Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
Norse Energy, an oil and gas exploration and production company, has filed the first application to drill a horizontal well in New York’s section of Utica Shale.
A “Pro-Business” Gutting Of The EPA Just Makes Life Harder For Businesses
When the federal government doesn’t act to curtail pollution, they are putting public health, and the economy, at risk.
New York State’s Fracking Lawsuit Barred by Law, U.S. Says
The U.S. government said it will ask a judge to dismiss a New York lawsuit that seeks to force a fuller environmental review of how natural-gas extraction could affect 9 million water drinkers in the state.
One Tainted Water Well, and Concern There May Be More
For decades, oil and gas industry executives as well as regulators have maintained that a drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, that is used for most natural gas wells has never contaminated underground drinking water. But there is in fact a documented case, and the E.P.A. report that discussed it suggests there may be more. Researchers, however, were unable to investigate many suspected cases because their details were sealed from the public when energy companies settled lawsuits with landowners.
BP OIL SPILL:
Natives in Alaska and Louisiana Devastated by Nation’s Largest Oil Spills
Native Americans in Alaska and Louisiana have both suffered from the nation’s largest oil spills, which have devastated Native communities who depend on subsistence from the land and oceans to survive.
Environmental Analysis Points to Oil Spill Difficulties
Environmental analysis has suggested that oil spills in Arctic conditions are impossible to deal with on one day in every five.
Shell Accepts Liability for Two Oil Spills in Nigeria
Oil giant faces a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars following class action suit brought on behalf of communities in Bodo, Ogoniland.
When news of the disastrous BP oil well explosion reached the residents of Jean Lafitte, Louisiana last April, Mayor Tim Kerner did the only thing he could think of to stop the oil from destroying his community. He encouraged everyone in his town to join him on the water, working day and night throughout the disaster to clean-up the spill.
RADIATION:
Washington Sets the Stage for Nuclear Talks with Riyadh
American officials are due to visit Saudi Arabia this week to discuss how to move forward on a nuclear cooperation agreement between the two countries. The disclosure of this visit has kicked off a very predictable storm in Washington, as congressmen and others have rushed to lobby against such an agreement with an Arab state, arguing that such a deal would carry grave security risks and the danger of nuclear weapons proliferation.
