Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
Fracking’s Toll Could Go Beyond Economics
The Journal recently carried an article on the Dryden Safe Energy Coalition, which claims to be taking an objective look at the hydraulic fracturing issue.
Fracking Contamination Report Kept Hidden for 24 Years
For the controversial drilling practice of hydraulic fracturing, better known as “fracking,” in which chemically-laced water is injected deep into the earth to free up natural gas, industry spokesman and even federal environmental officials have repeated the same line over and over again: no evidence exists of fracking ever having contaminated underground water supplies.
New Yorkers Have a Right to Clean Air and Water
Citizens who elected Gov. Andrew Cuomo are irate about his current stance on hydraulic fracturing. Lifting the ban is a bad idea for reasons relating to environmental resources, health, economics and politics.
Save the Water Table: Scientific Facts Don’t Back Gas Companies’ Marcellus Shale Claims
Members of an organization aiming to preserve Monroe County maintain that hydrofracture drilling on the Marcellus shale will be harmful to their way of life.
BP OIL SPILL:
Arctic Open for Exploitation: Obama Administration Grants Shell Approval to Drill
Less than a year and a half after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration has bucked warnings from environmentalists to grant preliminary approval to oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell, to drill off the Arctic coast. Exploratory drilling will occur just north of the western edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in the Beaufort Sea, home to bowhead and beluga whales, seals, walruses, polar bears, and a wide-variety of migrating birds.
Thus Far and No Further: Gulf Coast and Arizona Activists Fight Back
Last Thursday, in New Orleans about 100 people rallied at BP’s Regional Command Center to protest the oil giant’s continued lack of accountability in cleaning up one of the worst corporate disasters in U.S. history- the Gulf Oil Spill. As the event’s call to action put it “The Oil is Still Here and so are We,” and Louisiana residents are mobilizing to fight back against the poisoning of the Gulf of Mexico by BP.
Oil Spill Recovery Act Helps Northwest Florida Recover
Florida legislators recently authorized $10 million per year for the next three years for economic development in eight northwest Florida counties affected by the BP oil spill — Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, Franklin and Wakulla. Funding will be administered by the University of West Florida Office of Economic Development and Engagement. Office director, economist Rick Harper, discusses the funding process.
Former Tribal Leader Speaks at South Dakota Gathering
Former principal chief of the United Houma Nation Brenda Dardar-Robichaux traveled to South Dakota this month to meet with other American Indians to talk about the repercussions of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
RADIATION:
Researching Safer Nuclear Energy
The nuclear power industry faces hard times, with tough competition from natural gas for meeting new electricity needs and a prevailing nervousness about nuclear safety after the Fukushima Daiichi accident in March. On Tuesday, the Energy Department, handing out research grants in all kinds of energy fields that are low in carbon dioxide emissions, is announcing that it will give $39 million to university programs around the country to try to solve various nuclear problems.
