Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
Possible Damage From “Fracking” Not Covered By Standard Homeowner’s Policy
In case you were wondering, insurance policies for homes and commercial properties probably don’t cover any damage that might be caused by “fracking” – a relatively new approach to drilling for natural gas through hydraulic fracturing.
Yoko Ono And Sean Lennon Launch Artists Against Fracking
John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono and their son Sean have launched a celebrity coalition campaigning against drilling techniques in the natural gas industry which could cause the contamination of water sources across America.
More on the Science Linking Fracking Disposal Wells to Earthquakes
Earlier today we reported on a series of quakes rattling Johnson County, outside of Fort Worth, Texas. The quakes haven’t caused any significant damage, but for a part of the state that has historically been seismically quiet, they’ve come as a surprise. There happen to be dozens of disposal wells – deep injection wells used for disposing of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — in the same area as the quakes. So where’s the science linking earthquakes in the area to those wells?
Risk Management: What if Cuomo Greenlights Fracking?
If Governor Cuomo opens New York State to fracking, experts who analyze its impacts and have studied the toxic and environmental outcomes of Love Canal and the BP oil rig explosion predict similar long-term consequences, affecting potentially more people. Elisabeth Radow is among those experts. Radow, a conservationist and attorney practicing law in New York, has gone on record in print and in testimony before state government saying that some of the most serious risks associated with the proposed drilling — potential water contamination and health impacts among them — cannot be substantially prevented or remediated, even with regulatory oversight and funding, and therefore drilling is ill-advised for New York.
BP OIL SPILL:
BP Oil Spill Fines Could Boost Everglades Restoration
Everglades restoration backers are aiming to get a big piece of the billions of dollars of fines that oil giant BP is expected to pay for polluting the Gulf of Mexico and disrupting Florida’s delicate ecology during the Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010.
Two Years Later, Effects of Dispersants In BP Oil Spill Still A Mystery
Two years ago this week, the wellhead that ruptured on the sea floor of the Gulf of Mexico, sending 4.9 million barrels of oil into the water, was capped. After three months, the end of the largest oil spill in the industry’s history was in sight.
RESTORE Act Money Can Help Resolve Lingering Questions About Oil Spill’s Impact
RESEARCH PUBLISHED in the scientific journal PLoS ONE provides troubling new information about the effects of the BP oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico. It suggests that big changes took place in microscopic organisms in the months after the spill, and that those changes could have significant impacts in the years to come.
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Health Study Seeks More Volunteers
Nearly 25,000 people who worked on recovery and cleanup after the 2010 BP oil spill have volunteered for a National Institutes of Health study on the long-term health effects of exposure to oil and chemicals used to disperse it. But NIH researchers want another 15,000 to come forward, and that’s not an easy task.
RADIATION:
Crowds Rally in Tokyo for End to Nuclear Power
Tens of thousands of people rallied at a Tokyo park Monday demanding that Japan abandon nuclear power as the country prepares to restart another reactor shut down after last year’s tsunami-generated meltdown at the Fukushima power plant.
