Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
Citizens Demand Marcellus Drilling Ban in W.Va.
Opponents of Marcellus shale gas drilling are demanding a moratorium on new West Virginia operations until tough laws are passed, enforcement is dramatically increased and water supplies are protected from overuse and pollution.
Food & Water Watch Calls for Fracking Ban
With Michigan sitting on 20 percent of the world’s available fresh water resources, fracking of shale gas deposits should be banned, an activist group said.
Detroit City Council First in Michigan to Support a Ban of Dangerous Gas Drilling Technique
Last Friday, Detroit’s City Council became the first in Michigan to pass a resolution supporting a ban on a controversial gas drilling technique known as fracking. The Council passed the resolution unanimously. Council member JoAnn Watson offered up the resolution, and several local activists attended the Council meeting to show their support. In banning fracking, Detroit joins 65 other municipalities across the United States who have taken action against the practice.
VIDEO: The Promise And Peril Of Fracking
EnergyNOW! — the clean-energy news outlet funded by natural gas company Chesapeake Energy’s American Clean Skies Foundation — proved its editorial independence with a hard-hitting look at the impact of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in Pennsylvania. A 30-minute investigative report by Tyler Suiters contrasts the economic boon of fracking to the environmental costs of polluted drinking water, health problems, and toxic accidents.
BP OIL SPILL:
NY Post Pushes Fracking Study Without Noting Industry Funding | Media Matters for America
A New York Post editorial advocated for New Yorkers to “frack, baby, frack!” citing a “new study out of Penn State” claiming ample economic rewards of natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. However, the editorial failed to note that the study was sponsored by a lobbying group representing gas companies.
Lawsuit Says BP’s Spill-Claims Fund Pressures Victims
BP is using “coercive tactics” to force victims of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill to agree to final settlements with its claims fund, lawyers suing the company said Monday.
An Agreement to Seek BP Fines to Restore the Gulf Coast
Gulf Coast senators have finally rallied behind a single bill to commit most of the Clean Water Act fines levied against BP to the states that were harmed by last year’s devastating oil spill. That’s a critical development for Louisiana.
BP Shuts Alaska Oil Facility After Prudhoe Bay Spill
BP PLC (BP) has temporarily shut an oil-separation facility at the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska after about 200 gallons of oil mixed with water spilled into a gravel-containment pit, according to a state agency.
RADIATION:
Atomic Power to Grow Despite Fukushima: UN Nuclear Watchdog
The head of the UN atomic watchdog said Tuesday that nuclear power will keep growing in the world despite the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, which he visited the previous day.
Threat to Japanese Food Chain Grows as Cesium Contamination Spreads
Radiation fallout from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant poses a growing threat to Japan’s food chain as unsafe levels of cesium found in beef on supermarket shelves were also detected in more vegetables and the ocean.
