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EARTHWORKS in the News
Northern Dynasty sees consortium of majors developing Pebble as permitting approaches
Mining Weekly | Matthew Hill
February 18, 2012
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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The massive, and equally controversial, Pebble project in Alaska will most likely be developed by a consortium of major mining firms, a spokesperson for Northern Dynasty, the 50% owner, said this week.
The TSX-listed company, which has Rio Tinto as a near-19% stake, has been keeping potential investors up to speed with its progress “so that if there is a move by any company to take over Northern Dynasty, it would be a competitive situation”, Sean Magee said in an interview.
Tagged with: no dirty gold, pebble mine, keystone xl
Ethical Gold the Pride of 80 Jewelry Retailers on Valentine’s Day
Environment News Service
February 15, 2012
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WASHINGTON, DC, February 14, 2012 (ENS) - Some 80 jewelry retailers from around the world, including eight of the top 10 retailers in the United States, have committed to cleaning up dirty metals by signing the No Dirty Gold campaign's Golden Rules for more responsible metals sourcing.
The Golden Rules are a set of social, human rights, and environmental criteria for gold and other precious metals. Jewelers who have signed the Golden Rules are committed to selling gold jewelry that is mined and smelted responsibly.
Tagged with: golden rules, no dirty gold, costco, macys, valentines day
For Valentine’s Day, 80 Jewelry Retailers Commit to Sustainable Supply Chain
Sustainable Business
February 14, 2012
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Many aren't aware that mining for metals, such as gold, causing the most toxic pollution of any industry in the US.
Today, over 80 jewelry retailers from around the world, including 8 of the top 10 US retailers, committed to cleaning up dirty metals by signing the No Dirty Gold campaign's "Golden Rules" for more responsible metals sourcing.
80% of the gold mined worldwide is turned into jewelry.
Tagged with: no dirty gold, costco, macys, valentines day, tiffany's
No Dirty Gold Campaign Targets Macy’s and Costco
IDEX
February 14, 2012
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In a bid to get Macy’s – the fifth-largest retailer of gold jewelry in the United States – to sign up to the “Golden Rules” for more responsible metal sourcing, activists from No Dirty Gold yesterday (Monday) hung a balloon banner at Macys’ Washington, DC flagship store, that said “Macy’s: Don’t Break Our Hearts. Dump Dirty Gold.”
“Until Macy’s ends its love affair with dirty gold, the company’s commitment to sustainability and transparency is just a bunch of hot air,” said No Dirty Gold campaign coordinator, Nick Magel.
Tagged with: no dirty gold, costco, macys, valentines day
Don’t Be Stupid, Cupid—Show Your Love Responsibly
The Huffington Post | Annie Leonard
February 10, 2012
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For holidays tainted by commercialism, Valentine's Day gives Christmas a run for the money -- big money. The National Retail Federation estimates Americans will spend $17.6 billion on Valentine's gifts this year, including $4.1 billion on jewelry, $1.8 billion on flowers and $1.5 billion on candy. But for consumers with a conscience, the very things Madison Avenue markets as expressions of love are some of the worst stuff you can buy.
Tagged with: no dirty gold, valentines day, story of stuff
Barnett shale environmentalists come to town to talk fracking
Victoria Advocate | Dianna Wray
February 4, 2012
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CUERO - Standing in front of a dry-erase board, petroleum engineer Kathy Martin sketched a drawing of a vertical well, the kind commonly used to drill the Eagle Ford Shale.
"Oil companies always say there's a mile of rock between their drilling and the aquifer, but if there's a fault, that stuff can get through. Everything likes to take the path of least resistance, teenagers included."
Tagged with: fracking, texas, eagle ford shale, legislation
Town hall meeting to look at fracking, toxic emissions from Eagle Ford Shale
Victoria Advocate | Dianna Wray
February 1, 2012
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The third Neighbor to Neighbor Town Hall will address the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing and the possibility of toxic emissions from the process.
Fracking is the process where a mix of water, sand and chemicals is flushed into a brittle shale formation, allowing the hydrocarbons trapped in it to be produced.
Tagged with: fracking, texas, eagle ford shale, toxics test tag
Fracking gets a new friend in Obama
Durango Herald | Joe Hanel
January 26, 2012
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AURORA – In Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Barack Obama adopted a position on natural gas that could have come straight out of the mouth of John Hickenlooper, the petroleum geologist-turned-Colorado governor.
Obama called for public disclosure of fracking fluids while at the same time insisting the practice is safe and is key to America’s energy strategy.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, obama, state of the union
America’s fracking problem
Al Jazeera English | The Stream
January 26, 2012
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Hydraulic fracturing – also known as fracking – is the process of pumping water and chemicals underground to fracture rocks and release natural gas.
In the United States, there is a heated debate over the safety of these practices and whether they are hazardous to the environment and public health.
Tagged with: fracking, disclosure, psyops
EPA moving in on state regulation of drilling
E&E | Mike Soraghan
January 26, 2012
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U.S. EPA's decision to truck water to four homes in Dimock, Pa., is just its latest move to bypass state regulation of natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
From the suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas, to Pavillion, Wyo., to northeastern Pennsylvania, EPA officials have taken increasingly bold steps in drilling pollution cases, implying or even proclaiming that state officials did not do enough to protect their own residents.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, texas, pennsylvania, marcellus shale, dimock
Don’t Drink the Water
Fort Worth Weekly | Peter Gorman
January 25, 2012
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When Jeff Locker looks out over his 1,500 acres of land just outside Pavillion, Wyo., he remembers what it used to look like: three horses in the corral, fields of barley and alfalfa bending in the breeze. These days the view from every window looks out over nearby shale gas wells, his own contaminated water wells, and an empty pasture: He stopped keeping horses after two of them died from nerve damage after drinking from a large plastic stock tank fed by his well. His wife is suffering from extreme neuropathy — he describes it a shooting nerve pain that radiates from the base of her spine or up her shins — that also came on after she drank the well water.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, texas, wyoming, clean water not dirty drilling, ohio
Permits pile up as gas and oil activity rises
Durango Herald | Ann Imse
January 23, 2012
Colorado’s gas and oil boom combined with a cash-strapped state government has caused a backlog of 1,800 pending air-pollution control permits for gas and oil equipment.
“It could have an impact on jobs,” said Doug Hock, spokesman for Encana, a major natural gas and oil producer.
Construction projects can be held up for a year waiting for the state health department to start reviewing an application.
Tagged with: fracking, ogap, colorado
Fracking Companies Tap Military Psy Ops and Counterinsurgency Handbook to Make You Like Them
Scene Magazine | Kyle Swenson
January 17, 2012
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Fracking — or hydraulic fracturing, as it's known up in the top story, K2-view, Perrier-on-the-table board rooms of big-pocketed transnational oil and energy corporations, where the slightest breathy mention of the term fires up visions of parading dollar signs and upward NYSE jags in the minds of hungry suits — is controversial. As you may have heard. Any time a natural gas mining practice can be linked conclusively to seismic rumbles, you're talking about a concept that's going to have to work for public appeal.
Tagged with: fracking, range resources, psyops, anadarko
Colleyville residents brace for “fracking” of gas wells
CW 33 | Dawn Tongish
January 16, 2012
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COLLEYVILLE, TX—Two women picked up pecans outside the site where seven natural gas wells are located in Colleyville, but it is the fracking that may soon be going on inside the facility that has some local residents concerned. Titan Operating has plans to begin fracking the wells, rather than waiting for a pipeline connection to be built to carry the gas away, even though residents say that was not the original plan.
"We thought it was just an exploration thing and the fracking wouldn't start until they put a line in to take the gas away," Colleyville resident, Edward Mitchell said.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, texas, public health, drilling, barnett shale
A Mining Law Whose Time Has Passed
The New York Times | Robert M. Hughes and Carol Ann Woody
January 11, 2012
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IN 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a mining law to spur the development of the West by giving hard-rock mining precedence over other uses of federal land. But the law has long since outlived its purpose, and its environmental consequences have been severe.
Mining claims for copper, gold, uranium and other minerals cover millions of those acres, and the law, now 140 years old, makes it nearly impossible to block extraction, no matter how serious the potential consequences. Soaring metal prices are now driving new mine proposals across the West.
Tagged with: mining, alaska, 1872 mining law, gold mining, public lands, montana, rock creek mine, chetco river, fisheries scientists, kensington mine
Grand Canyon million-acre new mining claim withdrawal in effect
Mine Web | Dorothy Kosich
January 10, 2012
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Environmentalists praised the Obama Administration, while House and Senate Republicans accused the President of costing the country desperately needed jobs as U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced his decision to withdraw public lands near the Grand Canyon from new mining claims for two decades.
"We have been entrusted to care for and protect our precious environmental and cultural resources, and we have chosen a responsible path that makes sense for this and future generations," Salazar said as he announced the Public Land Order and signed a Record of Decision Monday during a ceremony held at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C.
Tagged with: mining, uranium, grand canyon
Into hostile territory
Denton Record-Chronicle | Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe and Lowell Brown
January 7, 2012
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FLOWER MOUND — In the months before, it was just Tammi Vajda and several others who came to Town Council meetings.
They were outnumbered by other Flower Mound residents who favored natural gas drilling in town. They called Vajda names.
“My husband asked me why I did this,” Vajda said. After one brutal meeting in late 2009 — when some mineral owners called her a Zionist and a tree-hugging liberal — he all but stopped coming to meetings with her.
Tagged with: fracking, texas, public health, psyops, gas patch
Is it fracking or fracing?
Fuel Fix | Simone Sebastian
December 23, 2011
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Hydraulic fracturing has become a hotbed of controversy, but so has its nickname — fracking.
But the origin of the “fracking” moniker is far more innocuous than its current use in certain circles, as a kind of expletive. Battlestar Galactica used “fracking” as a surrogate for the more popular F-word.
Tagged with: fracking
County seeks new roadblock on Rosemont
Inside Tucson Business
December 22, 2011
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In their ongoing battle over development of the Rosemont Copper mine, Pima County officials are asking U.S. Forest Service officials to make sure the cash bond posted by the mining company is high enough to pay for cleanup of groundwater pollution and other environmental issues.
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry asked Coronado National Forest Supervisor Jim Upchurch "to address significant flaws in the current (draft environmental impact statement) DEIS and provide the public and interested parties with additional time to comment."
Tagged with: copper, mine, santa ritas, rosemont
40% of state drilling regulators have industry ties
E&E | Mike Soraghan
December 19, 2011
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Robert Finne was talking with a friend about the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission earlier this year when they both started wondering, "Who are these people?"
So they wrote to the commission and asked. Finne, a critic of gas drilling in the Fayetteville Shale, was surprised to learn that most of the commissioners owned oil and gas drilling companies.
Tagged with: oil and gas, regulation, drilling
Delegate amendment calls for study of ‘actual effects’ of drilling activity
State Journal | Taylor Kuykendall
December 16, 2011
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In the process of crafting regulations for drilling in the state's recently discovered Marcellus shale reserves, one member of the House of Delegates added a provision for studying setback distances that could revolutionize how drilling operations are sited.
Del. Woody Ireland, R-Ritchie, successfully proposed an amendment to the governor's bill regulating horizontal drilling during the special session. The amendment called for a study on utilizing actual impact measurements over "arbitrary" measurements such as distance. Ireland calls for the study of use of noise, light, dust and volatile organic compound exposure in determining setback distances for wells.
Tagged with: drilling, marcellus, environmental impacts, west virginia, horizontal drilling, dust, noise
Report: Texas Not Protecting Residents From Gas Drilling Dangers
CBS DFW | Jason Allen
December 14, 2011
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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – A scathing new report accuses Texas of not protecting its residents from possible dangers of gas drilling. The report comes from the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project, part of the Washington-based group Earthworks.
The report recommends restrictions on emissions, new rules to contain drilling fluids and an evaluation on the amount of groundwater being pulled out of the aquifier for drilling.
Tagged with: fracking, texas, public health, drilling
As Gas Drilling Spreads, Towns Stand Ground Over Control
New York Times | Sabrina Tavernise
December 14, 2011
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SOUTH FAYETTE, Pa. — As energy companies move to drill in densely populated areas from Pennsylvania to Texas, battles are breaking out over who will have the final say in managing the shale gas boom.
The fight, which pits towns and cities against energy companies and states eager for growth, has raised a fundamental question about the role of local government: How much authority should communities have over the use of their land?
Tagged with: fracking, oil and gas, natural gas, pennsylvania, marcellus, local ordinances
Air Too Dangerous to Breathe: How Gas Drilling Can Turn Rural Communities Into Industrial Wastelands
Alternet | Nina Berman
December 13, 2011
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The exploding faucet may have launched the movement against fracking, but it's the unsexy compressor station that is pushing it to maturity.
Last week, more than a hundred activists from Pennsylvania and New York, including actor Mark Ruffalo, brought thousands of gallons of drinking water to 11 families in Dimock, Pa., who had been left dry after Cabot Oil and Gas stopped their water deliveries.
Tagged with: fracking, oil and gas, natural gas, pennsylvania, gasland, marcellus, clean water, clean air, dimock
Group pressures Macy’s on ethical sourcing
National Jeweler
December 7, 2011
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Washington--Environmental group Earthworks is applying more public relations pressure to the jewelry industry, this time advocating for Macy’s to commit to sourcing gold ethically.
Earlier this month, Earthworks issued a statement calling out the department store chain for being one of the last major retailers that has yet to sign the No Dirty Gold campaign’s “Golden Rules,” a set of social, human rights and environmental criteria for mining gold and other precious metals.
Tagged with: bristol bay, jewelry retailers, golden rules, no dirty gold, macys, conga
Both sides find fault in Colorado fracking rule
Denver Post | Mark Jaffe
December 6, 2011
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Colorado's proposed rule requiring drillers to disclose the ingredients in their fracking fluids drew fire from both environmentalists and industry representatives at a hearing Monday.
While both sides supported the basics in proposal from the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, each sought changes to the rule.
Tagged with: fracking, oil and gas, colorado, disclosure, trade secret
“Fracking” for Shale Gas: Neither Clean Nor Green
Tierramerica | Stephen Leahy
December 5, 2011
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Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" is being used to tap the last remaining natural gas deposits across large areas of the United States and western Canada, fueling continued dependence on hydrocarbons instead of a shift to genuinely clean energy sources to cool the planet.
Called shale gas, these deposits represent a new and enormous source of fossil fuel.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, methane, horizontal drilling, durban, shale
Panelists hear debate about fracking fluids
Durango Herald | Joe Hanel
December 5, 2011
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DENVER – Colorado oil and gas commissioners heard 12 hours of debate over hydraulic fracturing Monday, but they delayed making a decision on a rule that would require companies to reveal the chemicals they use.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is considering forcing companies to use the FracFocus.org website to disclose which chemicals they use to frack wells. Critics said the commission’s plan is too weak because it would allow companies to exclude their fluids from the website’s list by calling them a trade secret.
Tagged with: fracking, colorado, disclosure, chemicals
Groups Pressure Macy’s to Commit to Ethical Gold Standards
Diamonds.net | Ricci Dipshan
December 1, 2011
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RAPAPORT... Earthworks and social action group Change.org began a petition drive to rally consumers to press retailer Macy’s to commit to using ethically sourced gold. A similar petition aimed at retailer Target earlier this year signed-up 22,000 citizens and helped to convince the retailer to agree to the “Golden Rules,” which are a set of social, human rights and environmental criteria for mining gold and other precious metals by Earthwork's No Dirty Gold Campaign.
Tagged with: jewelry retailers, no dirty gold, macys
Fracturing democracy?
Facing South | Sue Sturgis
December 1, 2011
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The grassroots movement against the controversial technique of drilling for natural gas in shale formations -- known as hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" -- is gathering momentum, scoring recent political victories in several states with large gas reserves.
Tagged with: oil and gas, drilling, psyops, communities, sharon wilson
Meet the Change Makers: Tiffany's Diamonds and Gold Get Greenish Sparkle With Stance Against Pebble Mine
OnEarth | Adam Aston
December 1, 2011
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Most businesses hungrily pursue new sources of vital raw materials. Tiffany & Co., by contrast, has begun to forge a different path. In the last several years, the company has taken an increasingly public and vocal stand against an enormous gold mine that has been proposed at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Alaska. Pebble Mine, as the project is known, is estimated to hold more than $300 billion worth of gold ore and other precious metals.
Tagged with: mining, gold, alaska, jewelry retailers, no dirty gold, rio tinto, pebble mine, tiffany's
Smokin’ Southwest: Take an aerial tour of fossil-fuel country
CNET | Martin LaMonica
November 25, 2011
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FARMINGTON, N.M.--Viewing the San Juan basin by air is one of the most dramatic ways to see where your energy comes from.
I got a chance to tour a portion of the basin on a small plane run by EcoFlight two weeks ago as part of a fellowship organized by the Institutes of Journalism & Natural Resources (IJNR). While most people have a vague idea of how energy is produced, the quick trip brought to life the footprint of large-scale energy production.
Tagged with: fracking, oil and gas, new mexico
Disclosure of ‘Fracking’ Chemicals not Complete
Columbus Dispatch | Spencer Hunt
November 21, 2011
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State regulators say they are ready to oversee an expected onslaught of drilling by energy companies eager to tap vast quantities of oil and gas buried deep in Ohio’s Utica shale.
Regulators point to proposed standards that companies would have to meet to safely drill oil and gas wells. The plan covers everything from which steel pipes would have to be used to construct the wells to what to do if a drill bores into an old mine shaft.
Tagged with: fracking, hydraulic fracturing, public health, disclosure, regulations, ohio, utica shale
Environment: Mining law overhaul is long overdue
Summit County Voice | Bob Berwyn
November 20, 2011
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SUMMIT COUNTY — If federal lawmakers are serious about shrinking the budget deficit, they should be looking seriously at a proposal by U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) that would make sure the oil, gas and mining industries pay their fare share.
Markey introduced his proposed legislation in the House Natural Resources Committee last week.
A key component of this comprehensive legislation would overhaul the General Mining Law of 1872, which allows mining of gold, copper, uranium and other metals virtually anywhere on Western public lands, with few environmental safeguards and no return to the taxpayers. Hardrock mining is the only industry that extracts resources from public lands that does not pay federal royalties.
Tagged with: 1872 mining law, subsidies, rep. ed markey
Officials seek local control on gas drilling
Standard Speaker | Laura Legere
November 19, 2011
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Municipal officials from 12 Pennsylvania counties sent a letter to state legislators this week asking them to cut provisions from pending House and Senate Marcellus Shale bills that would limit or remove local zoning control over oil and gas drilling.
The 46 officials argue that the bills unfairly exempt oil and gas operations from local land use regulations or standardize limits on local control.
Tagged with: fracking, ogap, regulation, pennsylvania, marcellus shale, drilling reform, local ordinances
Lawmakers Look at Drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
C-SPAN
November 18, 2011
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Tagged with: 1872 mining law, subsidies, c-span, rep. ed markey
NM regulators approve fracking disclosure rule
AP | Susan Montoya Bryan
November 18, 2011
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ALBUQUERQUE -- New Mexico oil and natural gas producers will be required to disclose the fluids used in hydraulic fracturing operations under a proposal approved Thursday by the state Oil Conservation Commission.
The commission made a unanimous decision to support the disclosure rule during a hearing in Santa Fe after taking testimony from industry experts and watchdog groups.
Tagged with: fracking, hydraulic fracturing, regulation, new mexico, disclosure, new mexico oil conservation division
Democrats tout bill to reform energy and mineral extraction
E & E News | Manuel Quinones
November 18, 2011
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Several House Natural Resources Committee Democrats have introduced legislation they say will raise $19 billion by reforming the rules for energy and mineral extraction on public lands.
While unlikely to gain much traction in the Republican-controlled House, environmental advocates are welcoming the bill, describing it as a way for companies to pay their fair share for public resources. The main sponsors -- Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the Natural Resources ranking member, and Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) -- see it as a push against GOP pressure to increase mining and drilling.
Tagged with: 1872 mining law, subsidies, royalty, abandoned mine fee, rep. ed markey
Groups press Signet on Pebble Mine issue
National Jeweler
November 16, 2011
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Dillingham, Alaska--Just ahead of the holiday season, Alaska Natives, commercial fishermen and mining reform group Earthworks are attempting to apply public-relations pressure to Signet Jewelers over a controversial mine project in Alaska.
The groups took out a full-page advertisement in the western edition of The New York Times on Monday asking why Signet, the parent company of Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, hasn’t signed the Bristol Bay Protection Pledge. Earthworks Bonnie Gestring told National Jeweler that the groups expect to run the ad again but haven’t decided on a media outlet.
Tagged with: alaska, pebble, bristol bay pledge, our bristol bay, kay jewelers, signet jewelers, jared jewelers
Municipal officials oppose loss of local drilling rules
Pittsburgh Times-Tribune | Laura Legere
November 15, 2011
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Municipal officials from 12 Pennsylvania counties sent a letter to state legislators Monday asking them to cut provisions from pending House and Senate Marcellus Shale bills that would limit or remove local zoning control over oil and gas drilling.
The 46 officials, including five supervisors from Exeter Twp. in Luzerne County, argue that the bills unfairly exempt oil and gas operations from local land use regulations or standardize limits on local control.
"Local governments must be able to ensure protections through ordinances that reflect specific concerns," the officials wrote. "We oppose any legislation and reject all attempts to take away municipal zoning rights, to weaken or standardize a municipality's ability to protect itself, or to punish communities that choose to exercise their rights."
Tagged with: hydraulic fracturing, regulation, pennsylvania, drilling, zoning, local government
Alaskans: Why Won't Kay and Jared Jewelers Pledge to Shun Anglo's Dirty Gold? Full-Page Ad in New York Times Urges World’s Largest Jeweler to Join 50 Others Against Pebble Mine
Yuba Net | Earthworks
November 14, 2011
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DILLINGHAM, Alaska, Nov. 14 – In the weeks leading up to Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, Alaskans are asking Signet, the world's largest jewelry corporation, to promise not to use gold from the proposed Pebble Mine – a massive copper gold mine that threatens the world's most valuable wild salmon fishery.
Tagged with: bristol bay, jewelry retailers, pebble mine, kay jewelers, jared jewelers, signet
Drillers using counterinsurgency experts
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Don Hopey
November 13, 2011
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Marcellus Shale gas drilling spokesmen at an industry conference in Houston said their companies are employing former military counterinsurgency officers and recommended using military-style psychological operations strategies, or psyops, to deal with media inquiries and citizen opposition to drilling in Pennsylvania communities.
Tagged with: fracking, ogap, marcellus shale, drilling, psyops
Tiffany’s CEO: How to Keep a Supply Chain Sparkling
Green Biz | Adam Aston
November 12, 2011
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Sitting in his sun-soaked office at Tiffany & Co.'s Manhattan headquarters, chairman and chief executive officer Michael J. Kowalski reminded me of Breakfast at Tiffany's. In the 1962 classic, Audrey Hepburn coos over Tiffany's 5th Avenue flagship store, "Nothing very bad could happen to you there."
Tagged with: mining, gold, bristol bay, jewelry retailers, no dirty gold, pebble mine, tiffany's
Gas Companies Caught Using Military Tactics To Overcome Drilling Concerns
CBS DFW | Video
November 11, 2011
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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – The battle over gas drilling is now being compared to elements of an actual battlefield.
Energy industry officials were caught on tape at a conference in Houston using military terms to describe their opposition. One company says it uses ex-military psychological operations experts in its community plans.
Tagged with: fracking, drilling, texas ogap, psyops
Military Tactics Suggested at Gas Confab
Fort Worth Weekly | Peter Gorman
November 10, 2011
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When Sharon Wilson, director of the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project for Earthworks!, and the activist blogger on texassharon.com signed up to attend a much ballyhooed gas industry confab in Houston last week, she wasn’t sure what to expect.
Tagged with: fracking, drilling, texas ogap, psyops
Local Anti-Gas Drilling Activist Catches Execs Pushing PSYOP to Deal With "Insurgency"
Dallas Observer | Leslie Minora
November 10, 2011
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Last week, during an oil-and-gas drilling confab at the Hyatt Regency in Houston, execs turned their attention to a very touchy subject: how to get folks decidedly against gas drilling on their side.
Tagged with: fracking, drilling, texas ogap, psyops
Next Frontier in Natural Gas Wars: Psy Ops
Mother Jones | Kate Sheppard
November 9, 2011
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It's one thing to say that Pennsylvania has become a battleground in the debate over natural gas extraction. But it's quite another to actually endorse and employ counterinsurgency tactics to fight opponents of hydraulic fracturing, the controversial process used to extract the gas from the ground. But that appears to be exactly what industry insiders called for at a recent conference.
CNBC, which obtained the audio from the event, has the report. In the audio files, recorded by an environmental campaigner from Earthworks, one industry insider suggests that those who oppose gas drilling constitute an "insurgency." Another advocates hiring former military psychological operations specialists to handle local populations.
Tagged with: fracking, hydraulic fracturing, psyops, media conference, insurgency, spin
Oil and gas reps suggest using counterinsurgency tactics on fracking opponents
Grist | Sarah Laskow
November 9, 2011
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It's obvious that the natural gas industry has no love for opponents of fracking in places like Pennsylvania. But recordings from an industry meeting reveal that the industry's animosity goes a little deeper than mere irritation -- they think of opponents as an "insurgency" that should be handled with techniques developed to fight terrorism in the Middle East.
Tagged with: fracking, drilling, texas ogap, psyops
Fracking Insiders Admit To Employing Military 'Psychological Operations' On American Citizens
Business Insider | Robert Johnson
November 9, 2011
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Tagged with: fracking, drilling, texas ogap, psyops
Frackers Use ‘Psy Ops’ To Deal With Pennsylvania ‘Insurgency’
Think Progress | Brad Johnson
November 9, 2011
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Natural gas fracking companies are treating the campaign to expand drilling in Pennsylvania like a military campaign, using “psy ops” to quell the “insurgency” of environmental, economic, and health concerns.
Tagged with: fracking, drilling, psyops
Big energy accused of mind games for shale
UPI | Staff
November 9, 2011
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HOUSTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Employing a military specialist with expertise in psychological operations is a good strategy to deal with critics of shale gas, an official said in Houston.
Sharon Wilson, director of an oil and natural gas accountability project at environmental advocacy group Earthworks, handed over audio recordings to CNBC from an oil industry conference in Houston last week.
Tagged with: fracking, drilling, texas ogap, psyops
EPA strips oil and gas industry exemption on reporting hydrogen sulfide emissions
Colorado Independent | David O. Williams
November 8, 2011
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that next year it will require oil and gas companies to publicly disclose the release of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas, which can be deadly in high enough concentrations.
The industry has been exempt from divulging the release of H2S to the federal Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 17 years. The removal of the exemption was first published in the Federal Registry in October and finalized last week. Conservation groups praised the decision.
Tagged with: epa, drilling, toxics release inventory, hydrogen sulfide
Oil Executive: Military-Style ‘Psy Ops’ Experience Applied
CNBC | Eamon Javers
November 8, 2011
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Last week’s oil industry conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Houston was supposed to be an industry confab just like any other — a series of panel discussions, light refreshments and an exchange of ideas.
Tagged with: fracking, drilling, texas ogap, psyops
Environmental Groups Concerned About Senate Impact Fee
StateImpact/NPR | Scott Detrow
October 28, 2011
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The directors of five environmental advocacy groups — Clean Water Action, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, the Sierra Club’s Pennsylvania branch, Earthworks and PennEnvironment — have sent a letter to state senators, in advance of next week’s vote on a natural gas impact fee.
They’re concerned about SB 1100’s “model ordinance” language, which would bar municipalities from receiving fee money, if they past strict regulations on drilling. The groups also want to see stronger environmental regulations and setbacks.
Tagged with: regulation, pennsylvania, subsidies, impact fee
Fracking to get federal oversight
Durango Herald | Heather Scofield
October 20, 2011
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Environmental advocates lauded a Thursday announcement that federal regulators will develop national standards for the disposal of polluted wastewaters from fracking for natural gas.
Tagged with: natural gas, pollution, drilling reform, waste water, disposal
EPA asked to improve air standards at Marcellus Shale wells
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Don Hopey
September 28, 2011
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Some living near Marcellus Shale gas wells and environmental organizations called for fast adoption of strong, health-protective, air pollution emissions standards for oil and gas well drilling operations at a daylong U.S. Environmental Protection Agency public hearing in Pittsburgh Tuesday.
Tagged with: fracking, ogap, marcellus shale, drilling, drilling reform
New Mexico’s Udall seeks GAO probe to make sure taxpayers get fair share of mining profits
Colorado Independent | David O. Williams
September 23, 2011
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With profits soaring for hard-rock mining and oil and gas companies doing business on public lands, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., is leading the charge to get the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate whether American taxpayers are getting their fair share.
Udall, cousin of Colorado Sen. Mark Udall, sent a letter to GAO officials Thursday asking the agency to “undertake an examination of the value of minerals extracted and the amount of revenues collected in fiscal year 2010.” U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., also signed the letter.
“The U.S Department of the Interior manages approximately 700 million acres of subsurface federal minerals on public land and 1.7 billion acres on the Outer Continental Shelf,” the lawmakers wrote. “These minerals include hard-rock minerals — such as gold, silver and copper — that are available without having to pay a royalty.
“It is vitally important that the American taxpayer receives a fair return for the mineral resources extracted from federal land.”
Tagged with: mining, subsidies, royalties, senator tom udall, representative raul grijalva, government accountability office
Will California regulate fracking?
San Francisco Chronicle | Cameron Scott
August 16, 2011
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Fracking is an increasingly controversial method of obtaining natural gas from deep within the earth. Business has been booming in the last few years, drawing scrutiny, but the practice, also known as hydraulic fracturing, isn’t new.
Tagged with: fracking, hydraulic fracturing, natural gas, california, ab 591
Fracking measures fall short, critics say
UPI | Staff
August 11, 2011
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. Energy Department proposals for the gas recovery practice of fracking are short of what's needed to protect public health, an advocacy group says.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, public health, department of energy
Panel recommends greater monitoring of effects of natural gas extraction
College Times | Neela Banerjee
August 11, 2011
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WASHINGTON — A federally appointed panel recommended greater disclosure and monitoring of the environmental effects of extracting natural gas from shale formations, marking the Obama administration's first broad assessment of the controversial practice.
Tagged with: fracking, hydraulic fracturing, natural gas, obama
Stakeholders lukewarm to US DOE gas panel’s recommendations
Platts | Bill Holland
August 11, 2011
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Everybody found something to like, but nobody fell in love with a Department of Energy natural gas advisory panel's recommendations Thursday on how to boost public confidence in, and improve, US shale gas extraction.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, drilling, shale gas, department of energy, new report
Love, hate and indifference for the new shale fracking study
Fuel Fix | Tom Fowler
August 11, 2011
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A new report from the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board’s Shale Gas Production Subcommittee is being both praised and denigrated by a range of industry and environmental groups, as well as garnering a range of interpretations from the media.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, drilling, shale gas, department of energy, new report
Colorado plans disclosure rules for fracking fluids by end of year
Denver Post | Mark Jaffe
August 3, 2011
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Colorado is aiming to join the growing number of states requiring the disclosure of chemicals used in the fracking process by the oil and gas industry, Gov. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday.
Hickenlooper, speaking at the Colorado Oil and Gas Association annual conference, said the goal was to have a rule in place by year's end for disclosing hydrofracturing fluids. The regulation would help "restore public confidence" in the industry, he said.
Tagged with: fracking, colorado, disclosure, chemicals
State gas panel reappoints Hesperus rancher
Durango Herald | Joe Hanel
July 29, 2011
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DENVER – Hesperus rancher Tom Compton is one of just two oil and gas commissioners to be reappointed by Gov. John Hickenlooper on Friday.
Tagged with: oil and gas, colorado, state oil and gas regulations
Judge: State took permit ‘shortcut’ for Rock Creek Mine
Missoulian | Vince Devlin
July 23, 2011
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NOXON - A Helena district court judge has ruled that the state of Montana was wrong to take a "permitting shortcut" while allowing Revett Minerals to go ahead with construction of its proposed Rock Creek Mine beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness near here.
Now, the Spokane company will have to obtain an individual discharge permit under the Montana Water Quality Act - which means a full opportunity for public review and input - before construction can begin.
Tagged with: mining, montana, rock creek mine, permitting
The price of gold: as influential as a global power
Axcess News | Jessica Bruder
July 18, 2011
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(AXcess News) Italian Bar Camp, Calif. - Lee Mace knelt on a sun-dappled riverbank in the heart of California's mother lode. For two hours, he'd been taking turns with his wife and their three children, shoveling dirt into a home-built oak box, pouring buckets of water over the top, and rocking it back and forth like a cradle. Gravity carried the heaviest particles through a series of screens to a trap at the bottom, where Mr. Mace removed them to cull by hand in a shallow prospector's pan.
Tagged with: gold, no dirty gold, price of gold
Say yes to green gold
The Guardian | Lucy Siegle
July 16, 2011
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My partner and I are engaged but deferred buying her ring until we find something that fits with her ethical values. She won't wear diamonds and is also worried about gold.
Tagged with: mining, gold, no dirty gold, uk, jewellry
U.S. hardrock AML cleanup may require federal fees, Good Samaritan laws
Mine Web | Dorothy Kosich
July 15, 2011
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RENO, NV -
Cleaning up U.S. abandoned mined lands necessitates "innovative solutions for restoring the environment, improving safety and creating jobs," said Northwest Mining Association Executive Director Laura Skaer during testimony Thursday before a House subcommittee.
Colorado's Director for the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, Loretta Pineda told the House Subcommittee on Energy and Minerals Resources that the hardrock AML problem "is pervasive and significant."
Tagged with: mining, congress, abandoned mine cleanup
The Bay Area Gets Fracked
East Bay Express | Robert Gammon
July 13, 2011
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Hydraulic fracturing, better known as "fracking," is quickly becoming one of the most serious threats to the environment nationwide. The controversial process involves shooting thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals and water at high speeds deep into the earth so as to fracture underground shale deposits and release otherwise impossible-to-get natural gas and oil. Fracking, in fact, is becoming so widespread, it's spurring a natural gas boom in the United States. But, so far, it has garnered little attention in California because most fracking has taken place elsewhere. But the spotlight on it could soon shift.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, california
Drilling panel draws flak
Denton Record-Chronicle | Lowell Brown
July 7, 2011
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Denton residents who were involved in the push for stronger gas drilling regulations last year say they fear the city’s proposed drilling task force is skewed in favor of the industry.
Tagged with: fracking, oil and gas, regulation, texas, drilling, denton
City puts together panel on drilling
Denton Record-Chronicle | Lowell Brown
July 2, 2011
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Denton city officials have assembled a task force to advise them on the second phase of a gas drilling ordinance overhaul.
City Council members had long said they wanted a task force of technical experts and other residents to help them rewrite the city’s rules for natural gas drilling. City staff members have been assembling the group since at least May, according to a memo obtained by the Denton Record-Chronicle.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, drilling, task force
Texas fracking critics tour the Eagle Ford as complaints of contamination surface
Current | Michael Barajas
June 22, 2011
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Calvin Tillman set out on his weekend tour across South Texas hoping to alert area landowners about the dark side of the growing oil shale boom. Beginning at a Laredo forum packed with local farmers, environmental activists, and industry reps, Tillman worked his way northeast from the Rio Grande, crossing a region teeming with drilling rigs.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, texas, public health, eagle ford shale
Environmental groups come to Cuero to inform public of possible hazards
Cuero Record | Coy Slavik
June 15, 2011
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Thomaston’s Toby Frederick felt he had all the proof he needed in a one-gallon jug.
Frederick was one of about 50 people who attended Saturday afternoon’s free educational forum “The Dark Side of the Boom: How Gas Drilling in Texas Threatens Public Health and Safety” presented by the Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project at the Cuero Municipal Park clubhouse.
Tagged with: fracking, oil and gas, natural gas, texas
Op-Ed: South Texas lubricated with oil fracking boom
Digital Journal | Lynn Herrmann
June 13, 2011
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A controversial method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has settled over South Texas and is set to transform its oil fields, the brush country and its water sources into a chemical wasteland, even as media reports "unfortunately" strike out.
The Eagle Ford oil shale field stretches from near Del Rio at the Mexico border in a long, sweeping curve all the way up to Dallas County, and as in many other parts of the US besieged by the fracking rush, is creating padded pockets, chemical contamination and meaningless news coverage.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, texas
MINING: Advocates lobby for uranium reform bill
E&E | Manuel Quinones
June 1, 2011
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Supporters of overhauling U.S. hardrock mining laws are pinning their hopes on legislation that would impose for the first time a royalty on uranium produced on federal lands.
Their move comes amid a resurgence in uranium mining to fuel the expected demand for nuclear power, particularly in China.
Tagged with: 1872 mining law, public lands, uranium mining, royalites
Natural gas execs: Regulation of fracturing best left in state hands
Fuel Fix | Jennifer A. Dlouhy
June 1, 2011
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Energy company executives argued today that states — not the federal government — should take the lead in regulating the hydraulic fracturing process used to produce natural gas from shale formations in New York, the Midwest and Texas.
Geologic differences among those regions mean that what works in one state might not work in another, said Jack Williams, president of XTO Energy. For instance, in Arkansas and Texas, natural gas developers are finding ways to inject the water they use back into the ground — something that generally can’t be done in a different shale formation in the northeast.
Tagged with: fracking, regulation, natural gas, texas, pennsylvania, barnett shale, marcellus
Fracking control debated
Times Leader | Jonathan Riskind
May 30, 2011
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WASHINGTON – When federal Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson touched on “fracking” during a House hearing May 24 on Capitol Hill, proponents and detractors of the natural gas drilling method took immediate notice.
And, naturally, both sides in the debate over hydraulic fracturing – the process for extracting natural gas from rock formations deep underground by injecting water, sand and chemicals – came away with very different takes on Jackson’s comments.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, natural gas, pennsylvania, lisa jackson
Sudden Wealth from Gas Rush Fractures Pennsylvania Communities
InsideClimate News | Elizabeth McGowan
May 18, 2011
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MONTROSE, Pa.—If a cash register freshly laden with greenbacks is any measure of happiness, then Susan Griffis McNamara should be one of the most content residents of this tiny borough in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Instead, her stomach is in knots.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, pennsylvania, communities, marcellus
Study: Fracking health impacts underestimated
Durango Herald | Heather Scofield
May 13, 2011
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A large-scale study done in Garfield County investigating the potential health and environmental impacts of a proposed fracking facility near a residential development is raising eyebrows around Colorado.
To see the second draft of the Garfield County Health Impact Assessment Study condected by the University of Colorado School of Public Health, visit www.garfield-county.com and click on “Battlement Mesa HIA.”
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, public health, colorado
Is the ‘Fracking’ Disclosure Bill Any Good?
Texas Observer | Forrest Wilder
May 11, 2011
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Bowing to growing pressure from concerned citizens and the EPA, the House tentatively passed legislation today that requires some public disclosure of the chemicals used in the controversial practice of 'fracking' of natural gas and oil wells. The bill sailed through the House with only nominal opposition. No one even asked for a vote on the record.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, disclosure, chemicals, hb3328
How safe is our water?
Gonzales Inquirer
May 6, 2011
While Gonzales County bustles with an oil and gas economic impact that is obvious to many, the Eagle Ford Shale has proven to be a jewel for South Texas.
Companies expand, businesses thrive – it’s all a part of this new oil boom that has taken South Texas by storm. But while we bask in the riches of this newfound gold, miles below us lies a question to our purest and precious resource – water.
Tagged with: fracking, oil and gas, natural gas, texas, eagle ford shale
Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Panel Gets Earful
The Street | Marc Levy
April 28, 2011
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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Gov. Tom Corbett's Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission heard from dozens of sometimes angry residents Wednesday who said they are worried that the booming natural gas industry is harming public health and destroying the environment, and that the commission will do nothing to change that.
Tagged with: fracking, oil and gas, pennsylvania, drilling, marcellus
Palm Beach Post - Gold jewelers, activists urge clean karat buys
Palm Beach Post | Susan Salisbury
April 22, 2011
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BY: Susan Salisbury PUBLISHED: 04/22/2011 It's hard to believe that the gleaming gold rings, earrings and other jewelry we wear were once part of a rock within the earth. It takes a lot of rock, too. A single gold ring leaves 20 tons of mine waste behind, says Earthworks, an international mining reform group based in Washington. The National Mining Association's spokeswoman Carol Raulston disputes that, saying it's more like 2 tons of rock and dirt per ounce. The United States is the world's fourth-largest producer of gold, trailing South Africa, China and Australia. Nevada produces most U.S. gold. Earthworks says that gold and other metal mines are big polluters, and they're all doing something, if not everything, wrong.
Tagged with: gold, jewelry retailers, no dirty gold
Colorado No. 2 in carcinogen-laced “fracking” fluids
Denver Post | Allison Sherry
April 22, 2011
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WASHINGTON — Colorado ranked second only to Texas in terms of the number of gallons of carcinogen-laced "fracking" fluids used in oil and gas extraction between 2005 and 2009, according to congressional Democrats.
A 30-page House Energy and Commerce report — the second release in an investigation into hydraulic fracturing — shows that 1.5 million gallons of fracking fluids containing a carcinogen were used in Colorado in that time, compared with 3.8 million gallons in Texas and 1 million in Oklahoma. The report does not show the concentrations of those chemicals or that the carcinogens, including naphthalene and benzene, have endangered drinking water near the drilling sites in Colorado.
Tagged with: fracking, ogap, public health, colorado, chemicals
Argyle Gas Well Drilling Controversy
CW 33 | Ashley Roberts
April 22, 2011
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Argyle —
About a year ago, the Town of Argyle gave companies like Williams Production and Hillwood International Energy the green light to drill on its gas wells. But now, some residents are worrying how this could be affecting their countryside community, including Dezra Edwards, who has lived here for four years. Lately she’s been questioning the quality of life here.
Tagged with: fracking, oil and gas, texas, drilling
Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project seeks more drilling oversight
Star-Telegram | Jack Smith
April 15, 2011
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The Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project issued a report Thursday calling for the Environmental Protection Agency to oversee regulation of air emissions from oil and natural gas exploration and production equipment in the state.
In the meantime, the report said, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality "must significantly step up its currently inadequate efforts to protect public health by strictly enforcing emission limits from oil and gas exploration and production equipment."
Tagged with: ogap, texas, public health, drilling, air pollution
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