Sign of the day: “fracking = death” - @azipaybarah
President Obama’s Christmas present to America: New air quality standards that sharply reduce the emissions of mercury and other airborne toxins from power plants. Also: this photo.
(via barackobama)
Global warming skeptic now agrees temperatures are rising
The study of the world’s surface temperatures by Richard Muller was partially bankrolled by a foundation connected to global warming deniers.Muller’s finding of a warming world is no different from what mainstream climate scientists have said for decades. What is different is who is behind the study. One-quarter of the $600,000 to do the research came from the Charles Koch Foundation, whose founder is a major funder of skeptic groups and the Tea Party movement.a
A visualization of Virginia quake seismic waves making their way across the US
Solar power for less than $500
Here are five ways to start using solar power without spending tens of thousands of dollars.
What is the Gulf of Mexico dead zone?
The giant, lifeless expanse appears every summer, but historic flooding along the Mississippi River could make 2011 a record-breaking year.
Fracking still on hold in New York pending environmental review - ProPublica
The New York Times reported today that New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo is planning to lift a “ban” on hydraulic fracturing. But whatever the governor announces tomorrow, it’s unlikely to change the de facto moratorium on drilling in the state that began nearly three years ago, when the state committed to a fresh environmental review.
Cuomo Emphasizes Aim to Close Indian Point Plant
One of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s top advisers met with the operators of the Indian Point nuclear plant last week and told them that the governor was determined to close the plant.
(…)
Mr. Cuomo has repeatedly taken the position in speeches that he wants to close the plant. But his administration had not delivered the message so directly to the company [Entergy], or in such strong words, and company officials left the meeting alarmed.
Continue reading… NYTimes
Hong Kong’s smog problem
A blanket of haze hangs over the Hong Kong skyline early on April 3. A survey released at the end of 2010 by public policy think tank Civic Exchange found one-quarter of residents would like to leave Hong Kong to escape its pollution after levels reached a record high, prompting government warnings to people to avoid going out.
The high cost — to both the environment and our health — of bottled water is the subject of this documentary that enlists activists, environmentalists, community leaders and others to expose the dark side of the bottled water industry. Americans may rethink their obsession with bottled H2O when they learn of the unregulated industry’s willingness to ignore environmental and health concerns, and the problems that arise as a result.
I’m done! I watched this last night, it’s streaming on Netflix. No more bottled water for me. I’m serious!
Millions of Fish Die in Redondo Beach
“There’s basically fish everywhere you go in the harbor,” the harbor’s assistant manager, Jason McMullin, told the LA Times.
Fish lie dead in the harbor area of Redondo Beach, south of Los Angeles, California March 8. Millions of fish washed up dead early on Tuesday, puzzling authorities and triggering a cleanup effort.
Daily Chart: 2010 might be the warmest year ever recorded. Britain’s Met Office reported that from January to October the world was 0.55°C warmer than the average between 1961 and 1990, the benchmark. Across three datasets, each of the last ten years features in the top 11 warmest years recorded.
Fracking Moratorium Passed in New York
Critics of hydraulic fracturing, a method of natural-gas extraction that involves shooting millions of gallons of pressurized fluid laced with toxic chemicals into the ground to break up rock formations and release gas trapped inside, have been gathering force for several years now as the technique has become more widespread. While fracking, as it is colloquially known, has made vast new gas reserves accessible in the United States, leading to hype about natural gas as a solution to our nation’s energy problems, the rush of drilling has occasioned disturbing accounts of groundwater contamination and environmental degradation. Over the course of the past year the issue has taken on new prominence, with an acclaimed (and Oscar short-listed) documentary film, Gasland, doing much to draw attention to the darker side of natural gas, and with concerned citizens and activists across the country taking action to slow down or halt the pace of gas-related leasing and drilling in their communities. In June 2010, Vanity Fair explored how families in Dimock, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere have been grimly impacted by water contamination and other forms of pollution related to gas drilling. The state of New York, which sits atop a large gas reserve known as the Marcellus Shale, has become a particularly fierce battleground in the debate over fracking, largely because of plans to drill for natural gas via fracking in the New York City watershed. Yesterday, the New York State Assembly voted 93 to 43 to impose a statewide moratoriumon fracking while a comprehensive review of the practice is undertaken.
Continue reading… Vanity Fair
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I’m very afraid, health-wise, for the kids, just because of the exposure to the water and the constant not-knowing what we’re breathing in outside.”
Big players are rushing in. Exxon has invested $30 billion in the Marcellus in recent months. Foreign investors are also swooping in. India’s largest company, Reliance, has purchased a large stake. China, Korea, and Britain are investing in gas drilling in the Marcellus shale.
As gas companies rush in to make deals with landowners for the right to drill, the money on the table - signing fees and royalties - is substantial, and hard to argue with in a recession … hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases.
In Pennsylvania, 60 gas companies hold 4,504 permits to drill, almost half (1,195) granted this year alone.
What’s driving the drilling rush here, and across the country, are advances in hydraulic fracturing, or “hydro-fracking,” a process whereby millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are blasted deep underground - about 5,000 feet - forcing cracks in the shale and freeing natural gas for collection.
It is at the surface where problems have been reported, like blowouts and spills into ground water …
… And - as depicted in the HBO documentary “Gasland” - ignition at the kitchen sink.
Gasland”: Is “Fracking” Polluting America?
”A Burning Debate Over Natural Gas Drilling - Chemicals Energy Cos. Secretly Use Fuel Water Concerns
Legislation is being proposed in the Senate, sponsored by Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., called the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Ac
