Environmental Must-Reads October 4, 2012

E

Fracking Operations Run Roughshod over Pennsylvania Homeowners

On a recent trip to western Pennsylvania, I visited a man who lived along a leafy country road. He showed me around the house he had built for his wife and three sons and said he wanted to raise his family in a quiet rural area. He thought he had the perfect spot until an energy company showed up on his property and said it had the rights to drill for natural gas beneath his land.  Although he owned his land and home—and paid taxes on them—he could not protect his property from a drill pad, wells and a pipeline he did not want.

Parts of shale gas health report will now be released

The Alward government now says it will release at least parts of a report by the province’s chief medical officer of health on the potential health impacts of the shale gas industry, but not right away.

Yellow Springs, Ohio Bans Fracking

On Oct. 1, the Yellow Springs Village Council voted 3-2 to adopt a Community Bill of Rights ordinance banning corporations from conducting shale gas drilling and related activities in the village.

How Fracking Is a Danger to Your Health

Amid controversy, New York will embark on a health impacts study, but residents living in the gaslands are already speaking out about their experiences.

Penn State Faculty Snub of Fracking Study Ends Research

A natural-gas driller’s group has canceled a Pennsylvania State University study of hydraulic fracturing after some faculty members balked at the project that had drawn criticism for being slanted toward industry.

The Entire Oil And Gas Industry Is Watching A Tiny Town In Wyoming

Most scientists have long maintained it was highly unlikely that chemicals pumped into the ground for fracking gas could move all the way up through bedrock and into the water table. But that appears to be exactly what has happened underneath Pavilion, Wyoming, population 213.

Coast Guard investigating oil sheen at BP Deepwater Horizon disaster site

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating an oily sheen spotted in the Gulf of Mexico last month near the site of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill 40 miles south of the Mississippi River, a spokesman said Wednesday. Samples of the sheen taken near the site of the failed BP Macondo oil well have been sent to the service’s Marine Safety Lab in Groton, Conn., to determine whether the oil is from the BP spill, said Lt. Commander Michael Wolfe.

Fishermen say thousands of oil-spill related boom anchors creating nuisance on the water

HOPEDALE, La. — David Palmer makes a living off the water through his business, Lazy Boyz Seafood, in Hopedale. More than two years ago during the BP oil spill, Palmer laid out oil boom in the waters around St. Bernard Parish. “We all put out anchors and booms around here,” he said. Little did he know at the time, those anchors would end up affecting the way he trawls for shrimp today.

A complete solution for oil-spill cleanup

Scientists are describing what may be a “complete solution” to cleaning up oil spills — a superabsorbent material that sops up 40 times its own weight in oil and then can be shipped to an oil refinery and processed to recover the oil. Their article on the material appears in ACS’ journal Energy & Fuels.

Oil Spill Corked Vineyard Plans, Family Says

A 40-year-old oil pipe in Michigan ruptured because of neglect and ruined a multimillion-dollar vineyard development, the vineyard owners claim in federal court.

Submerged Oil Remains In Ceresco Dam After 2010 Spill

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – More than two years after the massive Enbridge oil spill that leaked more than a million gallons of toxic tar sands oil into the Talmadge Creek and Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan, experts say submerged oil still remains near the Ceresco Dam.

Canadian oil company ordered by EPA to intensify river cleanup

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told an oil company it must redouble cleanup efforts for a two-year-old spill that environmentalists have used to criticize the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

GPL says oil spill in Demerara River contained

A mishap yesterday morning at the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) Kingston Power Station resulted in oil spilling into the Demerara River. However up to late last night cleanup crews were on the ground to contain the seepage. GPL promised a full investigation into the causes of the spill.

Nigeria: Senate Committee Decries Environmental Degradation in Ogoni

The Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology has decried the high level of environmental degradation caused by decades of oil spills in Ogoniland due to the activities of multi-national oil firms operating in the area.

Add comment

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

Follow Us

© Stuart H Smith, LLC
Share This