Environmental management has become a part of societal life and a dominant issue for every sector of economies in the developed world. However, due to the absence of EMS the Libyan petroleum companies are not able to compete in the international petroleum sector. The rules and regulations specified by developed countries concerning environmental protection are becoming highly challenging. These have posed tremendous difficulties for both the government of Libya, as well as the petroleum companies to meet the national and international legislative requirements. Since 1999, Libya has been transformed by aligning itself according to the requirements and expectations of the industrial nations of the world and has, therefore, in this process of transformation, already become one of the competitive nations in the petroleum sector. The country has started to attract international investment by companies and individuals from all over the world. The change of Libyan economic policy towards open markets and the signing of many international agreements incorporating legal concerns related to biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, hazardous wastes, marine dumping, and ozone layer protection in their system. This has subsequently enabled the Libyan petroleum industry to make efforts to set up some basic procedures to improve environmental performance. This is an enormous interdisciplinary work, which requires a lot of effort. The present work aims to introduce an internationally accepted environmental management system according to the ISO 14001 standard to enable the oil industry remove the prevalent deficiencies as far as environmental management is concerned in the industry. This work uses AGOCO as a model company for case study analyses, which would provide an excellent opportunity for the implementation of EMS in accordance with ISO 14001 in all petroleum companies of Libya. The detailed analysis is based on the cumulative assessment of the current environmental management manual of AGOCO, interviews with some of the company’s personnel and telephone communications with some employees of the company. The analysis reveals the strengths and weaknesses in the concerning EMS planning, implementation, checking and review. Using AGOCO as a benchmark for all other petroleum companies, the work has resulted in the formulation of procedures to be followed by the other companies in compliance with the international standards.

Environmental management has become a part of societal life and a dominant issue for every sector of economies in the developed world. However, due to the absence of EMS the Libyan petroleum companies are not able to compete in the international petroleum sector. The rules and regulations specified by developed countries concerning environmental protection are becoming highly challenging. These have posed tremendous difficulties for both the government of Libya, as well as the petroleum companies to meet the national and international legislative requirements. Since 1999, Libya has been transformed by aligning itself according to the requirements and expectations of the industrial nations of the world and has, therefore, in this process of transformation, already become one of the competitive nations in the petroleum sector. The country has started to attract international investment by companies and individuals from all over the world. The change of Libyan economic policy towards open markets and the signing of many international agreements incorporating legal concerns related to biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, hazardous wastes, marine dumping, and ozone layer protection in their system. This has subsequently enabled the Libyan petroleum industry to make efforts to set up some basic procedures to improve environmental performance. This is an enormous interdisciplinary work, which requires a lot of effort. The present work aims to introduce an internationally accepted environmental management system according to the ISO 14001 standard to enable the oil industry remove the prevalent deficiencies as far as environmental management is concerned in the industry. This work uses AGOCO as a model company for case study analyses, which would provide an excellent opportunity for the implementation of EMS in accordance with ISO 14001 in all petroleum companies of Libya. The detailed analysis is based on the cumulative assessment of the current environmental management manual of AGOCO, interviews with some of the company’s personnel and telephone communications with some employees of the company. The analysis reveals the strengths and weaknesses in the concerning EMS planning, implementation, checking and review. Using AGOCO as a benchmark for all other petroleum companies, the work has resulted in the formulation of procedures to be followed by the other companies in compliance with the international standards.

Abandoned non-reclaimed marl mine dumps of the cement factory in the Novorossiysk industrial agglomeration (NW Caucasus, Russia) are hazardous because of fugitive dust emissions, erosion and possible occurrence of a debris-flow disaster. Having high sorption capacity, dust accumulates pollutants contained in the atmospheric air and subsequently precipitates on the topsoil. Soil and plant sampling and chemical analysis (> 200 specimens) revealed the geochemical anomalies of Pb, Zn, Cu, Ba and Sr. Land zoning based on accumulated environmental damage indicators and the debris-flow technical risk was performed to assess environmental threats. The designed mine dump reclamation includes soil stabilisation by application of geosynthetic cover, hydro-seeding of soil improvers and seeds of herbaceous plants on the slopes, and anti-erosion plantation of cades and smoke trees at subhorizontal surfaces.

Kartotrak software allows optimal waste classification and avoids unnecessary remediation. It has been designed for those - site owners, safety authorities or contractors, involved in environmental site characterization projects - who need to locate and estimate contaminated soil volumes confidently.

Kartotrak software allows optimal waste classification and avoids unnecessary remediation. It has been designed for those - site owners, safety authorities or contractors, involved in environmental site characterization projects - who need to locate and estimate contaminated soil volumes confidently.

Gewässer sind Lebensgrundlage, jedoch gleichzeitig Schadstoffsenken für eine Vielzahl von Kontaminanten. Biologische Wirkungstests und das Biomonitoring aquatischer Proben sind daher besonders wichtig, um Umwelt-Gefahrenpotenziale erkennen zu können. Der "Comet Assay" (Einzelzell-Gelelektrophorese) ist ein Indikator von DNA-Strangbrüchen und wurde hier als Test auf gentoxische Wirkungen erprobt und angewandt. Mit bekannten, gentoxischen Substanzen wurden Nachweisgrenzen und Dosis-Wirkungs-Beziehungen für die Zelllinien RTG-2 und RTL-W1 (aus der Regenbogenforelle, Oncorhynchus mykiss) in vitro ermittelt und methodische Parameter an die Zellen angepasst. Der Test reagierte sehr sensitiv auf 4-Nitrochinolin-1-oxid. Die Substanz war daher geeignet, um in weiteren Versuchen als Positivkontrolle zu dienen. Zur Bewertung der Messdaten wurde ein geeignetes statistisches Verfahren gefunden, das auch historische Kontrollen mit einbezog. Der zeitliche Verlauf der DNA-Schädigung des Testsystems mit RTG-2-Zellen wurde ermittelt, und durch Inhibition der DNA-Reparatur mit Aphidicolin wurden Zusammenhänge zwischen der Entstehung von DNA-Strangbrüchen, der DNA-Reparaturkapazität sowie der Metabolisierungskapazität untersucht. In einer zweiten Phase wurden unbehandelte Wasserproben aus Rhein, Elbe sowie weitere Oberflächenwasserproben mit dem Comet Assay an RTG-2-Zellen getestet. Bei 15 von 49 Proben zeigten sich gentoxische Effekte. In einer dritten Phase wurden Erythrozyten von freilebenden Döbeln, Leuciscus cephalus, aus der Mosel mit dem Comet Assay untersucht. Die Fische von drei Messstellen zeigten erhöhte Werte von DNA-Schädigungen, gegenüber einer vierten, stromabwärts gelegenen Messstation. Korrelationen mit den Ergebnissen zusätzlicher Biomarker ergaben sich nur teilweise. Chemische Analysen von Wasser- oder Gewebeproben ließen keine Rückschlüsse auf verursachende Kontaminanten zu - gerade dies unterstreicht jedoch die Wichtigkeit biologischer Tests bei komplexen Proben. / Bodies of Water are both vital resources and pollutant sinks for a multitude of contaminants. Therefore, biological effect tests and biomonitoring of aquatic samples are of particular importance to detect potential environmental hazards. The "comet assay" (single cell gel electrophoresis) is an indicator for DNA strand breaks and was explored and applied as a genotoxicity test in the present study. Known genotoxic substances were used to determine the detection limits and dose-response relationships for the cell lines RTG-2 and RTL-W1 (from rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss) in vitro, and to adapt methodological parameters to the cells. The test was very sensitive to 4-Nitroquinoline-1-oxide. This substance was therefore well-suited to serve as positive control in further experiments. In order to evaluate the measurement data, an appropriate statistical procedure was developed, which also took "historical" controls into account. The time course of DNA damage in the test system using RTG-2 cells was determined, and relationships between the origin of DNA strand breaks, DNA repair capacity and the metabolizing capacity of the cells was investigated by means of inhibition of DNA repair with Aphidicoline. In the second stage, native water samples from the rivers Rhine and Elbe and further surface waters were tested with the comet assay, using RTG-2 cells. 15 out of 49 samples showed genotoxic effects. In a third stage, erythrocytes of feral chub, Leuciscus cephalus, from the Moselle river were examined with the comet assay. The fish from three measuring stations showed elevated values of DNA damage compared to fish sampled from a downstream station. There were only partly correlations with the results from additional biomarkers. Chemical analyses of water and tissue samples did not permit conclusions on effect-causing substances.However, this emphasizes the importance of biological tests in dealing with complex environmental samples.