News Round-Up: December 26, 2011

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Today’s Essential Reads

FRACKING:

Fracking Wastewater Leaked Onto Ohio Roads

A spill of fracking wastewater in Monroe County has residents there concerned about whether officials there are prepared to handle the coming boom, as more and more contractors access shale formations deep underground.

Rush to Extract Natural Gas Stirs Health Concerns

The rush is on to tap new sources of domestic energy in the United States and the competition is especially fierce in Pennsylvania. The eastern state sits atop the Marcellus Shale, a 350-million-year-old rock formation, more than a kilometer underground, that holds the largest reservoir of natural gas in the United States.

ND Rules Order Disclosure of ‘Frack’ Fluids

Proposed new North Dakota rules say oil companies have to disclose the recipe for special fluids they pump underground.

Morgantown Lets Illegal Drilling Ban Stay On Books

Morgantown is keeping a municipal ban on Marcellus shale gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing on the books even though a judge has declared it unconstitutional and unenforceable.

BP OIL SPILL:

Boasts Over Shell Avoidance of Oil Spills Come Back to Haunt Its CEO

In October 2010, the Daily Mail published an article reporting claims by Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive, Peter Voser, that Shell would never have made the mistakes that led to the BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, which resulted in a huge oil spill.

Cameron Loses Appeal to Scuttle BP Gulf Spill Trial Plan

Cameron International Corp. (CAM) lost its appeal to derail the February nonjury trial over which companies should be blamed for the 2010 BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Bay Oil Spill Killed Herring, NOAA Scientists Report

Pacific herring embryos in shallow waters died in unexpectedly high numbers following the Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay in November 2007, according to NOAA scientists and their collaborators in a study published in the scientific journal PNAS on December 26.

U.S. To Seek More Fines In Gulf Oil Spill

The federal government will seek new penalties against BP, Transocean and Halliburton for alleged safety and environmental violations in connection with the 2010 Gulf oil spill, an Obama administration official said Monday.

RADIATION:

New Nuclear Plants Face Public Backlash

The government’s plan to install new nuclear reactors in the country’s eastern shore faces stiff opposition from residents, stoking safety concerns in the aftermath of a Japanese disaster.

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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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