News Round-Up: February 27, 2012

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Today’s Essential Reads

FRACKING:

WWF: ‘Dash For Gas’ A ‘Zero-Sum Game’

By attacking shale gas over CO2 emissions, the enviros are forging an even more powerful opponent on climate.

As Fracking Boom Hits Ohio, Deceptive Industry Practices Squeeze Landowners

Ohio is the latest state hit by fracking mania. The process, which requires pushing millions of gallons of water, sand and industrial chemicals into shale wells to fracture rock and push out oil and gas, took off after the discovery of massive natural gas deposits in the Utica shale underlying eastern Ohio last July.

EPA is Watching Carefully as States Roll Out Fracking Rules

New York’s emerging plan to regulate natural gas drilling in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale needs to go further to safeguard drinking water, environmentally sensitive areas and gas industry workers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has informed state officials.

BP OIL SPILL:

A History of Violence: the BP Oil Spill Trial

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier decided that in the civil trial against BP for their oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil company’s history of accidents and poor safety records won’t be admissible as evidence. Maybe that’s appropriate; I’m no legal expert so I can’t make that call. I asked Loyola law professor Blaine LeCesne, who specializes in torts and Louisiana civil procedure, about it and he said that it “was absolutely the correct ruling,” especially in terms of streamlining the case for trial — and the trial is what everybody wants to see, except BP.

BP Oil Spill Trial Delayed (VIDEO)

As settlement talks continue, the high-profile legal battle over the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that was scheduled to begin Monday has been delayed a week.

BP Oil Trial Delayed a Week, Judge Rules

A blockbuster trial to determine how much BP and its subcontractors owe for the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill was delayed a week to allow for more settlement talks, a judge ruled Sunday.

BP, Plaintiffs Focus on Gulf Oil Spill Settlement

Nearly two years after his brother Gordon was killed in the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, Chris Jones had planned to drive in from Baton Rouge with other relatives to attend the start of the federal trial over the nation’s worst offshore oil disaster.

Report: BP Ready for Lengthy Oil Spill Trial

BP chief executive Bob Dudley said the company is able to fight a lengthy court battle over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

RADIATION:

Japan Nuclear Agency Says Hospital Was Too Busy to Properly Treat Radiation Victims After Fukushima

Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission says hospitals outside of evacuation zones must be designated as emergency treatment facilities for people exposed to radiation after possible nuclear accidents.

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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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