Environmental Must-Reads – October 8, 2012

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Group says petroleum ‘fracking’ occurred near Los Padres National Forest

An environmental group says a controversial oil and gas extraction practice commonly called fracking was used recently at several wells next to Los Padres National Forest.

Pennsylvania foundations draw cheers, protests for supporting fracking studies

Citizens groups and nonprofits around the nation are asking questions about environmental and health impacts of natural gas hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and Pennsylvania charities are funding much of the debate.

Natural gas wells proposed on Capital High grounds

Kanawha County Schools officials say natural gas wells might be drilled on Capital High School property.

Cancer rates in Barnett Shale climb, residents want answers why

Lorrie Squibb remembers many days when she didn’t feel well, but she didn’t know why. “I was just sick, month after month,” said the mother of two. Squibb says two months after she moved from Flower Mound to Michigan in 2010, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that is often associated with factory exposure to toxins in men.

Halliburton finds lost radioactive rod in Texas

The US oilfield services company Halliburton has found a seven-inch radioactive rod it lost in the Texas desert almost a month ago.

Transocean served ban

Transocean said it was served with a preliminary injunction by a federal court in Brazil that would require the drilling contractor’s nine rigs operating in waters off the country to cease operations in 30 days.

Gulf Coast Senators Demand Fair BP Oil Spill Deal

Senators from the U.S. Gulf Coast urged President Barack Obama on Friday to ensure that any legal settlement for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill does not undermine a recently passed law that would funnel billions of dollars worth of fines to their states.

National Grid Shares Details Of Paerdegat Basin Oil Spill

When we first broke the story about the Paerdegat Basin oil spill, in which an estimated 800 to 1,400 gallons of natural gas condensate, compressor oil and turbine oil poured into the waters near Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, info was scarce. Representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Environmental Conservation told us the spill had happened while an old pipe was being capped, but how the oil got into the water remained unclear. The company responsible for the spill, National Grid, did not respond to requests for comment.

A new ‘golden age of oil’ in the U.S.? Don’t believe it

Last winter, fossil-fuel enthusiasts began trumpeting the dawn of a new “golden age of oil” that would kick-start the American economy, generate millions of new jobs, and free this country from its dependence on imported petroleum. Ed Morse, head commodities analyst at Citibank, was typical. In the Wall Street Journal he crowed, “The United States has become the fastest-growing oil and gas producer in the world, and is likely to remain so for the rest of this decade and into the 2020s.

 Sinkhole: vent wells being drilled for trapped gas

BAYOU CORNE, La. — Wells are being dug to vent and investigate natural gas trapped beneath a community near the 4-acre sinkhole in Assumption Parish, says John Boudreaux, the parish’s emergency preparedness director.

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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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