TagYates * Radiation

A New Threat to Our Drinking Water: Old Abandoned Gas Wells

A

Some truly stunning news about dangers associated with the ballooning number of abandoned natural gas wells is making the rounds. From the Pulitzer-winning ProPublica investigative team we learn that “…in the last 150 years, prospectors and energy companies have drilled as many as 12 million holes across the U.S. in search of oil and gas. Many were plugged after they dried up. But...

On Sacred Ground: The Fracking of Our National Parks

O

A whole new front is opening up in the fracking debate, and it involves some of America’s most prized natural treasures. It turns out that dozens of our national parks are at risk from gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale region. Most Americans believe our state and federal parks are protected from any sort of industry encroachment, but a look at the fine print shows that many of our national...

Protected Formula?: Senate Bill Gives Frackers an Out on Disclosing Their Chemical Cocktails

P

More legislative action from the fracking front: A Pennsylvania senator has introduced a bill that would “amend the Safe Water Drinking Act to repeal a certain exemption for hydraulic fracturing.” That sounds like good news, right? But when you read the bill, it seems to add its own loophole big enough to drive a drilling rig through. Sen. Robert P. Casey’s bill seems to require drillers to tell...

Growing Anti-Fracking Movement Pushes Policy Changes

G

Across the country, in community centers and high school gyms, the tide is turning against the controversial industry practice of fracking – and it’s turning in a way that’s likely to bring about real changes in U.S. environmental policy that not even the BP oil spill could rouse. In part that’s due to the fact that the spill – America’s worst environmental disaster – is a...

Ohioan tells of ‘Gasland’ experience

O

A three-year saga after a gas well was drilled in his Bainbridge Township neighborhood destroyed his water well and transformed the neighborhood, Irvin Mesmer says.
Mesmer spoke Thursday to about 75 people who gathered in Liberty High School auditorium for his talk and the screening of “Gasland,” an award- winning documentary by Josh Fox about drilling and a method known as hydraulic fracturing.

Grave Concerns Over Fracking Ripple Across Multiple States and Put Federal and State Regulators at Odds

G

In the absence of federal leadership on the fracking issue, we’re seeing the debate shift to state and local jurisdictions, from New York to Texas. The results reflect the relative clout of environmental concerns, with New York initiating a fracking moratorium while industry-friendly regulators in Texas defend the practice in a high-profile case. The Dow Jones News Service reports that...

Stuart H. Smith is an attorney based in New Orleans fighting major oil companies and other polluters.
Cooper Law Firm

Follow Us

© Stuart H Smith, LLC