Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
Enviros Still Hoping for Hydrofracking Health Assessment
Though it was excluded from the 2012-2013 budget, members of the medical community and environmental advocates are throwing support behind a bill requesting a health impact study on hydraulic fracturing.
To Protect Americans’ Health, Oppose Expanded Fracking Until Stronger Safeguards Are in Place
Most people want their homes to be a safe haven where their families can grow and thrive. Yet for thousands of Americans who find themselves living next to natural gas drilling sites, that sense of safety is becoming harder to preserve.
Fracking: Property Owners Need to Protect Themselves
People who have concerns about oil and gas drilling in Fairfield County should contact state legislatures and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio Environmental Council’s Director of Legal Affairs said Monday.
Pittsboro Holds Fracking Hearing With Many In Opposition
Residents of Chatham County and surrounding areas spoke out Monday night at a hearing at Fearrington Village on hydraulic fracturing held by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
BP OIL SPILL:
Should Gulf Oil Spill Dispersant, Clean-Up Companies Stay in the Litigation?
The manufacturer of the chemical dispersant used to break-up the oil during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 and other companies involved in cleaning up the oil have asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to dismiss them from liability for any health claims because they were working on behalf of the U.S. government in responding to the spill and are entitled to immunity. If successful, the move could remove more than a dozen companies from potential liability if people get sick.
Restore Act Stalls in U.S. House
U.S. lawmakers said they will continue pushing for a bill that would send billions of dollars in fines from the BP oil spill to Gulf Coast states.
Student Researchers Study Rise of Skin Condition in Oil Spill Workers
The OU Health Sciences Center received a new grant to study the increase of dermatitis in oil spill workers, according to a press release.
Gulf’s Dolphins Pay Heavy Price for Deepwater Oil Spill
A new study of dolphins living close to the site of North America’s worst ever oil spill – the BP Deepwater Horizon catastrophe two years ago – has established serious health problems afflicting the marine mammals.
RADIATION:
Frustrated Nuke Evacuees Take Harder Line vs. Tepco
When elders of Odaka, a radiation-contaminated community north of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, called a town hall meeting in February to discuss jointly pressing Tokyo Electric Power Co. for more compensation, former residents of the evacuated town rushed from their temporary homes across Japan, inundating a 1,100-seat concert hall.
