Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
OSHA Warns Fracking Employees of Silica Inhalation Risk
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently issued a hazard alert related to drilling workers’ inhalation of silica dust, a byproduct of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” through sand.
UT Study On Hydraulic Fracturing To Be Reviewed By Outside Experts
A University of Texas at Austin professor who led a study that found no evidence hydraulic fracturing contaminates groundwater had a conflict of interest as a director and stockholder of a company that engages in fracturing, according to a nonprofit organization critical of the study.
Environmental Groups Call for Fracking Moratorium in California
California’s biggest environmental organizations are gathering in Sacramento tomorrow (Wed/25) to call for a moratorium on the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing – also known as fracking, in which a mixture of water and chemicals is injected at high pressure deep underground to increase production in oil and natural gas wells – until its impacts are better understood.
Major Insurer Says It Won’t Cover Fracking
Nationwide Mutual has become the first insurance company to decline coverage for claims related to hydraulic fracturing, a controversial energy production known as “fracking.”
BP OIL SPILL:
BP ‘Missed Big Hazard Issues’ Before Gulf Oil Spill
BP focused too much on small details of personal worker safety instead of the big systemic hazards that led to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a government safety panel found.
Ulcerated Blue Crabs Found in Gulf, at Mississippi Sound
Crabs with what appear to be tumors or ulcers are being pulled up in the Gulf of Mexico, near Ocean Springs, Miss.
BP Engineer Loses Bid to Force Prosecutors to Specify Evidence
A former BP Plc (BP/) engineer charged with destroying evidence sought for a U.S. probe of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill was denied his request to force the government to immediately give details of its case against him.
Safety Panel Slams BP Over Oil Rig Disaster
A United States government safety panel has said BP focused too much on personal worker safety instead of big systemic hazards that led to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
RADIATION:
Some Fukushima Workers May Have Been Illegally Recruited
Subcontracted staff at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are working for as little as 30 percent of the daily rates paid by Tokyo Electric Power Co. on short-term, sometimes illegal contracts.
