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Kyoto Protocol and What it Means

The UN member countries in a convention held on climate change in Japan, in 1997, agreed to a treaty for controlling the emissions. It was named the ‘Kyoto Protocol’ from the name of the place where it was signed. As of now, 170 countries have committed to implement the Protocol. The only exceptions are Kazakhstan, Brazil, India, China and USA who are not bound by it.

The clearly defined objective was to achieve ‘stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.’The Protocol makes a distinction between the carbon dioxide produced naturally through respiration and decomposition and the one made by burning fossil fuel. The one that is caused by man is called anthropogenic. The emission of carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels for generating power or for making cement is not a natural process. It is caused by man. It is therefore anthropogenic.

The Kyoto Protocol came into force on 16th February 2005. In terms of the Protocol, in a short period of five years from January 2008 to December 2012, the countries are required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to at least 5% below their 1990 levels. It is not an easy task. The production of the gases would have increased already from 1990 to 2007 and to roll it back seventeen years and further reduce by 5% is going to be very difficult to achieve.

But they have provided flexibility. The object is to reduce the global emission in totality. Therefore if a company could reduce it in a cheaper way than another, they could trade and benefit each other. The Kyoto Protocol has adopted a system of ‘cap and trade’ so that the companies can buy ‘carbon credits’ to offset against their emissions to comply with the reduction requirement. Carbon Credit Certificates are issued to the industries effecting reduction in the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by the UN agency. These Carbon Credit Certificates can be sold and cashed easily on the Stock Exchanges. Some of the polluting industries find it cheaper to buy these credits instead of reducing their own emissions. And so, the system is working. This has become a new business opportunity in the developing world as the mechanism provides easy financing of green projects. Many banks are buying the future Carbon Credit Certificates in advance at a discounted price to hasten the implementation of projects.

But if a company cannot meet its target emission reduction, many countries have adopted a system of Carbon Tax to be paid in default of compliance. The money collected from the Carbon Tax would be spent on forestation and other schemes to offset the emissions.

Thus the polluting companies like coal based thermal power plants, which spew out thousands of tons of carbon dioxide, have 3 options: (1) reduce emissions to the required level, and or (2) buy Carbon Credit Certificates to purchase the emission savings and or (3) pay the Carbon Tax. The companies can adopt a combination of the first 2 to achieve the emission reduction compliance which is labeled as ‘carbon neutrality’. It’s now become a fashion for companies to advertise their carbon neutrality to boost their image with the investing public.

It is a wonderful idea! The work towards emission reduction has now got the carrot and stick policy. Reduce emissions and get rewarded or else pay tax. There will be definite action as the idea is backed with money. The industry will exploit the potential of earning Carbon credits and in the process help to reduce their emissions of the greenhouse gases. We must give kudos to those who thought of it.

But will it solve the problem of Global warming? eMaya the expert on Climate Control has done an extensive analysis and has found a solution how to stop Global warming notwithstanding the burning of fossil fuel. Read all about it in the book ‘eMaya’ which is available on Amazon, or you can see it at www.trafford.com/08-0434

Dilip Dahanukar studied engineering in India and management in the USA. He has rich experience in corporate management and finance. He is interested in environment which has resulted in the book eMaya: How to stop Global warming. Married to an artist (painter) he has 2 daughters both married, one of them residing in the US. He loves gardens and plants and spends his weekends in his forest-garden abode in the hills in India.

Global Warming Can Not Melt the Polar Ice Caps From Below

The Earth is being heated by the Sun every day. Almost 174,000 Terawatts of energy hits the Earth. One Terawatt is equal to one million megawatts! So the Sun is heating the Earth with 174 billion megawatts of energy! Of this, about 30% is reflected back due to the white reflectivity of the Earth which is known in science as the albedo effect. So the net energy absorbed by the Earth is 122 Terawatts.

If so much energy is being absorbed by the Earth, it should continue to heat up and its temperature must continue to rise constantly. Within days the temp should surpass the maximum that any life could bear. All life would die and the trees whither and char.

But this does not happen. The Earth has its own temperature stability. Why? Because, at night the Earth radiates the heat absorbed during the day into deep space. Of the 122 TW that the Earth absorbs from the Sun, it radiates 121TW back into deep space and the difference is converted into work for moving the air, the clouds and the sea currents and tides. Radiation always takes place between two bodies, the heat going out from the hotter to the cooler body. We can actually feel this cooling effect at night, but the truth is that it is happening all 24 hours. The Earth is constantly cooling by radiating out its energy into deep space. We don’t feel it during day because the effect of the Sun’s radiation is to annul the cooling and go on further to warm the Earth. Over the millions of years the Earth has achieved a balance of its temperature equating the heating by the Sun and the cooling at night.

The sea has a vast reserve of water which is capable of absorbing the heat of the Sun without change in its temperature. Sun’s radiation penetrates a long distance down in the water and the heat is absorbed into a very big mass of water. In places where there are algae or plankton as a mixed layer, its depth makes some difference. Observations of sea surface temperature (SST) where there was ocean mixed layer (OML) at 5 feet below surface showed a day night temperature difference of 1.5 degrees centigrade. But when the OML was 50 feet deep, the temperature difference was only just 0.1 degree!

The Oceans hold 1.3 billion cubic kilometers of water. Physics has given us a way to calculate the rise of temperature of water knowing its mass, specific heat and the amount of heat input. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported that the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming is 1.6 watts per sq. meter which works out to a heat input of 800TW on the surface area of 500 Tera sq. meters for the whole planet. This heat input for the whole year without considering the night-time radiation from the sea surface, can only raise the temperature of the sea by

Turkey to Northern Cyprus Water Pipeline by 2012

A Multi-million-dollar undersea pipeline designed to bring water to North Cyprus from Turkey could be up and running by 2012.

As there has been a period of water shortage, President Demetris Christofias, the internationally-recognised Greek Cypriot leader, is presently trying to supply the southern part of the divided island through tankers bringing water from Greece.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said work on the 110km plastic pipeline scheme would start in June 2009.

“The project should be completed at the latest within three years beginning in June next year (2009),” the PM told a news conference in Nicosia alongside Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. “The (Turkish) government has given the necessary instructions to the environment ministry so the project can be finalised,” he added.

A dam will be created at Alakopur, near Anamur in southern Turkey, to collect water from the Dragon River. This water will then be pumped to a new dam in North Cyprus by converting the reservoir at Gecitkoy, south of Guzelayali.

Selin Ekinci, an engineer from Alsim-Alarko who is working on the project, said water would be transferred to a 10,000m3 storage facility through a 21km pipeline in Turkey.

Mr Ekinci said the water would then be sent along 80km of plastic pipeline submerged 250 metres below the surface of the Mediterranean.

The pipeline will be attached to large weights which are essential to prevent it floating on the surface.

At Guelyali beach, a pumping station will be constructed to send the water to Gecitkoy dam along a 4km pipeline.

Mr Ekinci said, “The pumping station will not have a great impact on the beach where it will be constructed, either environmentally or scenically. It will not be a huge construction.”

The project, which was signed between Turkish Water Works General Directorate and Alsim-Alarko in 2005, will carry 73 million m3 of water from Turkey each year. About 15 million m3 will be used for drinking water after being purified in a facility that will be constructed near Lefkosa.

The remainder will be used to irrigate 7,650 hectares of agricultural land in the Mesaoria plain.

The project aims to meet the drinking and irrigation needs of North Cyprus up to the year 2035, when the population of the TRNC is estimated to grow to about 350,000.

Orhan Aydeniz, chairman of the Association of Forestation and Prevention of Erosion (Kema), said the project to bring water from Turkey was “very good”.

However, he also said that it would take at least four years for the project to be completed, and urged the government to take tough measures in order to protect existing resources.

There should be a limit on the number of wells opened, he urged. Apart from this, meters should be put on wells to limit the amount used. The municipalities should not plant exotic plants which need a lot of water- they should plant local plants which can withstand drought.

In addition, the government should identify those agricultural products that are marketable, and the water should be used on them.

Linda Cartwright is an expert on the property market in North Cyprus, currently writing for Meridies Homes

How the E.U Plans to Combat Global Warming

Climate change and global warming - indeed, how to control them - are becoming more central to politics with every new development. Sustainable energy is the method of our times, and government’s across the globe are under pressure - from each other, from environmental groups, and from individuals - to implement genuine and successful ‘green’ policy.

The E.U is one of the biggest political organisations in the world. It comprises 27 member states and under its banner are close to 500 million people. The GDP that the E.U generates accounts for roughly 30% of the world.

In terms of the world’s environment, then, it is a chief player. What is the European Union doing to combat global warming and climate change? And are they committed to the cause?

The official E.U website has this to say on the matter:

“Sustainable Development stands for meeting the needs of present generations without jeopardizing the ability of futures generations to meet their own needs – in other words, a better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come. It offers a vision of progress that integrates immediate and longer-term objectives, local and global action, and regards social, economic and environmental issues as inseparable and interdependent components of human progress.

Sustainable development will not be brought about by policies only: it must be taken up by society at large as a principle guiding the many choices each citizen makes every day, as well as the big political and economic decisions that have. This requires profound changes in thinking, in economic and social structures and in consumption and production patterns.”

What is clear, then, is that the E.U see promotion of the message as central; a sustainable future is only possible with a growing conciousness and willingness on the part of the public to accept and encourage environmental policy and legislation.

If the E.U can get its citizens to accept the challenge, though, what policy can be expected from the organizations governments?

The ‘E.U Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS)’ was established to answer exactly that question. In its own words, the SDS will “gradually change our current unsustainable consumption and production patterns and move towards a better integrated approach to policy-making…[it will] reaffirm the need for global solidarity and recognizes the importance of strengthening our work with partners outside the EU, including those rapidly developing countries which will have a significant impact on global sustainable development.”

So the E.U - acknowledging its role within the world’s sphere - champions the importance of climate change as a global issue, and believes that it should be treated as such. Its method for achieving that aim is to work closely and extensively with the world’s other governmental bodies.

The SDS has 7 key areas of interest:

Climate change and clean energy

Sustainable transport

Sustainable consumption & production

Conservation and management of natural resources

Public Health

Social inclusion, demography and migration

Global poverty and sustainable development challenges

Central, then, is the simultaneous need for a maintenance of current ecosystems - to conserve and manage the continent’s current resources - combined with a development of a sustainable infrastructure for the future; investment in clean fuels, plus solar energy, wind energy and biogas.

Indeed, the E.U - through its 7 SDS points - recognises that environmental issues affect everything in our lives, because we are part of the environment, and so everything we do is affecting it also. As such, the E.U beleives that ‘Changing Behaviour’ is imperative in the fight against climate change:

“A host of cultural, economic, social and psychological factors affect the way we behave, often locking us into unsustainable consumption habits. Even those who say they will buy organic food for environmental reasons and the good of their own health may change their minds if products outstrip their budget.”

The overall challenge, then, for the European Union - along with the rest of the world’s nations - is to educate the next generation on the pitfalls of our own.

That way, the E.U can guarantee that it does not return in the future to the issues that have caused the problem in the first instance.

Chris Woolfrey is the Global Warming expert at EcoSwitch The environmental social network.

The Solar Decathlon - Giving Solar Power a Makeover

In the Autumn of next year, the third ‘Solar Decathlon’ will take place in Washington, D.C.

When it is under way, the experts and spectators alike will see some of the best examples in the world of the relationship between design and solar power.

Comprising 20 teams - each representing universities or colleges - entrants are expected to build a house that is solar powered, and is judged on aesthetics and design.

The official Solar Decathlon website has this to say:

“Teams of college students design a solar house, knowing from the outset that it must be powered entirely by the sun. In a quest to stretch every last watt of electricity that’s generated by the solar panels on their roofs, the students absorb the lesson that energy is a precious commodity. They strive to innovate, using high-tech materials and design elements in ingenious ways. Along the way, the students learn how to raise funds and communicate about team activities. They collect supplies and talk to contractors. They build their solar houses, learning as they go.”

Perhaps the key phrase, then, is that “energy is a precious commodity”. What the Solar Decathlon competition tries to show is that sustainable and renewable energy is not just important, but necessary; with climate change on the rise, and fossil fuels declining, the message from the Solar Decathlon is one of duty, not preference.

Which is not to say that sustainable and renewable energy cannot be attractive and exciting, as the competition also shows.

Indeed the ultimate aim of the competition is to fuse the need for sustainable energy with the luxury of good design:

“The Solar Decathletes — tomorrow’s engineers, architects, researchers, and homeowners — are sharing with us a new vision for living under the sun. These solar homes are powerful, comfortable, and stylish. They are relaxed and elegant, wasting neither space nor energy.

Today’s solar houses connect with nature to take advantage of heat and light from the sun and cooling breezes and shading. But they crank this natural advantage way up by using the newest products and technologies on the market. The Solar Decathlon solar homes combine the best from the past and the present… and deliver the promise of a brighter future.”

So the Solar Decathlon is committed to a growing movement that dispels any beliefs on the incompatibility of good looks and sustainable power.

And - since its launch in 2002 - it has proved that point. With the stipulation that the entrants build the houses with only existing commercially available products, the Solar Decathlon commits to sustainable housing that is commercially viable.

Within a commercially anchored framework, then, the teams are judged in 10 contests throughout the competition.

They can be divided into two groups, detailing technology and everyday use.

Technology:

Architecture, Engineering, Communications, Appliances, Lighting, Hot Water, Energy Balance.

Everyday Use:

Market Viability, Comfort Zone, Getting Around.

So the Solar Decathlon brings public interest to the solar development issue; the same institutions that are developing the most high tech and specialist advances in sustainable energy are expected to use their knowledge for the benefit of public and commercial culture.

As the competition begins again next year, the commercial will once again -quite rightfully - take precedence over the specialist.

Chris Woolfrey is the solar power expert at EcoSwitch The environmental social network.

There’s Nothing Like Good Neighbours

And if the case of the recent discovery of the body of a 70-year-old man in his apartment in the town of Aix-les-Bains in southeastern France is anything to go by, he had anything but “good neighbours.”

While there’s nothing too unusual perhaps in the report of an elderly person’s death going unnoticed, especially when he or she lives alone, there must be more than a little cause for concern in cases such as this one.

That’s because investigators believe that the man’s body, found mummified in his apartment on the 14th floor of a social housing block of flats last week, had been there for anything up to three years.

Media reports confirm that the man did indeed live alone and had no close family in the region.

But where were the neighbours?

Well one of them - living on the same floor - told reporters that he apparently crossed the 70-year-old on the landing occasionally, and the last time the two had spoken was after his dog had died. That was FOUR years ago.

The caretaker of the building - yes unbelievably there is one - but obviously not taking a great deal “care” of its occupants, noticed just last week that the old man’s letter box was full to overflowing - clearly an astute woman - and alerted the authorities.

The police arrived, forced open the door and discovered the body. The official explanation of death was through “natural causes” and there won’t be any inquiry launched.

Perhaps though there should be one opened on the morality and intellect of the neighbours who you would think might just have noticed that something wasn’t quite right.

One of them, when questioned by reporters said,

“I didn’t know that someone had died in the building. There are 14 floors and people are moving in and out all the time.”

Not surprisingly perhaps, the neighbour - a woman - wanted to remain anonymous.

To put this sad story into context, there are a couple of other elements that need to be included.

A few years ago in Europe - August 2003 to be precise - there was a heat wave across much of the continent. In France alone around 15,000 people, mainly elderly, died as a consequence and there was a public outcry.

There have been subsequent calls each summer (and winter) from the authorities for people to keep a watchful but not-too-obtrusive eye on elderly neigbours.

There was even a half-hearted, but bungled attempt by the government to launch a “day of Solidarity” whereby people would give up one of the public holidays in May and instead work “free” with all money earned being put in a special fund to help the elderly.

Surprise, surprise (given the evidence of this case) the idea didn’t work for one reason or another and was finally shelved this year.

As long ago as 1999, the campaign to promote good neighbourliness was launched here in France. From humble beginnings with just 10,000 participants taking part in 80 buildings dotted around the capital, La F

How Could Parents Forget?

It’s a question that has preoccupied many here in France over the past month, and sadly made the headlines far too often. It’s also one to which it’s difficult to provide an answer.

Over the past four weeks there have been three separate incidents of young children or babies - being left alone in locked cars. In two of the cases, the infants died, in the third a passerby was able to intervene, break a window and save the child from probable death.

Yannis

On July 15, two-and-a-half-year-old Yannis died in the town of Pont-de-Ch

Edgar Mitchell’s Roswell Revelations and Pentagon Briefing

When former Astronaut Edgar Mitchell recently told the world that he had been briefed on Aliens and UFOs by the U.S. Government, the media reacted by treating his comments with disdain. Their own bias against any acknowledgement that Aliens might be visiting our world and unwillingness to accept the word of a national hero that UFOs are intelligently controlled spacecrafts from another world may have caused them to miss the historical significance of what he said.

Mitchell, a former Navy Officer and Astronaut that walked on the Moon, grew up in Roswell, New Mexico. Over the past several years he has indicated that he was living in the town when the 1947 UFO crash occurred and knew what happened based on conversations with first hand witnesses. He has also said that several other people with intimate knowledge about the UFO crash have taken him into their confidence. Mitchell gave this statement to Robert Collins:

“I grew up in the Roswell area. I was almost 17 and senior in high school when it happened. Family members were ranchers and cattle people. We knew all the ranchers and towns people in the area, including where the UFO impacted. In spite of official denials and threats about talking, the local lore told the story.”

“After my space flight, and being a local boy, people involved, not only the locals, trusted me with their stories, because they were getting older and wanted the truth out, but were afraid to say it publicly; so considered me a trustworthy source to carry their story onward. Been telling it all that way, if anyone bothered to ask my opinion, since the Pentagon incident 11 years ago. Only now, suddenly, it got international media attention.”

The Pentagon incident that Edgar Mitchell is talking about occurred after he requested and received permission to meet with the Intelligence Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during April of 1997. Mitchell wanted to brief them on what he knew or had heard about the Roswell UFO Crash. After the briefing, Mitchell says he was told by a Navy Admiral that what he knew about the crash was correct. He recently commented on that meeting:

“ I did take my story to the Pentagon — not NASA, but the Pentagon — and asked for a meeting with the Intelligence Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and got it. And told them my story and what I know and eventually had that confirmed by the admiral that I spoke with, that indeed what I was saying was true.”

When a Vice Admiral found out about the Mitchell briefing at the Pentagon, he wanted to attend. The Vice Admiral was refused access and told that he didn’t have a “need to know.” This interesting side story provides proof that the UFO secret is one available only to an elite group of Military Leaders within the U.S. Government. It also lends credence to the idea that the President and most elected officials probably do not have access to one of our nation’s biggest secrets.

When Harry Truman signed the National Security Act in 1947, it allowed for the restriction of certain information from the President and other members of the U.S. Government. The idea was to safeguard national secrets and provide sitting presidents and other elected officials with plausible deniability. I doubt that Truman envisioned a time when members of the government would routinely lie to and deceive those they were constitutionally obligated to serve.

It’s easy for mainstream news company reporters to label Edgar Mitchell as a new age Kool-aide drinker because of his interest in exploring the Mind Sciences from a more eclectic point of view. However, I don’t see them attacking other Astronauts for their beliefs or actions. Many of the original Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Crew Members were notorious drinkers and philanderers. Some Space Shuttle Astronauts flew training missions while drunk, while others have publicly exposed themselves or lobbied for the rights of earthworms. Despite behavior that ranges from criminal to comical, those Astronauts continue to represent NASA on TV and in print interviews.

It’s easy for members of the Press to set themselves up as societal filters set in place to decide what people should be told. It’s harder to accept and report on the kind of truths that are not easily covered in thirty second television news reports or short paragraphs in increasingly abbreviated versions of news publications. As the line from the film City of Angels proclaims, “Some things are true whether you believe them or not.”

For more, visit http://www.ufoguy.com

Author: Bill Knell is a popular paranormal author, speaker and consultant. Author’s Website: UFOguy.com Terms To Use Article: Permission is granted to use this article for free online or in print with inclusion of the author

French Power EDF Ready to Take Over British Energy

After the nuclear power company British Energy announced that it was thinking about takeover approaches earlier this year, and then subsequently held talks and meetings with EDF of France, E.ON and RWE of Germany, and Iberdrola of Spain. It is the French energy power house that has emerged as the only formal bidder for the takeover and is now only days away from clinching the £12 billion deal.

EDF has been one of the leading contenders to buy British Energy since the British Government effectively put the power company up for sale by announcing it wanted to sell its 35% stake in the nuclear operator.

According to the BBC, EDF is now prepared to pay as much as 775p per share, after British Energy released that none of the potential deals took into account the soaring wholesale electricity costs and the prospective role of its sites and the allotted plans that were in development in conjunction to Britain’s nuclear power supply.

Shares in British Energy, which is capable of producing around one-sixth of the UK’s energy needs, rose to almost 6% following the report as the renewed speculation and prospect of an imminent deal excited the investors considerably. British Energy’s eight nuclear power stations are Dungeness B in Kent, Hartlepool, Heysham 1 and 2 in Lancashire, Hinkley Point B in Somerset, Hunterston B in Ayrshire, Sizewell B in Suffolk and Torness in East Lothian. The group, which has around 6,000 staff, also owns a coal-fired power station at Eggborough, East Yorkshire.

EDF executives now hope to be able to announce a deal imminently. Centrica, the British power company, is also involved in some negotiations with EDF, they are seeking to secure a deal that would see it acquire 25% of British Energy.

The decisive takeover price for British Energy is still under last-minute discussions, but could go above the 750p share mark, valuing it at between £11bn and £12bn. That would secure the Government as much as £4bn. However, the net cash has already been marked for the decommission costs that are connected with dismantling nuclear power stations, nearing the end of their lives.

Despite Centrica refusing to comment on its involvement in the deal, it is understood that its executives whom are also working very busily with EDF. The British company’s involvement in the deal would appease critics of the sale of the UK’s only major nuclear operator to a French company.

Since Gordon Brown committed the UK to developing a brand new generation of nuclear power plants, Malcolm Wicks, the Energy minister, has commented that while the Government is not opposed to British Energy being taken over by a foreign buyer, they are alert to the sensitivities of such an issue.

The Government will also have to consider how a deal with the French power house EDF would affect other potential operators in view of a monopolising of nuclear power by the French company, given that British Energy’s existing sites are likely to be the favoured locations for future constructions.

Ryan Whatley is the solar power expert at EcoSwitch The environmental social network.

The Needles UFO Crash: What Really Happened?

On May 14, 2008, an oval object with a turquoise glow fell out of the sky around three o’clock in the morning and crashed west of the Colorado River near Needles, California. The crash was almost immediately followed by the appearance of unmarked vehicles with government license plates manned by non-uniformed personnel, a small fleet of transport aircrafts and helicopters including a sky crane which later removed the object. Like many incidents of this kind, this one quickly became a non-event. So what really happened?

It’s important to understand that the object in question has been seen in the Needles area before and elsewhere as well. An object described as oval shaped with a turquoise glow was spotted by a motorist traveling just west of Needles on I-40 on April 17, 2002 at around three thirty in the morning. During that incident the object hovered above the road in mid-air. Another sighting occurred in 1997 near Columbus, Ohio. A photographer was filming clouds when a glowing object described as turquoise in color appeared on several of the frames that were photographed. The object wasn’t seen through the camera lens at the time the photos were taken.

Needles, California, is located in the Mojave Valley and is a part of San Bernardino County. It’s just across the bridge from Arizona and near the Nevada border as well. Historic Route 66 and I-40 run through the town with a population of between 5000 and 6000 people. Originally named for a group of pointed rocks on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, Needles was founded in 1883 and has been an important stopping place for people traveling east to west into California ever since. It’s also the kind of place where the crash of something strange might go unnoticed if it occurred outside of town. Fortunately, this crash had witnesses.

The first witness to the May 14, 2008 incident was a person we’ll call Bob. He lives on a houseboat in Topock, Arizona, a town that is little more than a Marina and a couple of stores near Golden Shores. Bob reported seeing a glowing turquoise-blue-green object high in the sky and headed in his direction around three o‘clock in the morning. He was sitting on the upper deck of his houseboat at the time. As it passed, he said that it looked as though the thing was on fire. He saw the object hit the ground somewhere west of the Colorado River on the California side. It bounced once and he recalled hearing a noise like a thump.

Thinking that some kind of plane had crashed, Bob tried using his satellite phone to call 911. His phone would not connect. After the crash, Bob heard the sound of helicopters approaching and reported seeing five of them flying in formation less than twenty minutes after the object hit the ground. One of them circled his houseboat before rejoining the others. Another was a sky crane that retrieved the oval-shaped object while it was still glowing with some kind of cables or a net and flew away with it. The crash occurred between Topock and Needles, west of the Colorado River and south of Needles.

Frank Costigan lives three miles east of the Colorado River and became the second witness to the May 14, 2008 incident. He got up around three in the morning to let his cat out. While standing in his backyard, Frank noticed a large glowing object streaking across the sky. It flashed a number of colors including turquoise, blue and green. The object was headed towards the ground and he expected to hear some sort of impact noise. Costigan later offered this statement:

“I thought I might hear something when it hit the ground because if it was as close as I thought it was and as big as it was, I thought I would hear something. But I did not hear anything. And it went out of my view before it hit the ground… It went behind a hill, and I waited to see if I could hear it crash because as big as it was, it was bound to make noise.”

Costigan reported that the object was bright enough to illuminate the ground. He said that it came out of the northeast, headed southwest at a tremendous speed, slowed down and speeded up again before moving out of his sight. Frank is a retired Superintendent of Operations and Police Chief. He worked at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) from 1978 until 1985 and at Ontario (California) International Airport from 1985 to 1986. He occasionally does special reports and news investigations for KTOX, an AM radio station in Needles, California. Frank later told David Hayes, the station owner, about the bizarre object he saw earlier that morning. Hayes surprised Costigan with his own strange story.

While driving on I-40 on his way to work that morning, Hayes saw a small convoy of darkly-painted vehicles exiting the highway. The vehicles had black and white government license plates. The lead truck looked a bit like a very large SUV with a dome on top, a truck bed and appeared to have four wheel drive. The vehicle may have been carrying a remote controlled drone. Hayes said that he could see a triangular object that sat on top of several small humps in the truck bed and that it reminded him of the look of a stealth bomber.

A dark green van followed behind the first vehicle and a longer van followed the green one. Hayes told Costigan that he could see men inside the trucks. They did not have military uniforms on, but after he made eye contact with the driver of the third vehicle, it followed him to the radio station. One of the trucks returned later that day and briefly parked outside the KTOX building. It seemed to be involved in some sort of surveillance of the radio station.

Hayes and Costigan reported the strange events that occurred on May 14, 2008 during regular programming at KTOX for days and asked for any other witnesses to come forward. That‘s how they obtained the story from Bob and he wasn‘t the only person to call in. Someone known to them from nearby Laughlin, Nevada, phoned to report that Janet planes where taking off and landing at the Laughlin Airport all night on the date that the crash occurred. Because the airport and control tower were closed at the time, Laughlin Airport personnel cannot confirm the presence of the Janet planes on the night in question.

Janet planes are the nickname some have given to the aircrafts that fly workers in and out of Area 51. A small terminal exists at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas for the mysterious airline operated by EE&G (a U.S. Government contractor). Large and smaller passenger jets and a few prop planes ferry workers to Groom Lake in Area 51 and the Tonopah Test Range, but there is no reason to expect that such aircraft would land in Laughlin. Because the airport and control tower were closed at the time, Laughlin Airport personnel cannot confirm the presence of the Janet planes on the night in question.

Strange things continued to happen in the Needles area after the crash. No one seems able to locate Bob and many believe he has left the area. Toni Sagan, a member of the River Valley Democratic Club in the area, was questioned by a stranger at a club meeting after she appeared on the radio station to talk about the 2008 presidential race. The man wanted to know if she heard any off-air conversations between David Hayes and a witness to the crash he had on the phone. Toni said that she had never seen the man before and that he seemed out of place in terms of the way he dressed as compared to most people that live in the area.

Although a public shows that at least one military helicopter was in the area on the night of the crash, there are no police, emergency, military or government agencies willing to offer any comments on the incident. Noted journalist George Knapp and members of the Channel 8 (CBS Network TV Affiliate in Las Vegas) Investigative Team say they have contacted “police agencies in three states, the Laughlin Airport, the weather service, the FAA and several military bases” asking for any kind of statement about the incident. All of them claim they know nothing about the crash.

Based on the description of the object and the circumstances surrounding its retrieval, it is doubtful that the thing was a meteorite. It could have been space junk, but the fact that it changed speed and seemed under some kind of intelligent control makes that unlikely. It’s possible that the object could have been some type of experimental U.S. aircraft, but given the descriptions that have been offered, it seems to be a bit beyond what even the best secret aircraft prognosticators have predicted we currently have available.

Two possibilities remain that might explain what happened in the Needles area on May 14, 2008. One is that a UFO or spacecraft of unknown origin was tracked by government authorities to the point where it made contact with the earth. With retrieval teams standing by, the object was quickly removed from the area and any necessary clean-up was accomplished without much notice. The other is that a UFO or spacecraft of unknown origin was being test-flown by a human pilot from Area 51 and simply malfunctioned causing the subsequent actions.

Author: Bill Knell is a popular paranormal author, speaker and consultant. Author’s Website: UFOguy.com Terms To Use Article: Permission is granted to use this article for free online or in print with inclusion of the author

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