News Round-Up: August 23, 2011

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Today’s Essential Reads

FRACKING:

Fracking Will Lead to More Protests: Green Leader

Green Party Leader Jack MacDougall is predicting more civil disobedience over hydro-fracking as tensions continue to escalate over the contentious mining practice.

Hydrofracking Opponents Prepared for Peaceful Debate

The debate over shale gas exploration in New Brunswick came to a head last week when the company carrying out the operations decided to close up shop following weeks of protests and controversy.

Fracking: Shell Admits Safety Is Not A Given

The petroleum company heading calls for the Great Karoo to be opened up for exploration for natural gas has admitted that it cannot guarantee the safety of its operations.

Looking for Gas in All the Wrong Places

And then, the very next evening, there was another event that provided an ironic counterpoint to that summer valentine. One hundred sixty Andeans, including the town supervisor, members of the town board and candidates running for a seat on the board, met in the school gym to hear a presentation on the geology of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” (the process of extracting natural gas by blasting underground rock formations with a huge volume of chemical-laced water pumped down at very high levels of pressure) and to express their views about what fracking would mean if it came to the town.

BP OIL SPILL:

More Oil Cleanup Needed at TC Dike

Cleanup continues along the southern shores of the Texas City Dike after a weekend oil spill that sent about 2,500 gallons of fuel oil into the water.

Mississippi Barrier Island Oil Cleanup May Start Within Weeks

BP’s oil spill cleanup on Mississippi’s barrier islands may restart within weeks after being suspended since March 1 for the bird nesting season, said U.S. Park Service and BP spokesmen.

Restore Gulf with Funds from Oil Spill Penalties

Since the federal government can consume money faster than a magician can make greenbacks disappear, the phrase “there ought to be a law” applies in the case of fines over last year’s massive Gulf oil spill. Most of that money should go into restoration of the coast deeply impacted by this environmental catastrophe, not into federal coffers.

Gulf Shrimp Season Begins In Louisiana Under Oil-Black Cloud

Today was the start of shrimp season in Louisiana, and way down in the Mississippi delta, fishermen and shrimpers struck out from the small black fishing towns that dot the river and headed out into the Gulf of Mexico, hoping and praying for the best.

Oil and Gas Industry Doesn’t Really Know How to Clean Up Its Messes

The New York Times recently ran an op-ed from NRDC President Frances Beinecke about the oil and gas industry’s inability to handle the extreme risks associated with a spill from drilling in many places – let alone the wild oceans off the coast of Alaska, where the Obama administration recently gave Shell Oil preliminary approval to start drilling.

RADIATION:

Nuclear Plant Near Epicenter Shuts Down

A nuclear power plant located in Louisa County, the epicenter of the earthquake in Virginia, has shut down.

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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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