President Obama called for more offshore drilling, disclosure of fracking chemicals, more energy development on public lands, more clean-energy jobs, more infrastructure upgrades, and an "all of the above" national energy strategy in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. And he pledged to do as much of it as possible with executive authority if Congress persists in inaction and "obstruction."
"UXBRIDGE, Canada -- Hundreds of thousands of shale gas wells are being "fracked" in the United States and Canada, allowing large amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, to escape into the atmosphere, new studies have shown. Shale gas production results in 40 to 60 percent more global warming emissions than conventional gas, said Robert Howarth of Cornell University in New York State."
"For years, climate scientists have been assailed from many sides -- through e-mail hacking, death threats, politician’s demands for documents, Freedom of Information requests (many having the strong smell of a fishing expedition). A Climate Science Legal Defense Fund set up last fall has taken on a formal affiliation with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an established nonprofit group offering aid and advice to government whistleblowers and scientists working on environmental issues."
"Japan's energy minister admitted on Tuesday that no records were kept of top level discussions in the critical early days on how to respond to the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years."
"The sun is bombarding Earth with radiation from the biggest solar storm in more than six years with more to come from the fast-moving eruption."
"Consumer safety inspectors at the Port of Houston have seized more toys deemed unsafe for children - largely because of choking hazards and lead paint - than almost any other consumer product imported to the United States, second only to fireworks."
"Mexico’s Laguna Region is famed as the country’s largest milk-producing area. But overexploitation of groundwater resources has combined with the effects of climate change to give the region a more dubious distinction. The remaining water supplies are contaminated with arsenic, and related rates of cancer are well above the national average."
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"Kentucky's leaders should consider the health hazards of mining, moving and burning coal as they craft the state's energy policy, an environmental group said Tuesday.
The Kentucky Environmental Foundation, based in Berea, released a 44-page 'health-impact assessment' on coal and sent copies to Gov. Steve Beshear and the General Assembly.
"Children living near DuPont’s plant in West Virginia are exposed to much higher concentrations of an industrial chemical than their mothers, according to a newly published study."
Is the press office helping or hurting journalists' efforts to get science stories right? Newly released email shows that White House and agency "communications people" pressured agency scientists to underestimate the amount of oil flowing into the Gulf during the 2010 BP oil spill. The case offers more evidence that press officers insist on sitting in on journalist-scientist interviews in order to insure the science gets a spin favorable to the administration's political goals. Now a watchdog group has filed a scientific integrity complaint against a NOAA scientist in the incident.
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