Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
Memories of November’s 5.6-magnitude earthquake are still fresh, and people are still searching for a culprit. Various news sources such as PeakOil.com, the Miller-McCune magazine and The Telegraph in the United Kingdom have suggested hydraulic fracturing could be the cause of a sudden surge in earthquake numbers in the last two years.
Crowd Tells O’Mara, Palmesano to Keep Fracking Out of Finger Lakes
Over 100 people turned out Monday evening for a town hall meeting with Sen. Tom O’Mara and Assemblyman Phil Palmesano at the Penn Yan Village Hall. For about two hours, the lawmakers listened to several comments from people opposed to hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale in the Finger Lakes.
Fracking Concerns Scuttle Encana Asset Sale
Concerns over the effect of hydraulic fracturing on the drinking water of a Native American reservation have prompted a Texas company to drop its bid for an Encana Corp. asset, the companies said.
New York Should Become the First State to Ban Fracking
Adelaide Park Gomer, president of the Park Foundation based in Ithaca, New York, received the Advocacy Award from Common Cause for her work fighting fracking. Gomer is as a knowledgeable and passionate defender of independent media, environmental sustainability, and higher education, as well as of democratic and transparent governance.
BP OIL SPILL:
Deepwater Horizon: One Year On
BP’s Deepwater Horizon sparked criticism from regulators, investors, the public and media in the U.S. Yet many oil spills in the global oil & gas industry – before and after BP’s disaster – are largely overlooked in the U.S. and Europe.
Prosecutors Say BP Didn’t Learn From 2001 Crude Oil Spill
Prosecutors say BP failed to apply the lessons learned from 2001, when a different pipeline froze and broke open, spilling thousands of gallons of crude oil.
Local Mayor Takes B.P. Oil Spill Fight To Washington
Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft is in the financial fight of his life…a multi-billion dollar fight not only affecting Alabama, but the four other Gulf Coast states impacted by the oil spill.
BP Worker Found ‘Cold’ Oil Pipe Weeks Before It Blew
The BP lead operator who found signs of a frozen pipeline on Alaska’s North Slope back in November 2009 testified in federal court Monday that he stumbled on the problem accidentally when he was checking other equipment with a hand-held laser device no bigger than a calculator.
RADIATION:
Radiation Traces Found in Japanese Baby Formula
Traces of radiation spilled from Japan’s hobbled nuclear plant were detected in baby formula Tuesday in the latest case of contaminated food in the nation.