Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
EPA Chief says Fracking Regulations Don’t Have to be Federal
States are right to take the lead on the issue of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the natural gas technology that some environmentalists accuse of polluting groundwater, said Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson today at an event at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
Lessons from the Shale Revolution
A closer look at the shale gas story challenges both conservative and liberal policy preferences and points to much-needed reforms for today’s mash of state and federal clean energy subsidies and mandates.
Mansfield Bolsters Effort Against Fracking Waste Wells
City council Tuesday approved a new municipal account — the Donations Against Injection Wells Fund.
Forum Addresses Economic Benefits, Environmental Concerns of Fracking
About 80 people gathered at the Tallmadge Middle School’s Les Bennett Center Feb. 16 for an informative discussion about hydraulic fracturing, the controversial oil and gas drilling method more commonly known as fracking.
BP OIL SPILL:
$90 Million for a Minor Role: Is Settlement a ‘Landmark’ Event in Gulf Coast Recovery?
A subsidiary of Japanese oil company Mitsui agreed last Friday to pay $90 million for its liability in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Of that total, $70 million will be in civil penalties and $20 million will be “to facilitate land acquisition projects in several gulf states that will preserve and protect in perpetuity habitat and resources important” to the environment.
Energy Issues in U.S. Congress
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 237-187 last week to pass an energy bill that seeks to encourage oil shale development; drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWAR); and offshore drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico; as well as force approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline. Twenty-one Republicans opposed the measure, along with an equal number of Democrats.
BP Fails to Clean Up Their Mess (Video)
Macondo Survivor Asks For Separate Trial
Buddy Trahan, a Transocean rig supervisor who barely survived the Macondo rig disaster, asked a federal judge to free his stalled personal- injury lawsuit from the oil-spill litigation set for trial in New Orleans next MondayRADIATION:
Fukushima Disaster Left U.S. Agency in Confusion
Relying on information from Japanese officials, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko told Congress that a spent-fuel pool at Japan’s crippled Fukushima plant was dry. It wasn’t true.
