More access was urged for records on oil and gas leasing, government-issued permits and leases related to metal mining, grazing livestock on public lands, harvesting ocean fish, operating chemical plants, drilling for oil, logging, building roads or strip malls, coal mining, filling wetlands, and more.
ProPublica reporter Abrahm Lustgarten (left) revealed that some of the biggest fracking companies have been collecting extensive baseline data since 2008, keeping it concealed from public knowledge — including denying Duke University researchers the data when asked for it. The withheld data could either exonerate the companies or prove them responsible for pollution.
"The rare Canada lynx, whose range has shrunk considerably in recent decades, faces a grave threat from rising temperatures in Maine, federal wildlife experts said on Tuesday."
"[On Tuesday] the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a national management plan to combat white-nose syndrome, a disease that has killed more than a million hibernating bats in eastern North America since it was discovered in caves near Albany, New York in 2006."
"Eighty percent of cushions used in car seats, portable cribs and other baby furnishings contain chemical flame retardants that can accumulate in babies' bodies, according to a new study published Wednesday."
"Veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have a higher rate of debilitating respiratory illness than those deployed elsewhere, according to a new study that bolsters concerns among some medical professionals and members of Congress about the potential harm to troops from toxic chemicals and dust in the Middle East."
"The Food and Drug Administration is doing a poor job ensuring that imported seafood doesn't pose health risks to Americans, failing to properly assess foreign producers and inspect the products they ship to the U.S., according to a congressional research report released Monday."
Gas-drilling companies have long argued that proof did not exist that their 'hydrofracking' technique did not contaminate wellwater. Now it turns out that drilling companies have the data that would settle the question, but are keeping it secret.
"Cargo was slowly moving along the bloated Mississippi River after a costly daylong standstill, while officials kept an eye on the lower Delta where thousands of acres of farmland could be swamped by water that is inching closer to the top of a levee."
"For the second time in six years, the Washington, D.C.-based conservation group American Rivers today put the Susquehanna at the top of its annual 'Endangered Rivers' list, citing rapidly growing and 'poorly regulated' natural gas drilling using hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking.'"
