The Environment Chronicle

On 23 December 2014, a pipeline leak with oil emulsion seepage took place during pipeline testing at the 242nd km of the Tikhoretsk-Tuapse-2 oil pipeline under construction in the area of Grechesky Village, Tuapse Region. The total amount of leakage is estimated at 8.4 cubic meters. The pipeline wall was damaged by a landslide. Some of the seeped oil emulsion got into the Tuapse River. As a result of unfavorable weather conditions – abundant precipitation and high wind – some of the oil emulsion ended up in the sea. On water surface in the Tuapse Bay, oil slicks were detected.

On 9 December 2014, an oil tanker sank and dumped hundreds of liters of furnace oil into the Sundarbans delta after a collision with another vessel. The oil has spread over 350-square-kilometer area straddling Bangladesh and India.

A pipeline, which carries oil between Eilat and Ashkelon, was breached on 3 December 2014, during construction work in Be'er Ora, near Eilat. The official, Guy Samet, said there is a seven-kilometer (4.3 mile) long river of oil flowing through the Evrona Nature Reserve in southern Israel, some 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) north of Eilat.

On 7 August 2014, a major ecological disaster took place at the Buenavista-mine when 40,000 cubic meters of wastewater spilled into the Bacanuchi river and Sonora river. The chemical, which is used to dissolve copper from ore, turned a 60km stretch of the Sonora River orange, causing the authorities to shut down the municipal water supply to 20,000 people in seven towns.

On 16 July 2014, an oil spill was spotted within a kilometer of the coastline near the beach playa de El Cabrón, in the town of Agüimes/ Gran Canaria, an area well known for being considered a sanctuary for divers.

On 15 May 2014 Ecuador declared a state of emergency on the Galápagos Islands after a freighter carrying chemicals and dangerous products ran aground 9 May 2014 as it was leaving the bay of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, on San Cristóbal island. The environment ministry said 19,000 gallons of diesel has already been removed from the ship without causing any damage to the Unesco World Heritage site.

On 11 April 2014, 2.4 million residents in the capital of Gansu province were warned by the government not to use tap water after tests showed excessive levels of carcinogenic benzene in the city's water supply. Tests on Friday showed benzene levels had reached 200 micrograms per litre - 20 times the national safety standard.

A new leak of 100 tonnes of highly radioactive water has been discovered at Fukushima, the plant's operator said on 19 February 2014.

The cargo vessel Luno was en route to the port of Bayonne, France, when it suffered a total blackout and hit the Cavaliers breakwater (Anglet, Pyrénées-Atlantiques) on the morning of 5th February 2014. Blasted by 110 km/h winds from Storm Petra and 6 to 7-metre waves, the ship broke in two. A leak of marine diesel from the cracked bunker tanks was reported. During the night the stern section of the Luno broke off in two parts, which sank against the Cavaliers breakwater. The fuel contained in the rear bunkers was released into the marine environment.

Officials said that up to 5,000 gallons of an industrial chemical used in coal processing seeped from a ruptured storage tank into the Elk River, just upstream of the intake pipes for the regional water company. Authorities struggled to determine how much danger the little-known chemical, MCHM, or 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, posed. The chemical, which smells like licorice, can cause headaches, eye and skin irritation, and difficulty breathing from prolonged exposures at high concentrations, according to the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists.