Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
Dimock, Pennsylvania Residents Will Stop Receiving Water From Fracking Company
Pennsylvania environmental regulators said Wednesday they have given permission to a natural-gas driller to stop delivering replacement water to residents whose drinking water wells were tainted with methane.
Southlake Maintains Setback Rules for Drilling Near Homes
After months of debate, the City Council decided to keep setbacks from natural gas wells to houses at 1,000 feet, so gas production companies could apply to drill in Southlake again next month.
Fracked Up: You Don’t Miss Your Water ‘Til Your Well Explodes
Rick Perry recently made the ludicrous statement that there is not “a single incident of unsafe hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.” Tell that to the residents of Dimock, Pennsylvania who are finally settling a case around methane leaks in local water supplies.
Fish and Fracking – A Collection of Eco Stories from October
Another danger to fish, and life in general, was highlighted by a team of researchers from the University of Arkansas, the University of Central Arkansas and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). This danger is “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing. Fracking involves breaking subterranean rock formations with high-pressure fracturing fluid to help with the extraction of resources such as oil or natural gas. The researchers warned that all water sources are at risk of contamination, including drinking water, as fuel and chemical additives in the fracturing fluid mix with reservoirs, streams and rivers.
BP OIL SPILL:
Saying that BP has failed to settle with thousands of victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill last year, protesters targeted the oil giant’s Houston headquarters Thursday to make their concerns known.
Photos: Pelicans Covered in BP Oil Wins Top Wildlife Photo Prize
Fittingly, the winner of the 2011 Veolia Wildlife Environment Photographer of the Year award captured the shock of last year’s BP Deepwater Horizon spill in the US with a single image of oiled pelicans huddled in a rescue center.
The News-Press Joins Scientists Studying Effects of BP Oil Spill
Today, a team of scientists will cruise aboard the Research Vessel Weatherbird II to look for effects of the BP oil spill in pelagic (open-ocean) fish, and The News-Press will be on board.
Death on Dauphin Island [Video]
I’ve been down to the Gulf of Mexico three times during the last year and a half, and on my second visit, almost exactly a year ago, I went out to Alabama’s Dauphin Island and made this short film.
RADIATION:
Greenpeace Criticizes Japan Radiation Screening
Greenpeace called on Tokyo to toughen radiation screening and food labelling rules on Thursday after it said low levels of radiation had been detected in seafood sold at Japanese stores.
