The Edinburgh Theological College was founded in 1810 to train Anglican clergy to serve in the Scottish Episcopal Church. In 1891 the college moved to Coates Hall in Rosebery Avenue where it gradually expanded to include residential accommodation and a library. The college’s academic hood was black lined with thistle green. The college closed in 1994 and the site is now used by St Mary's Music School.

The Edinburgh Theological College was succeeded by the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church (TISEC) in 1995, which was itself succeeded by the Scottish Episcopal Institute (SEI) in 2015.

See also

 Alumni of Edinburgh Theological College

References

1810 establishments in Scotland
Educational institutions established in 1810
Scottish Episcopal Church
Bible colleges, seminaries and theological colleges in Scotland
Former theological colleges in Scotland
1994 disestablishments in Scotland
Educational institutions disestablished in 1994


Opera Cameos is a TV series which aired on the DuMont Television Network from November 8, 1953, to January 9, 1955. The program aired Sundays at 7:30pm ET, and was hosted by opera singer Giovanni Martinelli.  A conductor on the program was Salvatore Dell'Isola.

Episodes status
The Paley Center for Media has eight episodes, with the remaining episodes presumed lost.

See also
List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
1954-55 United States network television schedule

Bibliography
Barnes, Scott "Vintage Portraits", Opera News, November, 2007. Accessed via subscription 27 October 2008.
Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Third edition (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964)
Alex McNeil, Total Television, fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980)
David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004)

External links

DuMont historical website

DuMont Television Network original programming
Black-and-white American television shows
1953 American television series debuts
1955 American television series endings
Works about opera


Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters is a six-issue comic book limited series by Marvel's imprint Icon Comics. It was based on some of Jack Kirby's unpublished ideas.

The series follows the story of Jack Berkley, a former interstellar bounty hunter who must reassemble his former team for one last mission, saving his son.

Publication history
The series was based on unused material Jack Kirby had prepared for the series Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #7. The galactic Bounty Hunters were based on early character designs for the Wonder Warriors and Kirby's daughter Lisa found them in his effects after he died and was persuaded by Michael Thibodeaux to work the ideas into a limited series, although initial ideas were for a film or animated television series.

Issue #3 also featured another Kirby creation, Captain Victory.

Collected editions
The series has been collected into a single volume:
 Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters (256 pages, hardcover, October 2007, , softcover, July 2008, )

Notes

References

2006 comics debuts
Comics by Jack Kirby
Comics set on fictional planets
Fictional bounty hunters
Icon Comics titles


Chia-Shun Yih (; July 25, 1918 – April 25, 1997) was the Stephen P. Timoshenko Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. He made many significant contributions to fluid mechanics. Yih was also a seal artist.

Biography
Yih was born on July 25, 1918, in Guiyang, Guizhou province of China. Yih received his junior middle school education in Zhenjiang, and entered Suzhou High School in 1934 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.

In 1937, Yih entered the National Central University and studied civil engineering. Yih graduated in 1941 then did research at a hydrodynamics laboratory in Guanxian (or Guan County; 灌县; current Dujiangyan) of Sichuan province. Yih also worked in a bridge construction company in Guizhou. Later, Yih taught at Guizhou University.

In 1945, Yih went to study at the University of Iowa in the United States, where he obtained his PhD in 1948. Yih served as a professor of the University of Michigan for most of his academic career.

Yih is also well known for his high language talent, which appeared already when he was just a high school student. In his first classes in high school, he could talk fluently with his American English teacher. Yih mastered German soon after he joined the college, and was able to communicate smoothly with the local German missionaries in Chongqing. Later Yih again learned French, and lectured mechanics in French at the University of Paris and the University of Grenoble.

He died on April 25, 1997, of heart failure, in his sleep, while in an airplane over Japan.

Honors and awards
Theodore von Kármán Medal, 1981
Fluid Dynamics Prize, from the American Physical Society, 1985
Otto Laporte Award, 1989

Yih was a member of the National Academy of Engineering (elected 1980), and an academician of the Academia Sinica (elected 1970), and a fellow of the American Physical Society (elected 1959).

Books
C.-S. Yih, Fluid Mechanics: A Concise Introduction to Theory, West River Press, Ann Arbor (1979).
C.-S. Yih, Stratified Flows, 2nd ed., Academic Press (1980).
C.-S. Yih, Fluid Mechanics, West River Press, Ann Arbor (1988).
C.-S. Yih (Ed.), Advances in Applied Mechanics, Academic Press (1982).

References

Fluid dynamicists
1918 births
1997 deaths
Chinese emigrants to the United States
People from Guiyang
20th-century American engineers
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
University of Iowa alumni
National Central University alumni
Nanjing University alumni
University of Michigan faculty
Members of Academia Sinica
Artists from Guizhou
Educators from Guizhou
Chinese seal artists
Physicists from Guizhou
Fellows of the American Physical Society


Oil shale in China is an important source of unconventional oil. A total Chinese oil shale resource amounts of 720 billion tonnes, located in  80 deposits of 47 oil shale basins. This is equal to 48 billion tonnes of shale oil. At the same time there are speculations that the actual resource may even exceed the oil shale resource of the United States.

The oil shale industry was established in China already in the 1920s. After decrease in the production, the industry started to increase and as of 2008; several companies are engage in the shale oil production or the oil shale-based power generation.  After 2005, China became the largest shale oil producer in the world.  In 2011, the country produced about 650,000 tonnes of shale oil. Most of production facilities are Fushun-type retorts.

At the end of 2006, the Fushun Shale Oil Plant was the largest oil shale plant in the world. In 2005, the China National Oil Shale Association was established in Fushun.  The main oil shale research institution in China is the China University of Petroleum.

Reserves
From 2004 to 2006 China undertook the national oil shale evaluation. According to the evaluation, it has been estimated that a total Chinese oil shale resource amounts of 720 billion tonnes, located in  80 deposits of 47 oil shale basins. This is equal to 48 billion tonnes of shale oil.  The proven oil shale reserves comprise about 36 billion tonnes.

The principle Chinese reserves with commercial importance lie in Fushun (Liaoning), Maoming (Guangdong), Huadian and Nong'an (Jilin), and Longkou (Shandong).  The Longkou deposit has the highest oil content (about 14%).

The Fushun oil-shale and coal deposit of Eocene age is located in north-eastern China, south of Fushun, Liaoning. Coal and oil shale are in a small outlier of Mesozoic and Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks underlain by Precambrian granitic gneiss. The thickness of the layer of oil shale varies from  to  with the average of . The lacustrine origin oil shale is presented in the Jijuntun Formation, overlying the Guchengzi Formation consisting coal and underlying of green mudstone of the Xilutian Formation.

The Tertiary age Maoming oil-shale deposit is  long,  wide, and  to  thick. The ore is yellow brown and the bulk density is about 1.85. The oil shale contains 72.1% ash, 10.8% moisture, 1.2% sulfur, with a heating value of 1,745 kcal/kg (dry basis).  It is not suitable for above-ground retorting, but it could be used for a power generation by a fluidized bed combustion.

Professor Alan R. Carroll of University of Wisconsin–Madison estimates that Upper Permian lacustrine oil shale deposits of the Junggar-Turpan-Hami basins in northwest China, absent from previous global oil shale assessments, are comparable to the Green River Formation.

History
The extraction of oil shale in China began in 1926 under the Japanese rule.  The commercial-scale production of shale oil began in 1930 in Fushun, Manchuria, with the construction of the "Refinery No. 1" operating Fushun-type retorts.  After World War II, the shale oil production was ceased, but 100 Fushun-type oil shale retorts and the related shale oil processing units were restored in 1949 after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In 1950, total 266 retorts were in operation, each with the capacity of 100–200 tonnes shale oil per day.

In 1954, the "Refinery No. 2" began its production and in 1959, the maximum annual shale oil production increased to 780,000 tonnes. The produced shale oil was acid and alkaline washed and hydrotreated for producing light liquid fuels.  In 1961, China was producing one third of its total oil production from oil shale. In Maoming, Guangdong Province, a new oil shale retorting plant with 64 retorts was put into operation in 1963.

Since 1965, oil shale usage in Fushun started to decline.  With the discovery of Daqing oilfield in the 1960s, the shale oil production declined and  Sinopec, an operator of shale oil production these times, shut down its oil shale operations in the beginning of the 1990s.  At the same time, the Fushun Oil Shale Retorting Plant was established as a part of the Fushun Mining Group. It started production in 1992.  In 2005, China became the largest shale oil producer in the world. At the same year, China National Oil Shale Association was established in Fushun.

Industry
The major oil shale industry in China is the Fushun Mining Group.  Several other coal and oil companies have expanded their activities into oil shale extraction.  , there were seven shale retorting plants with a total production of 650,000 tonnes of shale oil. These plants located in Fushun, Huadian, Wangqing, Beipiao, Longkou, Yaojie, and Dongning.  Most of them use Fushun retorts or modified Fushun retorts.

Fushun Mining Group

Fushun Mining Group owns geological reserve for high grade oil shale about 3.6 billion tonnes, of which exploitable reserve is 920 million tonnes, divided between East Open Pit (760 million tonnes) and West Open Pit (160 million tonnes). The oil shale production uses reserves from the West Open Pit, while the East Open Pit oil shale reserves are not mined yet.  Oil shale is produced as a byproduct of the coal mining. In 2006, Fushun Mining Group produced 240,000 tonnes of shale oil, and was expected to produce 300,000 tonnes in 2007.

The company operates the largest oil shale retorting plant in the world.  In 2011, it had two oil shale retorting plants with 120 and 100 retorts, producing annually about 350,000 tonnes of shale oil.  In addition, the company has constructed the Alberta Taciuk processor to treat small size oil shale (particulate oil shale) which can't be processed in Fushun retort. The 250 tonnes per hour ATP processor was engineered and provided by Canadian company UMATAC Industrial Processes, a subsidiary of UMA Engineering Ltd.  The processor is in the cold testing phase.

The cost of shale oil production in Fushun is US$18.46 per barrel (1,500 yuan per tonne), of which the mining costs 0.184, transportation 4.25, and retorting 13.84.  Fushun shale oil is sold as fuel oil, while part of the surplus retort gas with low heating value is used in an internal combustion engine for producing steam and power.  Spent shale and shale ash is used for the cement production; the annual production of cement is 300,000 tonnes and the annual production of bricks is 240 million.

PetroChina

In 2006, PetroChina, the largest Chinese oil company, set up a department of New Sources of Energy, which is responsible for the oil shale development.  In August 2008, its subsidiary Daqing Oil Company started to build a shale oil plant in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang. The plant is designed to process 1.2 million tonnes of oil shale per year and produce 100,000 tonnes of shale oil.  It will use solid heat carrier technology.

Maoming
Maoming oil shale industry was developed from the 1960s to the 1990s by Maoming Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of Sinopec, which built 64 Fushun-type retorts and 48 gas combustion retorts for producing shale oil. The production peaked with 180,000 tonnes of shale oil per annum. This industry was shut down in the 1990s. The Guandong Province authorities have a plan to use the Maoming oil shale for the power production using fluidized bed combustion.  In 2008, one circulating fluidized-bed boiler was constructed.  Guangdong Electricity Company has plans to build a power station with capacity of 1,200 MW.

Longkou Mining Group
Longkou Mining Group, subsidiary of Shandong Energy, produces oil shale as a coal mining byproduct.  It operates shale oil plant which is equipped with 40 Fushun retorts. The shale oil production is about 120,000 tonnes per year and the planned full capacity is 200,000 tonnes of shale oil per year.  The company also plans to utilize Enefit-280 technology.  In addition, the company plans to burn shale char mixed with particulate oil shale in fluidized bed combustion for power generation, and the shale ash would be utilized for production of building material.

Jilin Energy & Communication Corporation
In 1996, Jilin Energy & Communication Corporation, a subsidiary of the China Power Investment Corporation, put into operation the first oil-shale-fired power plant in China, consisting of three circulating fluidized-bed units with capacity of 12 megawatts (MW). In 2005, the company in cooperation with the Jilin Municipal Government put forward the Huadian oil shale comprehensive utilization project. The project includes construction of the shale oil plant with capacity of  200,000 tonnes of shale oil per year, two circulated fluidized bed combustion units with capacity of 50 MW each and production of 1.2 million tonnes of cement and other building materials utilizing spent shale and shale ash. The shale oil plant will utilize the Petrosix technology.

Royal Dutch Shell
Shell China has established a joint venture with the Jilin Guangzheng Mineral Development Company Limited to explore and develop oil shale resources in Jilin Province.  61% of shares of the joint venture, Jilin Shell Oil Shale Development Company Limited (Jilin Shell), belongs to Shell China, while 39% is owned by Jilin Guangzheng. The company is planning to use the Shell's in-situ conversion process.

Wangqing County Longteng Energy Development Co.
Privately owned Wangqing County Longteng Energy Development Co. operates a shale oil plant in Wangqing, Jilin.  The plant is equipped with 40 Fushun-type retorts, and it produces about 50,000 tonnes of shale oil per year.  In 2009, the company also commissioned an oil shale power plant which is equipped with two circulating fluidized bed. The plant has capacity of 6 MW of electricity.

Other industries
In Beipiao, Liaoning, the Beipiao Coal Mining Company operates 60 Fushun-type retort with plans to open additional 24 retorts in 2012.  Yaojie Coal Electricity Group in cooperating with Sanjiang Coal Chemical Company opened shale oil plant in July 2010 in Lanzhou, Gansu. The plant consist of eight square-shaped gas combustion retorts. Longhua Harbin Coal Chemical Industry Company, a subsidiary of China National Coal Corporation, is preparing to build a shale oil plant with the capacity of 1,000 tonnes of shale oil per day in Yilan, Heilongjiang.  The plant will use hot recycled solids technology combined with fluidized bed retort.  Similar plant is planned by the Songyasan Coal Mining Company.

The Mingxin Mining Company is planning to co-produce coal and oil shale in Mingxin, Gansu Province. The planned shale oil plant would have a capacity of 400,000 tonnes of shale oil per year.  In addition, five private companies produce about 30,000 tonnes of shale oil by utilizing the Fushun-type retorts in Jilin. Liaoning Chengda is operating 12 modified Fushun retorts in Huadian, Jilin, and is building 24modified Fushun retorts in Jimsar County, Xinjiang.  Other potential industries could be start in Uromqi (Xinjiang), Yongden (Gansu), and Chanpo (Hainan).

Research

The main oil shale research institution in China is the China University of Petroleum. Its Applied Chemistry Department is the main institution dealing with oil shale. The university's oil shale experts undertake oil shale evaluation, consulting, and reviewing work for pre-feasibility and feasibility studies and development projects for domestic and foreign countries. e.g. Mongolia.

References

Geology of China
Mining in China
Petroleum in China


Petrus Johannes Waardenburg (3 June 1886 – 23 September 1979) was a Dutch ophthalmologist, geneticist, and pioneer in the application of genetics to ophthalmology. Waardenburg syndrome is named after him.

Biography
Wardenburg studied medicine at the Utrecht University from 1904–11, and then trained in ophthalmology before receiving an MD for a dissertation on the hereditary basis of the physiological and pathological characteristics of the eye in 1913.

Waardenburg was a regular contributor to eugenics publications. In 1932 Waardenburg suggested that Down syndrome might be the consequence of a chromosomal aberration, a fact which was confirmed after 27 years, by Jérôme Lejeune and his colleagues.

From 1934 to 1940, Waardenburg was external university lecturer in medical genetics at Utrecht University. From 1931 to 1935 he was secretary of the Netherlands Ophthalmological Society. He was a founding member of the Netherlands Anthropogenetic Society and its president from 1949 to 1963. He became honorary member of these two societies. He also became honorary member of similar Danish, Italian, and German societies. He was made honorary doctor of the Rijksuniversiteit in Leiden in 1954 and of the Wilhelms Universitat of Munster in 1964. Waardenburg spoke out against the use of eugenics to justify racial genocide by Nazis during their occupation of Netherlands from 1940-1945. They allowed him to continue his research because it did often support Nazi ideology.

Waardenburg was almost 50 years of age before he was habilitated as a lecturer in human genetics. At the age of 66, in 1952, he was finally appointed professor of genetics at the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Leiden. Between 1961 and 1974 the three volumes of his book Genetics and Ophthalmology were published. Until 1970 Waardenburg gave genetic advice in paternity cases in the Dutch legal courts and genetic counselling.

Between 1910 and 1970 Waardenburg published 267 papers in all. They included original observations on albinism' and many other hereditary conditions. He contributed the chapter on heredity in eye disease to Modern Trends in Ophthalmology.

Waardenburg syndrome
Waardenburg syndrome is a rare genetic disorder most often characterized by varying degrees of deafness, minor defects in structures arising from the neural crest, and pigmentation anomalies.

In 1913, Jan van der Hoeve observed and described a lateral position of the lacrimal points and shortened eyelid slit in identical deaf mute twins. In August 1947 David Klein presented a deaf mute child, who was 10 years of age, and had partial albinism of the hair and body, blue hypoplastic rides, blepharophimosis, and malformation of the arms, to the Swiss Society of Genetics, and gave a full report of his findings in 1950. Waardenburg gave an account of a deaf adult with similar facial features in December 1948, followed by a detailed review in 1951. He described the syndrome as a distinct entity and found the anomalies in 12 of 840 deaf mutes.

Honors
Waardenburg was awarded the Royal decoration Order of the Netherlands Lion in 1957. He received the Snellen medal in 1959. He founded the Waardenburg prize for special merit in the medical genetic field in 1965.

Notes

1886 births
1979 deaths
People from Meppel
Dutch geneticists
Dutch ophthalmologists
Utrecht University alumni
Academic staff of Utrecht University


Magnus Gustafsson was the defending champion, but lost in the first round this year.

Magnus Larsson won the title, defeating Petr Korda 6–4, 4–6, 6–1 in the final.

Seeds

  Michael Stich (quarterfinals)
  Petr Korda (final)
  Magnus Gustafsson (first round)
  Karel Nováček (quarterfinals)
  Richard Krajicek (first round)
  Aaron Krickstein (second round)
  Omar Camporese (second round)
  Goran Prpić (second round)

Draw

Finals

Top half

Bottom half

References

External links
 Singles draw

Singles


Oil shale in Jordan represents a significant resource. Oil shale deposits in Jordan underlie more than 60% of Jordanian territory. The total resources amounts to 31 billion tonnes of oil shale.

The deposits include a high quality marinite oil shale of Late Cretaceous to early Cenozoic age. The most important and investigated deposits are located in west-central Jordan, where they occur at the surface and close to developed infrastructure.

Although oil shale was utilized in northern Jordan prior to and during World War I, intensive exploration and studies of Jordan's oil shale resource potential started in the 1970s and 1980s, being motivated by higher oil prices, modern technology and better economic potential. As of 2008, no oil shale industry exists in Jordan, but several companies are considering both shale oil extraction and oil shale combustion for thermal power generation.

Reserves

Jordan has significant oil shale deposits occurring in 26 known localities. According to the World Energy Council, Jordan has 8th largest oil shale resource in the world. Geological surveys indicate that the existing deposits underlie more than 60% of Jordan's territory. The resource has been estimated to consist of 40 to 70 billion tonnes of oil shale, which may be equivalent to more than 5 million tonnes of shale oil. However, according to a report by World Energy Council in 2010, Jordan had reserves of 34,172 billion tonnes as of the end of 2008. The Jordanian government said in September 2013 that they had reserves of 31 billion tonnes.

The Jordanian oil shale is a marinite of Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to early Cenozoic era; it lies within the Muwaqqar Formation and is composed predominantly of chalk and marl. The rock is typically brown, gray, or black in color and weathers to a distinctive light bluish-gray. It is characterized by its content of light fine-grained phosphatic xenocrysts, some of which is accumulated in bone beds. An uncommon feature of Jordanian oil shale is that the included foraminiferal shells are filled with bitumen instead of the usual calcite.

In general, Jordanian oil shales are of high quality, comparable to the western United States oil shale, although their sulfur content is usually higher. While the sulfur content of the most of oil shales in Jordan varies from 0.3 to 4.3%, the Jurf ed-Darawish and the Sultani deposits have sulfur content of 8 and 10% respectively. Sulfur is mostly associated with the organic matter with minor occurrence as pyrite. The moisture content of the oil shale is low (2 to 5.5%). The major mineral components of the Jordanian oil shale are calcite, quartz, kaolinite, and apatite, along with small amounts of dolomite, feldspar, pyrite, illite, goethite, and gypsum. It has also a relatively high metal content.

The eight most important deposits are located in west-central Jordan within  east of the Dead Sea. These deposits are Juref ed Darawish, Sultani, Wadi Maghar, El Lajjun, Attarat Umm Ghudran, Khan ez Zabib, Siwaga, and Wadi Thamad. The best-explored deposits are El Lajjun, Sultani, and Juref ed Darawish, and to some extent Attarat Umm Ghudran. They are all classified as shallow and most are suitable for open-cast mining, albeit some are underlain by phosphate beds. In addition to the west-central deposits, another important deposit may be the Yarmouk deposit occurring near Jordan's northern border, and where the resource was first developed. This deposit would be exploitable by underground mining as it reaches some  in thickness. A third oil shale region lies in southern Jordan in the Ma'an district.

History
Humans have used oil shale as a fuel since prehistoric times, because it generally burns without any processing. Its occurrence was known in Jordan from ancient times, as evidenced by its use as a building and decorative material from the ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad and Abbasid periods. The modern exploitation of Jordanian oil shale began under Ottoman rule prior to and during World War I, when the German Army produced shale oil from the Yarmouk area. The oil shale was processed to operate the Hejaz Railway. It was mined and processed near the Maqarin station along the Haifa spur of the railroad, which partly follows the Yarmouk River valley. In addition to the shale oil production, oil shale was also utilized as a mix with coal to fuel locomotives.

The German Geological Mission studied the El Lajjun deposit in 1968. In 1979, the Natural Resources Authority of Jordan commissioned a study from the German Federal Institute of Natural Resources and Geosciences to evaluate the Juref ed Darawish, Sultani, El Lajjun, and El Hisa deposits and in 1980 from Klöckner-Lurgi to evaluate the pre-feasibility of construction of an oil shale retorting complex using Lurgi-Ruhrgas process and a power plant with 300 MW capacity using Lurgi's Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) combustion process. In 1980, the Soviet Technopromexport company conducted a pre-feasibility study of the 300–400 direct-burning conventional combustion power plant. In 1986, updated and expanded studies were ordered from Klöckner-Lurgi.

In 1985–1986, Chinese oil company Sinopec carried out a test for processing El Lajjun oil shale utilizing the Fushun-type retort. Although this process was technically viable, the cooperation with Sinopec was halted due to high operation costs. B.B.C, Lummus/Combustion Eng. and Bechtel Pyropower carried out the CIDA and USAID funded study of utilizing Sultani oil shale for direct combustion in CFB power plants.

The Krzhizhanovsky Power Engineering Institute (ENIN) conducted processing tests of Jordan oil shale using Galoter technology, finding the technology suitable. In 1999, Suncor Energy signed a memorandum of understanding with the Jordanian government to use the Alberta Taciuk Processing technology to exploit the El Lajjun oil shale deposit. However, the project was never implemented.

Shale oil extraction
In 2006–2007, the government of Jordan signed four memorandums of understanding for above-ground processing of shale oil and one memorandum for in-situ conversion processing. The memorandum of understanding with Estonian energy company Eesti Energia was signed on 5 November 2006. According to the agreement, Eesti Energia was awarded with the exclusive right to study about one third of the resources of the El Lajjun oil shale deposit. Later this right was transferred to cover a block on the Attarat Umm Ghudran oil shale deposit as the shallow aquifer that underlies the El Lajjun deposit provides fresh water to Amman and other municipalities in central Jordan. On 29 April 2008, Eesti Energia present a feasibility study to the Government of Jordan. According to the feasibility study, the company's subsidiary the Jordan Oil Shale Energy Company will establish a shale oil plant with capacity of .  The shale oil plant will use an Enefit processing technology.  The concession agreement was signed on 11 May 2010 in the presence of Jordanian and Estonian prime ministers Samir Zaid al-Rifai and Andrus Ansip.

On 24 February 2007, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Brazil's Petrobras awarding with the exclusive right to study a block at the Attarat Umm Ghudran deposit. The development will be carried out in the cooperation with Total S.A. The company will present a feasibility study at the beginning of 2009 and it will use the Petrosix technology.

In June 2006, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Royal Dutch Shell to test its in-situ conversion processing in the Azraq and Al-Jafr blocks of central Jordan. A formal agreement was concluded in February 2009 by which Shell's subsidiary Jordan Oil Shale Company committed to begin commercial operations within 12–20 years. According to the company a decision to invest in a commercial project is unlikely before the late 2020s.  It is expected to start production in 2022.

On 9 March 2011, the government of Jordan signed a concession agreement with Karak International Oil, a subsidiary of Jordan Energy and Mining, a project company established for Jordan's oil shale activities. Karak International Oil (KIO) will build a  shale oil plant in a  area of El Lajjun in Karak Governorate by 2015. The company plans to use the Alberta Taciuk Processing technology.

On 5 November 2006, Saudi Arabian International Corporation for Oil Shale Investment (INCOSIN) signed a memorandum of understanding for evaluation of El Lajjun deposit and Attarat Umm Ghudran resources. The concession agreement was approved by the Jordanian government on 3 March 2013. The company cooperates with Russian Atomenergoproekt to utilize the Galoter (UTT-3000) process to build a  shale oil plant.  It plans to start production in 2019.

In March 2009, the government of Jordan approved a memorandum of understanding on oil shale extraction with Russian company Inter RAO UES and Aqaba Petroleum Company. Also the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) has shown interest to invest into Jordan's oil shale extraction sector.  The memorandum of understanding for exploration in Wadi Al Naadiyeh is ready for signing with the Fushun Mining Group.  In 2014, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Al Qamar for Energy and Infrastructure Company.

Power generation
For dealing with increasing power consumption, Jordan plans to utilize oil shale combustion for the power generation. On 30 April 2008, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan, the National Electricity Power Company of Jordan, and Eesti Energia signed an agreement, according to which, Eesti Energia will have the exclusive right to develop the construction of an oil shale-fired power plant with capacity of 460 MW.  It is called Attarat Power Plant and is expected to be operational by 2017, revised to 2021.  It will be among the largest power stations in Jordan (the largest being Aqaba Thermal Power Plant), and the largest oil shale-fired power plant in the world after Narva Power Plants in Estonia.

Inter RAO is planning to build an oil shale-fired power plant with capacity of 90–150 MW.

On 29 September 2013, Jordan and China made a deal to build an oil shale-fired power plant in Karak for $2.5 billion. It will be built by Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO III), HTJ Group and Al-Lajjun Oil Shale Company.  The capacity is 900 MW.

Cement production
In November 2005, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the Jordan Cement Factories Company (JCFC). According to this memorandum, JCFC will utilize El Lajjun oil shale from Karak Governorate for cement production.

References


(The Queen's Lace Handkerchief) is an operetta by Johann Strauss II. The libretto by Heinrich Bohrmann-Riegen and Richard Genée was based on the Spanish writer Cervantes.

It was first performed on 1 October 1880 in Vienna at the Theater an der Wien under the composer's direction by Therese Braunecker-Schäfer, Alexander Girardi, Eugenie Erdösy, Karoline Tellheim, Hermine Meyerhoff, Felix Schweighofer and Ferdinand Schütz. The piece was adapted for Broadway in 1882, with some additional songs by Solomon and Stephens, and (once the new Casino Theatre solved its mechanical problems) ran successfully for 130 performances.

The work is rather obscure nowadays, but the waltz "" (Roses from the South), which incorporates melodies from the operetta, is well known. A revised version by Erich Wolfgang Korngold under the title  (The Song of Love) was premiered in Berlin on 23 December 1931 with Richard Tauber and Anny Ahlers in leading roles.

Roles

Recordings
2008:  Nadja Stefanoff, Jessica Glatte, Elke Kottmair, Ralf Simon, Markus Liske, Hary Brachmann, Gritt Gnauck; , conductor Ernst Theis; cpo 777 406-2

References

External links

Operas by Johann Strauss II
1880 operas
German-language operettas
Operas
Musicals set in Portugal


Re Jeavons, ex parte Mackay (1873) LR 8 Ch App 643 is a UK insolvency law case. It decided that a creditor could not reserve an obligation to himself in priority of other creditors if a company were to go into liquidation.

Facts
Mr Joshua Jeavons had an iron manufacturing business (Joshua Jeavons & Company) at the Millwall Ironworks. Jeavons sold one John Brown & Co. Ltd a patent for improving armour plates manufacture. In return Brown would pay Jeavons royalties of 15s per ton of plates produced. Brown also lent Jeavons £12,500, and agreed that half Jeavons' royalties would go to paying back that loan. It was further agreed that if Jeavons went insolvent, or made an arrangement with creditors, Brown could keep all the royalties to satisfy the debt.

Judgment
The Chancery Division of the Court of Appeal held that Brown had a lien on one half of the royalties only. The agreement that Brown could retain all royalties if Jeavons went bankrupt was a fraud on the bankruptcy laws and void.

Mr. Fry, Q.C., and Mr. Henderson, then argued in support of the second appeal:—

Mr. De Gex, Q.C., and Mr. Finlay Knight, for the trustee, were not called on.

See also
UK company law

Notes

References

United Kingdom insolvency case law
1873 in case law
1873 in British law
Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases


The Rescue (1837–1850) is a large marble sculpture group which was assembled in front of the east façade of the United States Capitol building and exhibited there from 1853 until 1958, when it was removed and never restored. The sculptural ensemble was created by sculptor Horatio Greenough (1805–1852) who had previously been commissioned by the U.S. government to create a massive sculpture, George Washington (1832–1841) for the Capitol rotunda, also now removed from that site.

Description
The Rescue depicts a confrontation between a bellicose American Indian warrior and a pioneer family. At the left rear of the group, a crouching pioneer woman desperately clasps a small child. To the front, an outsized frontiersman forcibly prevents a tomahawk-wielding Indian from brutally murdering his family. The heroic rescuer, however, refrains from injuring his adversary and displays a total mastery of the situation as well as a certain compassion for his enemy. The vengeful Indian warrior is rendered impotent and childlike. (His posture is loosely based on the central figure of the ancient Laocoön sculpture group.) The frontiersman's helmet-like headgear is fashioned like a Renaissance cap. To the right, the family dog looks on.

The Rescue was displayed to the right of the large staircase of the east façade of the U.S. Capitol.  To the left of the staircase was another sculpture, Luigi Persico's Discovery of America (1837–1850) that depicts a triumphant Christopher Columbus and a cowering Indian maiden. The final composition for Discovery resembled James Buchanan’s description: “Whilst he is thus standing upon the shore, a female savage, with awe and wonder depicted in her countenance, is gazing upon him."

History and meaning

Greenough wrote that The Rescue was meant to "commemorate the dangers & difficulty of peopling our continent, and which shall also serve as a memorial of the Indian race", but also "to convey the idea of the triumph of the whites over the savage tribes".  The group has also been seen as rationalizing Andrew Jackson's "Indian Removal" policy of the 1830s. Although Greenough did not name the rescuer, the public recognized him as Daniel Boone and the statuary was widely known as "Daniel Boone Protects His Family."

In 1939, a joint resolution submitted to—but not passed by—the U.S. House of Representatives recommended that The Rescue be "...ground into dust, and scattered to the four winds, that no more remembrance may be perpetuated of our barbaric past, and that it may not be a constant reminder to our American Indian citizens…" Several other protests, including by American Indian groups, were made in the intervening years and in 1958, both Discovery and Rescue were removed from the east façade in preparation for the building's extension. They were placed in storage and—without public discussion—never restored.

Fate

In 1976, a crane accidentally dropped The Rescue while moving it to a new Smithsonian storage area in Maryland, thus reducing it to several fragments.  Today they lie next to Discovery, also said to be in poor condition.

In a collaboration between the Middlebury College Museum of Art and the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, the pioneer's dog from The Rescue was exhibited during a temporary show, "Horatio Greenough: An American Sculptor's Drawings" in late 1999.

References

External links

1850 sculptures
1850s establishments in Washington, D.C.
Destroyed sculptures
Sculptures of dogs in the United States
Marble sculptures in Washington, D.C.
Outdoor sculptures in Washington, D.C.
Public art in Washington, D.C.
Relocated buildings and structures in Washington, D.C.
Sculptures by Horatio Greenough
Sculptures of men in Washington, D.C.
Sculptures of Native Americans in Washington, D.C.
Sculptures in the Smithsonian Institution
United States Capitol statues
Anti-Indigenous racism in Washington, D.C.
Native American-related controversies


Minuscule 676 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering) α 573 (Soden). It is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on 344 parchment leaves (19.6 cm by 15 cm). It is dated palaeographically to the 13th century. Written in one column per page, 28 lines per page in minuscule letters. It was labelled by Scrivener as 527e.

Description

The codex contains the text of the four Gospels, Book of Acts, Pauline epistles, and catholic epistles, with some lacunae (Matthew 9:36-10:22; Mark 1:21-2:1; John 1:1-22). It contains the tables of the  are placed before every book, lectionary markings, incipits,  (lessons), Synaxarion, Menologion, subscriptions at the end of books, Euthalian Apparatus, seven illuminations.
The Old Testament quotations are marked with inverted comma (>).

It was written by several hands.

Text

The Greek text of the codex is a representative of the Byzantine text-type. Aland placed it in Category V.
It was not examined by using the Claremont Profile Method.

History

In 1422 it was held in church of St. George in ελαρανδω (?). The manuscript was bought in 1752 by Nicholas Trimodis. It was held in Ghent.

The manuscript was acquired along with seven other manuscripts (556, 677, 678, 679, 680, 681, and 682) by the late Sir Thomas Phillips, at Middle Hill in Worcestershire. These manuscripts were in the property of Mr. Fitzroy Fenwick, then at Thirlestaine House in Cheltenham.

The manuscript is located now in Bible Museum Münster (Ms. 2).

See also

 List of New Testament minuscules
 Textual criticism
 Bible Museum Münster

References

External links

 Images of Minuscule 676 at the CSNTM
 Manuscripts of the Bible Museum

Greek New Testament minuscules
13th-century biblical manuscripts


Second Season may refer to:

2econd Season, a 2008 album by Unk
Second Season, a 1977 album by Point Blank

See also


Blue Merle was an American band centered in Nashville, Tennessee. Their name comes from the lyrics of a Led Zeppelin song, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp from Led Zeppelin III, referring to a "blue-eyed merle" border collie dog. The band was fronted by lead singer Luke Reynolds.

The band was first formed when Luke Reynolds and Jason Oettel met and began to work together. A friend in a studio offered them some recording time, and they began recording several demo tracks. While they were doing so, the President of Sony Publishing happened to be there, and offered them a contract. While they passed on it, it was a start. Reynolds then met Beau Stapleton, a Mandolin player, on his way back to his home in Vermont and invited him to join. Oettel brought one of his own friends, William Ellis, a drummer into the band as well. It was William who came up with the band's name. The last member to join was Luke Bulla, a fiddle player, who had been asked to fill in for a couple weeks, and soon was a full-time member.

In February 2005, Blue Merle released Burning In The Sun, which features the singles "Burning In The Sun", "Every Ship Must Sail Away", and "Lucky To Know You". The album hit #8 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and peaked at #199 on the Billboard 200. Blue Merle played Lollapalooza in 2005, and toured with Guster, Jem, J.J. Cale, and Badly Drawn Boy.

In April 2006, the band broke up.  They played their last show, 45 minute set, on Friday, April 21 at Vanderbilt University's Rites of Spring music festival along with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and My Morning Jacket.

Since the band's breakup, Luke Reynolds released two solo EPs entitled The Space Between the Lines and Maps, before joining the band Guster full-time. Beau Stapleton also released a solo EP, Will I Shine For You Still.

Luke Reynolds's last project was named Pictures and Sound, and released their self-titled debut album August 19, 2008 on Vanguard Records.

In August 2008, NBC used Blue Merle's song "Burning in the Sun" during a feature on the Women's Pole Vault during the Beijing Olympics. The song "If I Could" was also prominently featured in the Friday Night Lights episode "Let's Get It On" (first aired Nov 2 2007). "Every Ship Must Sail Away" was the final song in Season 1, Episode 2 of the TV series "Bones".

Discography
Blue Merle EP (2003)
Blue Merle The Fires EP (2004)
Burning in the Sun (2005)
Live at Bull Moose EP (2005)

References

Musical groups from Nashville, Tennessee
Island Records artists
Musical groups established in 2003
Musical groups disestablished in 2006
American bluegrass music groups
Vanguard Records artists


Pedro José Valdés Manzo (born June 29, 1973) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball outfielder. He played parts of three seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers, four seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, and one season in the Korea Baseball Organization for the LG Twins. During his MLB career, he was listed as 6'1" tall weighing 180 pounds.

Career

Chicago Cubs
Prior to playing professional baseball, Valdés attended Carlos Escobar López High School in Loiza, Puerto Rico. He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 12th round of the 1990 draft, and he began his professional career that season. In 1992, he played for the Geneva Cubs and Peoria Chiefs, hitting a combined .260 with five home runs and 44 RBI in 99 games. He played for Peoria and the Daytona Cubs in 1993, hitting .302 with 15 home runs and 85 RBI in 125 games. In 1994, he played for the Orlando Cubs, hitting .282 with one home run and 37 RBI in 116 games. With the Orlando Cubs again in 1995, he hit .300 with seven home runs and 68 RBI in 114 games. He was a Southern League All-Star that year.

Valdés earned his big league debut in 1996, although he spent most of the season with the Iowa Cubs, hitting .295 with 15 home runs and 60 RBI in 103 games with them. On May 16, he made his major league debut against the Houston Astros. Pinch-hitting for Doug Jones, he struck out in his first and only at bat of the game. Overall, he would play in nine games that year, hitting .125 in eight at-bats.

He played for Iowa again in 1997, hitting .284 with 14 home runs and 60 RBI in 125 games. With Iowa for the third year in a row in 1998, Valdés hit .314 with 17 home runs and 40 RBI in 65 games with them. He made his way back to the big leagues that season, where he hit .217 in 23 at-bats. He was released by the Cubs on December 8, 1998.

Texas Rangers
On January 12, 1999, he was signed by the Boston Red Sox. However, he was released on April 5. A couple weeks later, on April 18, he was signed by the Rangers, and it was in their organization that he had his best season to that point. Playing for the Tulsa Drillers and Oklahoma RedHawks, Valdés hit .329 with 22 home runs and 76 RBI in 121 games. He followed that with another solid season in 2000, hitting .332 with 16 home runs and 78 RBI for the RedHawks. He played in 30 big league games that season, hitting .278 with one home run and five RBI in 54 at-bats. He appeared in his final big league game on October 1.

Overall, Valdés hit .247 with one home run and eight RBI in 85 big league at bats. After his career with the RedHawks, one author considered him to be the best hitter in team history.

Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
Purchased by the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks on December 1, 2000, Valdés would play in Japan for the next four seasons. For Fukuoka in 2001, he hit .310 with 21 home runs and 81 RBI in 137 games. The following year, he hit .303 with 21 home runs and 76 RBI for them in 121 games. In 2003, he hit .311 with 26 home runs and 104 RBI, and in 2004 he hit .279 with 18 home runs and 74 RBI.

Recent career
Valdés played in Mexico in 2005 and 2006, and in 2007 he played in Korea. He also played in the 2006 Caribbean Series. He returned to Mexico in 2008, and in 2010 split the season between the Olmecas de Tabasco and Monclova.

Notes

External links

1973 births
Living people
Acereros de Monclova players
Chicago Cubs players
Daytona Cubs players
Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in South Korea
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks players
Geneva Cubs players
Gigantes de Carolina players
Guerreros de Oaxaca players
Huntington Cubs players
Iowa Cubs players
KBO League outfielders
Leones de Yucatán players
LG Twins players
Major League Baseball left fielders
Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico
Major League Baseball right fielders
Mexican League baseball first basemen
Mexican League baseball left fielders
Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders
Oklahoma RedHawks players
Olmecas de Tabasco players
Orlando Cubs players
People from Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Peoria Chiefs players
Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Japan
Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Mexico
Saraperos de Saltillo players
Texas Rangers players
Tulsa Drillers players
2013 World Baseball Classic players


The Myanmar Grand Royal Challenge Cup is a football tournament held in Myanmar. Club sides and national teams take part at the competition.

The competition was first held in 2005.

Champions

Teams' achievements
Below is the record of teams which participated at the Myanmar Grand Royal Challenge Cup.

International association football competitions hosted by Myanmar


There are two kinds of oil shale in Estonia, both of which are sedimentary rocks laid down during the Ordovician geologic period. Graptolitic argillite is the larger oil shale resource, but, because its organic matter content is relatively low, it is not used industrially. The other is kukersite, which has been mined for more than a hundred years. Kukersite deposits in Estonia account for 1% of global oil shale deposits.

Oil shale () has been defined as a strategic energy resource in Estonia and the oil shale industry in Estonia is one of the most developed in the world.  Historically, most of mined oil shale was used for electricity generation. Of all the oil shale fired power stations in the world, the two largest are in Estonia. Although its share decreased in the decade to 2022, direct and indirect use of oil shale still generates about half of Estonia's electricity. About half of mined oil shale is used to produce shale oil, a type of synthetic oil extracted from oil shale by pyrolysis, which is sufficient to keep Estonia as the second largest shale oil producer in the world after China. In addition, oil shale and its products are used in Estonia for district heating and as a feedstock material for the cement industry.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Estonian oil shale was described by several scientists and used as a low-grade fuel. Its use in industry commenced in 1916. Production of shale oil began in 1921 and oil shale was first used to generate electrical power in 1924. Shortly thereafter, systematic research into oil shale and its products began, and in 1938 a department of mining was established at Tallinn Technical University. After World War II, Estonian oil shale gas was used in Saint Petersburg (then called Leningrad) and in northern cities in Estonia as a substitute for natural gas. Increased need for electricity in the north-west of the Soviet Union led to the construction of large oil shale-fired power stations. Oil shale extraction peaked in 1980. Subsequently, the launch of nuclear reactors in Russia, particularly the Leningrad Nuclear Power Station, reduced demand for electricity produced from oil shale, and, along with a post-Soviet restructuring of the industry in the 1990s, led to a decrease in oil shale mining. After decreasing for two decades, oil shale mining started to increase again at the beginning of the 21st century. Most oil-shale fuelled electricity generation is planned to be phased-out by 2030.

The industry continues to have a serious impact on the environment producing ordinary and hazardous waste and greenhouse gas emissions, lowering groundwater levels, altering water circulation, and spoiling water quality. Leachates from waste heaps pollute surface and groundwater. Former and current oil shale mines cover about one per cent of Estonia's territory.

Resource

Graptolitic argillite

Estonian graptolitic argillite (also known as dictyonema argillite, dictyonema oil shale, dictyonema shale or alum shale) is a marine-type of black shale, belonging to the marinite-type of oil shales.  Although the name dictyonema argillite is widely used instead of graptolitic argillite, it is now considered a misnomer as the graptolite fossils in the rock, earlier considered dictyonemids, were reclassified during the 1980s as members of the genus Rhabdinopora.

Graptolitic argillite was formed some 480 million years ago during the Early Ordovician under a marine environment.  In mainland Estonia, it occurs at the foot of the North Estonian Klint, ranging from the Pakri Peninsula to Narva in an area covering about .  When findings in the western Estonian islands are included, its extent increases to about .  The thickness of the layer varies from less than  to a maximum of  in western Estonia, and its depth below the surface varies from .

Resources of graptolitic argillite in Estonia have been estimated at 60–70 billion tonnes. Although resources of graptolitic argillite exceed that of kukersite, attempts to use it as an energy source have been unsuccessful due to its low calorific value and high sulfur content.  Its organic content ranges from 10 to 20% and its sulfur content from 2 to 4%. Correspondingly, its calorific value is only 5–8 megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg; 1,200–1,900 kcal/kg) and its Fischer Assay oil yield is 3–5%.  However, the graptolitic argillite resource in Estonia contains a potential 2.1 billion tonnes of oil. In addition, it contains 5.67 million tonnes of uranium – making it one of the main potential sources of uranium in Europe – 16.53 million tonnes of zinc, and 12.76 million tonnes of molybdenum. There is as yet no economical and environmentally friendly technology to extract either the metals or the oil.

Kukersite

Kukersite is a light-brown marine-type Late Ordovician oil shale formed some 460 million years ago.  It was named kuckers by the Baltic German geologist Carl Friedrich Schmidt in the mid-19th century, and kukersite by the Russian paleobotanist Mikhail Zalessky in 1916.  The name reflects the German name for Kukruse Manor where oil shale samples were obtained.

Kukersite deposits in Estonia are the world's second highest-grade oil shale deposits after the Australian torbanite.  Its organic content varies from 15% to 55%, averaging over 40%. Correspondingly, its mean calorific value is 15 MJ/kg (3,600 kcal/kg). The conversion ratio of its organic content into usable energy (shale oil and oil shale gas) is between 65 and 67%, and its Fischer Assay oil yield is 30 to 47%.

The principal organic component of kukersite is telalginite, which originated from the fossil green alga Gloeocapsomorpha prisca, deposited in a shallow marine basin. Kukersite lies at depths of . The most significant kukersite deposits in Estonia – the Estonian and the Tapa – cover about , and together with the Leningrad deposit (an extension of the Estonian) form the Baltic Oil Shale Basin. The Estonian deposit, which covers about , is used industrially. It consists of 23 exploration and mining fields. The Tapa deposit is not accounted as a reserve due to its lower calorific value, which makes its extraction economically inexpedient. In northern Estonia there are 50 layers of kukersite; the six lowest of these form a  thick mineable bed. In this area kukersite lies near the surface. To the south and west it lies deeper and its thickness and quality decrease.

According to the International Energy Agency, Estonia's kukersite represents about 1.1% of global and 17% of European oil shale resources.  The total kukersite resources in Estonia are estimated to be about 4.8 billion tonnes, including 1.3 billion tonnes of economically proven and probable reserves.  Economically proven and probable reserves consist of mineable deposits with energy ratings of at least 35 gigajoules per square metre and calorific values of at least 8 MJ/kg, located in areas without environmental restrictions.  Up to 650 million tonnes of economically proven and probable reserves are designated as recoverable.

History

Early history
It is often reported that 18th-century naturalist and explorer Johann Anton Güldenstädt had mentioned a discovery of a "burning rock" near Jõhvi in 1725, but his published travel notes mention neither oil shale nor Estonia. It is also often reported that the earliest documented record of oil shale in Estonia, authored by the Baltic German publicist and linguist August Wilhelm Hupel, dates to 1777. However, this is based on a misinterpretation of the German word Steinöhl (meaning: stone oil), which was used by Hupel but which most likely did not mean oil shale in the context of his publication.

In the second half of the 18th century, the St. Petersburg Free Economic Society started to search for information about combustible minerals which as fuels would replace the decreasing stock of trees in the European part of Russia. As a result of these inquiries, the Society received information about a combustible mineral found at the Kohala Manor near Rakvere. According to the landlord of the Kohala estate, Baron Fabian Reinhold Ungern-Sternberg, the 'burning rock' was discovered at a depth of about ten meters when a spring was opened on the slope of a sandy hump, as it was during the digging of a well some years earlier on the same slope.  This discovery was briefly mentioned in a paper prepared by the German chemist Johann Gottlieb Georgi and presented by the Actual State Councillor Anton-Johann Engelhardt at the meeting of the Society in 1789.  The first scientific research into the rock's oil yield, using samples from the Vanamõisa village of the Kohala Manor, was published by Georgi at the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1791. In 1838 and 1839, the Baltic German geologist Gregor von Helmersen published a detailed description of the deposits of kukersite in Vanamõisa and graptolitic argillite in Keila-Joa. In 1838 he made a thorough experiment to distil oil from the Vanamõisa oil shale deposit.

During the 1850s, large-scale works were undertaken in Estonia to transform excessively wet land into land suitable for agriculture; this included the digging of drainage ditches. In the process, previously unknown layers of oil shale were discovered in several locations. In the years 1850–1857, the territory of Estonia was explored by the Baltic German geologist Carl Friedrich Schmidt who studied these findings of oil shale.  Russian chemist Aleksandr Shamarin, who at the end of the 1860s had studied the composition and properties of oil shale originating from the Kukruse area, concluded it made sense to use oil shale for the production of gas and as a solid fuel. However, he considered shale oil production unprofitable.  During the remainder of the 19th century oil shale was used locally as a low-grade fuel only. For example, in the 1870s, Robert von Toll, landlord of the Kukruse Manor, started to use oil shale as a fuel for the manor's distillery. There were failed attempts to use graptolitic argillite as fertilizer in the 19th century. In the beginning of the 20th century, geologist and engineer Carl August von Mickwitz studied self-ignition of graptolitic argillite near Paldiski. At the University of Tartu oil shale geology and chemistry analyses were conducted during the 19th century by Georg Paul Alexander Petzholdt, Alexander Gustav von Schrenk, and Carl Ernst Heinrich Schmidt, among others.

Beginning of oil shale industry

Analysis of Estonian oil shale resources and mining possibilities intensified during the early 20th century while Estonia was part of the Russian Empire. Industrial development was under way in Saint Petersburg (known as Petrograd in 1914–24), but regional fuel resources were in short supply. A large shale oil extraction plant for processing Estonian oil shale was proposed in 1910. The outbreak of World War I, coupled with a fuel supply crisis, accelerated the pace of the research.

In June 1916, the Russian geologist Nikolay Pogrebov oversaw mining of the first tonnes of oil shale at Pavandu and delivered it to Saint Petersburg (then Petrograd) Polytechnic Institute for large-scale experiments. These events marking the beginning of the Estonian oil shale industry took place more than half a century after an oil shale industry had emerged in Scotland, the leading oil shale industry in 1916, and a decade before the industry emerged in China, which, besides Estonia, is today the other leading oil shale-exploiting country. In 1916 a total of 640–690 tonnes of oil shale were sent to Saint Petersburg for testing. The tests proved that the oil shale was suitable for combustion as a solid fuel and for extraction of oil shale gas and shale oil. Based on these promising results, a plan for oil shale mining in Estonia was presented to the Emperor Nicholas II on 3 January 1917. On 13 February 1917, the Council of Ministers of Russia allocated 1.2 million roubles to purchase land and start mining activities. After the February Revolution, the Russian Provisional Government appointed a special commissioner for oil shale purchasing and stockpiling who began preliminary work for the digging of an oil shale mine at Pavandu, with full-scale construction carried out by about 500 workers, including war prisoners, in the summer of 1917. After the October Revolution, financing ceased and construction stopped. Two private Saint Petersburg firms, established specially for oil shale mining, Böckel & Co. and Mutschnik & Co., which in the fall of 1916 had begun surface mining at Kukruse and Järve, respectively, also terminated their mining activities in 1917.

In February 1918, the area surrounding the oil shale basin in northeast Estonia was occupied by German troops. During this occupation, mining activities were carried out at Pavandu by the German company Internationales Baukonsortium (), including sending oil shale to Germany for research and experimentation. This work used a retort constructed by Julius Pintsch AG, known as a Pintsch generator. In late 1918, German forces left Estonia, by which time no more than a single trainload of oil shale had been mined and sent to Germany.

Developments in interwar Estonia

After Estonia gained independence, the state owned oil shale enterprise, Riigi Põlevkivitööstus (), was established as a department of the Ministry for Trade and Industry on 24 November 1918. The enterprise, later named Esimene Eesti Põlevkivitööstus (), was the predecessor of Viru Keemia Grupp, one of the current shale oil producers in Estonia. It took over the existing Pavandu open-pit mine, and opened new mines at Vanamõisa (1919), Kukruse (1920), and Käva (1924).  Also, several private investors, including investors from abroad, initiated oil shale industries in Estonia by opening mines at Kiviõli (1922), Küttejõu (1925), Ubja (1926), Viivikonna (1936), and Kohtla (1937). Pavandu mine was closed in 1927 and Vanamõisa mine was closed in 1931. While in 1918 only 16 tonnes and in 1919 only 9,631 tonnes of oil shale were mined, in 1937 the annual output exceeded one million tonnes. In 1940, the annual output reached 1,891,674 tonnes.

Initially, oil shale was used primarily in the cement industry, but also for firing locomotive furnaces and as a household fuel. The first major industrial consumers of oil shale were cement factories in Kunda and Aseri.  By 1925, all locomotives in Estonia were powered by oil shale.

Shale oil production started in Estonia in 1921 when Riigi Põlevkivitööstus built 14 experimental oil shale processing retorts in Kohtla-Järve. These vertical retorts used the method developed by Julius Pintsch AG that would later evolve into the current Kiviter processing technology.  Along with the shale oil extraction plant, an oil shale research laboratory was founded in 1921. Following the experimental retorts, the first commercial shale oil plant was put into operation on 24 December 1924.  The German-owned company Eesti Kiviõli (, , predecessor of Kiviõli Keemiatööstus), affiliated with G. Scheel & Co. and Mendelssohn & Co., was established in 1922. By the end of the 1930s, it had become the largest shale oil producer in Estonia. Around the company's mine and oil plant, the Kiviõli settlement (now town) was formed in the same way as the Küttejõu settlement (now district of Kiviõli) formed around the mine owned by Eesti Küttejõud. In 1924, the British investor-owned Estonian Oil Development Syndicate Ltd. (later Vanamõisa Oilfields Ltd.) purchased an open-pit mine in Vanamõisa and opened a shale oil extraction plant that was abandoned in 1931 due to technical problems. The Swedish–Norwegian consortium Eestimaa Õlikonsortsium (, ), controlled by Marcus Wallenberg, was founded in Sillamäe in 1926. New Consolidated Gold Fields Ltd. of the United Kingdom built a shale oil extraction plant at Kohtla-Nõmme in 1931. This facility continued to operate until 1961.

In 1934, Eesti Kiviõli and New Consolidated Gold Fields established the service station chain Trustivapaa Bensiini (now: Teboil) in Finland, which in 1940 sold more shale-oil-derived gasoline in Finland than did the entire conventional gasoline market in Estonia. Since 1935, Estonian shale oil has been supplied to the German Kriegsmarine as a ship fuel. In 1938, 45% of Estonian shale oil was exported, accounting for 8% of Estonia's total exports. Although the price of oil shale-based gasoline was at least triple that of global gasoline prices, high production and bilateral agreements with Germany facilitated its export. In 1939, Estonia produced 181,000 tonnes of shale oil, including 22,500 tonnes of oil that were suitable gasoline equivalents. The mining and oil industry employed 6,150 persons.

The oil shale-fired electrical power industry started in 1924 when the Tallinn Power Station switched to oil shale. In 1933, it reached a capacity of 22 megawatts (MW). Other oil shale-fired power stations were built in Püssi (3.7 MW), Kohtla (3.7 MW), Kunda (2.3 MW), and Kiviõli (0.8 MW). At the beginning of World War II, the total capacity of oil shale-fired power stations was 32.5 MW. Only the Tallinn and Püssi power stations were connected to the grid.

On 9 May 1922 the first international discussion of Estonian kukersite took place at the 64th meeting of the Institution of Petroleum Technologists. Systematic research into oil shale and its products began at Tartu University's Oil Shale Research Laboratory in 1925, initiated by professor Paul Kogerman. In 1937, the Geological Committee under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the Institute of Natural Resources, an independent academic institution, were established. A department of mining was established at Tallinn Technical University in 1938. Estonian oil shale industries conducted tests of oil shale samples from Australia, Bulgaria, Germany and South Africa.

Developments in German-occupied Estonia
Soon after the Soviet occupation in 1940, the entire oil shale industry was nationalised and subordinated to the Mining Office and later to the General Directorate of Mining and Fuel Industry of the Peoples' Commissariat for Light Industry.  Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 and the industry's infrastructure was largely destroyed by retreating Soviet forces.  During the subsequent German occupation, the industry was merged into a company named Baltische Öl GmbH. Baltische Öl became the largest industry in the Estonian territory.  This entity was subordinated to Kontinentale Öl, a company that had exclusive rights to oil production in German-occupied territories.

The primary purpose of the industry was production of oil for the German Army. In 1943, after the German troops retreated from the Caspian oil region, Estonian oil shale became increasingly important.  On 16 March 1943, Hermann Göring issued a secret order stating that "development and utilisation of Estonian oil shale industry is the most important military-economic task in the territories of the former Baltic states".  On 21 June 1943, Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler issued an order to send as many male Jews as possible to the oil shale mining.

Baltische Öl consisted of five units (Kiviõli, Küttejõu, Kohtla-Järve, Sillamäe, and Kohtla), all of which were partially restored, previously existing industries. In addition, Baltische Öl started construction of a new mining and shale oil extraction complex in Ahtme, but it never became operational. Prisoners of war and forced labour made up about two-thirds of the work force in these units.

While Soviet troops were advancing into Estonia during 1944, about 200 Estonian oil shale specialists were evacuated to Schömberg, Germany, to work at an oil shale industry there, codenamed Operation Desert (Unternehmen Wüste). Shale oil extraction plants in Estonia were destroyed and mines were ignited or inundated by the retreating Germans. Existing oil shale-fired power stations were also destroyed.

Developments in Soviet Estonia

In 1945–1946 the mining industry was merged into Eesti Põlevkivi (, literally: Estonian Oil Shale; now part of Enefit Power) under the General Directorate of Oil Shale Industry of the USSR (Glavslanets). Shale oil extraction, except the Kiviõli and Kohtla-Nõmme plants, was merged into the Kohtla-Järve shale oil combinate (, now Viru Keemia Grupp) under the General Directorate of Synthetic Liquid Fuel and Gas of the USSR (Glavgaztopprom). Both organisations were directed from Moscow.

New mines were opened in Ahtme (1948), Jõhvi (No. 2, 1949), Sompa (1949), Tammiku (1951), and in the area between Käva and Sompa (No. 4, 1953). The Küttejõu open-pit mine was closed in 1947 and the Küttejõu underground mine was merged with the Kiviõli mine in 1951. The Ubja mine was closed in 1959. After construction of large oil shale-fired power stations, demand for oil shale increased and consequently new larger mines were constructed: the underground mines Viru (1965) and Estonia (1972) along with the open-pit mines Sirgala (1963), Narva (1970) and Oktoobri (1974; later named Aidu). Correspondingly, several exhausted smaller mines like Kukruse (1967), Käva (1972), No. 2 (1973), No. 4 (1975), and Kiviõli (1987) were closed. The Estonia Mine became the largest oil shale mine in the world. Because of the success of oil shale-based power generation, Estonian oil shale mining peaked in 1980 at 31.35 million tonnes, and in the same year power generation peaked at 18.9 TWh. The industry declined during the subsequent two decades. Demand for electric power generated from oil shale decreased following construction of nuclear power stations in the Russian SFSR, particularly the Leningrad Nuclear Power Station. At the end of 1988, a fire broke out in the Estonia Mine. The largest underground fire in Estonia, it continued for 81 days and caused serious pollution of ground and surface waters.

The shale oil industry at Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli was redeveloped. In 1945, the first tunnel kiln was restored, and by the end of the 1940s four tunnel kilns located in Kiviõli and Kohtla-Nõmme had been restored. German prisoners of war contributed most of the labour. Between 1946 and 1963, 13 Kiviter-type retorts were built in Kohtla-Järve and eight in Kiviõli. In 1947, a pilot Galoter retort was built at the Ilmarine engineering plant in Tallinn. This unit, in operation until 1956, was capable of processing 2.5 tonnes of oil shale per day and was used for modelling the next generation of commercial-scale retorts. The first Galoter-type commercial-scale pilot retorts were built at Kiviõli in 1953 and 1963 with capacities of 200 and 500 tonnes of oil shale per day, respectively. The first of these retorts closed in 1963 and the second in 1981. The Narva Oil Plant, annexed to the Eesti Power Station and operating two Galoter-type 3,000-tonnes-per day retorts, was commissioned in 1980. Started as a pilot plant, the process of converting it to a commercial-scale plant took about 20 years.

In 1948 an oil shale gas plant in Kohtla-Järve became operational, and for several decades the oil shale gas was used as a substitute for natural gas in Saint Petersburg (then known as Leningrad) and in northern Estonian cities. It was the first time in history that synthetic gas from oil shale was used in households. To enable delivery of the gas, a  pipeline from Kohtla-Järve to Saint Peterburg was built, followed by a  pipeline from Kohtla-Järve to Tallinn. During the 1950s, unsuccessful tests of oil shale underground gasification were conducted at Kiviõli. In 1962 and 1963, the conversion of oil shale gas into ammonium was tested; however, for industrial production, oil shale gas was replaced with natural gas.  Although this gas had become uneconomical by 1958, production continued and was even expanded. After peaking in 1976 at , oil shale gas production ceased in 1987. In total, 276 generators were operated for the gas production.

In 1949, the 48 MW Kohtla-Järve Power Station – the first power station in the world to use pulverised oil shale at an industrial scale – was commissioned, followed by the 72.5 MW Ahtme Power Station in 1951. To ensure sufficient electricity supply in Estonia, Latvia and north-west Russia, the Balti Power Station (1,430 MW) and the Eesti Power Station (1,610 MW) were built, the former between 1959 and 1971 and the latter between 1969 and 1973. The stations, collectively known as the Narva Power Stations, are the world's two largest oil shale-fired power stations. In 1988 Moscow-based authorities planned a third oil shale-fired power station in Narva with a capacity of 2,500 MW, together with a new mine at Kuremäe. The plan, disclosed at the time of the Phosphorite War and the Singing Revolution, met with strong local opposition and was never implemented.

Between 1946 and 1952, uranium compounds were extracted from locally mined graptolitic argillite at the Sillamäe Processing Plant (now: Silmet). More than 60 tonnes of uranium compounds (corresponding to 22.5 tonnes of elemental uranium) were produced. Some sources note that uranium produced in Sillamäe was used for construction of the first Soviet atomic bomb; however, this information is not confirmed by the archive materials.

An oil shale research institute (now a department within Tallinn University of Technology) was founded at Kohtla-Järve in 1958. Preliminary research into oil shale-based chemical production began the same year, exploring the potential for the use of oil shale in bitumen, synthetic construction materials, detergents, synthetic leathers, synthetic fibres, plastics, paints, soaps, glues, and pesticides. Between 1959 and 1985,  of mineral wool were produced from oil shale coke, a solid residue of oil shale. In 1968, a branch of the Skochinsky Institute of Mining was established in Kohtla-Järve, and in 1984 the scientific-technical journal Oil Shale was founded in Estonia.

Developments in independent Estonia

In the 1990s, after Estonia regained independence, the country underwent a restructuring of the economy, causing the collapse of a large part of the heavy industry sector. This collapse led to a decrease in the consumption of electricity and thus a decrease in the need for the oil shale that was mined to produce it. Electricity and shale oil export to former Soviet markets largely ceased. Due to a decrease in demand, the Tammiku and Sompa mines closed in 1999 and those at Kohtla and Ahtme closed in 2001.

In 1995, state-owned shale oil producers in Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli were merged into the single company named RAS Kiviter.  In 1997, Kiviter was privatized and a year later it declared insolvency. Its factories in Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli were sold separately and new oil producers – Viru Keemia Grupp and Kiviõli Keemiatööstus – emerged.

In 1995, the Government of Estonia started negotiations with American company NRG Energy to create a joint venture on the basis of the Narva Power Stations, the largest consumer of oil shale in Estonia. As a part of the deal, 51% of the government-owned shares in the oil shale mining company Eesti Põlevkivi was transferred to the Narva Power Stations.  The proposed deal with NRG Energy met a strong public and political opposition and was cancelled after NRG Energy failed the deadline to secure financing for the project.  Consequently, the Government transferred its remained shares in Eesti Põlevkivi to a state-owned company Eesti Energia, a parent company of the Narva Power Stations, and Eesti Põlevkivi became a fully owned subsidiary of Eesti Energia.

Oil shale production started to increase again in the beginning of the 21st century.  In 2000, the open-pit mines at Viivikonna, Sirgala and Narva were merged into the single Narva open-pit mine.  Since 2003, several new mines were opened: the Põhja-Kiviõli open-pit mine in 2003, the Ubja open-pit mine in 2005, and the Ojamaa underground mine in 2010.  By 2006, after 90 years of major mining in Estonia, the total amount of mined oil shale reached one billion tonnes.  The exhausted Aidu open-pit mine was closed in 2012, followed a year later by the Viru underground mine.

In 2004, two power units with circulating fluidised bed combustion boilers were put into operation at the Narva Power Stations.  Construction of the Auvere Power Station, located next to the existing Eesti Power Station, began in 2012.  In the end of 2012, the Ahtme Power Station was closed.

In 2008, Eesti Energia established a joint venture, Enefit Outotec Technology, with the Finnish technology company Outotec. The venture sought to develop and commercialise a modified Galoter process–the Enefit process–that would enhance the existing technology by using circulating fluidised beds.  In 2013, Enefit Outotec Technology opened an Enefit testing plant in Frankfurt.

Kiviõli Keemiatööstus began to test two Galoter-type retorts in 2006.   Eesti Energia opened a new generation Galoter-type plant using Enefit 280 technology in 2012.  VKG Oil opened three new Galoter-type oil plants called Petroter correspondingly in December 2009, in October 2014, and in November 2015.

In 2020, Eesti Energia announced a plan to build additional oil plant by 2023. At the same time, it cancelled a shale oil pre-refinery project developed jointly with Viru Keemia Grupp.

In spring 2021, the government coalition of Estonian Reform Party and Estonian Centre Party put a political target in their coalition agreement to stop oil shale power generation by 2035 and using oil shale in the entire energy sector by 2040 at the latest. Shortly after, Eesti Energia announced it will stop burning oil shale for electricity generation by 2025 and burning oil shale gas by 2030. It will close older type shale oil plants by 2040 while in newer generation shale oil plants oil shale will be replaced with waste plastics. Estonia is negotiating with the European Commission to receive €340 million support from the Just Transition Fund to mitigate the impact of the oil shale industry transition.

Economic impact

The oil shale industry in Estonia is one of the most developed in the world. The National Development Plan for the Utilisation of Oil Shale 2016–2030 describes oil shale as a strategic resource. Estonia is the only country in the world that uses oil shale as its primary energy source. In 2018, oil shale accounted for 72% of Estonia's total domestic energy production and supplied 73% of Estonia's total primary energy. About 7,300 people (over 1% of the total workforce in Estonia) were employed in the oil shale industry. The state revenue from oil shale production was about €122 million.

Mining

Estonia has adopted a national development plan that limits the annual mining of oil shale to 20 million tonnes. If mined at this rate, mineable reserves will last for 25–30 years. In 2019, 12.127 million tonnes of oil shale were mined.  As of 2021, five oil shale mines are in operation; three are open-pit mines and two are underground mines. The mines are owned by four companies. Several mining companies have applied for permits for opening new mines. Historically, the ratio of underground mining to open-pit mining has been approximately even, but usable deposits close to the surface has become scarcer.

The Estonia underground mine at Väike-Pungerja, operated by Enefit Power, a subsidiary of Eesti Energia, is the largest oil shale mine in the world. The other underground mine, operated by privately owned Viru Keemia Grupp, is located at Ojamaa. Both mines use the room and pillar mining method. Oil shale mined at Ojamaa is transported to the processing plant by a unique  conveyor belt. Although there are similar conveyors in operation in other countries, the one at Ojamaa is an unusually challenging installation since its path contains many curves and sharp turns.

The Narva open-pit mine is operated by Enefit Power, and the Põhja-Kiviõli open-pit mine is operated by privately owned Kiviõli Keemiatööstus. Both mines use highly selective extraction in three layers of seams. The Narva mine uses a technology that involves breaking up both the overburden and the targeted deposits by blasting and then stripping the rock with relatively large-bucket () excavators.  The company has applied and received a permit to start oil-shale mining in Narva  by using underground longwall mining technology. The third open-pit mine, operated by Kunda Nordic Tsement which belongs to German HeidelbergCement group, is located at Ubja.

Enefit Power and VKG Oil plan to open jointly a new mine in Oandu.

Electricity and heat generation

In 2020, 2,225 GWh or 40.3% of Estonia's electricity was generated from oil shale and 748 GWh or 13.6% was generated from oil shale gas, which is a by-product of the shale oil generation. The share of oil shale in Estonia's electricity generation has decreased significantly over the last decade,  and it is set to decrease even more due to the European Union's climate policy as well as the country's recognition of the environmental impact of oil shale-fired power stations and need to diversify the national energy balance. According to the International Energy Agency, Estonia should adopt the energy strategy in order to reduce the share of oil shale in the primary energy supply by improving the efficiency of shale-fired power stations and increasing the use of other energy sources such as renewable energy.

Eesti Energia owns the largest oil shale-fuelled power stations (Narva Power Stations) in the world. The increased carbon price has made oil-shale electricity less competitive and will affect it even more in the future. In June 2021, Eesti Energia announced it will stop burning oil shale for electricity generation by 2025 and burning oil shale gas by 2030. The government coalition of Estonia has decided that Estonia will stop oil shale power generation by 2035 at the latest.

Heat produced by co-generation at the Balti Power Station is used for district heating of Narva, the third largest city in Estonia with 58,700 inhabitants (2013). The co-generation plants in Kohtla-Järve, Sillamäe, and Kiviõli burn oil shale to produce electrical power and supply district heating to nearby towns. In addition to raw oil shale, the Kohtla-Järve Power Station uses oil shale gas, a by-product of shale oil production, for the same purposes.

Shale oil extraction

In 2008, Estonia was the second largest shale oil producer in the world after China.  Production was 1.173 million tonnes of shale oil in 2019. About 99% of shale oil production was exported. In 2018, 34% of the mined oil shale was used for shale oil production.

There are three shale-oil producers in Estonia.  In 2019, VKG Oil (a subsidiary of Viru Keemia Grupp) produced 637,000 tonnes of shale oil, Enefit Power (a subsidiary of Eesti Energia) produced 442,000 tonnes, and Kiviõli Keemiatööstus (a subsidiary of Alexela Energia) produced 94,000 tonnes. Two processes – the Kiviter process and the Galoter process – are in use for shale oil extraction.  Enefit uses the Galoter process while VKG Oil and Kiviõli Keemiatööstus use both – Kiviter and Galoter processes.

The government coalition of Estonia has decided that Estonia will stop shale oil extraction by 2040 at the latest.

Environmental impact

Wastes and land usage
The mining and processing of about one billion tonnes of oil shale in Estonia has created about 360-370 million tonnes of solid waste. Combustion ashes are the largest component (200 million tonnes), followed by mining waste (90 million tonnes) and spent shale (mainly semi-coke, 70–80 million tonnes).  In addition, approximately 73 million tonnes of graptolitic argillite as overlying deposit were mined and piled in waste heaps in the process of phosphorite–ore mining near Maardu in 1964–1991.

The oil shale waste heaps pose a spontaneous ignition risk due to their remaining organic content. The waste material, particularly semi-coke, contains pollutants including sulphates, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), some of which are toxic and carcinogenic.

As a result of decades of mining activity, the topography of the oil shale region has changed; this includes a greater range of altitudes within the mined area.  Former and current oil shale mines occupy about 1% of Estonia's territory. About  or 15% of Ida-Viru County's territory is out of use due to open-pit mines and waste landfills; an additional  has sunk or become unstable due to underground mining.  Semi-coke heaps near Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli cover more than  and ash heaps near Narva cover more than . These heaps protruding from the flat landscape are regarded as landmarks and as monuments to the area's industrial heritage.

There is less biodiversity within the mined area; in particular, the reclaimed and reforested areas have less biodiversity than the areas which have undergone a natural succession.

Water usage and pollution
Surface water flows into mines and accumulates along with groundwater. This water must be pumped out in order for mining to proceed. The water that is pumped from the mines and the coolant water used by oil shale-fired power stations combined exceeds 90% of all water used in Estonia. For each cubic meter of oil shale mined in Estonia,  of water must be pumped from the mines, amounting to about  that are pumped from mines annually. Groundwater comprises 64% of the water pumped from underground mines annually and 24% of that pumped from open-pit mines. This alters both the circulation and quality of the groundwater, lowers groundwater levels, and releases mine water into surface water bodies such as rivers and lakes. Mining activities have contributed to lower water levels in 24 out of the 39 lakes in the Kurtna Lake District. The release of mine water into the environment has changed the natural movement of surface water. As a result of mining activities, groundwater moves towards the excavation cavities. A 220-kilometre (85-square-mile) underground water body that holds over  of water has formed in eight abandoned underground mines: Ahtme, Kohtla, Kukruse, Käva, Sompa, Tammiku, No.2 and No.4.

The process of pumping water from the mines introduces oxygen via aeration, thereby oxidising the rock's pyrite. Pyrite contains sulfur, and one consequence of its oxidation is the introduction of significant amounts of sulphates into mine water. This has had a negative impact on water quality in five lakes in the Kurtna Lake District. In some lakes, sulphate levels have increased tens of times compared to the pre-mining period. Suspended mineral matter in the mine water pumped into these lakes has changed the composition of the lakes' sediments. However, it has been found that this disturbance diminishes over time; studies show that sulphates and iron in mining water decrease to levels that meet drinking water quality standards about five years after mine closure.

The process and waste waters used in shale oil extraction contain phenols, tar, and several other environmentally toxic products. Power stations use water as a coolant and for hydraulic transportation of oil shale ash to the ash heaps. Narva power stations use  of water from the Narva River annually for cooling. For ash transportation, generated oil shale ash is mixed with water at a ratio of 1:20 and the resulted mixture, known as "ash pulp", is pumped to the heaps. Consequently, the transportation water becomes highly alkaline. The total volume of formed alkaline water is .

Another source of water pollution is aqueous leachates from oil shale ash and spent shale. About  of toxic leachate from the Narva ash heaps inflows annually to the Narva River and further to the Gulf of Finland. Before the closure of old semi-coke heaps in Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli, an additional  of leachates reached via the Kohtla and Purtse rivers to the Baltic Sea annually. The toxicity of leachate is mainly caused by the alkalinity and sulphides; leachate also includes chlorides, oil products, heavy metals, and PAHs which are carcinogenic.

Air emissions
Oil shale-fired power stations pollute air with the fly ash and flue gases like carbon dioxide (), nitrogen oxides (), sulfur dioxide (), and hydrogen chloride (HCl). In addition to Estonia, this pollution also affects Finland and Russia. The industry emits into the atmosphere annually about 200,000 tonnes of fly-ash, including heavy metals, carbonates, alkaline oxides (mainly calcium oxide (CaO)), and harmful organic substances (including PAHs). About 30% of the fly-ash is CaO, a portion of which is neutralised by atmospheric .  Alkaline fly ash has raised the pH value of lake and bog water. This has caused the invasion of eutrophic plants in the area of the oil shale industry, leading to the degradation of those waterbodies.  Another source of air pollution is the dust that arises during deposition of oil shale ash and semi-coke.

According to a 2001 study, the concentration of particulate matter in the fly-ash is 39.7 mg per cubic metre. The most hazardous particles are those with a diameter of less than ; these particles are associated with an increase in cardiovascular mortality and premature deaths in Estonia.

The combustion of oil shale releases more  into the atmosphere than any other primary fuel. Generating 1 MWh of electricity in modern oil shale-fired boilers creates 0.9–1 tonnes of . In 2017, oil-shale related greenhouse gas emissions in Estonia accounted for 12.9 million tonnes or 69.1% of total energy-related emissions. Of the all energy-related  emissions, heat and power generation accounted for 76%. According to the OECD,  emissions in Estonia could be reduced by two-thirds if oil shale would be used for production of lighter oil products, instead of burning to generate electricity.

Mitigation
Various efforts have reduced the industry's environmental impact. Fluidised bed combustion generates fewer , , and fly-ash emissions, including PAHs, than the earlier technologies that burned pulverised oil shale.  Reclamation and reforestation of exhausted mining areas have been carried out since the 1970s. In 2010–2013, a €38 million project was implemented for the environmentally safe closing of  of semi-coke and ash heaps. In accordance with a European Union waste framework directive, the heaps were covered with waterproof material, new topsoil, and sod. In Kiviõli, a  semi-coke heap, the highest artificial hill in the Baltic countries, was converted into a ski centre. The former Aidu open-pit mine was converted into a rowing course.  A part of the former Sirgala open pit mine has been used as a military training area.

An oil shale sector health impact study conducted in 2014–2015 show that the residents of the region complained significantly more frequently about tightness, long-term cough, phlegm in the lungs, wheezing and cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, stroke, diabetes and stenocardia. The study also shows that the rate of lung cancer among men in the region was higher compared to the Estonian average.

See also

 Energy in Estonia
 Geology of Estonia

References

Bibliography

External links

 Live carbon emissions from electricity generation electricityMap Live built by Tomorrow

 Estonia at Climate Trace


Telephony Server Application Programming Interface was a computer telephony integration standard developed and promoted by Novell and AT&T. It consisted of a number of call control commands for switching calls,  voice mail and call logging using NetWare servers. Unlike the competing Telephony Application Programming Interface from Microsoft and Intel, it was a server-based system that did not expect client-side equipment to handle call switching. This was important to AT&T, which sold large telephone switches that Telephony Server Application Programming Interface was intended to work with.

Description
Telephony Server Application Programming Interface consisted of two primary parts, the application programming interface itself, and a "telephony service provider" that ran on a server and talked to clients. Novell produced one such provider, "TServer" that ran, unsurprisingly, on NetWare servers. TServer, in turn, talked to a driver specific to the brand of telephony switch being used. NetWare acted primarily as the operating system for TServer to run within, although TServer did make use of NetWare Directory Services for security and provisioning. The whole system from client-side drivers to server to private branch exchange driver was known as "NetWare Telephony Services", at least when using Novell software.

Message formats were based on a standard promoted by the European Computer Manufacturers Association, which was directly supported by a number of European-built switches. When used with one of these switches, the driver between the server and the switch was "thin". "Thicker" drivers were needed for switches that did not directly support these standards. The client-side application programming interface was available for Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, OS/2, Mac OS, UnixWare and Linux.

The interface was a control protocol only, and did not send a voice data across the network for use with software-based phones. It included commands for dialing, hanging up, and other instructions. It required a channel, called a stream, to be set up for all communications.

Telephony Server Application Programming Interface and Versit
Telephony Server Application Programming Interface was created in an era when major telephony vendors were promoting a vision of wide-area networking based on dedicated circuit-switched links. Unlike modern networking systems where each piece of data is separately routed to its destination, these networking systems were essentially a version of the existing phone system carrying data instead of voice, setting up dedicated channels between endpoints. Looking for applications that might make use of such a network, vendors promoted numerous new standards for videotelephony, high-speed fax, etc.

Only the control system was standardized; getting data into and out of a computer remained an issue. There were a number of efforts by various vendors to support this functionality. Apple Computer was promoting GeoPort as the computer-end of such a system, and selected Telephony Server Application Programming Interface as the messaging protocol. The various vendors formed the Versit Consortium and published "The Versit CTI Encyclopedia." The Encyclopedia expanded the basic  system to include a data-type identifier to allow it to switch any sort of "call". Additionally, Versit allowed that data to be switched to the computer using GeoPort or a number of other connection options.

References

 Paul Cronin, "An Introduction to TSAPI and Network Telephony", IEEE Communications, April 1996
 "Telephony Services Application Programming Interface (TSAPI)", NetWare Software Developer Kit, Release 5 (or later) xx Link is dead xx

Application programming interfaces
Telephone service enhanced features


Discobitch is a French electronic music project founded by Kylian Mash with Laurent Konrad.

Their first and only single, "C'est beau la bourgeoisie", was a successful club single in a number of European countries. It was number 2 in France and Belgium (Flanders), number 4 in Belgium (Wallonia), number 19 in Switzerland and number 61 in Germany. It earned a gold disc in Belgium.

Singles

References

External links
 MySpace.com - Kylian Mash / Discobitch
 MySpace.com - Laurent Konrad / DiscoBitch

French electronic music groups


Caught on Camera is a British documentary series, which looks at real-life footage, filmed by members of the public.

The cameras used to film this footage, such as CCTV, smartphones, bodycams and dashcams, are everywhere in the United Kingdom, capturing many traditional British events, such as angry moments, car incidents, heroes holding their own against criminals, etc.

Caught on Camera also interviews those involved, regarding these events, including those who are the victims and the heroes, whilst mentioning the results of the events.

Episodes

References

2009 British television series debuts
ITV (TV network) original programming
Television shows set in the United Kingdom


Calm Before the Storm or The Calm Before the Storm may refer to:

Books, comics
 A History of Modern Tibet, Volume 2: The Calm Before the Storm: 1951-1955 by Melvyn Goldstein (2007)
 The Calm Before the Storm, history book by Itamar Singer
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of Star Wars comic books (section The Calm Before the Storm)
 The Calm Before the Storm, Wraithborn Issue 4
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of Full Metal Panic! chapters
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of Wandering Son chapters (嵐の前の静けさ  "Arashi no Mae no Shizukesa")
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of Dragon Ball Z chapters (大対決戦前の休息 "Daikessen Mae no Kyūsoku")
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of Kokoro Library episodes
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of Whistle! chapters

Film, TV and entertainment
 The Calm Before the Storm: Under Review 1969-1971, DVD David Bowie discography
 The Calm Before the Storm, Gypsy Sisters episode, 2013
 The Calm Before the Storm, Vettai : Pledged to Hunt episode 53
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of Tiger & Bunny episodes
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of Spice and Wolf episodes
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of Cardcaptor Sakura episodes
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of A Little Princess Sara episodes
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of Beyblade episodes (Season 2)
 The Calm Before the Storm, List of Meerkat Manor episodes

Music

Albums
Calm Before the Storm (Venom album)
Calm Before the Storm (Paul Brandt album)
Calm Before the Storm (Jon English album), 1980
Calm Before the Storm (Lauren Harris album)
Calm Before the Storm (Dare album)
Calm Before the Storm, an album by Set It Off
Calm Before the Storm, an album by Brent Smedley
The Calm Before the Storm (Colton Dixon album), Colton Dixon album
The Calm Before the Storm (Tech N9ne album), Tech N9ne album
The Calm Before the Storm, mixtape by Ghetts
The Calm Before the Storm, Rafi Kirder and Sevan Kirder with Inish 2008
Liverpool – The Calm Before the Storm, compilation album by The Real People
Storm Before Calm, album by Primordial (band) 2002
Calm Before ..., an album by the Rising Storm (Remnant Records 1967)

Songs
"Calm Before The Storm", by The Bats 1987
"Calm Before The Storm", by Eddie Money 1986
"Calm Before The Storm", by Jonathan Butler 1986
"Calm Before The Storm", by Sheena Easton, B-side of "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" 1981
"Calm Before The Storm", by Fall Out Boy
"The Calm Before The Storm", by Johnny Cooke
"The Calm Before the Storm", Sincere, feat. Chris Rene discography
"The Calm Before the Storm", by Sparks from Balls
"The Calm Before the Storm", B-side of "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" by Pet Shop Boys from Bilingual
"(This is Just) the Calm Before the Storm", single by Antony Harding
"The Calm Before the Storm", by Arcana from Dark Age of Reason
"The Calm Before the Storm", by Dreamscape from Everlight
"The Calm Before the Storm", by Hollenthon from With Vilest of Worms to Dwell
"The Calm Before the Storm", by Destruction from Inventor of Evil
"The Calm Before the Storm", by Rubén Blades from Nothing But the Truth
"The Calm Before the Storm", by Judas Priest from Nostradamus
"Calm Before the Storm", by Darude from Before the Storm

See also
Calm After the Storm (disambiguation)
 "The Calm Before", and "The Storm", the last two episodes of season 9 of The Walking Dead