Agenda for SEJ's 22nd Annual Conference
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Texas County Sues Over Toxic Storage on River
"Angered that a riverside industrial waste pit leached potent toxins into the San Jacinto River for almost half a century, the Harris County [Texas] Attorney's Office is asking that those responsible be fined as much as the law allows -- $25,000 a day -- all the way back to the site's 1965 opening."
Source: Houston Chronicle, 12/29/2011
Texas: "New Codes Aim to Cut Energy Use"
Some building codes in Texas are forcing new homes to be more energy-efficient.
Source: Texas Tribune, 12/20/2011
States Partly Fill Federal Vacuum on Fracking Fluid Disclosure Law
Colorado, which adopted its disclosure rules December 13, 2011, joins Texas, Pennsylvania, and several other states in requiring some disclosure by drillers of the chemicals they pump into shale formations under high pressures to release natural gas. Scores of chemicals, some very toxic, may be involved.
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"Disasters Doom Texas Oyster Crop"
"A monstrous bloom of toxic algae looming across the Texas coast has shut down oyster season. Fueled by Texas' ongoing drought, the algae — known as Karenia brevis— thrives in warm, salty water and has spread through the bays and islands along Texas' 350-mile coast, says Meridith Byrd, a marine biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The algae could cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea in humans and is harmful to fish but not fatal to people, she says."
Source: USA TODAY, 12/14/2011
"A Citizen Activist Forces New Mexico's Dairies To Clean Up Their Act"
"New Mexico has passed some of the most progressive dairy-related water regulations in the West."
Source: High Country News, 12/05/2011
BLM Says 9 Western States Have Worthy Wilderness Areas
Designating lands as wilderness or some other highly protected status always is contentious, but the BLM has identified 24 areas in 9 western states the agency says have significant local support for this idea: CA (9 areas), CO (3), ID (1), MT (1), NM (2), NV (2), OR (2), UT (3), and WA (1).
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Feds Announce Offshore Oil and Gas Target Areas
Offshore oil and gas drilling from 2012-2017 would be focused in the western and central Gulf of Mexico and off the shores of northern and southern Alaska, if the Dept. of Interior's proposed plan and draft programmatic environmental impact statement, released Nov. 8, 2011, are accepted as is. A 60-day public comment period ends Jan. 9, 2012.
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