Free Republic

Eritrea aims to become the first country in the world to turn its entire coast into an environmentally protected zone to ensure balanced and sustainable development, officials said Tuesday. The Red Sea state intends to protect all of its 1,350-kilometer (837-mile) coastline, along with another 1,950-kilometers (1,209-miles) of coast around its more than 350 islands, according to a draft coastal policy document. "Eritrea will be the first country in the world to declare its entire coastline a protected area," said Dr Michael Pearson, an environment management specialist working with a group that has pushed the proposal. He and the Eritrea...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 — Four years after the Coast Guard began an effort to replace nearly its entire fleet of ships, planes and helicopters, the modernization program heralded as a model of government innovation is foundering. The initial venture — converting rusting 110-foot patrol boats, the workhorses of the Coast Guard, into more versatile 123-foot cutters — has been canceled after hull cracks and engine failures made the first eight boats unseaworthy. Plans to build a new class of 147-foot ships with an innovative hull have been halted after the design was found to be flawed. And the first completed...

Tsunamis Slap Hawaii, Calif. North Coast Thursday November 16, 2006 10:01 PM By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press Writer HONOLULU (AP) - Tsunamis generated by a major earthquake near Japan left behind little damage but offered a legitimate test of international warning systems. The waves, some measuring a few feet high, struck Hawaii shores Wednesday, slightly injuring one swimmer and temporarily flooding a harbor. A surge along California's northern coast destroyed two docks in Crescent City Harbor and damaged a third. The waves hit Hawaii about six hours after a magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck north of Japan. Tsunami warnings were issued...

2 Moderate Quakes Strike Off Japan Coast Saturday October 14, 2006 1:01 AM TOKYO (AP) - Two moderate quakes struck off the coast of Japan early Saturday, including one that shook the Japanese capital, the U.S. Geological Survey said. A 5.3-magnitude quake struck off the east coast of Honshu island, about 65 miles southeast of Tokyo, the USGS said on its Web site. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake. There was also no threat of a tsunami, the Japanese Meteorological Agency said. Earlier Saturday, a larger, 6.3-magnitude quake struck off the disputed Kuril islands,...

Early humans followed the coast By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News Coastlines were rich in resources for early humans Learning how to live off the sea may have played a key role in the expansion of early humans around the globe. After leaving Africa, human groups probably followed coastal routes to the Americas and South-East Asia. Professor Jon Erlandson says the maritime capabilities of ancient humans have been greatly underestimated. He has found evidence that early peoples in California pursued a sophisticated seafaring lifestyle 10,000 years ago. Anthropologists have long regarded the exploitation of marine resources as a recent...

7/26/2006 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- Seth and Stephanie Parker held each other's hands and waited. As the plane touched down at 12:05 a.m. July 22 at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, they smiled at each other and looked at their son. Four-day-old Stuart lay across from his parents on a medical cart surrounded by doctors, nurses and medical technicians. He was the newest patient for the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, or ECMO, team that was double- and triple-checking everything to ensure he was ready for the next leg of his journey. Shortly after his birth, doctors told the Parkers that...

If you haven't heard of this place before, join the club. I discovered it while looking for other waterfall pictures. Apparently you will never find a picture of someone frolicking beneath the cascade, because the beach is off-limits. With good reason, I think -- it's astonishing. Geologically speaking, McWay Falls is the only place on the California coast where a perennial (year-round) waterfall directly enters the ocean. It is located in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Picture 1: Close-up Picture 2: The full scene

'"No Southern man is complete without a tenure under military rule." That one sentence penned by author Pat Conroy in his best-selling novel The Lords of Discipline , is utter truth spoken to the heart of any Southern boy or man. It does not mean all Southern men serve, have served, or will serve their country. But it does mean that deep down in the well of the soul of the Southern American male there is a sense of duty and martial responsibility that cries out to be acted upon. I’ve chosen Southerners as an example, because I am Southern....

1 hour ago NEW LONDON, Conn. - A military jury sentenced a Coast Guard cadet to six months in prison and kicked him out of the service Wednesday for extorting sexual favors from a classmate. Cadet Webster M. Smith, the first student court-martialed in the academy's 130-year history, was acquitted of rape but had faced up to five years and seven months for extortion, sodomy, indecent assault and other charges. Defense attorneys for Smith, 23, of Houston, asked the jury to spare him jail time, saying the stigma of his conviction will follow him forever. He will not graduate from...

BOSTON — Three specially designed tugboats yank the hulking pale green liquefied natural gas tanker from its dock near Boston Harbor. More than 1,000 feet long, with an odd color and sets of pipes sticking out the top, it’s apparent that this is no ordinary ship. And with three Coast Guard boats, and four others from state, city and port authority law enforcement agencies surrounding it, this is no ordinary departure. Bringing up the rear is the Pendant, a 65-year-old, 65-foot-long ocean-going tugboat, and one of the oldest platforms in the service’s inventory that pulls double duty in the winter...

The cost of insurance for thousands of Texas homeowners insured by State Farm is about to go up. And if you live near the coast, it's going to soar. The state's largest home insurer filed rate hikes Wednesday with the Texas Department of Insurance that will boost premiums for all of its Texas consumers an average 10.7 percent to cover anticipated expenses and an additional average 9.1 percent to cover the cost of reinsurance. Reinsurance, the coverage an insurance company buys as a backup to pay for its losses after a catastrophe, is becoming more expensive in the wake of...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Coast Guard and Navy will be conducting a joint exercise tomorrow between 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Cumberland Sound, Ga., designed to test the Coast Guard's ability to deter, detect and disrupt hostile acts direct at an escorted U.S. Naval vessel. During the exercise, Coast Guard and Naval vessels will be utilizing aggressive vessel tactics and firing blank ammunition from machine guns. This is to provide the most realistic means of evaluating unit capabilities, tactics, doctrine and plans. Coast Guard units routinely work in the Kings Bay, Ga., area to provide security for security...

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2006 – President Bush welcomed a new commandant to the Coast Guard here today, and officially recognized the service as a whole for its contributions during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Incoming Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad W. Allen told the audience at his change of command ceremony May 25 that his service's "challenge is to attack each day, each task, with a purpose grounded in who we are, what we have been, and what we must become." The ceremony took place at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. Photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen, USAF  (Click...

PERSIAN GULF (NNS) -- The U.S. Coast Guard’s Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) 102 is teaching Iraqi marines valuable skills that will help them protect Iraqi infrastructure and territorial waters in the future. Embarked aboard USS Ogden (LPD 5) in the North Persian Gulf as part of Combined Task Force (CTF) 158, the eight-man Coast Guard team routinely trains the Iraqi marine platoons in Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) operations through a series of almost daily staged events. “We are basically teaching them use of force, tactical procedures in terms of boarding ships and how to handle a...

AUSTIN, Texas - The nation's largest offshore wind farm will be built off the Padre Island seashore, a critical migratory bird flyway, Texas officials announced Thursday. Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson lauded what he said would be an 40,000-acre span of turbines about 400 feet tall able to generate energy to power 125,000 homes. "The wind rush is on," Patterson said. "We want to be number one. We want to attract the businesses that build the turbines, that build the blades. ... We want to be the leader in the United States, if not the world." Superior Renewable Energy Inc.,...

U.S. Coast Guard Guard personnel from Law Enforcement Detachment 401 teach Djiboution servicemembers law enforcement tactics, April 25-27, 2006. U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 3rd Class Bobby Northnagle. Coast Guard Detachment Trains Djiboutians U.S. Coast Guard personnel recently provided the Djiboutian Coast Guard and Navy with lessons ranging from basic boarding techniques to apprehension of non-compliant mariners. By U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Bobby Northnagle MANAMA, Bahrain, May 3, 2006 — U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 401, based out of Mayport, Fla., recently provided training to Djibouti's navy and coast guard, April 25 -27. “[Djiboutian coast guardsmen...

MANAMA, Bahrain, April 27, 2006 – Civilian leaders got an introduction here today to one of the least-recognized success stories in the Middle East: how the U.S. Coast Guard is helping keep Iraq's offshore oil terminals operating and training Iraq's new marine force to maintain port and waterway security in the region. Lukin Gilliland Jr., managing director of Aquila Capital Parters in San Antonio, uses a battering ram to get access to a mock shipboard compartment during a training drill in Manama, Bahrain, for participants in the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Larry Chambers,...

ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt can't seem to outrun controversy. The freshman congresswoman is facing a complaint about the truthfulness of her education and her endorsements. The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes, or COAST, has endorsed Schmidt's opponent in the GOP primary, Bob McEwen. The group claims that some of Schmidt's claimed endorsements are bogus, and instead of two bachelor degrees as stated on various biographical material, she has one. "If it was one incident, I might think there was some merit in letting it go," COAST's Jim Urling said. "But we've got a very...

"Weather Disaster of Historic Proportions" Could Strike as Early as This Year... The northeast U.S. coast could be the target of a major hurricane, perhaps as early as this season, according to research announced today by the AccuWeather... Hurricane Center. "The Northeast is staring down the barrel of a gun," said Joe Bastardi, Chief Forecaster... "The Northeast coast is long overdue for a powerful hurricane...not a question of if but when." ... "If you examine past weather cycles that have occurred in the Atlantic, you will see patterns of storms," added Ken Reeves, Expert Senior Meteorologist and Director of Forecasting...

In the latest proposal to import liquefied natural gas to California, an Australian company has unveiled plans to place a terminal about 22 miles off the coast of Malibu. The plan announced Wednesday by Woodside Energy attempts to sidestep fears from environmentalists and some residents that importing natural gas is too dangerous because it is volatile and potentially explosive in its gaseous state. Woodside wants to ship supercooled LNG from Australian fields to the California coast in specially designed tankers. But unlike other proposed terminals off the West Coast, the plan doesn't require any large, permanent structures. Instead of feeding...