Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
Obama Issues Order to Coordinate Fracking Oversight
In a move that immediately drew praise from across the energy industry, President Obama on Friday issued an executive order to better coordinate federal oversight of “fracking,” the popular but controversial natural-gas extraction method.
Govt Backing of Fracking Under Scrutiny
The controversial mining process known as fracking is under investigation by the environment commissioner, but it appears the Government has already made up its mind.
Natural Gas Fracking: The Fossil Fuel Industry’s New Low
Just when we thought the fossil fuel industry had explored every last option for exploiting and polluting the planet, they surprised us with a newer, more devious practice. Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a controversial method for extracting natural gas from hard to reach fissures beneath the Earth’s surface, has emerged as the newest and most sinister threat to our health and environment.
Waterless Fracking Method Could Sidestep NY Gas Drilling Ban
A plan to extract shale gas and oil from 135,000 acres in Tioga County, N.Y., could break through the state’s hydraulic fracturing moratorium, because the wells would be fracked not with water but with liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, a mixture of mostly propane.
BP OIL SPILL:
BP Oil May Be Showing Up on Beachgoers’ Skin
It may look like the it’s gone — but oil from the BP spill may be mixing with dispersants and being absorbed into your body.
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Researchers Look into Effects on Wildlife, Ways to Improve Response
LSU entomologist Linda Hooper-Bui and her graduate students spent a day last week putting down cages, each one containing 20 brown crickets, among sprigs of smooth cordgrass in a marsh by Bay Jimmy. The bay in western Plaquemines Parish remains ground zero for efforts to clean remaining oil from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and also has become a focal point of research into the spill’s effects on the environment.
Low Seafood Catches Remain a Mystery
Scientists and biologists disagree about the difficulties of pinpointing the cause of the poor catches the local seafood industry has reported in recent years.
Implement, Execute a Cleanup Plan
Nearly two years have passed since the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and touching off a months-long oil spill that fouled the Gulf of Mexico and countless inland waterways along the coast.
RADIATION:
Close-Up on Fukushima Pool Debris
A remote control underwater camera suspended from a crawler crane was lowered into the pool at the top of the unit 3 reactor building. The information provided by the survey will be used to inform actions to ultimately remove the debris from the pool, in accordance with Tepco’s long-term roadmap for decommissioning the site.
