Environmental News Archive
Big energy companies have been trying for five years to tap the riches of the Marcellus Shale in southern New York, promising thousands of new jobs, economic salvation for a depressed region, and a cheap, abundant, clean-burning source of fuel close to power-hungry cities. But for all its political clout and financial prowess, the industry hasn't been able to get its foot in the door.
One reason: Folks like Sue Rapp and Vera Scroggins are standing in the way.
Fervent foes devote their lives to fracking fight
EPA's Abandoned Wyoming Fracking Study One Retreat of Many
When the Environmental Protection Agency abruptly retreated on its multimillion-dollar investigation into water contamination in a central Wyoming natural gas field last month, it shocked environmentalists and energy industry supporters alike.
In 2011, the agency had issued a blockbuster draft report saying that the controversial practice of fracking was to blame for the pollution of an aquifer deep below the town of Pavillion, Wy. – the first time such a claim had been based on a scientific analysis.
How the frac-sand industry escaped environmental review
Lost in the uproar over silica sand mining is a serious threat to Minnesota’s environmental-review procedures with potentially far-reaching implications. And it appears no one in state government or our congressional delegation is taking this threat seriously.
In the historic Mississippi River town of Wabasha, a clever and aggressive Canadian sand company found a way to flout Minnesota’s environmental-review measures. They leased land from a railroad and then claimed exemption from state and local review, using the railroad’s federal right of pre-emption over state and local zoning laws. This longstanding privilege basically says that state and local governments cannot restrict a railroad’s right to operate in interstate commerce.
The darkness behind fracking’s silver lining
Climate change may have reached the point of no return last month.
CO2 levels in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million on May 19, for the first time since the Pleistocene era, over 2.5 million years ago. President Barack Obama’s historic speech on climate change today highlights his growing focus on this issue for his second term.
Climate scientists have long regarded that 400 number as the symbolic threshold. One step beyond, and it would be virtually impossible to put the brake on human-generated climate change. The bad news escalated last week when the International Energy Agency reported that global emissions of carbon dioxide rose 1.4 percent in 2012, the largest annual increase on record.
Radioactive tritium level rising in Fukushima water
The density of tritium in samples of sea water doubled in the past 10 days to a record 1,100 Becquerels per liter, an indication contaminated ground water may be seeping into the Pacific Ocean, the company reported Monday.
Natural gas found in drinking water near fracked wells
Elevated levels of methane and other stray gases have been found in drinking water near natural gas wells in Pennsylvania's gas-rich Marcellus shale region, according to new research. In the case of methane, concentrations were six times higher in some drinking water found within one kilometer of drilling operations.
"The bottom line is strong evidence for gas leaking into drinking water in some cases," Robert Jackson, an environmental scientist at Duke University in Durham, N.C., told NBC News. "We think the likeliest explanation is leaky wells," he added.
Greenpeace says photos show Iceland has resumed whale hunts
Photographs show Iceland has broken a two-year ban on whale hunting, the environmental group Greenpeace charged Wednesday.
"We've just received anonymous photographs showing Iceland has broken the moratorium on commercial whaling, again," Greenpeace said in a Twitter message. The group urged people to share the images "to help expose Iceland's bloody secret."
'Largest ever' NYS anti fracking rally in Albanay
An anti-fracking demonstration attracted more than 2,000 activists to the eastern side of the Capitol at midday Monday. Pop singer Natalie Merchant led members of the crowd in a rewritten rendition of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land."
The chorus: "New York is your land, New York is my land/From the Southern Tier to the Catskill Mountains/From the Susquehanna to the Hudson Valley/New York was made to be frack-free."
Report: Radioactive waste from fracking plagues Ohio
Radioactive waste unearthed by hydraulic fracturing is becoming a serious problem in Ohio, a new report claims.
Released Thursday by the FreshWater Accountability Project Ohio, the report was authored by Marvin Resnikoff, a physicist at the University of Michigan and senior associate at Radioactive Waste Management Associates.
Resnikoff points to what he says is a failure to properly dispose of radioactive waste from fracking, saying that these wastes make their way into municipal landfills in Ohio -- costing the natural gas industry one-hundredth of what the nuclear industry pays to dispose of similar, low-level radioactive waste.
More Articles...
- East Antarctic ice shelves melting at surprising pace, study suggests
- Big Greem Fracking Machine: The Heinz Endowments, has significant, undisclosed ties to the natural gas industry.
- We’re Being Watched: How Corporations and Law Enforcement Are Spying on Environmentalists
- Disaster for all: Carbon dioxide emissions rose 1.4 percent in 2012, IEA report says
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