Environmental Must-Reads – January 2, 2013

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Gulf of Mexico shrimpers file petitions for shrimp import relief

Gulf of Mexico shrimpers have filed petitions with the federal government seeking relief from subsidized shrimp imports. The move came several weeks after Gulf of Mexico shrimpers hailed a House bill that included a provision to increase U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s powers to combat illegal imports.

A Rig Accident off Alaska Shows the Dangers of Extreme Energy

As terrible as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill was, one element worked in the favor of rescuers and cleanup personnel: location. The Gulf of Mexico is the nerve center of the U.S. offshore oil industry, which made it that much easier for BP and the federal government to respond quickly to the spill. The warm Gulf environment also simplified operations and accelerated the natural dispersal of the oil. As one environmentalist noted at the time, having an oil spill in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico was like having a heart attack in the middle of a hospital. It’s still a heart attack, but at least you won’t have to wait long for treatment.

Breakaway Oil Rig, Filled With Fuel, Runs Aground

An enormous Shell Oil offshore drilling rig ran aground on an island in the Gulf of Alaska on Monday night after it broke free from tow ships in rough seas, officials said.

No oil spill seen near Shell drill ship run aground on island off Alaska

A U.S. Coast Guard flight over a Shell drilling rig that ran aground off a small Alaskan island found no signs of a fuel spill, officials said Tuesday, but they had to wait until daylight to better assess its impact on the environment.

Salvage crews await weather as Shell’s grounded Arctic drill rig sways in place

As rough seas continued to hammer Royal Dutch Shell’s drilling ship that ran aground in Alaska on New Year’s Eve, the company and federal and state officials had few new details to offer at an Anchorage press conference Tuesday afternoon.

What Shell’s Kulluk Oil Rig Accident Means for Arctic Drilling

The Kulluk rig ran aground in a storm near Kodiak Island, Alaska, raising fresh questions about Shell’s plans to launch an offshore oil industry in Arctic waters.

Oil rig’s grounding is latest problem for Shell

The grounding of Shell’s Kulluk drilling rig amid a fierce storm in the Gulf of Alaska raised the specter of a fuel spill and provided fresh fodder to drilling foes who insist that Arctic oil exploration is too risky to allow

Will Shell’s grounded drilling ship impact US energy policy in Arctic?

As Royal Dutch Shell struggled Tuesday to salvage a fuel-laden drilling ship grounded on a remote Alaska island, the incident reverberated thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C., with President Barack Obama’s staff monitoring the situation.

Officials say no sign drilling ship Kulluk, grounded off Alaska island, leaking fluids

Crews aboard two aircraft flew over an oil drilling ship Tuesday that went aground in a severe Alaska storm and saw no sign that the vessel was leaking fuel or that its hull had been breached.

The Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig used this summer in the Arctic was aground off a small island near Kodiak Island, where the ship, the Kulluk, appeared stable, said federal on-scene response coordinator Capt. Paul Mehler.

Shell Drilling Unit Kulluk Aground, ‘Stable’ near Kodiak

The Shell mobile drilling unit Kulluk is stable after running aground New Year’s Eve near Kodiak following failed attempts to tow the vessel in a fierce storm, responders said during a Tuesday press conference.

Oil spill ‘possible’ after Shell drilling rig runs aground near Alaska

An oil drilling rig owned by Shell ran aground in the southeastern Gulf of Alaska on New Year’s Eve amid a storm that had forced the crew to evacuate, the U.S. Coast Guard told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Columbia man pleads guilty in BP case

A Columbia man has pleaded guilty to one count of his indictment, charging him with filing false claims for Deepwater Horizon oil spill relief funding.

Jermaine Ball is charged with a separate felony for each of the $5,000 checks he received under what prosecutors claim was false pretenses. A federal grand jury indicted him Aug. 7.

Oil spill rules ‘won’t prevent another Deepwater disaster’

New rules to make sure oil drilling firms can afford to clean up spills won’t stop them from happening in the first place, environmental campaigners warned today.

WWF Scotland spokesman Lang Banks said firms’ insurance would be “meaningless” given the ecological disaster that would follow “a single deepwater oil spill.

How Fracking Impacts Local Economies

In addition to the environmental impacts of oil and gas production, including dangerous air and water contamination, and destruction of wildlife habitat, Natural Resources Defense Council is concerned about other impacts to communities that have been documented, such as increased crime, infrastructure burdens that require massive repair, and the growing demand for social and municipal services. Another serious impact is a large increase in the need for health care services. Communities with oil and gas development can see increased emergency room visits in particular, from traffic and occupational accidents.

Another Blow to the Fracking Industry—Chesapeake Energy’s Aubrey McClendon Makes Worst CEO of 2012 List

According to Yahoo! Finance‘s The Daily Ticker, Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon places second on the “Worst CEO’s of 2012? list.

Chesapeake Energy is the second largest natural gas producer in the U.S. with drilling rights to some 15 million acres.

EcoWatch TV Featuring New Fracking Documentary + Filmmakers Joshua Pribanic and Melissa Troutman

Join Stefanie Spear on EcoWatch TV via Google Hangout on Thursday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. as she interviews filmmakers Joshua Pribanic and Melissa Troutman about the truth behind oil and gas development in shale plays across Pennsylvania. Their new documentary, Triple Divide, is scheduled for release at the end of January.

When fracking came to suburban Texas

Residents of Gardendale, a suburb near the hub of the west Texas oil industry, face having up to 300 wells in their backyards

Does Fracking Have a Growing Future in Florida?

Is Florida next? The deep-pocket lingo that preempts fracking’s arrival might suggest so. Just southwest of Lake Okeechobee, the Big Cypress National Preserve is said to be prime territory to start blasting away. Trouble is, now that Florida is on the radar for fracking, oil companies are suiting up to romance its anti-regulation state government, with hopes to make Florida the next fracking frontier.

Another risk to landowners: liens for an oil and gas company’s unpaid bills

There is a scathing new report out from Reuters about the finances of Chesapeake Energy Corporation. Chesapeake is being sued by landowners and contractors. The article outlines Chesapeake’s financial challenges.

Oil and gas industry takes a toll on local health care providers

n addition to the environmental impacts of oil and gas production, including dangerous air and water contamination and destruction of wildlife habitat, NRDC is concerned about other impacts to communities that have been documented, such as increased crime, infrastructure burdens that require massive repair, and the growing demand for social and municipal services. Another serious impact is a large increase in the need for health care services. Communities with oil and gas development can see increased emergency room visits in particular, from traffic and occupational accidents.

What happened to the Fukushima 50?

The workers who stayed behind in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 were told by many at the time that they were going to die for their pains.

There were actually 300 of them but they worked in shifts of 50.

Tokyo correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports on what has happened to them – and the villages around the stricken reactor – since the disaster.

More residents refuse nuclear benefits after Fukushima disaster

The number of households declining benefits for living near nuclear plants has nearly doubled since the Fukushima disaster, reflecting growing opposition to a system long criticized as paying off citizens to promote nuclear power.

How The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Made Kids Fat

After a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan in 2011, causing major meltdowns at three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, local schools restricted outdoor activities and parents (understandably) wanted to keep their children indoors. That’s had an unexpected consequence. Fukushima children 5 to 9 and 14 to 17 are the fattest in the country.

U.S. nuke crisis team’s Fukushima findings wasted

The United States sent a special nuclear response team to Japan right after the Fukushima meltdown disaster started in March 2011, but Japan was slow to make use of radiation data from the unit, according to U.S. and Japanese government sources.

Iodine pills still not approved as drug for radiation protection

Iodine has been used in the treatment of thyroid diseases, chronic bronchitis and other diseases. But in Japan, its use as protection from radiation exposure has still not been approved and this will cause further delay in its distribution to residents near nuclear plants.

Is your beloved cell phone killing you?

While much has been made about the health effects of smart meters, there is another device, even more widely used, that could be every bit as dangerous as what has been ascribed to the utility device.

That device is your mobile phone.

New Technique To Study The Impact Of Cell Phone Radiation

This metal-free antenna may help scientists find out, once and for all, whether cell phones cause cancer

Of useful and harmful radiations

NAGPUR: “We live in an ocean of radiation. We survive because of it and we make good use of it in our lives. But we need to be careful, because overexposure to certain radiations can be harmful.”

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Stuart H. Smith is an attorney based in New Orleans fighting major oil companies and other polluters.
Cooper Law Firm

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