Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
Environmental Groups Sue to Prevent Fracking in CA
The Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club are suing the Bureau of Land Management to prevent gas drilling known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, on federal lands. The lawsuit contends that the bureau leased more than 2,500 acres in Monterey and Fresno counties to oil company representatives without doing a thorough analysis of the potential environmental impacts of fracking.
Potential Harm From Drilling Gas Outweighs Any Benefits
Carrying a large banner that reads “HYDROFRACKING = TERRORISM” is a level of hyperbole that I usually try to avoid. But the more I learn about the risks and detrimental effects of gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in other parts of Pennsylvania and the nation, the more I wanted to take part in last month’s “Don’t drill the Delaware” rally at the Trenton War Memorial. So I joined some new friends in raising that banner.
Fracking Contamination ‘Will Get Worse’: Alberta Expert
A well-known industry expert in tracking leaking methane from oil and gas wells says a groundbreaking U.S. federal study on hydraulic fracturing highlights not only an old and growing problem, but the need for tighter regulations in the shale gas industry.
The Fracking Industry Has Bought Off Congress: Here Are the Worst Offender
Environmentalists and other well-adjusted citizens of Earth, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that, thanks to illuminating documentaries like Josh Fox’s Gasland and determined pressure from activists in and out of the mainstream, the toxic ravages of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, are no longer the shale gas sector’s dirty secret.
BP OIL SPILL:
Obama Administration Rubber Stamps Shell’s Drilling Plans for the Arctic’s Chukchi Sea
In the latest in a series of reckless decisions about America’s Arctic Ocean, the Obama administration today gave Royal Dutch Shell the green light to drill in the Arctic’s Chukchi Sea beginning next summer – despite the fact that there is no proven way to clean up an oil spill in the Arctic’s extreme conditions and there is significant dearth of scientific information, making it impossible to understand the impacts of Shell’s activities.
Oil Spill Restoration Projects Promise Both Environmental And Economic Impacts
The central Gulf Coast got some good news last week as state and federal officials took another step in the oil spill recovery process. On Wednesday, the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resources Damage Assessment trustees announced four restoration projects — two in Alabama and two in Mississippi — worth an estimated $24 million.
Let’s Get Started On Restoration
Rig Count Off La. Rises to Highest Since BP Oil Spill
The weekly count of oil rigs operating in federal waters off Louisiana’s coast has reached its highest point since last year’s BP oil spill, state officials say. But the current 35 rigs is still lower than the average weekly count of 42 that was recorded over the three months before the spill and resulting six-month deepwater-drilling ban enacted by the Obama administration. Scott Angelle, Louisiana’s Natural Resources secretary, released the figures late Friday.
RADIATION:
Japan Declares Fukushima Plant Stable, But Is It?
Japan Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Friday Dec 16 that the government and TEPCO had regained control of the damaged reactors at Fukushima located about 150 miles north of Tokyo. In a televised speech to the nation, Noda said, “Today,we have reached a great milestone.”
