EPA is conducting a study of fracking, no matter where it is used (e.g., gas shale, oil shale, coalbed methane, tight sands). Public comment is being allowed as the agency's Science Advisory Board meets March 7-8, 2011, to review the draft study plan. Initial study and research results are possible by the end of 2012, and a report may be published some time in 2014.
A new report from the Royal Society of Canada provides a mixed verdict on the environmental impacts of oil sands extraction in Alberta.
"The California utility whose gas pipeline exploded last fall had rejected federal recommendations to install more automatic shut-off valves to help reduce the risks from a rupture and fire, an investigative panel was told Tuesday."
The consent decree that established the March 16 release date also mandates that a final rule be published by Nov. 16, 2011 (nine years later than the deadline dictated by the Clean Air Act). Here are several tools you can use to get a handle on the power plants and their emissions in your audience area prior to release of the rule.
Some Iowa lawmakers are pushing a bill they say would protect children by removing from the market many plastic products containing BPA, which some scientists think harms health. Lobbyists for the chemical industry say that's premature.
"Hundreds of activists marched to the federal courthouse Monday to support a man who became an environmental folk hero by faking the purchase of $1.7 million of federal oil-and-gas drilling leases in an act of civil disobedience."
"[Australian] taxpayers spend about 11 times more encouraging the use of fossil fuels than on climate change programs - and the sum is growing."
"The new well will track one plugged after a moratorium. Obama administration officials say pressure from courts and Congress did not affect the decision, but that the firm met new safety rules."
As gas companies race to drill more wells that produce gas with a technique known as hydrofracking, the dangers of the toxic wastewater they discharge turn out to be greater than previously understood.
Greenwire sorts through the dust storm of counterclaims on the accuracy of "Gasland," an Oscar-nominated documentary about the impacts of gas drilling and production methods known as "fracking."
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