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.
