Today’s essential reads.
FRACKING:
Wall Street Journal Spins Fracking Study To Downplay Risks
A Wall Street Journal editorial obscured the fact that a Duke University study strongly suggested methane from a natural gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, contaminated water supplies.
Broad Coalition Condemns Unbalanced Gas Drilling Panel
Community leaders, environmental organizations, faith-based groups and health advocates are calling on Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to reform the industry-dominated Natural Gas Subcommittee he set up to investigate safety issues raised by hydraulic fracturing.
Debate Over “Fracking” Continues
The words “fracking kills” are scrawled on a building as a warning in this normally welcoming town.
BP OIL SPILL:
Guidelines For Helping Energy Operators Identify Risk Are Unveiled
Four months before offshore oil and gas operators are required to adopt risk-management procedures aimed at improving worker safety and preventing another oil spill blowout, an interim report commissioned by federal regulators and released Tuesday identified potential guidelines that could be used evaluate the new plans.
BP Moves to Dismiss Mexican States’ and Alabama Cities’ Complaints in Oil Spill MDL
Attorneys for BP have filed a motion to dismiss the claims filed by the Louisiana District Attorneys, Alabama cities and Mexican states against the oil company following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oilrig explosion and oil spill.
Task Force: Restoring Sediment Key to Gulf Revival
Restoring the flow of sediment to Gulf Coast wetlands and barrier islands that are key wildlife habitats and provide crucial protection from storms is one of the biggest challenges officials face as they seek to restore a region whose long-time ecological problems came into focus after last year’s disastrous oil spill.
Senate Committee To Take Up Legislation Earmarking BP Fines For Gulf States
A Senate committee will soon take up legislation that would earmark 80 percent of any fines paid by BP for last year’s oil spill to the Gulf states.
BP Holds Gulf Spill Assessment ‘Financially Captive’
BP has been able to delay and deny efforts to assess the damage caused by its 2010 oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico because it controls the funding for those efforts, a Louisiana state official told senators today.
RADIATION:
Los Alamos Nuclear Lab Under Siege From Wildfire
A wildfire burning near the desert birthplace of the atomic bomb advanced on the Los Alamos laboratory and thousands of outdoor drums of plutonium-contaminated waste Tuesday as authorities stepped up efforts to protect the site and monitor the air for radiation.
