"Weak Federal Rules Cover Chemical Spills, Explosions"
"This month's chemical spill in West Virginia reveals a weak web of rules on chemical use."
Source: USA TODAY, 01/28/2014
Disasters
"Accidents Surge as Oil Industry Takes the Train"
"CASSELTON, N.D. — Kerry’s Kitchen is where Casselton residents gather for gossip and comfort food, especially the caramel rolls baked fresh every morning. But a fiery rail accident last month only a half mile down the tracks, which prompted residents to evacuate the town, has shattered this calm, along with people’s confidence in the crude-oil convoys that rumble past Kerry’s seven times a day."
Source: NY Times, 01/27/2014
"New Study Shakes Up Science On Midwest Quake Zone"
"One of the biggest earthquakes in U.S. history didn't occur in California. Or Alaska. It happened in the country's midsection some 200 years ago in an area where today seven states straddle the Mississippi River Valley."
Source: NPR, 01/27/2014
"Explosion and Fire Rock Natural Gas Pipeline in Southern Manitoba"
"ST. PIERRE-JOLYS, Manitoba — Several thousand people in southern Manitoba have been told that a pipeline explosion could mean they will be without natural gas service for up to several days as temperatures dip below zero."
Source: Canadian Press, 01/27/2014
"NTSB Pushes Regulators To Improve Safety of Crude Oil Trains"
"The National Transportation Safety Board called Thursday for federal regulators to take more aggressive steps to protect the public and the environment from oil spills and fires from trains."
Source: McClatchy, 01/24/2014
Fund for Environmental Journalism Announces Winter 2013 Grantees
Thanks to generous funding from the Grantham Foundation, and individual members and friends of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ), we are pleased to announce grants totaling $12,500 to five journalism projects selected in SEJ’s Fund for Environmental Journalism Winter 2013 grant cycle. Pictured: FEJ grantee Douglas Haynes.
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Drinking Water Crisis Reveals Knowledge Gaps
You read about the 300,000 West Virginians who don't know if they are drinking safe water — and ask "Could it happen here?" The answer is "You betcha!" Environmental journalists have many tools for discovering drinking-water disasters-waiting-to-happen in their own bailiwicks.
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Ten Questions Ken Ward Jr. Is Waiting for EPA to Answer
- How is the 1 ppm "safe level" calculated? What was EPA's involvement, and how does this method match EPA's standard approach to such things?
- EXACTLY what is being done to contain and remediate the site? What is the process going forward for dealing with that?
- How is EPA's response to Sen Rockefeller's letter asking for a long-term study?
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SEJ, SPJ Urge EPA, CDC to End Press Office Obstacles in Public Health Crises
Reporters scrambling to inform the 300,000 citizens of Charleston, West Virginia, about why they could not drink their tap water, what health threats it presented, and who was responsible faced a stone wall from most of the responsible government agencies in the early days of the crisis.
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"Propane Shortage: Winter Storm Prompts Energy Emergency in Midwest"
"A propane shortage in the Midwest is raising concerns about residents who rely on the fuel for heating. The propane shortage has prompted a state of emergency in Ohio, as bitterly cold weather descends on the Midwest."
Source: Christian Science Monitor, 01/22/2014
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