Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
A Deadline for Fracking Comments
As if the recent series of hearings and the invitation for written comments from the public were not enough, contingents from both sides of the fracking issue in New York State organized rallies and press conferences this week in anticipation of the close of the comment period on the state’s proposed gas drilling regulations on Wednesday.
Lung Association Expresses Concern Over Air Pollution From Fracking
In response to the Revised Draft of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement on The Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory Program in New York (dSGEIS), Jeffrey Seyler, CEO of the American Lung Association in New York, released the following statement: Today, we submitted comments to the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) voicing the Lung Association’s serious concerns that DEC’s draft plan for hydraulic fracturing in New York contains troubling air quality deficiencies that must be corrected before any standards governing extraction are finalized.
Super Fracking Goes Deeper to Pump Up Natural Gas Production
As regulators and environmentalists study whether hydraulic fracturing can damage the environment, industry scientists are studying ways to create longer, deeper cracks in the earth to release more oil and natural gas.
Officials Call for Statewide Ban on Fracking in New York
Officials and environmental advocacy groups joined together on Wednesday to call for a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as the comment period for fracking rules, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) revised draft of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS), comes to an end.
BP OIL SPILL:
BP Crews Still Busy In Alabama and Mississippi; They Collect 3 Tons In 10 Days
BP crews collected more than 3 tons of tarballs and buried tar mats from beaches in Alabama and Mississippi during the first 10 days of January.
Gulf Oil-Spill Responders Say They’re Still Fighting for Payments
Companies that responded to the BP oil catastrophe say they are still fighting for payments due from the time the Deepwater Horizon oil well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010.
Steffy: Other Countries Learning Macondo’s Lessons
Other countries are learning the lesson from BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In recent months, offshore disasters around the globe have prompted swift and stringent response from regulators.
La. AG Feuds With Judge, Governor Over Gulf-Spill Attorneys’ Fees
Louisiana’s attorney general has lashed out at the federal judge presiding over attorneys’ fees in the massive multi-district litigation concerning the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
RADIATION:
TEPCO Believes Mission Accomplished & Regulators Allow Radioactive Dumping in Tokyo Bay (VIDEO)
