Apparently somebody’s been smoking the Spanish moss, because you’d have to be either high or insane to sign off on this project. Here’s the setup from a Feb. 14 report in the Australian:

The oil company’s lingering efforts to make amends for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill have embroiled it in an improbable series of tourist promotions that have raised questions about how compensation funds are being spent.

In an ambitious attempt to encourage New Yorkers to visit Louisiana – one of the Gulf states worst affected by the spill from the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig – state authorities ploughed more than $US50,000 ($46,585) of BP’s money into the construction of a mini swamp in downtown Manhattan. Live alligators and turtles were shipped to a riverside warehouse converted into a 520 sq m swamp with 4 1/2m cypress trees draped in spanish moss.

Jay Dardenne, Louisiana’s Lieutenant Governor, flew from New Orleans with a folkloric delegation that included a woodcarver, a basket weaver, a chef specialising in Creole food and a Sac au Lait, a Cajun band.

Mr Dardenne insisted the money was being “extremely well spent” on an exhibit that was earning Louisiana extensive news coverage in the New York media.

Somebody should let Mr. Dardenne know that being written up as the “poster project” for squandered BP tourism funds is probably not the kind of media coverage he should be seeking.

Aside from cleanup costs and victim compensation, BP has provided $92 million for promoting tourism in the impacted states. The Manhattan swamp is a half-baked (at best) use of the money. Many such “promotional” projects – though this one is particularly reckless – have benefited unrelated commercial interests while providing little or no boost to Gulf tourism.

Our elected officials must ensure that BP funds are used wisely, on behalf of Gulf Coast residents and businesses. With so many people still suffering financially, it is exceedingly difficult to watch our politicians dump money into projects that have no chance of providing any sort of return on investment. Make no mistake, we will hold them accountable for their actions.

Read the Australian report by Tony Allen-Mills: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/bps-big-apple-alligator-stunt-bites/story-fnb64oi6-1226270144116

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

Dozens Gather in Kent to Protest Fracking Despite Snow, Cold (VIDEO)

More than 60 foes of fracking from as far away as Cleveland marched along snowy Kent sidewalks Saturday chanting: “O-H-I-O, hydro fracking’s got to go,” “No more earthquakes” and “You can’t drink money.”

Colorado Residents Ask Feds to Withdraw Lease Parcels to Go Up for Oil, Gas Auction

Scores of residents in Colorado’s North Fork Valley aren’t nearly as keen about oil and gas drilling as the wide-eyed Democrats and Republicans who talk about tapping America’s energy reserves.

Arrest Pushes Fracking Debate

In light of anti-fracking filmmaker Josh Fox’s arrest earlier this month, environmental activists at Ithaca College are bringing hydraulic fracturing back into mainstream debate.

Air Sampling Reveals High Emissions From Gas Field

When US government scientists began sampling the air from a tower north of Denver, Colorado, they expected urban smog — but not strong whiffs of what looked like natural gas. They eventually linked the mysterious pollution to a nearby natural-gas field, and their investigation has now produced the first hard evidence that the cleanest-burning fossil fuel might not be much better than coal when it comes to climate change.

BP OIL SPILL:

BP’s Big Apple Alligator Stunt Bites

The oil company’s lingering efforts to make amends for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill have embroiled it in an improbable series of tourist promotions that have raised questions about how compensation funds are being spent.

Transocean Asks Judge to Force BP Manager to Testify in Trial

Transocean Ltd., owner of the rig that exploded before the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history in 2010, sought to force a BP Plc manager to explain what occurred at the well prior to the blowout.

BP, Anadarko Should Be Held Liable Before Trial, U.S. Says

BP Plc (BP\), Transocean Ltd. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) should be found liable before trial for violations of federal pollution laws stemming from the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, lawyers for the U.S. argued today at a hearing in federal court in New Orleans.

Miami Herald: Don’t Let BP Fines Paid For Spill Disappear Into Federal Black Hole

Barrels of bile were spilled in weeks leading up to the Florida primary. But that’s just a clean-up on aisle three compared to the epic five million barrels of crude oil that paralyzed the Gulf Coast states a couple of years ago.

RADIATION:

Fukushima Radiation May Be Killing Off Alaskan Ringed Seals and Other Arctic Mammals

For many months now, Alaskan ringed seals, Pacific walruses, and various other arctic mammals have reportedly been turning up with a mystery disease that manifests itself in the form of oozing skin sores, patchy hair loss, and damaged organs, according to theAlaska Dispatch. And since the condition has already been ruled out as being caused by a virus or bacteria, researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Institute of Marine Science are currently investigating to see whether or not Fukushima radiation might have something to do with it.

FRACKING:

Study Raises Fears About Fracking’s Impact On Animals

Fears about hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have been emerging for several years, but now a new concern has been added to the list with a growing number of farmers reporting mysterious symptoms among livestock and pets, according to Bloomberg.

Lawmakers Try Again On Fracking Ban In N.J.

The New Jersey Legislature took another step Thursday in its continuing efforts to enact a permanent ban on fracking for natural gas within the state.

BP OIL SPILL:

BP’s Past Accidents Barred as Evidence at First Gulf Spill Trial

BP Plc (BP/) persuaded a judge to bar the introduction of evidence of previous accidents involving the oil company from this month’s trial over fault for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico blast and oil spill.

Cuban Oil: Country’s Ambitions Endanger Florida Coral Reefs and Coast

Cuba’s fledgling oil industry has for the first time dropped an offshore rig into the waters off the Florida Keys, a move that has U.S. officials and environmentalists warning that the island nation’s energy ambitions could come at the expense of the ecologically sensitive region at the tip of the Florida Peninsula.

BP’s Blemished Safety Record is Off-Limits in Trial, Judge Rules

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against BP over damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill won’t be allowed to bring up the oil giant’s spotty past safety record, including a major accident in Texas City, Texas, nor will they be allowed to use the contents of a series of reports on the causes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled Thursday.

Taylor Oil Spill: 7 Years, 1.1 Million Gallons, Still Going

Today SkyTruth released our Site 23051 Cumulative Spill Report showing our estimation of the total cumulative amount of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico at the site of Taylor Energy’s ongoing oil spill that began in 2004. In this report, we conclude: 1) Crude oil has been leaking continuously from this site for more than 7 years. 2) Estimated cumulative volume of crude oil spilled is between 251,677 and 1,174,492 gallons.

RADIATION:

U.S. Approves First Nuclear Plant In Decades

The US approved its first new nuclear power reactors in decades on Thursday, despite objections from the country’s top regulator that safety issues raised by last year’s Fukushima meltdown were not fully addressed.

Although the Quarter is perhaps the city’s most famous party spot, there are other areas of New Orleans – like Marigny, Oak Street, Freret and Magazine – that also lay claim to vibrant late-night music scenes.

Locals have a love-hate relationship with Bourbon Street, which cuts through the center of the French Quarter, mainly because rampant commercialization has made it a tacky caricature of the former glory many still remember and miss. The reason the iconic street still manages to attract both tourists and locals is because this “cheapening” has not invaded the entire French Quarter. Many first-class eateries, art galleries and hotels remain unscathed.

The Quarter is a real neighborhood, where people live and work, and that is what makes it more dynamic and exciting than Beale Street or other “forced” entertainment districts. As a native New Orleanian, I have visited the Quarter all my life, and I’ve owned a home there for more than a decade. But like many residents, I am constantly considering leaving the area because the ordinances designed to protect the rights of residents are not enforced.

There’s hope that this is changing, at least on the gnawing issue of noise.
Noise pollution in the City of New Orleans has reached such a high level that residents are desperate for some relief. While residents all over the city, but especially in the Quarter, have called in hundreds of noise complaints, officers issued a grand total of five noise citations to businesses in the French Quarter between February 1, 2011 and February 1, 2012. If you’ve ever strolled down Bourbon Street on any given night after 8 p.m., you’ll understand just how ridiculous that is.

Balance should be the goal. Balance between the party scene and the well-being and sanity of the city’s residents.

So many residents applauded the City Administration and police department when the battle over the noise went to court this week. For the first time in nearly a decade of live music and late-night carousing, the city is taking a French Quarter business, Bourbon Live, to court for violating the noise ordinance.

Last December, a NOPD officer slapped Bourbon Live owner Anthony Marullo with a noise citation, at least in part because the loud music was drowning out his police radio. From a Jan. 6 WWL-TV report out of New Orleans:

“I’d like to thank the mayor and the police chief for standing up for the average resident. We need our police officers to be able to hear their radios,” said a Marigny resident joining about a dozen people outside City Hall on Monday, applauding the city for cracking down on noise violators.

The group calls itself: “Hear The Music Stop The Noise” and is made up of residents and business leaders in the French Quarter.

“New Orleans must enforce its noise ordinance. Noise is out of control and a sense of disorder does not support public safety,” said Meg Lousteau, executive director of Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates.

The New Orleans Police Department is straining to control one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the free world. An officer who can’t hear his or her radio can’t hear someone call for help either.

The safety issue is a serious concern, along with the environmental and health issues associated with noise pollution.

As far as public health goes, unsafe decibel levels – whether from music or an airport or a construction site – are unsafe for musicians, bar employees, patrons and even passersby. It is dangerous to spend too much time outside some of these clubs on Bourbon Street. There are very real health risks involved, including permanent hearing loss. But don’t take my word for it. The World Health Organization (WHO) has conducted studies that show the relationship between “environmental noise and health effects, including cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance (and deprivation), tinnitus (chronic ringing or buzzing in the ear), and annoyance.”

Maybe the New Orleans police are finally getting it: Chaos breeds chaos.

To make matters even more raucous and untenable, the noise and distortion isn’t confined to bars, lounges and souvenir shops in the Quarter. It’s become a movable feast in the form of wandering street musicians, which may be charming during the day but intolerable when a portable electronic amplifier is playing beneath your balcony at 2 a.m.

Reasonable time, place and manner restrictions are infinitely appropriate and need to be enforced. The law says live musicians must be off the street by 8 p.m., but again, the ordinance isn’t enforced. All of this begs the question: Why are street performers allowed to play loud, electronically amplified, live music in residential areas at all? Normal people, trying to live their lives, can’t take it.

The police refuse to respond, at least in part, because someone started a Facebook page attacking them the last time they politely asked street musicians to obey the curfew and go home so residents could sleep.

We need regulation that requires background checks, permits and designated “performing areas” away from where people live. Otherwise, the French Quarter will end up just like all the fake music districts that exist across New Orleans – with a ground-floor commercial district and one empty apartment after another on the top floors. Look closely the next time you visit Bourbon Street or Royal Street. It has already happened.

To encourage enforcement, residents are organizing and mobilizing – and supportive actions from the new mayor and city council are helping the cause. New Orleans must enforce its noise ordinance to limit the times and places where excessive noises invades the lives of residents, professionals, club employees and others.

Who doesn’t love the great music of New Orleans? We would all love to hear it – and stop the noise.

To keep informed about the battle for balance in New Orleans, visit the “Hear The Music Stop the Noise” website – and sign our petition: http://hearthenolamusic.org

Please visit and “like” our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HeartheNolaMusic

Read the WWL-TV report here: http://www.wwltv.com/news/138826074.html

Read the Times-Picayune story here: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/02/new_orleans_civic_group_pushes.html

Learn more about the health risks tied to noise pollution here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_from_noise; http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/136466/e94888.pdf

Learn more about the World Health Organization’s warnings about noise pollution and its health effects here: http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/136466/e94888.pdf

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

Fox Finds Irony In His Bust

There are a couple of different videos circulating on the Internet showing the arrest of filmmaker Josh Fox. He took a camera crew to a hearing of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Environment on February 1. The hearing concerned a draft report, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), regarding hydraulic fracturing.

Pennsylvania General Assembly Votes to Impose Fees on Natural Gas Companies

Comparing Two Carbon Bombs: Liquid Natural Gas Plants vs. Enbridge Pipeline

With the spotlight on the federal government’s aggressive push to export tar sands bitumen via the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat, and from there by tanker on to China, the B.C. government reclaimed some attention on the energy file when it released its Natural Gas Strategy last week.

BP OIL SPILL:

House Democrats Cite Lax Oversight of Oil, Natural Gas Drilling On Public Land

Federal policing of oil and natural gas drilling on public lands is lax and inconsistent, with only 6 percent of violations resulting in monetary fines over 13 years, House Democrats said in a report Wednesday.

BP Could Face Up to $17.6 Billion in Fines for Largest Offshore Oil Spill in U.S. History

London-based oil giant BP is negotiating with U.S. officials to settle pollution claims over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill that may leave the company liable for as much as $17.6 billion in fines, a person familiar with the talks said.

Arctic Oil Drilling Threatens Polar Bear Birthing Grounds

Up in the frozen arctic, where polar bear rule over a biogem world, massive oil drilling plans threaten the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Shell, the oil behemoth that made $4.8 billion in profits last quarter, intends to boost those numbers by drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas off Alaska. And the Obama Administration appears eager to help them.

RADIATION:

FRACKING:

Cuomo: Fracking Decision ‘Couple Months’ Away

A decision on whether to allow high-volume hydraulic fracturing in New York is “a couple of months” away, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.

Frack, No: Vermont Looks North to Québec as It Considers a Ban on Natural-Gas Drilling

Want a piece of neighborly advice? Keep the frack out. That’s the word from Québecois residents who support Vermont’s possible three-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing — a controversial method of drilling for natural gas more colloquially known as fracking.

Erratic U.S. Oversight of Gas Fracking Cited by House Democrats

Oversight of drilling and hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas on federal land is “erratic and inconsistent” and in a decade led to about $300,000 in fines, according to report released by U.S. House Democrats.

DEC: Much Work Needed on Fracking Regs

New York’s environment commissioner told lawmakers Tuesday that the proposed state budget doesn’t include money for regulating hydraulic fracturing because it’s uncertain when — or if — the natural gas drilling technology will be allowed in the state.

BP OIL SPILL:

RADIATION:

Messages Show Conflict Within NRC After Japan’s Earthquake and Tsunami

In the confusion following the earthquake and tsunami that damaged Japan’s Fukushima nuclear complex last March, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it was standing by to help.

Remember, we’re talking about an industry that finds transparency so distasteful that it refuses to disclose the chemicals it injects deep into the ground to extract natural gas.

At the behest of Maryland Republican Andy Harris, chairman of the House energy and environment subcommittee, Capitol Police handcuffed Mr. Fox and forcibly removed him from the hearing. The subcommittee was looking into an EPA study tying groundwater contamination to fracking. So why was Mr. Fox so rudely excluded from all the fun? Consider this from a Feb. 1 New York Times report by John Broder:

Mr. Fox is preparing a sequel to “Gasland,” which has contributed to widespread concern about fracking, a method of mining that uses large volumes of water and chemicals under high pressure to free gas deposits from underground shale.

The chairman of the subcommittee conducting the hearing, Representative Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican, objected to the presence of Mr. Fox and another crew. A committee chairman has the discretion to bar cameras from hearings, according to a committee aide.

… Representative Brad Miller, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, asked that the crews be allowed to stay and called for a vote. After a recess to round up more members, the Republicans prevailed and the cameras were barred.

As police dragged him from the room, Mr. Fox had some parting words: “This is a public hearing! I’m being denied my First Amendment rights.” I couldn’t agree more, and I believe most level-headed Americans would be with me on this. My guess is Rep. Harris, not to mention the entire GOP leadership, wishes the episode had never taken place. It was a poorly executed abuse of power. As I mentioned at the top, the arrest and removal from a public hearing of a noted documentary filmmaker is sure to give the cynics out there one more reason to mistrust the fracking industry and its boosters in Congress. More from the New York Times report:

Mr. Fox was released by the Capitol police shortly after 1 p.m. with a misdemeanor citation for, in his words, “practicing journalism.” He said in a telephone interview that he did not have to pay a fine or post bail. A court date is set for Feb. 15.

… “We have followed this case for three years, and it seemed as if this hearing was an attack on the E.P.A. and we wanted to be there,” Mr. Fox said. “We wanted this to be transparent to the American people. This is emblematic of what is happening across the world.”

He said that he did not buy the argument that the committee chairman had the right under House rules to bar cameras or uncredentialed reporters from hearings.

“No one on the Hill is exempt from the Constitution,” Mr. Fox said. “Period.”

The fracking industry needs more transparency not less. Rep. Harris’s reflex to deny access and shroud the fracking process in secrecy helps neither the industry nor the growing number of citizens concerned about the risks tied to the controversial practice. If we, as a nation, are to reach a consensus on how best to implement and regulate fracking, it will come from a well-informed public not one that is kept in the dark.

I commend Mr. Fox for his dedication to shedding light on the dark art of fracking. Please keep up the good work, my friend, even when the Powers that Be trample your civil rights.

Read the NYT report here: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/gasland-filmmaker-arrested-at-capitol-hearing/

For all the latest news on fracking, visit: http://www.frackingofamerica.com/

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

The oil rush in North Dakota has it all. Billions of dollars. Thousands of jobs. “Grapes of Wrath”-like journeys from all across America as people leave desperate situations, hoping for a fresh start. Big business shoe-horning itself into small-town America.

Fracking With a Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On

Take millions of gallons of natural gas hydro-fracking waste water then pour it down a hole dug thousands of feet down into the bedrock and what do you get? Well, according to the U.S. Department of Energy and other experts, you may get a whole lotta shakin going on. But right now, no regulations are on the books that force the oil and gas industry to take that into consideration when they dig their fracking waste wells—yet.

5 Reasons We Should Be Concerned About Fracking (Film)

We all know that the affordability, efficiency, and sustainability of cleaner, greener energy will be a major challenge for this century.  Some have called natural gas a better and cleaner energy source; yet, even if we set aside this hot air, the process of extracting the gas (called hydraulic fracturing or fracking) proves problematic for both environmentalists as well as those in proximity to the wells.  This article will cover five major problems with fracking, and it is based on two SnagFilms from the After the Goldrush series, which are embedded below.

BP OIL SPILL:

Pass the RESTORE Act Now

Reports that BP and the U.S. Justice Department could soon reach a settlement to cover all charges, including fines, related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has raised concerns. The worry is that it could send the money to the Treasury, not to the affected Gulf Coast states for economic and environmental recovery.

Groups Sue to Halt 7-Year Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico

Citing the public’s right to know why an oil rig 11 miles off the coast of Louisiana has been leaking oil for seven years, a coalition of watchdog and environmental groups has filed a lawsuit against Taylor Energy Company LLC.

Gulf Oil Spill’s ‘Trial of the Century’ Could End Before It Begins

Some leading analysts and legal observers believe the highly anticipated “trial of the century” over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, set to begin in three weeks, will end before it starts. BP and negotiators for federal and state governments are frantically working to confect a settlement so they won’t have to leave the fate of billions of dollars in potential pollution fines and spill damage payments in the hands of U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier.

BP’s Decision to Change Contractors Is An Insult to Alabama

Crowdergulf, the company that has been in charge of keeping Alabama beaches free of oil, is intimately familiar with the areas its workers patrol. But beginning this week, BP will contract with Danos and Curole Marine Contractors of Louisiana to clean the beaches in Alabama and Florida. CrowderGulf, based in Theodore, will no longer oversee the work, though it has a strong track record and is well respected locally.

RADIATION:

A consortium of Gulf Coast environmental groups – including the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) – has had enough, filing suit against Taylor Energy in federal court yesterday. From a Feb. 2 LEAN press release:

Louisiana Environmental Action Network and its Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper program along with Waterkeeper Alliance and several Gulf Coast Waterkeeper organizations filed suit in Federal Court today, February 2, 2012, against Taylor Energy Co., LLC under the citizen suit provisions of the Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation Recovery Act, for ongoing violations stemming from an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that has continued to flow for seven years.

Photo courtesy of Greenpeace

The lawsuit is part of a new campaign to demand a higher level of accountability and transparency on the part of oil companies and the regulators charged with overseeing their operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The Taylor site – which has been leaking for seven long years – has become an ugly symbol of our government’s failed regulatory efforts in the Gulf and beyond. More from the LEAN press release:

“The plaintiffs filed suit to stop the spill and lift the veil of secrecy surrounding Taylor Oil’s seven-year long response and recovery operation,” explained Marc Yaggi, Executive Director of Waterkeeper Alliance. “Neither the government nor Taylor will provide a single document related to the spill response, citing privacy concerns.”

Amid reports of dead sea mammals, poor shrimp seasons, record setting Gulf dead zones and dire predictions for coastal land loss; the groups bringing the lawsuit feel that something must be done to try to address the continued degradation of the stressed Northern Gulf. They see themselves as citizen enforcers of environmental laws. “If the government won’t enforce the environmental laws that protect our communities and shared natural resources” Orr said, “then we will.”

Photo credit to On Wings of Care

The environmental groups are blasting Congress (and rightly so) for failing to enact the reforms recommended by President Obama’s spill commission on the heels of the BP disaster in 2010. More from the LEAN release:

“The Taylor Oil spill is emblematic of a broken system, where oil production is prioritized over concerns for human health and the environment,” said Justin Bloom, Eastern Regional Director of Waterkeeper Alliance. “Nearly two years after the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill, none of the comprehensive reforms recommended by the National Oil Spill Commission have been enacted and Congress has yet to pass a single law to better protect workers, the environment or coastal communities.”

True enough. There is no doubt that Congress has shirked its responsibility and reneged on its pledge to aggressively pursue reforms that will keep our citizens and our environment safe. Some things never change – particularly when Big Oil is involved.

I applaud the consortium for its efforts in stepping up to lead where our government has failed to do so. We’ll keep an eye on this lawsuit as it winds its way through the court system, and bring you updates as they emerge.

Read the LEAN press release here: http://leanweb.org/our-work/water/waterkeeper-organizations-file-suit-to-plug-taylor-energys-ongoing-7-year-gulf-oil-spill

See more footage of the ongoing Taylor Energy leak at the “On Wings of Care” website: http://www.onwingsofcare.org/protection-a-preservation/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-2010/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-2011-spring/218-20111230-owoc-gulf-mexico-taylor-oil.html

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

Texas Railroad Commission Begins Enforcing New Rules That Won’t Do Much Fracking Good

Starting today, companies drilling for natural gas in Texas must disclose the chemical compounds they use for hydraulic fracturing on the website FracFocus.  While this doesn’t apply to existing wells, any companies seeking new drilling permits from the Texas Railroad Commission must comply with the rule.  This is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t address the real problems associated with fracking.

Mount Morris Places Moratorium On Hydrofracking

Last month, a moratorium on hydrofracking was put in place by Mount Morris, N.Y., giving the town time to weigh the positive and negative consequences of hydraulic fracturing in the region.

EPA Official Defends Pavillion Fracking Study, But Warns of Its Limits

A top Environmental Protection Agency official on Wednesday fended off Republican and industry attacks on the agency’s controversial draft study that found hydraulic fracturing likely caused groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyo.

Ronald Fraser: Gas Industry Money Tilts the Debate On Drilling

Officials in Albany will soon decide whether to authorize horizontal hydraulic fracturing, a controversial gas drilling process. While citizens have written thousands of letters to the governor and the Department of Environmental Conservation protesting the health and environmental risks associated with fracking, the gas industry has been busy writing checks to Albany decision-makers.

BP OIL SPILL:

Tony Hayward is BP’s Legal Headache: Stephanie Grace

When most of us last saw former BP CEO Tony Hayward, he was being shipped off to Siberia — symbolically, anyway. Hayward was actually reassigned to a post in Russia, after his string of callous comments about the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion exacerbated the company’s already severe public relations crisis.

Should Taxpayers Foot the Bill for Oil Spills?

Taxpayers have footed oil companies’ cleanup costs for decades. For instance, BP can deduct on its tax returns cleanup costs and settlements for its massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Estimates already show those costs may amount to $32 billion, which could translate into a $10 billion tax write-off for the oil major.

Obama Proposal Could Weaken Key Climate Agency

An Obama administration plan to cut costs by combining several government agencies may make good political sense, coming in the midst of the Republican presidential primary season, with its heated small-government rhetoric. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea from a policy perspective.

RADIATION:

CA Nuclear Plant Closed Due To Leak

A small quantity of radioactive gas leaked inside one of the buildings at San Onofre nuclear power plant north of San Diego, according to a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“That’s not negotiation. It was their way or no way, and ‘we’ll see you in court.’ It’s the little guys against Goliath,” Swartz told the Associated Press. He is challenging the company in court, but faces a steep uphill battle because our federal government permits companies like Central New York Oil & Gas – under the auspices of the Natural Gas Act of 1938 – to assume control of private property for so-called “public benefit.” I’ll try to explain.

Mr. Swartz is one of a growing number of victims falling prey to a new disturbing trend: The fracking industry’s use of “eminent domain” to seize private property as it cuts and slashes its way across the country laying thousands of miles of pipeline and access roads in gas-rich states like New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, Texas and my home state of Louisiana.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, eminent domain is the legal process by which the government – or an entity like a public utility (or, say, an oil and gas company) – seizes private property for public or civic use, such as a highway or a railroad (or, say, a natural gas pipeline). It is frequently a combative process, as we see in the case of Mr. Swartz, and here’s why: Although landowners are to be paid fair market value for their property, the land can be “acquired” without the owner’s consent.

It was President Harry Truman who granted oil and gas companies this enormous power – traditionally confined to the federal government – to facilitate the construction of our nation’s very first pipelines. In 1947, Truman amended the Natural Gas Act of 1938 to include the exercise of eminent domain. But let’s not place too much blame on Harry, because at that time nobody could have foreseen the mass proliferation of fracking and the soaring number of pipelines necessary to speed product to market. It is much more appropriate to fault modern-day regulators, who are charged with ensuring there is no “unneeded exercise” of eminent domain. Clearly, that has not taken place in the situation now unfolding in northern Pennsylvania.

Put yourself in Mr. Swartz’s shoes for a moment. I know I’d feel completely betrayed by my government if it allowed a company to swoop in with heavy machinery and begin carving up my front yard. And this is only the very beginning of what could become the biggest land grab our nation has ever seen. As the use of fracking continues to spread like wildfire, troubling stories like that of Mr. Swartz are certain to become more and more common. Another term you’ll be hearing is “condemnation,” which is the formal act of exercising the power of eminent domain to transfer title to the property from its owner to the state. Condemnation, indeed.

By design, eminent domain is to be used as sparingly as possible – as a last resort. However, in the case of the proposed MARC 1 pipeline to run atop Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, it’s clear that Central New York Oil & Gas (CNYOG) is pushing the boundaries of eminent domain’s acceptable application.

From a Jan. 31 Associated Press report out of Laporte, Pennsylvania:

A pipeline operator (Central New York Oil & Gas) assured federal regulators it would minimize using eminent domain against private landowners if given approval to lay a 39-mile natural gas pipeline in northern Pennsylvania’s pristine Endless Mountains.

Yet the company was readying condemnation papers against dozens of landowners even as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was considering its application for the $250 million MARC 1 pipeline. Within two days of winning approval, Central New York Oil & Gas Co., LLC went to court to condemn nearly half the properties along the pipeline’s route – undercutting part of the regulatory commission’s approval rationale and angering landowners who are now fighting the company in court.

The landowners’ legal fight is focused on two parts of the process: (1) the regulatory commission’s approval of the project, which they are appealing; and (2) the pipeline company’s “overly expansive” exercise of eminent domain power as granted by the federal government under the Natural Gas Act. The main problem, as the landowners see it (and I agree wholeheartedly) is that the federal government affords CNYOG, and all other pipeline companies, too much leverage under current eminent domain guidelines. Companies are bullying landowners and relying on the government to back them up.

More from the AP report:

Many of [the landowners] say they favor natural gas drilling and some have leased land to gas drillers. What rankles them is that the federal government has invested the company with the power of eminent domain, taking away their bargaining power.

“Once the government becomes involved, this is what happens. Because you lose that leverage,” said Amy Gardner, who, with her husband, faces condemnation of part of their 175-acre parcel in Sullivan County.

The Gardners say the company offered them less than a third of the amount they got from another pipeline company that installed a gathering line on their land. The difference? Gathering lines – smaller pipelines that take gas from the wellhead to a transmission line or processing facility – are not federally regulated and companies that operate them don’t have condemnation power.

Amy Gardner said a CNYOG company representative who made them the lowball offer told them to “take it or leave it.” She would not publicly disclose what the company had offered.

“There’s no negotiating with this company. They come and they tell you what they’re going to do. They’re telling you what they’re going to pay. And they’re counting on the government to enforce it,” Gardner said in a recent interview at the Sullivan County Courthouse, where a judge has scheduled a mid-February hearing on the landowners’ concerns.

Clearly, the time has come to amend the Natural Gas Act to curb the abuse of eminent domain power as the proliferation of pipelines explodes across the country. The situation will only get worse for landowners as fracking spreads to more populated areas.

My guess is Congress will eventually amend the Act, but how many landowners will be stripped of their property – and their trust in our government – before that happens?

Stay tuned, this story is just getting its legs.

Read the full AP report here: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/31/landowners-fight-eminent-domain-in-pa-gas-field/

Study up on “eminent domain” here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain

Review the Natural Gas Act of 1938: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_Gas_Act_of_1938

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

Is the Tide Turning for Home Rule in Pennsylvania? Nine GOP Senators Oppose Law Seeking to Stop Local Power to Zone Gas Drilling

Just a few short months ago, the prognosis for the longstanding right of Pennsylvania municipalities to protect the health and property of their residents from fracking activities, or indeed any oil or gas drilling, looked pretty grim.  That’s because two bills – House Bill 1950 and Senate Bill 1100 – each passed through their respective house of the PA legislature last November.

Drillers Must Now Disclose Fracking Chemicals

A new Texas Railroad Commission rule requiring oil and natural gas operators to publicly disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing of natural gas and oil wells takes effect today.

BP OIL SPILL:

Spill Cleanup? Just a Cost of Doing Business?

Here’s a new item to add to the long list of expenses that are putting our country into deficit spending: cleaning up oil spills. While we keep hearing that companies like BP are on the hook for the costs of cleanup, in truth, much of the cleanup will be paid for by the U.S. Treasury itself.

Locals Comment On Oil-Spill Rehab

RADIATION:

Atomic Agency Backs Safety Tests for Japan’s Reactors

A United Nations fact-finding mission on Tuesday tentatively supported new stress tests devised to determine whether Japan’s nuclear plants can withstand another emergency, throwing its weight behind a government push to restart reactors idled in the wake of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant after an earthquake and tsunami in March.

FRACKING:

‘Fracking’ a Big Concern for Growing Nunda Organic Foods Company

A Nunda company that produces organic products has expressed its concern to local and state officials that New York’s organic industry may be in danger if hydraulic fracturing commences.

Steve Israel: Future of NY Fracking Seems To Be Faltering

What once seemed inevitable — hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in New York state in general and Sullivan County in particular — now seems much less certain.

Safe Gas Fracking Touted by Obama Disputed by Environmentalists

President Barack Obama’s promotion of fracking as a safe way to boost natural gas production is disputed by environmentalists who say the government lacks tough rules to safeguard air and water.

Experts Deliver Dire Warnings About Fracking Impacts

Hundreds of people packed a lecture hall at Ohio University Saturday to hear some fairly dire warnings on what could happen to Athens County if the oil-and-gas industry begins to drill into deep underground shale beds here using the horizontal hydraulic fracturing method (“fracking”).

BP OIL SPILL:

Oil Spill Brings Attention to Delicate Gulf Coast

For decades, farmers and fishermen along the Gulf of Mexico watched as their sensitive ecosystem’s waters slowly got dirtier and islands eroded, all while the country largely ignored the destruction.

Oil Spill Fine Bill: Offsets Could Be Obstacles But Lawmakers Optimistic

Where can lawmakers find at least $1 billion of federal revenue to offset oil spill fine money that they want to send to the Gulf Coast? Are such offsets, through spending cuts or new revenue, really necessary to replace fines to be paid by private companies only because of a spill that hurt the Gulf? And exactly how much money should lawmakers offset?

Gulf Coast Environmental Destruction Highlighted By BP Oil Spill

For decades, farmers and fishermen along the Gulf of Mexico watched as their sensitive ecosystem’s waters slowly got dirtier and islands eroded, all while the country largely ignored the destruction.

South Mobile Students Still Suffering From Oil Spill (Video)

For the children of south Mobile County, the effects of 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill didn’t wash away as shorelines were cleared of tarballs and as waters reopened to fishing.

RADIATION:

Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Leaks Water For At Least The Third Time This Month

Around 600 liters of water have leaked from Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, forcing operators to stop cooling at a spent fuel pond, according to Reuters.

It appears high-level BP officials made a concerted effort to keep secret a completely legitimate spill estimate – based on a tested scientific model – and disclosed a completely unfounded, grossly inaccurate flow rate. Go figure.

The series of decisions surrounding the “false estimate” episode are all neatly packaged in a damning email exchange between BP employees released in federal court in New Orleans on Friday (Jan. 27). The startling new evidence provides a glimpse inside what is shaping up to rank among the biggest, most flagrant corporate coverups in recent history. From a Jan. 27 Times-Picayune report:

The April 22 email from Rob Marshall, BP’s subsea manager for the Gulf of Mexico, to deepwater project manager Gary Imm and corporate vice president Jonathan Sprague is an exhibit in the massive oil spill litigation slated for trial Feb. 27.

Marshall advised Imm and Sprague that an expert named Alistair Johnston had a new model for how much oil might be spewing from the wellhead a mile below the surface and 50 miles from the Mississippi River delta. Johnston’s new estimate, Marshall wrote, was 82,000 barrels a day if the well has an open hole.

The response from Imm suggests that BP and the Coast Guard were already butting heads over how much oil was coming out of the busted well – and that 82,000 barrels a day wasn’t a number BP wanted anyone to hear.

“A number of people have been looking at this and we already have had difficult discussions with the USCG (Coast Guard) on the numbers,” Imm wrote back to Marshall and Sprague. “Please tell Alistair not to communicate to anyone on this.”

So much for the “complete transparency” and cooperation BP pledged to embrace.

On April 27, a government scientist upped the 1,000-barrel estimate to an only slightly more realistic 5,000 barrels a day, which held for an entire month despite the insistence by many independent experts that the well could be spewing as much as 100,000 barrels a day. So it would seem that Mr. Johnston’s initial model showing a leak rate of 82,000 barrels a day provided to BP officials on April 22, 2010, was in fact right on the mark. Yet BP chose not to disclose it at a moment when an accurate assessment of the magnitude of the spill was critical to mustering an effective response. More from the Times-Picayune:

As it turned out, the hole was not unobstructed. A massive stack of valves and pistons blocked some of the flow and response teams later found the crude coming out of three leaks in the pipes that emanated from the wellhead.

Months later, after much wrangling and analysis, government scientists determined the oil actually was shooting out at a rate 62,000 barrels a day on April 22.

But the idea that BP and the Coast Guard weren’t being fully honest about the spill rate came to dominate the conversation for months.

My guess is criminal charges will be brought against individuals who intentionally withheld information that impacted the scope, speed and effectiveness of the response. My hope is those individuals will do jail time – and I’m certainly not alone in that sentiment. There are tens of thousands of Gulf Coast residents who would like to tar and feather these folks, and then throw them in jail.

In addition to criminal charges against individuals, the possibility of sizable punitive damages against the company is becoming more likely as incriminating evidence continues to emerge. The legal exposure for BP and a growing number of its employees is enormous, which includes possible “insider trading” charges. More from the Times-Picayune report:

The flow rate is a critical issue. At first, it was important as the oil industry and the government tried to figure out a safe way to close in the well. It also played a role in establishing how damaging the spill would be for BP, and several large investors have sued BP in federal court in Houston alleging that the company used low-ball estimates to artificially prop up the company’s stock price.

Federal investigators looked into the possibility that BP officials might have engaged in insider trading based on their knowledge of larger flow rates before they were disclosed to the public. No charges have been filed.

Not yet, at least. Can you think of anything more despicable than seeking to profit from a disaster that has destroyed so many lives and irreparably damaged the environment? I certainly can’t.

As we near the Feb. 27 trial date in New Orleans, I anticipate that we will all grow increasingly disgusted by the evidence that surfaces as to how one of the wealthiest, most powerful corporations in the world caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history and then perpetrated one of the biggest coverups in recent times.

Stay tuned.

Read David Hammer’s Times-Picayune report here: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2012/01/bp_email_hushed_oil_spill_rate.html

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

House Panel to Quiz EPA Research Chief on Pavillion Fracturing Study

A top Environmental Protection Agency official is among those who will appear before a House panel next week regarding the agency’s controversial draft study suggesting a possible link between hydraulic fracturing and groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyo.

Prospect Of Fracking Causes Concern

The community gathered to learn more about the potential impact of two proposed hydraulic fracturing sites on Saturday.

New York’s Fracking Deliberations Inch Along

In yet another sign that New York has slowed efforts to green-light fracking of natural gas, officials at the state Department of Environmental Conservation canceled a meeting of a drilling advisory panel this week for a second time.

Fracking Company: EPA Decision to Test Contaminated Wells in Dimock “Undercuts” Obama’s Commitment to Natural Gas

President Obama proclaimed his support for safely expanding gas and oil drilling on public lands this week, and the announcement received an uncomfortable applause from a fracking company ensnarled in a ongoing controversy over poisoned water wells used by dozens of families in rural Pennsylvania.

BP OIL SPILL:

Judge: BP Contract Shielded Transocean in Spill

The rig owner involved in drilling the ill-fated well that blew out in the Gulf of Mexico and spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil will not have to pay many of the pollution claims because it was shielded in a contract with well-owner BP, a federal judge ruled on Thursday. The ruling comes as BP, the states affected by the disaster and the federal government are discussing a settlement over the nation’s largest offshore oil spill.

Lawsuit Claims Former BP Employee Was Fired For Refusing To Skew Clean-Up Data

A former employee of BP America is suing the oil company for wrongful termination, alleging that he was canned for refusing to alter data about the progress of the clean-up of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

BP Can’t Collect Part of Gulf Spill Costs From Transocean

BP Plc can’t collect from Transocean Ltd. part of the $40 billion in cleanup costs and economic losses caused by the 2010 oil well blowout and Gulf of Mexico spill, a judge ruled. Transocean shares rose on the news.

RADIATION:

Experts Cast Doubt on Japan Nuclear Plant Tests

Japanese government ordered tests on all reactors after Fukushima meltdown, but advisers say they do not prove a plant is safe.

Meanwhile, BP is funding a slick, big-budget advertising campaign to lure tourists back to the Gulf Coast, featuring young children frolicking in the sand and surf as a voiceover rambles on about how “the water is beautiful.” (Please pay no mind to all the fresh tar balls washing up on the beach and the tar mats lingering just offshore.) Clearly, the oil giant’s capacity to lie and cheat knows no bounds.

Here’s how the Times-Picayune’s David Hammer covered the story on Jan. 24:

A Covington man who helped develop oil spill cleanup plans for BP has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the oil giant, alleging that he was fired for telling federal overseers that his bosses were falsifying data to make it look like Mississippi beaches were cleaner than they really were. August Walter Jr.’s allegations before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans come more than a year after oil from BP’s blown-out well came ashore. They also follow BP’s spending of $14 billion on cleanup operations that have cleared all but a few miles of oiled beach.

But Walter claims that just last fall, BP was refusing to pick up oiled debris on beaches and islands and then falsely reporting the areas were clean, all in an effort to wrap up its responsibilities early and leave the remaining cleanup to the Coast Guard.

Mr. Walter’s allegations are devastating, and the timing couldn’t be worse for BP as the company dramatically scales back cleanup efforts and prepares to defend its actions in court next month. Falsifying official documents is a serious charge, particularly when public safety is an issue. This dubious behavior should be considered when determining punitive damages against the company. More from the Times-Picayune report:

The lawsuit says that Walter discovered BP’s Mississippi operation was taking shortcuts – refusing, for instance, to clear smaller oiled debris while removing larger tar balls from beaches along the Gulf Islands National Seashore – and he was reprimanded by BP bosses when he tried to report the true status of the cleanup.

BP’s decision to fire Walter lays bare, once again, the company’s culture of putting profits above all else. It has long been BP’s modus operandi to harass, intimidate and punish those who present “problems” for the company – from independent researchers to spill claimants to public officials to members of the media. Here’s how the Times-Picayune covers the timeline of events leading up to Walter’s dismissal:

In October 2011, Walter said he rewrote plans to meet a Coast Guard directive to clear away oil from areas where a protected population of eagles would be nesting, but BP ignored them. It was then that BP’s response lead, Cory Brown, “tried to harass” Walter, the complaint states.

And after that, on Nov. 3, Carla Fontenot, vice president of BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, threatened Walter that she “had people watching him that would call her” if he kept insisting that BP follow approved environmental plans, the lawsuit alleges. It also says that Fontenot told Walter that his cooperation was necessary “as it would have an upward impact on BP stock prices.”

Walter’s complaint says that BP Operations Section Chief Mike Harrison rejected Walter’s presentation of cleanup data to the Coast Guard on Nov. 7, stating the Mississippi numbers “‘did not fit with the story’ (Harrison) wanted to tell the Unified Command.”

When Walter told Harrison that certain areas in Mississippi had to be recleaned because they had failed inspections by a joint government-BP Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Team, “Harrison basically demanded that Walter falsify the data,” the complaint says.

When Walter refused, Harrison changed the data himself and reported it to the federal on-scene coordinator, the lawsuit alleges.

… Walter claims he was placed on administrative leave on Nov. 9. For the next month, BP interviewed Walter’s co-workers “to come up with pretextual reasons for his termination,” then fired him on Dec. 9, the complaint states.

We can only hope that BP is held accountable for its despicable actions in this case, as it pertains both to Mr. Walter’s dismissal and the risk to public safety tied to BP’s falsifying of official cleanup reports. It certainly appears to me that Louisiana’s Environmental Whistleblower Act should have protected Mr. Walter from being fired.

We’ll have to wait and see how presiding federal Judge Carl Barbier rules. But one thing is for sure: Evidence is stacking up in a way that’s going to make BP’s defense of its actions surrounding this entire disaster exceedingly difficult to sell.

Read David Hammer’s report in the Times-Picayune here: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2012/01/fired_bp_worker_files_whistleb.html

Check out one of BP’s far-fetched “come back to the Gulf” commercials here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q2tjWBIXEc&feature=endscreen&NR=1

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

Fracked-Off: Gas Extraction ‘Causes Quakes’

A new technique to extract lucrative hard-to-reach natural gas is causing earthquakes across Middle America, literally.

Group Gathers To Hear Concerns On Fracking

Organizers of a meeting conducted Wednesday evening say they’re not opposed to the economic development improvement that could come with new oil and gas drilling techniques, they’re just concerned about the unknowns.

Writers On The Range: Let The EPA Finish Its Work In Pavillion, Wyoming

Over the last few weeks, the gas industry and their advocates have gone to great lengths to refute the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft report about the effects on groundwater of hydraulic fracturing – fracking — for gas in Pavillion, Wyo.

What’s Shakin’?

Ultra Resources uses chemicals in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to break open underground gas deposits. Then its crews get rid of the spent fluids by injecting them nearly three miles into the ground. It’s common practice in the industry, but it might be causing a side-effect that’s gotten fewer headlines than alleged groundwater contamination.

BP OIL SPILL:

Fla. Hotel Sues BP Over Oil Spill Claim

A landmark Tampa Bay area hotel claims BP has failed to pay an oil-spill claim of more than $5 million.

U.S. to Sell 38 Mln Acres in Gulf of Mexico for Oil Drilling

The U.S. government on Thursday announced plans to sell 38 million acres in central Gulf of Mexico for oil exploration to increase domestic energy supplies.

Exclusive: Chevron to Face Criminal Charges Over Brazil Spill

A Brazilian prosecutor plans to file criminal charges against Chevron Corp and some of its local managers within weeks, adding the threat of prison sentences to an $11 billion civil lawsuit as punishment for a November offshore oil spill.

Obama Administration Purposely Misled Public about Gulf Oil Spill Estimates

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) has accused the Obama administration of deliberately misleading the public about how much oil gushed from the ruptured BP well in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

RADIATION:

Take a Look Inside a Fukushima Nuclear Reactor [VIDEO]

What’s it look like inside of a nuclear reactor? A recently released video from the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant in Japan can now show us.

FRACKING:

Is The Booming Natural Gas Industry Overproducing?

The practice of hydraulic fracturing — pumping fluid into underground rock to push up natural gas — has its detractors, especially among environmentalists. But it’s becoming clear that whatever its drawbacks, “fracking,” as it’s called, is producing a lot of gas — maybe too much gas.

Fracking Complicates the Climate Debate: John Kemp

Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have laid to rest concerns about peaking oil and gas supplies for a generation, but they have also made the search for comprehensive policies to restrain greenhouse gas emissions more urgent.

Fracking Opponent Ends 8-Day Hunger Strike After Meeting With His Senator

Following examples set by Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, Patrick McElligott embarked on a hunger strike to raise awareness about the practice of hydraulic fracturing, demanding a sit-down with elected officials to discuss its dangers.

Cutting Through the Hydrofracking Spin

You’d almost have to have been living under a rock not to have heard of the controversy “hydraulic fracturing” is creating in New York.

BP OIL SPILL:

Master Plan Forgets Bayou Communities, Residents Say

Gulf Oil Spill Could Result in Criminal Charges for BP Employees

Federal criminal charges may be pending for key individuals involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Seafood Board May Use BP Cash to Rename N.O. Arena

BP’s McKay Will Be First Witness at Gulf Oil Spill Trial

BP America Inc. Chairman and President Lamar McKay will be the first witness at the February trial to determine liability for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, plaintiffs’ lawyers said.

RADIATION:

Japan Task Force Kept No Records of Nuclear Crisis Response

Japan’s energy minister admitted on Tuesday that no records were kept of top level discussions in the critical early days on how to respond to the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

FRACKING:

Groups Rally For Fracking Bills in NY State

They came from every corner of New York State: Farmers, politicians, small business leaders and ordinary citizens who gave up a day of work to come to Albany to try to persuade lawmakers to ban hydraulic fracturing.

Commerce City Officials Hear Comment On Fracking Ban

Council members Monday evening debated the merits of a six-month moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the city, which drew sharp comments from some who are afraid oil and gas drilling in the community will lead to environmental disaster.

This is a story about water, the land surrounding it, and the lives it sustains. Clean water should be a right: there is no life without it. New York is what you might call a “water state.” Its rivers and their tributaries only start with the St. Lawrence, the Hudson, the Delaware, and the Susquehanna. The best known of its lakes are Great Lakes Erie and Ontario, Lake George, and the Finger Lakes. Its brooks, creeks, and trout streams are fishermen’s lore.

BP OIL SPILL:

Whistleblower Says BP Fired Him for Refusing To Skew Cleanup Data

A leader in BP’s oil spill cleanup claims the company fired him for refusing to change data so that BP could claim the cleanup phase was over and it could begin restoration, which a BP vice president told him “would have an upward impact on BP stock prices.”

Tony Hayward Accused Of ‘Lying’ Over Gulf Spill

Hire Locally, Citizens Tell Oil Spill Restoration Panel

Deepwater Horizon Natural Resources Damage Assessment trustees presented details of each project for public comment at a meeting held at the Battle House Hotel in downtown Mobile.

Lawmakers Seek Obama’s Support On Coast Restoration Bill

Gulf Coast lawmakers hope President Barack Obama will use his address to the nation tonight to support a bill that would send most of the fines collected from the BP oil spill to the region for restoration efforts.

RADIATION:

Japanese Government Concealing Facts About Fukushima

The Japanese government and Tepco have covered up the extent of the radiation released by Fukushima and its health effects on the Japanese and others.

Here’s how Mother Jones, an independent investigative news organization, set up the breaking story yesterday afternoon (Jan. 23):

Back at the height of the massive Gulf oil spill in 2010, there was quite a bit of controversy about just how much crude was blasting out of the well. According to new documents that a watchdog group released on Monday, there was heated debate among the scientists who evaluated the flow rate as well.

For the first few weeks after the spill began in April 2010, BP misled the public about how big it was, and the government repeated BP’s estimate without question. And when the government released its own estimate in late May of up to 25,000 barrels per day, that too was controversial – and proved to be far lower than the actual, which was more like 53,000 barrels of oil per day.

A bombshell email exchange, acquired through a Freedom of Information request, confirms that the Obama Administration worked behind the scenes to downplay the amount of oil gushing from the crippled Macondo Well in the early days of what would become the worst spill in U.S. history. More from Kate Sheppard’s Mother Jones report:

…an email released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) traces efforts to downplay the spill size in the initial weeks back to the White House. The group released a May 29, 2010 email from Dr. Marcia McNutt, the director of the US Geologic Survey and head of the government’s Flow Rate Technical Group (FRTG), that was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The email came after scientists on the flow-rate team complained to McNutt about how the spill figures were conveyed to the press, and in response she cited pressure from the White House as the reason the numbers were low-balled. Rather than reporting that the lower-end estimate of the spill was 25,000 barrels per day, officials cited that figure as the higher-end estimate:

I cannot tell you what a nightmare the past two days have been dealing with the communications people at the White House, DOI [Department of Interior], and the NIC [National Intelligence Council] who seem incapable of understanding the concept of a lower bound. The press release that went out on our results was misleading and was not reviewed by a scientist for accuracy.

Dr. McNutt’s use of the word “nightmare” clearly indicates an intense discomfort with the pressure that was brought to bear and a clear understanding of the repercussions tied to releasing data known to be inaccurate. Her two-page email (see full text at bottom) goes on to reveal specific recommendations from high-ranking government officials as to how to “word” the lowball oil-flow estimates:

Let me give you a flavor of some of the “suggestions” I was getting from the NIC and from the communications people at the White House and DOI as recently as yesterday afternoon as to how to “simplify” our bottom line:

From a NIC Admiral: How about just saying that the range of flow rates is 12,000 to 25,000 barrels per day? (No, because the 25,000 is a LOWER bound, not an UPPER bound….)

From a White House communications person: How about saying that several lines of evidence suggest that the flow is 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day but that the rate could be as high as 25,000 barrels per day? (No, because the 25,000 is a LOWER bound, not an UPPER bound…)

PEER’s watchdog work has set off a firestorm inside the White House as well as within the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency that has been widely criticized for its lack of credibility in assessing the damage caused by the spill – from the existence of massive underwater oil plumes to the safety of Gulf seafood. More from Mother Jones:

PEER also filed a complaint against Dr. William Lehr, a scientist at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who was the team lead for the FRTG’s plume analysis team. PEER argues that Lehr “manipulated the scientific results” of the team’s experts and understated the spill rate in what it communicated. From PEER’s release on the complaint:

Lehr was leader of one of the most important FRTG teams, the “Plume Team” which analyzed videos of the oil leaks to produce the first estimates. Three of the 13 Plume Team experts used a technique called Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to estimate a leak rate in the range of 25,000 bpd. But three other experts on the Plume Team reported that PIV was underestimating the size of the leak by more than 50%. Those three experts used a different technology to correctly peg the leak rate at 50,000 to 60,000 bpd.

Yet Lehr did not tell the public or key decision makers that there was a deep split on the Plume Team. In the Plume Team’s Final Report, the body of which Lehr wrote, he reported that “most of the Plume Team used PIV” which produced “consistent and accurate” estimates. These underestimates were repeated to the public and media.

The government was also criticized for its handling of an August 2010 report on where the oil went, for which Lehr also served as the lead scientist.

These disclosures and allegations are devastating to an Administration that has tried desperately to put this disaster in the rearview mirror. A full investigation should be conducted to identify those who pressured Dr. McNutt and other scientists to lie about the size of the spill. Clearly there was a coverup at the highest levels of our federal government, and those responsible must be held accountable. The American people, particularly those who live on the Gulf Coast, deserve at least that much.

We will stay all over this story and bring you updates as details and reactions emerge.

Here’s the Mother Jones report by Kate Sheppard: http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/01/report-white-house-pressured-scientists-underestimate-bp-spill-size

Read Dr. Marcia McNutt’s entire email here: 1_23_12_Email_WH_pressure

Review PEER’s complaint against NOAA scientist Dr. William Lehr, alleging scientific and research misconduct: 1_23_12_BP_Plume_Scientific_misconduct_complaint

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

As we approach the second anniversary of the worst environmental disaster in our nation’s history, coastal communities on the Gulf of Mexico are in the grips of a spiraling health crisis. Symptoms consistent with chemical poisoning are becoming increasingly common – particularly among children – and lack of medical training and resources is exacerbating an already dire situation.

A new video from the nonprofit Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), which is going viral this week, does a superb job of documenting this forgotten chapter in the tragic story of the Gulf oil spill.

In the video, Julie Creppel recounts the situation in her coastal community of Buras, Louisiana, in August 2010:

You could still smell the chemicals every single day. Your filters that you put in your [air conditioner]… within a week they’d be black. They told us to stay inside and leave your ACs on. Then you go to check your filter and it’s black. So how is that helping?

Today, Ms. Creppel’s kitchen looks like a pharmacy, her cupboards and counters bursting with prescription medications for her three children. Everywhere you look: pills, inhalers, cough syrups, nasal sprays. Her son has had upper-respiratory problems and infections of every stripe since the oil spill. He has been prescribed antibiotics “at least 11 times, maybe 12″ since August 2010. Ms. Creppel’s 12-year-old daughter has been diagnosed with acute sinusitis and a mysterious stomach problem that has been bothering her for months. More from Ms. Creppel on her daughter’s condition:

I’ve had to pick her up multiple times from school since the spill. I never picked her up before. She has stayed sick and missed more school now than she’s ever missed before, because of her stomach… She swears it’s killing her.

According to the Creppel’s family doctor, health problems are persistent and widespread. “From Port Sulphur down, she’s had more sick kids this year than she’s ever had in all her years of being a doctor,” Creppel says.

A growing number of coastal community families are reporting similar cases of child illnesses – and a frustrating lack of answers as to the cause. From Betty Doud of Grand Isle, Louisiana:

One is two and one’s five. They’re my grandchildren. Runny noses all the time. They never used to have that. Breathing problems continuously. Both of them are diagnosed with bronchitis. With the five-year-old, they think it may be chronic bronchitis. She never had any of these breathing problems before the spill.

You bring them to the doctor, and all they can say is “oh they’ve got bronchitis,” or “they’re getting a cold.” Well what’s the green stuff from? How come they’re always throwing up, you know? Two and three times a week, they’re throwing up for no reason at all. What the hell is causing it? The doctors don’t know.

Gulf Coast doctors – many of whom lack the advanced training to diagnose and treat chemical poisoning – are prescribing antibiotics at a blistering pace in an attempt to stem the wave of sickness. They simply don’t know what else to do, but over-prescribing antibiotics can cause its own problems. From Shirley Tillman, a Mississippi coastal resident:

I have a two-year-old grandson, who’s now three, who has been sick since September after the spill in 2010. His immune system was so low that they couldn’t de-tox him. So they’ve just had to naturally try to – with eating habits and things like that – to try to get his immune system built back up.

Upper-respiratory problems, fevers for no reason and things like that. But you can’t take him to the doctor because most doctors just want to give him antibiotics. And that’s what helped destroy his immune system in the first place.

So now when he has a flare up…his parents just try to you know ride it out and hope he can beat it on his own. Because the minute you take him to the doctor, they’re going to want to put him on an antibiotic.

Many families here on the Gulf Coast are running short on hope. And who can blame them? State and federal officials have been atrociously slow to address the health impacts of the spill. The approach seems to be to ignore the problem and hope it goes away. Well, not only is it not going away, it’s getting worse with each passing day. Consider this from commercial fisherwoman Darla Rooks, who along with her young son have been laid low by post-spill health problems:

We have no medication. We have no treatment to make us better. It’s almost like: Why go to the doctor in the first place? You’re just throwing your money away, ’cause they’re not helping. How do you expect [doctors] to know there’s a problem when they’re listening to the media everyday? A doctor don’t leave his office to know that there’s oil out there. That they’re spraying Corexit 9500 out there on the water still. And that the seafood is dying and people are dying. Because it’s hush-hush, swept under the rug. Out of sight, out of mind.

Meanwhile BP is pouring millions into a new slick advertising campaign to lure people back to the Gulf – claiming the beaches, the seafood and life in general are all perfectly fine. Don’t believe it, not for a second. I urge everyone to watch this video from the Louisiana Environmental Action Network before you plan your family vacation. The Gulf Coast is my home. It’s where my heart is, but tragically, it will never be the same.

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

EPA Finally Supplies Drinking Water to Pennsylvania Fracking Victims

In yet another case of drinking water contamination in areas where energy companies have engaged in the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is supplying clean water to some residents of Dimock Township, Pennsylvania (pop.: 1,398), at taxpayer expense.

Colorado Lawmaker to Introduce Fracking Bill

A state lawmaker plans to introduce legislation as early as this week that would give local governments more authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing, a move that comes as many local governments have looked to limit or temporarily ban fracking within their boundaries.

Anti-Fracking Group to Submit County Plan

A group of Athens County residents are slated to meet with the County Commission on Tuesday to present a revised draft resolution meant to implement community protections from the impacts of oil and gas “fracking.”

Senators: Raise Bar for Wyo. Frack Study Review

Ten Republican senators have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to subject a draft report that theorizes a link between hydraulic fracturing and groundwater pollution in a Wyoming gas field to a more rigorous level of scientific review than currently planned.

BP OIL SPILL:

Report: White House Pressured Scientists to Underestimate BP Spill Size

Back at the height of the massive Gulf oil spill in 2010, there was quite a bit of controversy about just how much crude was blasting out of the well. According to new documents that a watchdog group released on Monday, there was heated debate among the scientists who evaluated the flow rate as well.

Has BP Paid its Dues?

It’s been nearly two years since the BP oil spill tore through national headlines.  Although news from Bin Laden’s death to the Republican takeover in the House to Casey Anthony has kept BP off the front page, the question on everyone’s minds remains:  What has BP really done to make up for theDeepwater Horizon oil spill?

Judge Denies BP Request to Penalize Halliburton

A federal judge shot down BP’s request to penalize Halliburton for allegedly destroying damaging evidence about the quality of its cement slurry that went into drilling the oil well that blew out last year and caused the nation’s worst offshore oil spill.

Gulf Coast Residents Still Sick From BP Oil Spill

We’re quickly approaching the two-year anniversary of the tragic BP oil spill: An environmental disaster that left the normally sparkling beaches of the Gulf Coast drowning in a slick of toxic oil.

RADIATION:

First Images From Within Fukushima Containment

Today, for the first time, engineers from Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) inserted an endoscopic camera on a flexible cable into the primary containment drywell of reactor unit 2. It passed through the thick reinforced concrete in a 13 mm guide pipe. Tepco had previously practised the same procedure on the undamaged unit 5, bringing back fairly clear images and video of the grid-like steel structures and piping that surround the reactor vessel.

FRACKING:

Fracking Forum: ODNR Official, Geophysicist Discuss Proposed Wells in Mansfield

An Ohio Department of Natural Resources official said Thursday his agency conducts unannounced inspections of Ohio’s injection wells every 11 or 12 weeks, far more often than the federally required standard of once per year.

EPA Seeks Experts to Review Wyo. Pollution Study

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking nominees for a peer review panel that will be asked to take a close look at an EPA draft report that theorizes a link between hydraulic fracturing and groundwater pollution in a Wyoming gas field.

Pa. Town With Tainted Wells Getting New EPA Water

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will deliver fresh water to four homes in a northeastern Pennsylvania village where residential water wells were tainted by a gas driller. The agency also said it will begin testing the water supplies of dozens more homes as it ramps up its investigation more than three years after homeowners say the water supply was ruined.

Fracked: The Debate Over Shale Gas Deepens

Is shale gas good for us or not? Most of that argument has been over the potential risks that hydrofracking for shale gas might pose to water supplies—risks that were highlighted again this week when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) came to Dimock, PA, to test groundwater in the area. You might know Dimock from the anti-fracking film Gasland—a group of residents have claimed for years that fracking poisoned their water supply, and federal involvement indicates there may be more at stake.

BP OIL SPILL:

Don’t Believe the (BP) Hype!

Notice the increase in BP commercials on television lately? You know, the ones that show pristine beaches, people gallivanting in the water, “locals” claiming that all is well in the Gulf following the devastating explosion and oil spill in April of 2010 that released 4.9 million barrels of crude oil and gas into the ocean, killing 11 and injuring 17 others while virtually shutting down the seafood industry in the area?

Federal Government Asks Court to Declare Companies Liable for Environmental Penalties

In a preview of what’s to come next month when trial over the 2010 oil spill begins, the U.S. Department of Justice asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier Thursday to declare BP, Anadarko and Transocean liable for penalties under the Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and the companies immediately fought it and pointed fingers at each other. Steven O’Rourke, a senior attorney in the environmental enforcement section of the justice department told the court that the language in the Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Act is straightforward: owners or operators of vessels or offshore facilities are liable if oil is discharged into water.

BP Seen Agreeing: $20-25Bln Oil Spill Deal

Oil giant BP will likely agree to pay the US Department of Justice $20-$25 billion next month to settle all civil and criminal charges around the Deepwater Horizon rig blast and Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a leading industry analyst predicted on Thursday.

Louisiana Coastal Restoration, Hurricane Levee Spending Plan Proposed

Louisiana would spend $923 million on hurricane protection and coastal restoration projects during fiscal year 2013, including $161 million to pay part of the state’s share of the upgraded New Orleans area hurricane levee system, and $23 million toward the Morganza to the Gulf levee protecting Houma, according to a draft plan presented to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority on Wednesday.

RADIATION:

Really? Are our memories that short? How soon, it seems, the world has forgotten the egregious safety lapses and reckless cost-cutting efforts that led to the deaths of 11 workers and triggered the worst oil spill in U.S. history. It’s as if BP waved a wand and expunged its atrocious safety record – one of the very worst among major oil companies operating globally.

Ironically, nobody seems more stunned by BP’s inexplicable good fortune than company CEO Bob Dudley. Consider this Jan. 18 report from the British financial website “This is Money”:

Chief executive Bob Dudley said BP added exploration prospects equivalent to an area the size of Italy, an unlikely outcome given the firm’s role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. ‘One of the surprises is that I thought we would have a more difficult time taking on exploration roles,’ the American said.

‘It’s been the best year in 30 years for increasing exploration acreage for BP’, he added…

Good lord, has the whole world gone mad? This is a company that based on its safety record has no right to operate a pickaxe let alone a deep-water oil rig. And yet governments and regulators around the world are rewarding BP’s failures and incompetence by showering the company with drilling contracts from Brazil to India to the west coast of Africa. To lend context, here’s a “skim the surface” assessment from ABC News (May 27, 2010) on how BP operates:

In two separate disasters prior to the Gulf oil rig explosion, 30 BP workers have been killed, and more than 200 seriously injured.

In the last five years, investigators found, BP has admitted to breaking U.S. environmental and safety laws and committing outright fraud. BP paid $373 million in fines to avoid prosecution.

BP’s safety violations far outstrip its fellow oil companies. According to the Center for Public Integrity, in the last three years, BP refineries in Ohio and Texas have accounted for 97 percent of the “egregious, willful” violations handed out by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The violations are determined when an employer demonstrated either an “intentional disregard for the requirements of the [law], or showed plain indifference to employee safety and health.”

OSHA statistics show BP ran up 760 “egregious, willful” safety violations, while Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had eight, Citgo had two and Exxon had one comparable citation.

According to CEO Dudley, BP – with its bloated new book of business – will drill twice as many exploratory wells in 2012 than it did last year.

We can hardly wait. Happy new year, everybody.

Read the entire “This is Money” report by Rob Davies: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2088592/BP-strikes-best-year-exploration.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Read the ABC News piece on BP’s dismal safety record: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bps-dismal-safety-record/story?id=10763042

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

The good news in this otherwise bleak situation is that it appears the perpetrator – after an 18-year legal battle – will finally be punished for the environmental crime of the ages. Earlier this month, an appeals court in Ecuador upheld a ruling that Chevron, one of the world’s wealthiest corporations, pay $18 billion in damages to plaintiffs who accused the U.S. oil giant of polluting the Amazon rainforest and ravaging their health. It is the largest “environmental damages” award ever handed down.

The huge award is certainly warranted and welcomed, but the real story is that it could have been dramatically reduced, cut in half in fact, had Chevron done one seemingly simple thing – apologize. From a Jan. 3 Reuters report:

A judge ordered Chevron to pay $8.6 billion in environmental damages last February, but the amount was more than doubled to about $18 billion because Chevron failed to make a public apology as required by the original ruling.

“We ratify the ruling of February 14 2011 in all its parts, including the sentence for moral reparation,” said the ruling issued on Tuesday, which was obtained by Reuters.

The court viewed Chevron’s actions in the Amazon as so reprehensible and so heinous that the original ruling included a “moral reparation” stipulation, requiring the oil giant to apologize publicly for the enormous damage it caused. Chevron refused – and in so doing added nearly $10 billion to its payout.

Chevron’s hubris and lack of contrition are epic, particularly in the face of the immense devastation the company wrought in Ecuador. Those potentially fatal flaws aren’t confined to one oil company or one environmental crime. They can be applied across the board to all the major oil companies operating around the world. As far as examples go, you need look no further than BP’s hardball position in refusing to accept any blame for its 200-million-gallon Gulf oil spill.

Chevron and BP (among others) have mountains of damage and anguish to apologize for. Consider this from a Jan. 16 Huffington Post article by Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights, who took her family to Ecuador to bear witness to Chevron’s crime:

We looked at pools of oily muck abandoned in the early 1970s that still drain toxic soup into nearby streams used for drinking water, fishing, and washing. We visited the home of an elderly woman who told us about the skin lesions that covered the bodies of her son, daughter, and grandson. She had built the family home on a field Texaco [bought by Chevron in 2001] claimed to have cleaned. In fact, the oil giant had merely covered up the poisonous pond with four feet of dirt and a thin layer of grass. We smelled the fumes emanating from water Chevron claims is now clean. All this is part of the massive environmental damage and accompanying cancer clusters, lung disease, skin lesions and other injuries left behind by a U.S. multinational corporation.

The hubris and admit-no-fault mentality embraced by Chevron, and Big Oil at large, may be the ultimate undoing of the most powerful industry on the planet. As tapping alternative energy sources becomes an increasingly urgent priority around the world, Big Oil’s arrogance and lack of contrition will only intensify. Most of us view oil companies as a necessary evil, but that mindset seems to be turning a corner. It could be that we’re entering a new era in which courts and juries will extract larger and larger damage awards, both compensatory and punitive, against these self-anointed “masters of the universe.” More from Ms. Kennedy’s HuffPo piece:

Over the years, Chevron has behaved in a way that reinforces the worst stereotypes about large corporations: it has cynically avoided responsibility for its past and watched in indifference as more people become sick and die because of its failure to deal with its legacy environmental issues. Today’s public distrust of large corporations obviously can go too far, but it is often rooted in real abuses of the type Chevron engages in to cover up its obvious misconduct in Ecuador. Chevron’s failure to adhere to basic standards of decency undermines the credibility of our capitalist model and diminishes confidence that our judicial system can serve the poor as well as the rich. Chevron’s conduct in Ecuador has been so reprehensible and profoundly cynical that it reflects poorly on our country and its values. I would call that kind of behavior unpatriotic. Chevron must mend its ways in Ecuador or risk being viewed by peoples worldwide as a rogue oil company unworthy of a license to operate in oil-producing nations.

The courts have ordered Chevron to pay $8.6 billion for environmental damage to Ecuador’s environment and its people. Another $10 billion was tacked on because the company refused to publicly apologize for its sins. We’ll see how BP, which up to this point has exhibited Chevron-like hubris, fares when the company goes to trial next month for its part in the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

Read the Reuters report here: http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL1E8C39WN20120103

Read Kerry Kennedy’s disturbing HuffPo piece: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kerry-kennedy/chevron-equador-amazon_b_1209408.html

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

Bulgaria Govt Cancels Chevron Shale Gas Permit

The Bulgarian government, preparing a full ban on shale gas drilling due to environmental concerns, on Tuesday cancelled a exploration permit for the unconventional energy source that it granted to U.S. energy major Chevron in June.

Regulators Say Hydraulic Fracturing May Have Caused Oil Spill On Farm Near Innisfail

Hydraulic fracturing of an oil well in southern Alberta could have caused an oil well blowout a kilometre away, according to provincial regulators.

New York State Not Prepared to Cope with Fracking Risks

The Environmental Working Group warned New York officials that the state currently lacks the resources and knowledge to adequately protect residents and public water supplies from the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. EWG submitted comments to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on the agency’s draft environmental impact assessment of fracking and commented separately on its proposed regulations of natural gas drilling.

EPA Sees Risks to Water, Workers In New York Fracking Rules

New York’s emerging plan to regulate natural gas drilling in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale needs to go further to safeguard drinking water, environmentally sensitive areas and gas industry workers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has informed state officials. The EPA’s comments, in a series of letters [1] this week to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, are significant because they suggest the agency will be watching closely as states in the Northeast and Midwest embrace new drilling technologies to tap vast reserves of shale gas.

BP OIL SPILL:

Has BP Made It Right? Company Still Has Work Remaining to Right Wrongs of Oil Spill

Even while oil was spilling into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, British Petroleum, which was ultimately responsible for the rig that exploded, bought TV ads that claimed it would “make it right” for the people and the environment of the Gulf Coast.

Obama Courting Oil-spill Disaster in Arctic

Think the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been tough to clean up? Well, wait till it happens in the Arctic. For much of the year, the Arctic seas are covered with ice and impassable for oil-spill response ships — oil could gush unabated for up to eight months. The nearest Coast Guard facilities are 1,000 miles away, and any attempted cleanup would be hampered by ice, cold, hurricane-strength storms and blinding fogs.

Coastal Restoration Money Bills May Fall Victim to Partisan Squabbling

Two bills pending in Congress would free billions of dollars for Louisiana’s coastal restoration efforts. But as a bitterly divided Congress returns this week after a three-week holiday recess, prospects that either bill, or other significant legislation, can make it through the process in an election year are uncertain.

Gulf of Mexico Topography Played Key Role In Bacterial Consumption of Deepwater Horizon Spill

When scientist David Valentine and colleagues published results of a study in early 2011 reporting that bacterial blooms had consumed almost all the deepwater methane plumes after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill, some were skeptical. How, they asked the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) geochemist, could almost all the gas emitted disappear?

RADIATION:

Fukushima’s Owner Adds Insult to Injury – Claims Radioactive Fallout Isn’t Theirs

In the amoral milieu of the corporate bottom line, you can’t blame Tokyo Electric Power Co. for trying. Tepco owns the six-reactor Fukushima complex that was wrecked by Japan’s March 11 earthquake and smashed by the resulting tsunami. It faces more than $350 billion in compensation and clean-up costs, as well as likely prosecution for withholding crucial information that may have prevented some radiation exposures and for operating the giant station after being warned about the inadequacy of its protections against disasters.

FRACKING:

Fracking Companies Promote Jobs Across US Hoping To Conceal Risks

The “Halliburton loophole” was created by Congress in 2005, at the “urging” of then, Vice President, Dick Cheney (immediate past chairman of Halliburton and beneficiary of a $34 million dollar payout in 1999 before running for office). Despite serious concerns, from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that chemicals used in Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) spoiled and contaminated drinking water, Cheney’s “energy task force” promoted the benefits of fracking and disregarded any references to human health hazards. Halliburton, reportedly earns $1.5 billion a year from its energy operations – which relies heavily on its fracking business.

Lawmakers Focus on Hydraulic Fracturing

After the recent earthquakes in Youngstown, Ohio lawmakers are concentrating on hydraulic fracturing. State Senator Troy Balderson says on Tuesday Ohio lawmakers will travel to the area where they will discuss the issue during several hearings.

The Dangers Associated With Fracking Are Not Worth It

Injection wells, designed to dispose of brine waste, are of great concern for residents in Ohio and particularly Richland County.

Thousands Protest Bulgaria ‘Fracking’ Plans

Several thousand Bulgarians demonstrated across the country on Saturday against plans for shale gas exploration by US companyChevron that they say could harm the environment.

BP OIL SPILL:

Obama’s Call to Move NOAA Could Undermine Ocean Scientists’ Independence

President Obama has announced a plan to move the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration out of the Commerce Department and into the Department of the Interior. While streamlining government to better serve the American people is a worthy undertaking, this decision could significantly undermine efforts to safeguard our oceans and marine life.

Nome Fuel Delivery Exposes Serious Concerns for Arctic Drilling

Today the Russian tanker Renda, escorted by the United States’ only operating icebreaking vessel, will attempt to make its final push in delivering much-needed fuel to the remote, icebound community of Nome, Alaska.  The ships’ progress has been impeded by high winds, strong currents, brutal cold, and thick sea ice. They moved just 50 feet on Tuesday and slowed even further on Wednesday.  With a 25-foot ice ridge still blocking access to the harbor, the tanker will be forced to attempt offloading its cargo through a mile-long hose to shore.

Coast Ministers to Ask Obama to Push For More BP Claims Payments

Some Gulf Coast ministers feel their congregations haven’t been fairly compensated by BP, so they’re taking their disapproval of the claims process all the way to President Obama’s door step.

USF Study Finds More Sick Fish in Oil Spill Area Than Rest of Gulf of Mexico

A government-funded survey of the entire Gulf of Mexico last summer found more sick fish in the area of the 2010 oil spill than anywhere else, according to the top University of South Florida scientist in charge of the project.

RADIATION:

Fukushima Fallout: Thousands Protest Against Nuclear Power in Japan

Thousands of demonstrators hit the streets of Yokohama, Japan on Saturday afternoon calling for an end to nuclear energy in Japan after the Fukushima March 11, 2011 disaster that sparked the planet’s worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl. The protest began a 2-day conference committed to fostering global momentum against atomic power.

FRACKING:

Hydraulic Fracturing Controversy: What A Fracking Shambles

Earthquakes, contaminated water and other pollution – not to mention complex calculations about its implications for global warming (not as clean as claimed) – make for fracking anxieties everywhere where people are at liberty to express their views. And it’s not just in Pennsylvania.

A New Day Begins For Fracking In the Empire State

It’s meant to be encouraging to say that every night brings a new dawn. But today, officials with New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) probably wished they could stay in bed, safely hidden by darkness. Instead, as the public comment period on the guidelines for developing natural gas from Marcellus and Utica shale ended, they awoke to confront an astounding number of letters (early estimate: 40,000) and reams of supporting documentation—all awaiting their review and analysis.

Dimock, Pennsylvania Water Contamination: Residents Asking EPA Chief For Answers

Residents of a small northeastern Pennsylvania town at the center of the political fight over natural gas drilling are disappointed that they traveled to Philadelphia but did not get to make their case directly to the head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

BP OIL SPILL:

Facing Land Loss Crisis, Louisiana Proposes Bold Plan to Save Coast With $50B

A $50 billion, 50-year proposal aspires to stop coastal land loss in Louisiana, build new levee systems to protect cities and even begin to slowly reverse the trend of eroding marsh that has turned the entire southern portion of the state into one of the nation’s most vulnerable regions to sea level rise.

Restoring What BP Destroyed

Wind and water constantly change the 18 to 20 miles of sand dunes on Baldwin County beaches. “The dunes are our first line of defense against any kind of storms any kind of wave action.” According to Brandan Franklin with the city of Gulf Shores, they took a beating during the BP oil spill. “With the number of access points a lot of our clean up crews have had to use a lot of our dunes have been destroyed.”

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Environmental Data Drives Damage Assessment

BP’s chief environmental scientist assigned to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Thursday said the company, working with state and federal trustees, remains on a fast pace aimed at restoring resources damaged during the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Briefing reporters by phone in advance of a month-long series of hearings on proposed “early restoration projects” along the Gulf Coast, Robin Bullock said the formal Natural Resource Damage Assessment process required under federal law has developed “the largest set of environmental data at one point in time associated with an oil spill incident within the Gulf of Mexico.”

Currents May Hold Secret to Gulf Oil Spill Mystery

New research suggests that oil and gas belching from BP’s blown-out well during the Deepwater Horizon disaster disappeared more quickly than expected because of the northern Gulf of Mexico’s geography.

RADIATION:

NRC ‘Can Learn Lessons’ From Response To Fukushima-Daiichi

The Fukushima-Daiichi accident in Japan has shown a number of areas where a regulator such as the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) could improve its reaction to major events, the commission’s chairman has said.

In an intensifying national debate brimming with so-called experts, by all accounts, Mr. Hetzler is the real deal – and he’s speaking out about the dangers tied to the fastest growing sector of our new energy economy. In a recent “letter to the editor” published in the Watertown Daily News, he wrote:

Hydraulic fracturing as it’s practiced today will contaminate our aquifers.

Not might contaminate our aquifers. Hydraulic fracturing will contaminate New York’s aquifers. If you were looking for a way to poison the drinking water supply, here in the Northeast you couldn’t find a more chillingly effective and thorough method of doing so than with hydraulic fracturing.

In addition to the poisoning of a water supply that reaches 15 million Americans, there will also be an economic price that will come out of all our pockets. More from Mr. Hetzler:

When contamination occurs – and it will occur – we will all pay for it, regardless of where we live. Proving responsibility for groundwater contamination is difficult, costly and time-consuming, and while corporate lawyers drag out proceedings for years, everyone’s taxes will pay for the subsurface investigations, the whole-house filtration systems, the unending lab analyses.

As New York legislators debate whether to extend the state’s fracking moratorium, Mr. Hetzler’s words of warning should be taken seriously. Other states and localities considering the pros and cons of fracking should also take note. Clearly what can (or will) happen in New York, can happen anywhere. Here’s the legislative background from a Jan. 6 Reuters report:

State Assembly Environmental Committee Chair Robert Sweeney said on Friday he would soon introduce a proposal to have a moratorium on fracking until June 1, 2013. Sweeney pointed to recent reports that fracking may have caused a series of small earthquakes in Ohio and contaminated drinking water in Wyoming and Dimock, Pennsylvania.

“As time goes by, more information comes forward and there continues to be a lack of strong public support, specifically in upstate areas that will be directly affected by this,” said Sweeney, a Democrat from Long Island.

The Democrat-dominated assembly has twice passed moratoriums on fracking. The first, in 2010, was vetoed by then-Governor David Paterson, who replaced it with a narrower ban that expired last year. An extension was approved by the assembly last year, but stalled in the Republican-led Senate.

Sen. Greg Ball, a Republican from Putnam County who recently became a vocal opponent of fracking after visiting communities in neighboring Pennsylvania, recently called for a one-year ban on drilling.

As lawmakers in New York (and elsewhere) scramble to adequately regulate fracking and look for ways to safely implement the controversial practice, there is one problem that no amount of research or legislation can fix. According to Mr. Hetzler, that problem is “leakage” of contaminants:

My experience investigating and remediating contaminated groundwater taught me some lessons. There’s no such thing as a perfect well seal. Occasionally sooner, often later, well seals can and do fail, period.

No confining layer is completely competent; all geologic strata leak to some extent. The fact that a less-transmissive layer lies between the drill zone and a well does not protect the well from contamination.

A drinking water well is never in “solid” rock. If it were, it would be a dry hole in the ground. As water moves through joints, fissures and bedding planes into a well, so do contaminants. In fractured media such as shale, water follows preferential pathways, moving fast and far, miles per week in some cases.

It remains to be seen whether those fundamental engineering and geological realities can somehow be altered to make fracking a safe process.

Mr. Hetzler, like many other Americans familiar with fracking, acknowledges one of the industry’s main selling points: job creation. But even in a down economy, jobs shouldn’t trump public health and safety. More from Mr. Hetzler:

I’d love to see hundreds more jobs created. But not if it means hundreds of thousands using well water will be at a high risk of contamination. Not if it means every New Yorker will be on the hook for the cost for cleanup and for creating alternate water supplies. If your well goes bad, neither you, nor your children, nor their children will ever be able to get safe, clean water back. That’s too high a price.

Amen.

Read Paul Hetzler’s letter in its entirety: http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20111213/OPINION02/712139975/

Read the Reuters report here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/06/us-fracking-newyork-idUSTRE80521M20120106

For the latest news on fracking, visit: http://www.frackingofamerica.com/home

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

A Deadline for Fracking Comments

As if the recent series of hearings and the invitation for written comments from the public were not enough, contingents from both sides of the fracking issue in New York State organized rallies and press conferences this week in anticipation of the close of the comment period on the state’s proposed gas drilling regulations on Wednesday.

Lung Association Expresses Concern Over Air Pollution From Fracking

In response to the Revised Draft of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement on The Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory Program in New York (dSGEIS), Jeffrey Seyler, CEO of the American Lung Association in New York, released the following statement: Today, we submitted comments to the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) voicing the Lung Association’s serious concerns that DEC’s draft plan for hydraulic fracturing in New York contains troubling air quality deficiencies that must be corrected before any standards governing extraction are finalized.

Super Fracking Goes Deeper to Pump Up Natural Gas Production

As regulators and environmentalists study whether hydraulic fracturing can damage the environment, industry scientists are studying ways to create longer, deeper cracks in the earth to release more oil and natural gas.

Officials Call for Statewide Ban on Fracking in New York

Officials and environmental advocacy groups joined together on Wednesday to call for a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as the comment period for fracking rules, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) revised draft of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS), comes to an end.

BP OIL SPILL:

BP Crews Still Busy In Alabama and Mississippi; They Collect 3 Tons In 10 Days

BP crews collected more than 3 tons of tarballs and buried tar mats from beaches in Alabama and Mississippi during the first 10 days of January.

Gulf Oil-Spill Responders Say They’re Still Fighting for Payments

Companies that responded to the BP oil catastrophe say they are still fighting for payments due from the time the Deepwater Horizon oil well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010.

Steffy: Other Countries Learning Macondo’s Lessons

Other countries are learning the lesson from BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In recent months, offshore disasters around the globe have prompted swift and stringent response from regulators.

La. AG Feuds With Judge, Governor Over Gulf-Spill Attorneys’ Fees

Louisiana’s attorney general has lashed out at the federal judge presiding over attorneys’ fees in the massive multi-district litigation concerning the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

RADIATION:

TEPCO Believes Mission Accomplished & Regulators Allow Radioactive Dumping in Tokyo Bay (VIDEO)

Here’s how the L.A. Times covered the recent release of the study:

Bad news for the Gulf of Mexico: a study released this week sheds new light on the toxicity of oil in aquatic environments, and shows that environmental impact studies currently in use may be inadequate.

The study, spearheaded by the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory in collaboration with NOAA, looked into the aftermath of the 2007 Cusco Busan spill, when that tanker hit the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and spilled 54,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the bay.

The key finding involved the embryos of Pacific herring that spawn in the bay. The fish embryos absorbed the oil and then, when exposed to UV rays in sunlight, physically disintegrated. This is called phototoxicity, and has not previously been taken into account when talking about oil spills.

Photo credit to Dr. Carol Vines, UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory

In the photos above, the herring embryos on the left were not exposed to oil. The embryos on the right absorbed oil and were then exposed to sunlight. You can see the cell destruction.

The UC Davis research represents a paradigm shift in assessing oil-spill damage. It is the first time the phototoxicity phenomenon has been observed in the real world, revealing that oil is much more toxic and damaging than experts previously thought.

“This phenomenon had been observed in the laboratory, but had never been observed in the field, and there were even some skeptics out there wondering if this was just a phenomenon that people would see under lab conditions,” said Gary Cherr, director of the Bodega Marine lab. “One of the real take-home messages from our study was: yes, in fact, it definitely happens in the real world.”

The study is sending shock waves through the marine research community down here on the Gulf Coast. My guess is local independent scientists are preparing to conduct additional studies to determine exactly how phototoxicity applies to the BP oil spill and its impact on Gulf marine life.

If the phenomenon applies across different species of fish and different locations, than it will take even longer than expected for our fisheries – and by extension our seafood industry – to rebound.

Stay tuned, this story has legs.

Read the L.A. Times report here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/environment/la-me-gs-oil-more-toxic-than-previously-thought-20111227,0,3187695.story

© Smith Stag, LLC 2012 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

Fracking on Shaky Ground: How Our Latest Fossil Fuel Addiction Is Linked to Earthquakes

When the mayor of Youngstown, Ohio decides to buy earthquake insurance, you know we’ve got a big problem. To what should be the surprise of no one, earthquakes caused by the junkie gas sector’s hydraulic fracturing process, known as fracking, have been cropping up like Freud’s repressed. The latest ominously arrived in Republican-dominated Ohio on New Year’s Eve, quickly prompting Youngstown’s mayor to buy earthquake insurance and lament, “You lose your whole house, that’s your life savings, and if you have no money or no insurance to replace it, then what do you do?”

Public Comment Period on Fracking in NY Ends Wednesday

The public comment period closes Wednesday on a proposal to open upstate New York State to a controversial natural gas drilling practice known as High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing, or “fracking.”

Fracking Nonsense: The Job Myth of Gas Drilling

Natural gas companies are trying to sell fracking as the solution to all of the economic ills ailing this country.  Supposedly fracking can bring the economy out of its current stagnation by creating uncountable new jobs, without running up government deficits, and even save us from global warming in the process.  So how come local residents and environmentalists oppose fracking? The short answer is that fracking does not create local jobs, it lowers property values, and pollutes the water we drink and the air we breathe.

Encana Asks EPA to Suspend Fracking Comment Period

The owner of a central Wyoming gas field where federal regulators suggested a link between a drilling technique and groundwater pollution asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to suspend public comment on the draft report.

BP OIL SPILL:

Most Oil From BP Spill Never Reached Surface, Report Says

Oil Spills Even Worse for Ecosystems Than Previously Thought

In terrible news for the Nigerian delta and the Gulf of Mexico, new research from the University of California Davis suggests that oil is even more toxic than previously thought. Researchers at the university’s Bodega Marine Laboratory studied the aftermath of an oil spill in San Francisco Bay in 2007, when the tanker Cusco Busan hit the Bay Bridge and leaked 54,000 gallons of oil into the bay.

Financial Impact Remains After Spill, Hurricanes

Louisiana Continues Fight for Spill Cleanup

RADIATION:

New safety regulations proposed for Japan’s nuclear reactors would limit the operation of the plants to 40 years, Japan’s nuclear minister, Goshi Hosono, said. The government also is revising seismic and tsunami safety standards for facilities and emergency preparedness directives for local communities. The government will submit the proposed legislation to Parliament later this month.

BP’s audacity in refusing to accept any scintilla of responsibility for what U.S. Rep. Markey (not to mention a series of investigative reports) describes as “neglect, shortcuts, and mistakes that led to this disaster” is enraging elected officials from the Gulf Coast to Capitol Hill. Here’s how the energy industry news source, Fuel Fix, covered the development in a Jan. 6 report:

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said that BP, which majority-owned the ill-fated Macondo well; Halliburton, the cement contractor on the project; and Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, appealed all the citations they’ve received to the Interior Board of Land Appeals.

The citations, called “incidents of noncompliance,” are the first step in bringing civil penalties against the companies, which some government reports have said share the blame in the April 20, 2010, disaster that killed 11 workers and spilled an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

In October, the Environmental Enforcement Bureau accused BP of violating seven regulations governing work on the outer continental shelf. Transocean and Halliburton were hit with four alleged violations each. The alleged infractions range from failing to keep the well under control to pollution and unsafe operations at the site.

BP, a serial safety violator, was slapped with another round of citations just last month relating to mandatory pressure tests the company failed to conduct on the Macondo Well. The citations shed light on the string of egregious lapses and failures aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig that led to the worst oil spill in U.S. history. They also reveal the series of very real opportunities BP had to prevent the disaster. More from the Fuel Fix report:

The agency hit BP with five more citations in December, alleging among other things that the British oil giant failed to conduct required pressure tests and to suspend drilling operations at the Macondo when work slipped outside the safe drilling margin that had been identified in the company’s government-approved permit to drill.

The drilling margin represents the difference between the pressure exerted by oil and gas in the underground formation and the countervailing weight and pressure of drilling fluids at the site. If the downhole drilling mud pressure exceeds the forces exerted by the formation itself, it can cause cracks to develop.

BP’s appeal of the 12 citations is a clear indication that the oil giant has no intention of straying from its hardball, “admit no evil” strategy as the massive multi-district litigation trial gets set to begin in late February to determine blame and assess damages for the 200-million-gallon spill. But it’s a risky strategy and it could very well come back to haunt BP during the punitive-damages phase of the trial. The oil giant’s refusal to admit any fault whatsoever and its complete lack of remorse for the immense damage it caused to the Gulf Coast may not – and should not – sit well with New Orleans judge Carl Barbier who is presiding over the upcoming trial.

An official statement from U.S. Rep. Markey is indicative of how most level-headed people feel: “The three companies (BP, Halliburton and Transocean) should accept these violations as an already small punishment for the huge harm they inflicted on the people of the Gulf.” The maximum penalty for each incident is approximately $3 million, which amounts to chump change for a company as wealthy as BP.

We’ll soon see if BP’s hubris pays off or if the company’s hardball, “no remorse” strategy will result in a large punitive-damage award for victims of the spill.

Read the full Fuel Fix report here: http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/01/09/amid-bcs-mania-bp-pushes-a-feel-good-gulf-story/

© Smith Stag, LLC 2011 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

More Than 18,000 Comment On Fracking

The responses came from Buffalo to Albany, Plattsburgh to Long Island, from across the Southern Tier and from as far away as Nevada.

Study Links Fracking to Health Risks

A study of the health impacts of gas drilling has found water contaminated with fracking chemicals and toxic metals posed the most significant risk to humans and animals.

Clock On Local Fracking Decisions Ticking Down

As a March 15 deadline for many Athens County landowners approaches to cash in on their oil-drilling leases with the West Virginia-based Cunningham Energy firm, a number of questions are still up in the air.

Concern About Fracking’s Link to Earthquakes Isn’t Ridiculous

While there is no evidence that hydraulic fracturing by itself “causes” earthquakes, Columbia University seismologists have determined that 11 recent earth tremors near Youngstown, Ohio (including one 4.5 in magnitude) were “most likely” caused by the nearby injection of ‘fracking’ wastewater into wells in the region.

BP OIL SPILL:

Keystone XL Decision Requires Environmental Review Process

President Obama has listened to the American people and started an in-depth environmental review of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. One tiny glitch in this pipeline — like the one involving the BP oil spill — could damage our fresh, clean water supply. Forever. But certain forces in Congress have passed unrelated tax-relief legislation that forces the president to make a decision on the pipeline within 60 days — without a full environmental review.

TIME: Anti-BP Protesters Make Cameo Appearance in Pro-BP Ad

It might be lesson one of putting together any ad spot: scrub away anything that might make your company look bad. Especially if your company already looks bad.

RADIATION:

As Fukushima Cleanup Begins, Long-term Impacts are Weighed

The Japanese government is launching a large-scale cleanup of the fields, forests, and villages contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. But some experts caution that an overly aggressive remediation program could create a host of other environmental problems.

FRACKING:

Confirmed: Fracking Caused Ohio Earthquakes

Ohio lawmakers have put a temporary ban on fracking after experts say it is certain that recent fracking in the Buckeye State caused an outbreak of earthquakes.

EPA May Retest PA. Water Near Fracking

Federal regulators are considering retesting water supplies at a small town in Pennsylvania that residents say have been contaminated by natural gas drilling.

Hydraulic Fracturing: What the Frack Are We Doing to the Planet?

If you’re like me, when you first saw the headline about fracking, you went and looked at it because of the obvious Battlestar Galactica reference. That’s not the case here, however, and in this case it’s a real problem that studies are only now bringing to light. Recent information suggests that there might be a connection between the practice of hydraulic fracturing and earthquakes in an Ohio town, as reported by the Youngstown Vindicator.

Ontario Looks Into Blocking Fracking Waste Injection Wells

Council asked the city’s planning commission Thursday night to look into prohibiting the dumping of fracking waste in Ontario. The request came as a result of local concerns about two proposed brine-disposal injection wells to be drilled on the north side of Mansfield.

BP OIL SPILL:

Oil Spill Cleanup Worker Files Lawsuit After Suffering Respiratory Failure

An oil spill cleanup worker has filed a lawsuit against his employer after he suffered respiratory failure as a result of exposure to oil products. Luke Boudreaux filed the lawsuit against Craig Creppel and the DRC Group on Dec. 29, 2011 in federal court in New Orleans.

Halliburton Denies Destroying Evidence in BP Oil Spill Case

Halliburton Co. (HAL) denied BP Plc (BP/)’s accusation that engineers destroyed testing evidence to keep it from being used in litigation over the Gulf of Mexico rig blast that triggered the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

BP Tries to Shift Costs From Spill

RADIATION:

Nuclear Power and The Press: Getting It Right vs. Making A Splash

Last year (actually a couple of months ago), someone shared an article on a Columbia Journalism Review critique of an Associated Press article on possible cancer risks from Fukushima. The review points out that the article gets the facts right, but spins the message. For example, the title of the article is “Future cancers from Fukushima plant may be hidden.” The first line of the article says, “Even if the worst nuclear accident in 25 years leads to many people developing cancer, we may never find out.”

The “cleaner” industry talking point flies in the face of a range of scientifically confirmed fracking-related impacts and by-products, such as increased greenhouse emissions, drinking water contamination, huge amounts of highly toxic wastewater and air pollution. Time Magazine clearly understands that as the fracking boom encroaches on more densely populated areas – with access roads being carved, wells being drilled and pipelines being laid – public health and safety issues become an increasing concern. For example, in Pennsylvania, experts estimate that fracking will ultimately impact more than two-thirds of the state.

We should all find comfort in the fact that – despite a massive industry-funded public relations campaign and nearly $150 million (and counting) in lobbying efforts – fracking is still being singled out as America’s most urgent environmental issue. Enviro blogs (including this one), nonprofits and activists have railed against fracking for years, but it’s always encouraging when the mainstream media jumps on board. And Time Magazine, owned by one of the world’s largest media conglomerates (i.e., Time Warner), is about as mainstream as it gets.

It certainly speaks volumes about the severity of the situation when the mainstream media, with all their deep ties to corporate America, can no longer ignore the ravages of a widespread industrial practice that, according to frackers, both creates jobs and increases our energy independence. But the big question remains: At what cost?

Read the Time article by Bryan Walsh here: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745_2102309_2102323,00.html

Read my April 13 post on the Cornell study that indicates natural gas may be dirtier than coal: http://www.stuarthsmith.com/global-warming-threat-new-studies-suggest-natural-gas-is-dirtier-than-coal

For all the latest news on fracking, visit: http://www.frackingofamerica.com/home

© Smith Stag, LLC 2011 – All Rights Reserved

Solar Panels Compete With Cheap Natural Gas

Renewable energy is growing rapidly in the U.S., with wind and solar industries enjoying double-digit growth each year. Part of that growth comes from more homeowners choosing to install solar panels.

Man-Made Quakes? Blame Fracking And Drilling

Small earthquakes in Ohio and Arkansas associated with hydraulic fracturing for gas have taken many people by surprise. Gas industry executives say there’s no hard evidence that their activities are causing these quakes. But some scientists say it’s certainly possible; in fact, people have been causing quakes for years.

Public Health Effects of Fracking Need Study, CDC Scientist Says

The U.S. should study whether hydraulic fracturing used to free natural gas from wells is a hazard to people or food sources, a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Chinese Oil Firm Gets $2.2 Billion Stake In Controversial U.S. Shale Oil Fracking Industry

Chinese oil company Sinopec has invested $2.2 billion in a deal with Devon Energy to get access to shale oil deposits in the United States through the controversial process known as fracking.

BP OIL SPILL:

BP Ordered to Boost Safety After Norway Probe

BP Plc (BP/) was ordered to improve safety after being accused of “serious non-conformities” by Norway’s Petroleum Safety Agency following an investigation into a fire last July at the North Sea Valhall platform.

Beads & Boos: Victims of the Gulf Oil Spill Take It On the Chin — Again

BOOS: To BP Plc, for temporarily freezing a fund set up to compensate victims of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the nation’s worst.

BP Oil Spill Payments to Resume After Fee Wrinkle

Payments to those damaged by BP’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico resumed Wednesday, a day after administrators of the $20 billion fund stopped the flow of money, saying they were unclear on how to assess a 6 percent fee for lawyers handling claims.

Gulf Restoration Public Meetings Begin Next Week

The Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment trustees have proposed eight projects to be funded from a $1 billion agreement with BP reached in April 2011, and the first two of a dozen public meetings to discuss these Early Restoration projects will take place in Florida on Jan. 11 and Jan. 12. Public input is extremely important, said Cooper Shattuck, chair of the Trustee Council Executive Committee, when this initial project list was released for comment Dec. 14, 2011.

RADIATION:

Nuclear Awakening: Mothers First To Shed Food-Safety Complacency

“The disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and the threat of radioactive fallout changed the lives of many people, including Mizuho Nakayama and other mothers of young children whose primary goal suddenly became that of keeping their kids out of harm’s way.”

Scott’s criteria for making the list: “In order for a movie to be considered, it must have played at least once in a local theater during 2011. In addition, for this category – as the title suggests – it must boast significant local connections.” For Scott, the inclusion of “The Big Fix” was elementary: “This documentary, co-directed by Mandeville High School graduate Josh Tickell, does a nice job of explaining why the BP oil spill is anything but over.” The city of Mandeville is on the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

If you still haven’t seen this film, I urge you to make the effort. It’s an eye-opening portrayal that every American should make a point of experiencing.

From Scott’s review of the film back in the fall when it premiered at the 22nd annual New Orleans film festival:

An explosive, attention-demanding, feature-length film focusing on the environmental fallout of the BP oil spill, “The Big Fix” – executive-produced by liberal actor-activists Peter Fonda and Tim Robbins – is another salvo against Big Oil fired by the Louisiana-raised eco-documentarian. It also furthers Tickell’s continuing mission of red-flagging the environmental impact of America’s runaway appetite for fossil fuels.

But the film doesn’t stop there. It digs much deeper – into dark areas and issues few people dare talk about. More from Scott’s review:

But this is not some simple, finger-wagging, “shame on you, BP” piece. This is a full-on, no-holds-barred bit of investigative journalism that shines a bright and troubling light not only on corporate greed but also on what Tickell paints as the epidemic-level governmental corruption that paved the way for the oil spill and that he says is helping to cover up the lingering effects.

As BP’s oil continues to wash ashore on our beaches and our government continues to protect the perpetrators, “The Big Fix” becomes more prophetic with each passing day. Again, I tip my hat to Josh and Rebecca for shedding light on our addiction to oil and the unholy government-industry partnership that fuels it.

Read Mike Scott’s full review of the film here: http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2011/10/bp_oil_doc_the_big_fix_helps_g.html

Review Mike Scott’s entire top-10 list here: http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2011/12/the_top_10_hollywood_south_mov.html

© Smith Stag, LLC 2011 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

Hydraulic Fracturing Implicated In Pollution of US Groundwater (Video)

The oil and gas drilling practice called hydraulic fracturing has – for the first time – been implicated in the pollution of groundwater supplies in the United States. New findings from the US Environmental Protection Agency suggest “fracking” could cause contamination, even though the drilling usually takes place thousands of feet below the water table. Regulators in Colorado have just voted to approve new rules requiring oil and gas companies to disclose most of the chemicals they use in the fracking process

What You Missed Over Break: A Fracking Busy Time

Undoubtedly the biggest continuing story over break was the accelerating rush by oil-and-gas operators to lease up land in Athens County for possible drilling. This leasing boom, which started in New York and Pennsylvania, spread to the eastern counties of Ohio in late 2010, and got to Athens County this past fall.

How Fracking Might Have Led To An Ohio Earthquake

The 4.0 Ohio earthquake this weekend was a reminder that activities related to hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking,’ can cause seismic faults to shift if not carried out carefully.

Fracking Earthquake Connection Widens, Canada Getting Into It Big Time

Youngstown, Ohio ushered in the new year with a 4.0 magnitude earthquake, after which officials ordered five wells shut down that were receiving wastewater from natural gas fracking.

BP OIL SPILL:

BP Seeks Recovery of All Gulf Spill Damages, Costs From Halliburton

BP Plc (BP/) seeks to have Halliburton Co. (HAL), its cement contractor for the Macondo well project whose blowout set off the 2010Gulf of Mexico oil spill, pay all of the oil company’s related costs and damages.

BP ‘Could Face Criminal Case’

With less than two months to go to the start of a huge civil law action in the United States over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP lawyers are trying to reach a settlement out of court. Roger Harrabin, the BBC’s environment analyst, says that BP could face a criminal case if they are found guilty of serious wrongdoing by the State Department.

Deepwater Oil Rig Work Takes A Certain Attitude

The sense of camaraderie — as well as the tension — has been intensified for all Gulf oil workers since 11 died in the explosion of the oil rig controlled by BP in April of 2010. That disaster led to the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

BP Oil Spill: Oil Giant Says It’s Entitled To Payment From Halliburton

BP is reiterating claims first made last April that it is entitled to payment from contractor Halliburton Energy Services for expenses and lost profits resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon offshore oil well disaster.

RADIATION:

Details Emerge About Failures at Fukushima

Japan’s response to the crisis at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant was flawed by poor communication and delays in releasing data on dangerous radiation leaks at the facility, a government-appointed investigative committee has found.

Nothing like ringing in the new year with a bang.

The “collateral damage” tied to the controversial extraction process known as fracking includes contaminated groundwater, air pollution, exploding wells and flammable tap water – but all that (as troubling as it is) seems to pale a bit in comparison to earthquakes. Although up to this point the tremors in Ohio have caused little in the way of property damage or injuries to residents, earthquakes are an unpredictable phenomenon. You really never know when “the big one” will hit.

Having said that, I’m happy to report that Ohio officials have taken the prudent step of halting operations in Youngstown until scientists are able to determine the definitive cause of the tremors. Smart move. Other fracking localities – where wastewater disposal wells are in use – should follow suit. More from the NYT article:

An official in Ohio said on Sunday that the underground disposal of wastewater from natural-gas drilling operations would remain halted in the Youngstown area until scientists could analyze data from the most recent of a string of earthquakes there.

…The waste, from the process called hydraulic fracturing that is used to unlock the gas from shale rock, had been injected under pressure into the well, which is 9,200 feet deep. Scientists had suspected that some of the wastewater might have migrated into deeper rock formations, allowing an ancient fault to slip. Similar links between disposal wells and earthquakes have been suspected in Arkansas and Texas.

In fact, earthquakes have been tied to fracking operations in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, British Columbia, the United Kingdom and now Ohio. Last summer, a rash of quakes in Arkansas prompted state officials to ban fracking wastewater wells in the impacted area. From my Aug. 10 post:

As if radioactive wastewater, exploding wells and flammable tap water weren’t bad enough, fracking has now been tied to another environmental threat – earthquakes, thousands of them. Geologists have tied fracking wastewater disposal wells in central Arkansas to an outbreak of more than 1,200 so-called “minor earthquakes” (an oxymoron if ever there was one). At least one startled resident is suing the responsible gas companies for the significant damage one of those earthquakes caused to his home.

The good news is common sense has prevailed in Arkansas. According to the Democrat-Gazette, the state’s Oil and Gas Commission has voted to ban fracking wastewater disposal wells within a 1,150-square-mile area north of Conway in the Fayetteville Shale region.

The Arkansas quakes, all registering below 4.7 in magnitude, began rolling across the countryside after the injections began. After the operations stopped, the number of earthquakes dropped by two-thirds. Go figure.

As for the Ohio tremors, consider this from Columbia University seismologist John Armbruster: “In our minds, we were already pretty convinced that these events were connected to the well. Having that many earthquakes fairly close to a well in Ohio, where there aren’t a lot of earthquakes, was suspicious.”

I’ll say.

And I should note that the seismic problems aren’t confined to the United States. More from my Aug. 10 post:

It’s important to note that Arkansas isn’t the only place fracking has been tied to earthquakes. Just ask residents of the seaside city of Blackpool, England. From a July 28 Wall Street Journal piece:

Mark Miller was hoping to lead an energy revolution in the U.K. Then, earthquakes intervened.

Mr. Miller, an oil-industry veteran from Pennsylvania, is one of a small band of pioneers seeking to replicate North America’s shale-gas boom in Europe. His company, Cuadrilla Resources, has imported a technology used to great effect in the U.S. to try to turn Blackpool, a seaside resort on the west coast of England, into a new Klondike for gas.

…After months of cajoling, Mr. Miller, a 57-year-old petroleum engineer, finally thought he had managed to persuade the locals that fracking was safe. Then, this spring, the area around Blackpool was shaken by two tremors. After the second one, Cuadrilla suspended its fracking operations, pending an investigation.

…The quakes left Blackpool-area residents “angry and distressed,” says Philip Mitchell, chairman of the local Green Party. “They’ve told me they feel like guinea pigs.”

People are funny like that, when earthquakes start rumbling through their backyards.

When an industrial practice – increasingly being conducted in more densely populated areas – is causing earthquakes, we should probably halt its use until we can find a safe way to proceed. You don’t have to be a tree-hugger or a nature freak to get it. You just have to be sane.

Here’s to the courageous folks in Ohio who, at least for the time being, have put public safety and the environment over profits and revenue. Cheers!

Read the full NYT report: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/science/earth/youngstown-injection-well-stays-shut-after-earthquake.html?_r=1

Read my entire Aug. 10 post covering fracking quakes in Arkansas and the United Kingdom: http://www.stuarthsmith.com/earthquake-outbreak-arkansas-bans-fracking-operations-inside-thousand-square-mile-area

Find all the latest news on fracking here: http://www.frackingofamerica.com/home

© Smith Stag, LLC 2011 – All Rights Reserved

Based on wind and water patterns, experts estimate that approximately one-fourth of the 100 million tons of debris will ultimately make landfall on U.S. shores. Concern over radiation exposure has been intensifying for weeks, ever since the first pieces of debris washed ashore in Washington state in early December. From a Dec. 15 KIRO-TV report:

While the bulk of it is still in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, at least 10 black buoys with Japanese markings, commonly used in fish farming, have washed up on beaches from Ocean Shores to Neah Bay. Similar ones have been found wedged into a debris field north of Hawaii.

“That’s about as good as the evidence gets for first arrivals,” (Oceanographer Curtis) Ebbesmeyer said.

By nearly all accounts, U.S. officials are in a state of denial about the gravity of the situation. More from Ebbesmeyer: “We are not prepared for this. Nobody is prepared for this. Nobody’s even thought through the dimensions. This is unprecedented in scientific history. This is unprecedented in recorded history.”

Gunderson, among a host of other nuclear experts, shares Ebbesmeyer’s deep concern (verging on panic): “…all the governments involved have been eerily quiet and stopped monitoring in many locations in order to protect sales and profit margins rather than lives.” Some nine months after the crisis began in Japan, the island nation continues to be plagued by an ineffective and opaque government response. From a Dec. 28 Examiner report by Deborah Dupre:

Gundersen reported that collusion between nuclear regulators and nuclear industry to cover up the truth have led many children in Japan continue receiving exposures to radiation levels more than ten times as high as the average nuclear power plant worker in the US, and, children are much more sensitive to radiation exposure than adults.

“The ongoing nuclear accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant site in Japan is the worst industrial accident the world has ever faced…”

We’ll soon see if the U.S. government will respond to this serious threat to public health and safety with an effective and transparent response, or if we will follow the irresponsible lead of the Japanese.

Read the full KIRO-TV report: http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/report-first-debris-japan-tsunami-reaches-west-coa/nF3mS/

Big kudos to Deborah Dupre for her tireless and courageous reporting on issues of public safety and human rights. Read her entire Examiner report here: http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/hot-particles-bombarded-u-s-west-coast-contaminated-food-worst-arriving

© Smith Stag, LLC 2011 – All Rights Reserved

From a Dec. 29 Wall Street Journal report:

Prosecutors are focused on several Houston-based engineers and at least one of their supervisors at the British oil company, though the breadth of the investigation isn’t known. The prosecutors assert the employees may have provided false information to regulators about the risks associated with the Gulf of Mexico well while its drilling was in progress…

The felony charges – which according to the Journal “might be disclosed in early 2012, if they are brought” – carry a penalty of up to five years in federal prison in addition to a substantial fine. Although I believe the severity of the safety violations and the enormity of the resulting damage warrant criminal charges against both the company and the responsible employees, it is likely that prosecutors are primarily focused on buttoning up their case against the oil giant itself rather than specific BP employees. More from the WSJ report:

The Department of Justice still could decide not to bring charges against the individuals, people familiar with the situation said. It’s not unusual for prosecutors to use the threat of charges to pressure people to cooperate in investigations.

Believe me, there’s nothing like the prospect of jail time and a significant monetary fine to persuade people to break their silence and cooperate more fully with an ongoing investigation. The threat of criminal charges is not only “not unusual” but in fact fairly common when building a case against a defendant, particularly one with the immense power and wealth of BP. While charges against the “several Houston-based engineers” remain uncertain, charges against their employer seem to be a foregone conclusion. More from the Journal:

Legal experts say BP itself is expected to face broader criminal charges, including violations of the federal Clean Water Act; the company already is appealing what could amount to $36.6 million in administrative fines levied by U.S. regulators for safety violations. The size of the fines hasn’t been finalized.

It appears federal prosecutors, who have “reviewed thousands of documents and conducted dozens of interviews” over the last 18 months, are focusing on a new aspect of the case tied to the stability of BP’s Macondo Well and its ability to be controlled. More from the WSJ article:

Prosecutors recently looked into a key safety measure in deep-water drilling: The difference between the minimum amount of pressure that must be exerted in a well’s bore by drillers to keep the well from blowing out, and how much pressure would break apart the rock formation containing oil and gas. The narrower the margin between those two points, the more difficult a well is to control.

. …Among questions prosecutors are asking is whether information gathered during drilling that helped determine the safety margin in the Deepwater Horizon situation was properly reflected in amended drilling permit applications that had to be approved by federal regulators, said the people familiar with the investigation.

With the federal trial date less than two months away, we’ll soon know whether this was merely a threat to cajole additional information out of BP employees or if the criminal charges against those employees will be formally brought. One thing is certain: Either scenario amounts to very bad news for BP’s legal defense.

Read the full Wall Street Journal report here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203899504577126871591624572.html

© Smith Stag, LLC 2011 – All Rights Reserved

FRACKING:

Fight Over Fracking in New York State Among Top Issues for 2012

I’m saving my “What to Look for in 2012? listicle for tomorrow, but one of the issues that may not make the list, but which is terribly important, is the battle in the states over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. 2011 was the year when this issue finally bubbled up to the surface (pardon the pun) and into the consciousness of the public. The critically acclaimed Gasland came out in 2010, but anti-facking forces benefited this year from some scientific revelations. Independent studies for the first time identified fracking as a cause of methane contamination and water pollution, and late in the year, the EPA agreed in a case in Wyoming.

100 Years of Natural Gas? Hype Gets Reality Check

The hype around seemingly limitless reserves of natural gas made available through the technological innovation known as hydrologic fracturing, or fracking, may be just that — hype — according a new analysis of the data behind the claims.

2011 & Beyond: New York State Fracking Verdict Expected

It has been a year rife with debate and development over the controversial method of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking—a method of obtaining natural gas from shale upstate by blasting a solution of water and chemicals into the ground.

Fracking Cracks the Public Consciousness in 2011

This is part of our year-end series, looking at where things stand in each of our major investigations. This was the year that “fracking” became a household word. It wasn’t just that environmental concerns about the underground drilling process finally struck a mainstream chord — after three years of reporting and more than 125 stories. For the first time, independent scientific investigations linked the drilling technique with water pollution, and a variety of federal and state agencies responded to the growing apprehension about water contamination with more studies and more regulation.

BP OIL SPILL:

Feds: BP Engineers Lied About Gulf Drilling

A new federal report released on Wednesday puts most of the blame on BP for the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

BP Staff May Face U.S. Criminal Charges After Spill, WSJ Says

U.S. prosecutors are preparing what would be the first criminal charges against BP Plc staff after the worst oil spill in U.S. history last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Deep Gulf Drilling Thrives 18 Months After BP Spill

Two hundred miles off the coast of Texas, ribbons of pipe are reaching for oil and natural gas deeper below the ocean’s surface than ever before.

Coast Guard Says Blowout Preventers And Other Offshore Drilling Systems Should Be Inspected More ‘Holistically’

In an effort to prevent another BP-like oil spill disaster, the U.S. Coast Guard has issued “draft guidance” to its own personnel as well as the offshore drilling industry on ways in which operators, technicians and inspectors can examine some of the key components of a drilling rig — such as blowout preventers, dynamic positioning systems and emergency disconnect systems — more “holistically.”

RADIATION:

Public Health Fallout From Japanese Quake

A “culture of coverup” and inadequate cleanup efforts have combined to leave Japanese people exposed to “unconscionable” health risks nine months after last year’s meltdown of nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, health experts say.

FRACKING:

New Report: Rent Rates Soaring In Active Drilling Areas

Most of the attention about the drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania has focused on job creation or the suspected negative impact on water from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) or on air quality from released natural gas, as well as the stress on roads from trucks hauling water to and from well pads.

Athens County Speaks Out About Fracking

In this video series by Julia Van Wagenen, an assortment of Athens area residents speak out about plans for extensive oil well development in Athens County, using horizontal wells with hydraulic fracturing. This issue has dominated local news for the past year, and many Athens Countians feel strongly about it, on one side or the other.

To Frack Or Not To Frack: New York Enters The Next Round Of The Drilling Debate

One side points to videos of people setting their tap water on fire. The other looks to an economic boom in Pennsylvania. But New Yorkers in general are mostly split on whether to lift a moratorium on hydrofracking in the state, and the debate over the decision is likely to continue well into 2012.

The Damage Done, Part 4 — Natural Gas, Green or Dirty?

Every year, the world produces and consumes about 115 trillion cubit feet of natural gas, generating about 117 quintillion Btus (British thermal units) of energy, this according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

BP OIL SPILL:

Criminal Charges Possible Against BP Engineers For Gulf Oil Spill

“U.S. prosecutors are preparing what would be the first criminal charges against BP PLC employees stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident, which killed 11 workers and caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history,” The Wall Street Journal reports this morning, citing “people familiar with the matter.”

A Deeper Understanding of Deepwater Drilling and Energy Dependence

Courtroom wrangling continues over who is legally culpable for the Deepwater Horizon disaster, but history is already making its own judgments. In the new book “Drilling Down, the Gulf Oil Debacle and Our Energy Dilemma,” co-written by Dr. Tad Patzek, the disaster is examined through the lens of a culture that seeks out oil from ever more remote locations. Patzek is Chair of the University of Texas at Austin’s department of Petroleum and Geosystems engineering.

BP Oil Spill Money Buys Sports Towels, Xmas Lights, Jingles

The money allowed seven area tourism bureaus to try promotions they could never have afforded otherwise, and it has propelled the Panhandle’s visitor counts to record numbers this year following a disastrous season right after the spill. The question now is what happens when the BP money dries up, most likely next April. The grants doubled and tripled the tourism-promotion budgets in these Panhandle counties, and officials worry the boost in visitors may prove fleeting.

Louisiana Family’s Long Legal Fight Over Texaco Drilling Lease Takes a Twist

It began as a landlord-tenant dispute, Louisiana style. The tenant was Texaco; the landlord the Broussard family, heirs of a Cajun rancher, who claimed that Texaco’s operation of a gas plant on their property had left the land contaminated. The lawsuit, of a kind not all that rare in these industry-heavy parts, had dragged on so long that 13 of the heirs had died.

RADIATION:

ECO-CRISIS: Seals Being Killed By Fukushima Radiation

Scientists in Alaska are investigating whether seals are being killed by radiation from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

FRACKING:

Oh, Canada’s Become a Home for Record Fracking

Early last year, deep in the forests of northern British Columbia, workers for Apache Corp. performed what the company proclaimed was the biggest hydraulic fracturing operation ever.

Dangers of Fracking Still Becoming Clear

The word “fracking” may sound funny, but it describes a drilling practice that has created a serious boom in natural gas production in Texas and elsewhere, and with the boom has come serious worries about fracking’s effects on the environment.

Does Fracking Cause Earthquakes?

2011 might go down as the Year of the Earthquake — primarily, perhaps, due to the massive 9.0-magnitude Tohoku earthquake that occurred off the coast of Japan in March and caused 15,000 deaths, widespread destruction, a tsunami and multiple meltdowns at a the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

Documentary On Fracking A Must-Watch

About a year ago, a friend of mine lent me a copy of the documentary “Gasland,” which is about hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, and the hazards associated with it.

BP OIL SPILL:

U.S. Judge Rejects Attempt to Revoke BP’s Probation for Oil Spill, Lifts Company’s Restrictions

A U.S. district judge has dismissed the federal government’s request to revoke a BP subsidiary’s probation for a 2009 oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope. Judge Ralph Beistline also lifted BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.’s probation altogether in a written order issued Tuesday.

Tata Power Buys Out BP

As BP, the British energy giant, back-peddles on its global solar energy initiatives, Tata Power, its Indian partner, is only too happy to buy out its 51 per cent stake in their 22-year old joint venture, Tata BP Solar.

Shell Bonga Oil Spill Off the Nigerian Coast Sparks Environmental Concern

On December 20, a leak was discovered in one of the lines of the Royal Dutch Shell-operated Bonga offshore oil field, located off of the Nigerian Coast. While Shell contends that the oil spill has been contained, close to 40,000 barrels — or 1.68 million gallons — of crude oil have leaked out into approximately 350 square miles of ocean. Although not as bad as the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill in the Gulf Coast, the risk that comes to the surrounding environment and people is still abhorent.

BP Ad Shows Protesters During National Shrimp Festival in Alabama

BP launched its new television advertising campaign this week touting its commitment to the Gulf Coast’s post-oil spill recovery, and a small group of anti-BP protesters are enjoying some extra exposure.

RADIATION:

Hot Particles Bombarded U.S. West Coast, Contaminated Food, Worst Arriving

Residents on the west coast of the US and Canada were bombarded with radioactive hot particles that have also contaminated farms and some food sources in the U.S. said Fairewinds Energy Education’s Arnie Gundersen Monday as the Fukushima government cover up continues to violate health rights in Japan and the U.S.

FRACKING:

Rick Perry Fracks Up, Denies Link to Groundwater Pollution

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has been making headlines for years now. The highly controversial process, and the risks it poses to human health and the environment, has graced magazine stories, spurred investigative reports from the nation’s top newspapers, and been the subject of an Academy Award-nominated documentary. But evidently, all that stuff passed right on over Rick Perry’s head.

Water Experts Concerned About Health Risks of Fracking

The National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC) includes members of the general public, state and local agencies, and private groups concerned with safe drinking water. It advises the EPA Administrator on everything relating to drinking water and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Fracking Opens Fissures Among States as Drillers Face Many Rules

Pennsylvania regulators ordered Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) to install pressure gauges costing as little as $600 on 114 of its wells after natural gas contaminated drinking water last year.

Ban Gas Fracking To Safeguard Water Supply

ExxonMobil Chairman/CEO Rex Tillerson sounded very confident when he told a congressional hearing last year that extracting natural gas by the “hydraulically fractured” process has not led to even one “reported case of a freshwater aquifer having ever been contaminated.”

BP OIL SPILL:

Shell Says Leak In Gulf Will Delay Work There

It could be weeks before Shell Oil Co. is able to resume drilling at its Appomattox discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, after a leak of roughly 13,400 gallons of drilling fluids forced it to shut down work at the site.

Bay Oil Spill Killed Herring, NOAA Scientists Report

“Based on what we know about the effects of crude oil on early life stages in fish, we expected to find live embryos with abnormal heart function, so it was a surprise to find so many embryos in the shallow waters literally falling apart,” said Dr. John Incardona, a toxicologist with NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the study.

Shell’s Nigeria Oil Spill Gets Muted Response

Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian oil spill, the largest in the African nation since 1998, highlights the different world responses to oil spills.

Chevron’s $1 Billion Bribe Offer to Quash Legal Case Rocks Ecuador

Chevron is remaining silent in the face of mounting evidence that the company tried to bribe Ecuador’s government to quash an $18 billion environmental judgment and that a Chevron official ordered the destruction of documents as part of a broad scheme to duck responsibility for causing extensive pollution in the Amazon rainforest, according to documents and news reports.

RADIATION:

Announcement of “Cold Shutdown” of Fukushima Reactors Is Based On a Political Decision, Not Science

The Japanese Government and Tepco say that they have achieved a “cold shutdown” of Fukushima nuclear reactors. Specifically, they claim that the water inside the reactors is now below the boiling point.

FRACKING:

Fracking Wastewater Leaked Onto Ohio Roads

A spill of fracking wastewater in Monroe County has residents there concerned about whether officials there are prepared to handle the coming boom, as more and more contractors access shale formations deep underground.

Rush to Extract Natural Gas Stirs Health Concerns

The rush is on to tap new sources of domestic energy in the United States and the competition is especially fierce in Pennsylvania. The eastern state sits atop the Marcellus Shale, a 350-million-year-old rock formation, more than a kilometer underground, that holds the largest reservoir of natural gas in the United States.

ND Rules Order Disclosure of ‘Frack’ Fluids

Proposed new North Dakota rules say oil companies have to disclose the recipe for special fluids they pump underground.

Morgantown Lets Illegal Drilling Ban Stay On Books

Morgantown is keeping a municipal ban on Marcellus shale gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing on the books even though a judge has declared it unconstitutional and unenforceable.

BP OIL SPILL:

Boasts Over Shell Avoidance of Oil Spills Come Back to Haunt Its CEO

In October 2010, the Daily Mail published an article reporting claims by Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive, Peter Voser, that Shell would never have made the mistakes that led to the BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, which resulted in a huge oil spill.

Cameron Loses Appeal to Scuttle BP Gulf Spill Trial Plan

Cameron International Corp. (CAM) lost its appeal to derail the February nonjury trial over which companies should be blamed for the 2010 BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Bay Oil Spill Killed Herring, NOAA Scientists Report

Pacific herring embryos in shallow waters died in unexpectedly high numbers following the Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay in November 2007, according to NOAA scientists and their collaborators in a study published in the scientific journal PNAS on December 26.

U.S. To Seek More Fines In Gulf Oil Spill

The federal government will seek new penalties against BP, Transocean and Halliburton for alleged safety and environmental violations in connection with the 2010 Gulf oil spill, an Obama administration official said Monday.

RADIATION:

New Nuclear Plants Face Public Backlash

The government’s plan to install new nuclear reactors in the country’s eastern shore faces stiff opposition from residents, stoking safety concerns in the aftermath of a Japanese disaster.

FRACKING:

Railroad Commissioners Adopt Comprehensive ‘Fracking’ Chemical Disclosure Requirements

Texas Railroad Commissioners adopted one of the nation’s most comprehensive chemical disclosure rules for hydraulic fracturing fluids on Tuesday. The rule will require Texas oil and gas operators to disclose on a national public website chemical ingredients and water volumes used to hydraulically fracture, also known as “fracking,” wells in Texas.

Top 100 Stories of 2011: #21: New Fracking Worries: Methane Leaks, Radioactive Water

The drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking , came under renewed fire this past year. Fracking makes it possible to tap into vast domestic reserves of low-carbon natural gas, but the process—which uses sand, chemicals, and millions of gallons of water to free gas trapped inside dense rock—has sparked environmental questions. New evidence bolsters those concerns.

Timing Is Right to Give the Gift of Clean Water

Governor Cuomo’s proposal to open New York to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has come under fire for failing to protect the state’s residents from a method of gas drilling that pollutes the environment, explained a host of speakers at a rally to ban fracking held Dec. 15 at Mary Jane Davis Green in Manhasset.

Ball Calls for Moratorium on Hydrofracking

State Senator Greg Ball (R, C – Patterson) called for a statewide one-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) during a presentation he gave on the controversial subject at the Lewisboro Library Wednesday night.

BP OIL SPILL:

Restore Act: Gulf’s Crime Victim Compensation

Consider the Deepwater Horizon disaster a crime. The victim: the Gulf of Mexico, it’s back bays and estuaries, beaches, businesses and an entire way of life impacted by millions of gallons of oil flowing freely for months.

The FDA Thinks It’s Totally Cool For Us To Eat Seafood 10,000 Times Over The Contamination Limit

A new study has concluded that the FDA severely underrated the risk of contaminants in seafood following the BP oil spill of 2010, according to Environmental Health Perspectives (via Alternet).

Mississippi AG Jim Hood Vows to Keep Pursuing GCCF Transparency

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said he is pleased that the U.S. Department of Justice has asked for an outside audit of BP oil spill claims processing, but that his office plans to continue its own investigation of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF)

Russian Oil Rig Sinking Casts Doubt On Arctic Plan

The sinking of a floating oil rig that left more than 50 crew dead or missing is intensifying fears that Russian companies searching for oil in remote areas are unprepared for emergencies — and could cause a disastrous spill in the pristine waters of the Arctic.

RADIATION:

Major Milestones Passed At The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

The clean-up effort at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has reached important milestones.

FRACKING:

Hydrofracking Poses Serious Risks to Human Health

Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency published a report linking hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to contaminated well-water in Wyoming. While copious anecdotal evidence has hinted at fracking’s dangers, the EPA’s report is among the first to conclusively document the presence of industrial pollutants in groundwater. This smoking gun proves that fracking confers risks to human health — risks that justify suspending the practice.

New Rules for Safety

Santa Barbara County’s oil debate took a significant turn a few days ago when the Board of Supervisors set new rules for oil producers who want to use hydraulic fracturing to extract their product.

Understanding the Possible Effects of Fracking

GOP Presidential Candidate Rick Perry needs to get his facts straight. Verona residents did just that on Thursday, Dec. 15, when they received an eye-opening lesson in the potential hazards of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.”

Please, ODNR, Don’t Relax Rules On Hydraulic Fracturing In Ohio

This is an open letter to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources: Hello, folks at ODNR, I understand that part of the ODNR’s purpose is to promote commerce. Other parts are to protect Ohio’s citizens, to provide areas for recreation, etc. Yet there has to be a line, where crossing it constitutes a danger to the taxpayers who pay your salaries. Fracking full force ahead with little meaningful regulation is extremely dangerous.

BP OIL SPILL:

In Warning to Polluters, Brazil to Impose Record Fine on Chevron and Transocean

On 8 November oil began leaking from well 9-FR-50DP-RJS in 3,930 feet of water in Brazil’s Campo de Frade offshore field, 230 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro state in the Campos Basin. In October the Frade field, which has been in production since 2009, produced 76,000 barrels a day of oil and natural gas. Chevron Corp. maintains that upon receiving approval from the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum on 13 November, its subsidiary Chevron do Brasil Ltd immediately began plugging and abandonment activities and subsequently announced that the oil flow was stopped within four days, although on 24 November Ali Noshiri, president of Chevron for Africa and Latin America, said that the Frade oil spill had been largely contained and that Chevron do Brasil Ltd expected to safely seal the leaking well by mid-December.

BP: Rig Partner Liable For Own Punitive Damages

BP wants to shield itself from having to compensate Halliburton for punitive damages, fines and penalties the cement contractor may face for its role in the deadly 2010 rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Math and Science Students Studying Bacteria From BP Oil Spill

Are the bacteria that the federal government credited for eating oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill still present in the Gulf of Mexico? If so, where? Students at the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science are trying to find out.

Gulf Coast Neighbors Bring Help to People In Need

The truck arrived early in the morning, the first stop on a long trip across the Gulf Coast.

RADIATION:

Japan Hopes to Jump-Start Nuclear Disarmament Talks With North Korea

Japan watched its troublesome neighbor North Korea warily and pressed nuclear disarmament efforts this week as some experts warned of potential missile strikes and a refugee humanitarian crisis in the wake of Kim Jong Il’s death.

From a Dec. 20 Wall Street Journal report:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit on Monday to ConocoPhillips that would allow the energy company to develop the first commercial oil well in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. …

Though the reserve has been open to drilling since 1998, no company has commercially produced oil there; the arctic conditions, lack of existing infrastructure and environmental restrictions mean that drilling in the reserve is a costly endeavor.

Environmental concerns surrounding the new venture are running high, and rightly so. At the same time Conoco is preparing to break new ground in Alaska, company officials are scrambling to get a handle on the fallout from not one but two recent oil spills in China. Combined, the incidents released 126,000 gallons of oil and “oil-based mud product,” polluting more than 330 square miles of Bohai Bay in northeast China. Conoco has been widely condemned for egregious safety lapses leading up to the spills in June. From a Nov. 11 Associated Press report:

Chinese authorities said Friday that negligence by a ConocoPhillips subsidiary caused recent oil spills in Bohai Bay that have drawn intense criticism from marine authorities and environmentalists.

The State Oceanic Administration said in a statement on its website that an investigation found there were shortcomings in ConocoPhillips China’s systems and management and that the company failed to take necessary preventive measures after signs of a problem emerged. The oil spills began in June in Penglai 19-3, China’s largest oil field.

These factors led “to a major oceanic oil spill pollution accident occurring due to negligence,” the statement said.

Reassured about Conoco’s commitment to safety and environmental protection? Me neither.

So, according to Chinese officials, Conoco’s negligence led to this “pollution accident.” But did the company redeem itself with a swift and effective response to the spills? Uh, not exactly. Consider this Sept. 5 Business Week coverage:

ConocoPhillips said it acted promptly to seal leaks at China’s biggest offshore oilfield, rejecting accusations of negligence by state media after a three-month battle to contain the spill off the northeast coast.

The U.S. company was ordered to halt output after “delays, negligence, cover-ups and cheating,” the People’s Daily, a newspaper controlled by the Communist Party, said yesterday. ConocoPhillips’s local unit is “facing the wrath of the Chinese public,” the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sept. 4.

The Xinhua report said the oil spills had spread to beaches in the provinces of Hebei and Liaoning and were being blamed for a slowdown in local tourism and for economic damage to aquatic farming industries.

Although Conoco claims to have acted appropriately, there appears to be plenty of evidence to the contrary. More from Business Week:

Chinese authorities ordered ConocoPhillips to halt production at Penglai on Sept. 2 after finding it hadn’t fully plugged the leaks. That undercut a report from the company to the regulator on Aug. 31 saying it had sealed off all sources of the spill.

Does that sound like the kind of corporate behavior our government should be rewarding with the highly lucrative rights to develop the first commercial well in the heart of America’s last frontier? Well, that’s exactly what’s happening folks. And as the Houston-based “supermajor” prepares to break ground over the coming months, ask yourself a question: Would you want the ConocoPhillips “family” moving in next door?

Read the full WSJ report here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204791104577109000913271854.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

Read the AP report on Conoco’s negligence here: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57322938/china-conocophillips-oil-spills-due-to-negligence/

Here’s the Business Week report: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-09-05/conoco-defends-china-spill-response-in-face-of-public-wrath.html

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