain and sewer pipes, often neglected by cities with budget problems.
Some experts are calling now for a national study to assess the risk and potential remedies, which could involve high costs for many jurisdictions.
"The financial impact on cities is in the millions of dollars a year around the country," said Bob Brinkmann, a professor of geology, environment and sustainability at Hofstra University.
No government agency keeps track of sinkholes from man-made causes. Most of the scientific research has focused on areas where limestone, caves and natural springs create prime conditions for earthen collapses. Florida has the most.
But scientists who study natural sinkholes say the caverns from infrastructure failures are becoming a bigger problem.
In a report last year, the American Society of Civil Engineers said that public spending is running far short of what's needed to replace water and wastewater systems that will be outmoded by 2025. The funding gap was estimated at $105 billion now, up from $55 billion in 2010.
"We're way underfunded on these systems," said Greg DiLoreto, who heads the group's infrastructure committee. "That's causing more and more of these pipe systems to fail. In Washington, D.C., for example,
they're using pipes that were installed during the Civil War."
Most water lines in the U.S. are at least 50 years old and many mains in urban areas date to the early 1900s, according to American Water Works Association, which warned recently that "the replacement era" had arrived. Obsolete cast iron and asbestos cement lines are now replaced with more durable ductile iron or plastic. Maintaining current service would require at least $1 trillion over the next 25 years.