Media
Earthworks is the only U.S. environmental nonprofit that focuses exclusively on the destructive impacts of resource extraction.
Tagged with: media
Industry controlled Responsible Jewellery Council fails to fulfill promise of preventing conflict diamonds and dirty gold
Earthworks, et al
May 22, 2013
Trade unions and environmental groups team up to expose deep flaws in jewelry certification system
Washington, D.C., Ottawa, Geneva, Sydney, May 22, 2013 – In a new report, More Shine Than Substance: How RJC certification fails to create responsible jewelry, an international coalition of labor and environmental groups indict the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC)’s certification system as misleading jewelry consumers. The RJC holds its annual meeting in Milan on May 23.
“Jewelry is meant to lift our spirits. But it loses its value if it’s made with gold or diamonds that are tarnished by human rights abuses or environmental destruction,” said Earthworks’ No Dirty Gold campaign director Payal Sampat. She continued, “Unfortunately, RJC’s certification cannot reassure consumers that the gems and precious metals that pass through its system did not come at the cost of community health or clean water.”
The groups releasing More Shine Than Substance include the trade union federation, IndustriALL, which represents 50 million workers globally, CFMEU Australia, United Steelworkers, and environmental advocacy groups Earthworks and MiningWatch Canada.
Tagged with: mining, dirty gold, responsible jewellery council, certification, conflict diamonds
Statement of Jennifer Krill, Earthworks' Executive Director, on BLM’s updated draft hydraulic fracturing rule
Earthworks
May 16, 2013
Today the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released new draft rules governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on federal public lands and some private lands where the federal government owns the sub-surface mineral rights. With this rulemaking, the BLM and the Obama administration had the opportunity to improve public oversight by incorporating emerging science and the hard-won experience of communities living with oil and gas development across the country.
But they did not.
Tagged with: fracking, regulation, public lands, obama, blm
Oil spills not always the gushers you see on TV
Windsor Now | Sharon Dunn
May 11, 2013
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With a county as large as Weld, filled now with more than 20,000 wells all being operated by humans, there’s bound to be mishaps, screw ups and just plain mistakes — some that could even turn into a disaster — but most spills are cleaned up as quickly as the liquid falls.
Already this year, 59 spills and “releases” have been reported at well sites and oil and gas operations throughout the county, representing more than half of the spills statewide. Of course, 90 percent of the drilling throughout the state is occurring in Weld.
Tagged with: colorado, spills, oil
Mother’s Day gifts? It’s complicated.
Riverhead Local | Laurie Nigro
May 11, 2013
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What do you get a 'pain the arse' for Mother's Day, anyway? Our frugal naturalist admits she's not easy to please. Some free or low-cost ideas for making this Mother's Day special.
I don't like cut flowers. I'm not sure who came up with the idea of killing a beautiful, vibrant plant and presenting this bundle of death as a gift, but I find the whole idea a bit repulsive. When they are in my house, I become a little more depressed each day, watching these dead posies evolve into rotted and decayed flora. The only good part is when I put them in the compost bin so their death will not be in vain.
Acid mine drainage ‘enormous public liability’ in perpetuity
Mineweb | Dorothy Kosich
May 6, 2013
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A new study recently released by the Washington, D.C.-based environmental NGO Earthworks asserts an estimated 17 billion to 27 billion gallons of contaminated water will be generated by 40 U.S. hardrock mines annually in perpetuity. Forty-two percent of these mines are located on public lands.
“Another 13 mines are likely to generate water pollution in perpetuity, accounting for an additional 3.4 billion to 4 billion gallons of polluted water per year,” said report authors, Earthworks chief Bonnie Gestring and environmental research and science consultant, Lisa Sumi.
Tagged with: mining, water pollution, perpetual pollution
Guess What’s Polluting 27 Billion Gallons of Water Each Year?
Take Part | Jon Bowermaster
May 3, 2013
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A new and sobering report from Earthworks details just how hard mining is on the environment, especially on our dwindling supply of fresh water.
How bad are gold, copper and uranium—the so-called “hard rock”—mines? Try the despoiling of 17 to 27 billion gallons of fresh water per year in the U.S. alone.
Tagged with: mining, water pollution, perpetual pollution
40 US Mines are Causing Water Pollution that Will Last for Centuries, Says New Report
Earth Island Journal | Daniel Adel
May 2, 2013
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In the midst of declining fresh water supplies, an increasing number of hard rock mining companies are causing water pollution that will last for hundreds or thousands of years, says a new report published yesterday.
The report by the mining watchdog group Earthworks, reveals that an estimated 17 to 27 billion gallons of polluted water will be generated by 40 existing hardrock mines (e.g. gold, copper, uranium mines) in the US each year, every year, in perpetuity. It says water treatment for these mines will cost as much as $67 billion per year.
Tagged with: mining, water pollution, perpetual pollution
The Downwinders: Fracking Ourselves to Death in Pennsylvania
Huffington Post | Ellen Cantarow
May 2, 2013
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More than 70 years ago, a chemical attack was launched against Washington State and Nevada. It poisoned people, animals, everything that grew, breathed air, and drank water. The Marshall Islands were also struck. This formerly pristine Pacific atoll was branded “the most contaminated place in the world.” As their cancers developed, the victims of atomic testing and nuclear weapons development got a name: downwinders. What marked their tragedy was the darkness in which they were kept about what was being done to them. Proof of harm fell to them, not to the U.S. government agencies responsible.
Now, a new generation of downwinders is getting sick as an emerging industry pushes the next wonder technology -- in this case, high-volume hydraulic fracturing. Whether they live in Texas, Colorado, or Pennsylvania, their symptoms are the same: rashes, nosebleeds, severe headaches, difficulty breathing, joint pain, intestinal illnesses, memory loss, and more. “In my opinion,” says Yuri Gorby of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, “what we see unfolding is a serious health crisis, one that is just beginning.”
Tagged with: fracking, pennsylvania, health
Government data shows mines will annually pollute up to 27 billion gallons of fresh water, forever
Earthworks
May 1, 2013
New report shows treatment costs as much as $67 billion/year, with new mines polluting and costing billions more
Washington D.C., May 1st – A new report released today shows existing U.S. hardrock mines (e.g. gold, copper, uranium) will pollute up to 27 billion gallons of fresh water per year, and cost as much as $67 billion per year to clean, in perpetuity. Based on government data, the report also reveals that four proposed mines could annually pollute an additional 16 billion gallons.
“The scale of the problem is enormous, and growing,” said Bonnie Gestring, report author and Earthworks' Northwest Organizer. She continued, “Every year, mines will pollute enough water to fill 2 trillion water bottles -- enough bottles to reach to the moon and back 54 times.”
Tagged with: mining, water pollution, perpetual pollution
Mining giant Newmont urged to obtain community consent
Earthworks
April 25, 2013
Shareholders, NGOs say company’s flawed community engagement poses risks to reputation and bottom line
April 25th -Washington, DC: At Newmont Mining Co.’s annual general meeting yesterday, faith-based shareholders and DC-based NGO Earthworks urged the company to improve the way it engages with communities, and to provide greater transparency to shareholders and the public. The groups noted that the company’s failure to adequately inform and consult with local communities has resulted in strong community opposition and the suspension of the Conga mine project in northern Peru, costing the company – by its own estimation – hundreds of millions dollars in losses so far.
At the Wilmington, Delaware meeting, the groups urged Newmont to seek the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of local communities in which it operates, to publish reports and updates more frequently, and to conduct human rights impact assessments of its operations.
Tagged with: no dirty gold, newmont, fpic, conga, agm
Fracking Industry Disclosure Website is Flawed, Says Harvard Study
Earth Island Journal | Maureen Nandini Mitra
April 25, 2013
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Anti-fracking activists have long been saying that FracFocus — the voluntary chemical disclosure registry for oil and gas companies using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, technology — is seriously flawed. The very idea of Big Oil and Gas voluntarily ‘fessing up to the whole list of potentially toxic cocktail of chemicals they pump into the earth to extract fossil fuels, has always been kind of — I’ll be polite — improbable.
And now we have a no less than a heavy-duty Harvard study weighing in on the matter and saying that the industry-backed registry is unreliable and “not an acceptable regulatory compliance method for chemical disclosures.” The study says the registry fails to satisfy the public’s right to information and that state governments shouldn’t be relying on it as a regulatory tool.
Tagged with: fracking, disclosure
UN must challenge Canada’s complicity in mining’s human rights abuses
The Guardian | Meera Karunananthan
April 24, 2013
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Canada is scheduled for its universal periodic review (UPR) at the UN human rights council on 26 April. The UPR is an international mechanism established in 2006 to hold governments accountable for their human rights records. According to Ban Ki-moon, the review has the potential "to promote and protect human rights in the darkest corners of the world".
When Canada stands before the UN to have its "darkest corners" examined, the international community must not turn a blind eye to its complicity with a global mining industry whose corporations are among the worst human rights and environmental offenders in the world.
Tagged with: mining, water pollution, troubled waters
Colorado fracking database questioned by Harvard study
Denver Post | Mark Jaffe
April 23, 2013
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The online database that Colorado employs for disclosing the ingredients in fracking fluids used in drilling oil and gas wells is seriously flawed, according to a Harvard Law School study.
The analysis, done by the school's environmental policy initiative, found reporting errors and gaps in the independent database FracFocus. Colorado and 10 other states, including Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Oklahoma, require operators to post chemical disclosures on FracFocus.
Tagged with: fracking, disclosure, chemicals, fracfocus
Fracking for Natural Gas Fuels Health Worries
Women's E News | Molly Ginty
April 22, 2013
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Creeping over the darkened hills of Concord Township, Ohio, past oak and maple trees and through an open window, the intruder entered Kari Matsko's home without a sound.
"It was only when I woke the next morning that I realized something had changed," says Matsko. "I had unexplained muscle spasms and terrible neck pain. I saw three doctors, and spent four months recovering. Then a neighbor told me about the 3 a.m. hydrogen sulfide gas leak from a nearby fracking operation that sent her whole family to the emergency room with aches and pains the same day I got sick in 2006."
LEGE: Oil and gas operators could be forced to notify property owners
Odessa American | Emma Petty
April 18, 2013
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AUSTIN — Oil and gas operators could be required to notify property owners before they drill and provide security to clean up damages on property where wells are drilled, if proposed legislation passes this session.
The bill would require that oil and gas producers return the land to its original condition after drilling according to testimony hears in during a hearing with the House Committee on Energy Resources Wednesday evening.
Tagged with: fracking, drilling, property rights
Fracking trade secrets case headed to Wyoming Supreme Court
Star Tribune | Adam Voge
April 17, 2013
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A coalition of environmental and landowner groups on Wednesday appealed a Casper judge’s decision that individual ingredients used in hydraulic fracturing can be protected under Wyoming’s trade secrets law.
The group, which includes the Powder River Basin Resource Council and the Wyoming Outdoor Council, appealed the decision by Natrona County District Judge Catherine Wilking to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Tagged with: fracking, wyoming, trade secret
Groups Appeal Fracking Chemical Case to Wyoming Supreme Court
Earthworks, Earthjustice, et al
April 17, 2013
Public interest organizations are seeking disclosure of chemicals that are injected underground
Cheyenne, Wyo. — Several public interest and government watchdog groups have appealed to Wyoming’s highest court, asking it to compel the state’s oil and gas permitting agency to disclose the chemicals that are injected underground during the oil and gas production process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Represented by the public interest environmental law firm Earthjustice, the Powder River Basin Resource Council, Wyoming Outdoor Council, Earthworks and the Center for Effective Government filed the appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court today.
Tagged with: fracking, regulation, wyoming, disclosure, lawsuit
California court ruling gives hope to foes of fracking
Virginia Gazette | Rory Carroll and Braden Reddall
April 9, 2013
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A court ruling that the U.S. government must consider the environmental impact of "fracking" on federal lands leased to oil companies offers opponents of the technique a useful weapon in the fierce public debate in California and other parts of the country.
In a regulatory setback for hydraulic fracturing on public lands, a federal magistrate judge in San Jose, California, on Monday ruled that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to analyze its impact on 2,500 acres in Monterey County.
Tagged with: fracking, california
Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance Hires Leader
IRMA
April 2, 2013
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London, April 2, 2013: The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) announces its hiring of London-based Matthew Wenban-Smith as Managing Director. IRMA is a multi-stakeholder dialogue that is developing a global certification program for more responsible mining.
In accepting the position, Matthew Wenban-Smith said, “We all depend on the products of mining – but we need to make sure that our enjoyment of these benefits does not come at an unacceptable cost to people or the environment.” He added: “I am looking forward to joining IRMA’s team at this critical point in its development and to working with all its partners, supporters and stakeholders to make its vision of responsible mining a reality.”
The Sour Side of Life in South Texas Eagle Ford Shale
San Antonio Current | Michael Barajas
March 27, 2013
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Off-duty San Antonio cops directed a thick swarm of traffic outside the Panna Maria community center in sleepy Karnes County one evening last December. Blue-shirted Marathon Oil representatives beamed, greeting more than 1,000 local landowners who gathered to talk oil, gas, and riches.
But from the moment they walked through the doors, Myra and Mike Cerny began to curse and mutter under their breath. They rolled their eyes at the Marathon freebies, like a water bottle emblazoned with the company logo, and leafed through handouts cheering the oil and gas development that now encircles their rural South Texas home.
Tagged with: fracking, texas, eagle ford shale, health
Concerns Mount as U.S. Plans Major Natural Gas Exports
IPS News | Carey L. Biron
March 26, 2013
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WASHINGTON, Mar 26 2013 (IPS) - Environmentalists and others here are reacting with concern to a surprise announcement on Monday of a major deal that would see U.S. natural gas exported to the United Kingdom, marking the first time that such sales have been permitted.
The agreement, between the UK energy company Centrica and the U.S.-based Cheniere Energy Partners, would see more than 1.7 million metric tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year shipped to the United Kingdom, starting in 2018. The U.K.’s gas supply has been extremely tight this winter, and the new sales would satisfy requirements for around 1.8 million British homes.
Tagged with: natural gas, lng, exports
Could faster mining permitting help fuel future U.S. economic growth?
Mineweb | Dorothy Kosich
March 25, 2013
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The National Mining Association and its long-time loyal opposition, the environmental NGO Earthworks, recently sparred before a congressional subcommittee as whether the U.S. mining really needs HR 761, The Critical and Strategic Minerals Production Act of 2013.
Hal Quinn, CEO of the National Mining Association, told the House Subcommittee on Energy and Minerals Resources that the measure “addresses a key issue for the country’s future economic growth and manufacturing revival: the painfully slow permitting process for the miners that supply metals and minerals essential for our basic industries, our national defense and the consumer product we use.”
Tagged with: mining, congress, arizona, testimony
Bill requires fracking chemical disclosure to residents
Odessa American | Emma Petty
March 22, 2013
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A heated debate ensued Wednesday during a hearing on House Bill 448 requiring operators of oil or gas wells using hydraulic fracturing treatments to mail residents within 500 feet of the site a list of chemicals used in the fracturing process.
Filed by Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin), the bill was presented to the House Committee on Energy Resources by Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth) Wednesday.
Tagged with: texas, disclosure, chemicals, property values
Tempers flare in hearing over new Resolution Copper land-swap bill
Cronkite News | Michelle Peirano
March 21, 2013
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WASHINGTON – A four-hour congressional hearing grew testy Thursday as House members considered a bill to swap thousands of acres of private and federal land to make way for a massive copper mine in Southeast Arizona.
The bill to trade land near Superior with Resolution Copper Mining, passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate, and is back now for an eighth year.
Tagged with: mining, arizona, resolution copper
Statement of Earthworks Executive Director Jennifer Krill regarding the Oversight Hearing on "America's Mineral Resources: Creating Mining and Manufacturing Jobs and Securing America"
March 21, 2013
#1 Toxic Polluter Wants to Have Free Cake, Eat it, & Have Taxpayers Pay for Cleanup
With HR 761, the so-called Critical and Strategic Minerals Production Act of 2013, the mining lobby and its Congressional champions clearly want more than just to have their cake and eat it too.
Tagged with: 1872 mining law, oak flat, critical minerals, apache leap, strategic minerals, testimony, amodei, hr 687, hr 761
County, energy company strike deal on safeguards for shale project in Colo.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2013/03/20/5
March 20, 2013
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DURANGO, Colo. -- A southern Colorado county within the energy-rich San Juan Basin yesterday approved an agreement with an oil and gas company aimed at lessening impacts from a proposed oil shale exploration project.
In a unanimous vote, the three La Plata County commissioners -- two Democrats and one Republican -- adopted the memorandum of understanding, which commits Houston-based Swift Energy Co. to take certain precautions when drilling a pair of proposed test wells in a rural area in the western part of the 1,700-square-mile county.
Tagged with: fracking, colorado
Secretary Krancer’s Response to Water Testing Questions Offers No Answers and is Politically Charged
EARTHWORKS et. al.
March 18, 2013
Harrisburg, PA – Members of environmental and citizen groups sent several thousand emails to Governor Tom Corbett and Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer seeking information regarding how the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) investigates cases of water contamination from fracking. Late last week DEP Secretary Krancer began responding to these emails without providing any new information that was specifically requested.
Tagged with: pennsylvania, water, testing, krancer
Dirty gold: The seamier side of mining
Nature | Brian Owens
March 14, 2013
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Gold mining can be a dirty business, both environmentally and ethically. Extracting gold from the mined ore creates a huge amount of waste — roughly 20 tonnes of mining waste to make a single 18-carat ring containing less than 10 grams of gold, according to an estimate from Earthworks, an environmental watchdog based in Washington, DC. What's more, many small-scale operations in the developing world make use of child labour, and can support civil wars or local warlords.
Statement of Earthworks Executive Director Jennifer Krill on today's introduction of the BREATHE and FRESHER Acts
March 14, 2013
March 14th, Washington, D.C. -- "Earthworks salutes Representatives Jared Polis and Matt Cartwright for introducing the BREATHE and FRESHER acts today, legislation that would help protect public health by closing loopholes in federal environmental oversight of the oil and gas industry."
Tagged with: fracking, clean water act, loopholes, clean air act, breathe act, fresher act, matt cartwright, jared polis
Coalition Acts to Protect City of Longmont’s Ban on Dangerous Hydraulic Fracturing
Earthworks et al.
March 11, 2013
LONGMONT, CO – Today, a coalition of community, public health, consumer and environmental organizations filed a motion in the Weld County District Court to intervene in the Colorado Oil and Gas Association’s lawsuit that seeks to invalidate Longmont’s ban of the oil and gas practice known as “fracking” and related surface activities, such as storage of toxic post-fracking fluids. This ban was instituted by the citizens of Longmont in an amendment to the City Charter, Article XVI , the Longmont Public Health, Safety and Wellness Act.
Tagged with: fracking, lawsuit, ban, longmont
Ready and Waiting
Flathead Beacon
February 15, 2013
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LIBBY – More than 7,000 feet from the mine’s portal, Glenn Dobbs stands inside the dark tunnel and reflects on the last eight years – reflecting on a project, the Montanore Mine, that he says is ready to go.
But even with all the delays and frustration above ground, down here Dobbs only sees possibility.
“I can visualize 180 guys down here, busy like an ant farm,” Dobbs said last week. “It’s really exciting to imagine.”
Tagged with: mining, montana, montanore, montanore mine
Coalition Acts To Defend Longmont Ordinance Protecting Residents From Pollution And Health Risks Of Oil And Gas Development
EARTHWORKS and Sierra Club
February 14, 2013
BOULDER, CO- Today Earthworks and Sierra Club filed a motion to intervene in the State of Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s lawsuit to invalidate a Longmont City Ordinance that would protect residents from the pollution and associated health threats of oil and gas development.
The challenged Ordinance, passed in July 2012, prohibits oil and gas surface activities from occurring near homes, schools and hospitals, and places mandatory setbacks from these and other facilities, as well as from waterways and parks. The Ordinance also requires disclosure to emergency responders of hazardous chemicals transported through the City and consultation with local wildlife experts before operations begin.
Tagged with: fracking, regulation, lawsuit, longmont
This Valentine’s Day, 90 jewelry retailers say ‘no’ to dirty gold
Earthworks
February 13, 2013
Macy’s called out as industry laggard
February 13, 2013, WASHINGTON, DC: Over 90 of the world’s leading jewelry retailers, including 8 of the top 10 US retailers, have committed to more responsible metals sourcing by signing the No Dirty Gold campaign’s Golden Rules. However, Macy’s Inc., the fifth largest jewelry seller in the US, lags behind and has yet to meaningfully commit to cleaning up its gold supply chain. The campaign’s Facebook-based Valentine’s Day card urges Macy’s to dump dirty gold, and has been widely viewed and shared.
“Dirty gold is no way to show your love on Valentine’s Day,” said Payal Sampat of Earthworks’ No Dirty Gold campaign. “Macy’s customers need to know that the gold jewelry they are buying is not produced at the cost of clean water or children’s health.”
Tagged with: no dirty gold, macys, valentines day, jewelers, retailers
Fracking opponent makes case to Common Council
Register-Star | Joe Gentile
February 13, 2013
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HUDSON — Common Council members recently received recognition from environmentalist Nadia Steinzor for facing hydraulic fracturing “head on and proactively.”
Invited by Common Council President Donald Moore, Steinzor approached Monday night’s meeting by giving the aldermen insight into the community-level work she does as the Eastern Program Coordinator for Earthworks, an environmental non-profit. Built upon the foundation of the former Mineral Policy Center, Earthworks has collaborated over the last 25 years with “federal, state and local leaders to evaluate the impact of mining and gas development on communities,” she said.
Tagged with: fracking, new york
Valentine’s Day Dark Side
Daily Sundial | Benjamin Andrews
February 13, 2013
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Each year, Feb. 14 brings joy into the hearts (and cash into the pockets) of jewelry store owners, flowers shops, greeting card companies, candy manufactures and restaurant owners. However, this day of love also comes with some severe consequences for our planet and fellow humans. Valentine’s Day’s global carbon footprint, alienating psychological effects and out-of-control demand for luxury products that exploits the third world, earn it a well deserved rebuke. Consider this an FU Sweetheart candy to one of my least favorite days.
Tagged with: mining, gold, valentines day
Tons of Californians arrested at White House climate change protest
San Francisco Chronicle | Joe Garofoli
February 13, 2013
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Shortly before 1 p.m. West Coast time Wednesday, 48 environmental activists — including a ton of Bay Area residents including San Franciscans like Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune and Adam Werbach, St. Mary’s College professor Brenda Hillman and her husband UC-Berkeley professor and former poet laureate Bob Haas — were arrested after chaining themselves to a fence outside the White House to protest the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline
We told you this invite-only civil disobedience demonstration was coming a couple of weeks ago. It’s news in that Obama’s liberal base is increasingly ticked off at him about his inaction on climate change. (And it was the first time in its history that the Sierra Club OK’d nonviolent civil disobedience as an organization.)
Tagged with: climate change, protest, nokxl
Statement of Earthworks Executive Director Jennifer Krill on the Senate Energy Committee hearing *Opportunities and Challenges for Natural Gas*
EARTHWORKS
February 12, 2013
As the United States Senate considers natural gas issues in the 113th Congress, I urge Senators to seek the true impacts this industry has on our public health and our climate. Despite industry rhetoric, and thanks in part to industry obstruction, we still do not know the impacts of the unconventional oil and gas boom.
But we do know that both the state and federal regulatory regimes are not equipped to cope with the boom. Loopholes in federal law and lack of enforcement of state law mean oil and gas companies are largely self-regulating, accountable only to themselves.
Tagged with: fracking, public health, congress, hearing, wyden, energy and natural resourc, exports
Groups Urge Investigation of EPA Actions in Texas Water Contamination Case
Earthworks, et al
February 11, 2013
Coalition asks Inspector General to determine whether political meddling led agency to drop probe of gas drilling company
WASHINGTON, D.C. - More than 80 organizations from 12 states and a New York State Senator today called on the inspector general of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to investigate a decision to drop legal action against a drilling company despite evidence that it had polluted residents’ well water near Fort Worth, Texas.
The organizations sent a letter to EPA Inspector General Arthur A. Elkins, Jr., asking him to broaden an ongoing investigation of a case that made national news last year when the EPA dropped an enforcement action against Range Resources Ltd. after earlier invoking rare emergency authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act. New York State Senator Tony Avella is sending a similar letter later today. Elkins began investigating the case after six U.S. senators asked him last June to determine whether EPA had followed proper procedures.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, water pollution, texas, range resources, transparency, inspector general
Groups Call for EPA to Require Range Resources to Provide Clean Drinking Water to Texas Families
Earthworks, et al
February 7, 2013
Evidence that political pressure caused EPA to withdraw protection of homeowners threatened by drilling pollution calls into question public oversight of oil and gas development
Feb 7, Fort Worth - Conservation and citizen groups from Texas and around the country today sent a letter calling on EPA Region 6 Administrator Ron Curry to resume legal action against Range Resources for polluting the drinking water of homeowners near its operations in Weatherford, Texas. The letter also calls upon the EPA to require the company to immediately supply clean drinking water to homeowners whose wells were polluted during the company’s drilling, to publicly post all existing tests related to the matter, and to resume testing to ensure that Range Resources acts to remedy the situation.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, water pollution, range resources, testing, region 6, ed rendell
A Clash in Pennsylvania Over Fracking and Water Tests
NYT Green Blog | John Hurdle
February 4, 2013
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A war of words has broken out between environmentalists and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection over the cancellation of a meeting on the state’s testing of water from water wells near natural-gas drilling sites.
A meeting of 25 environmentally themed groups, the department’s oil and gas division and the state Department of Health’s Bureau of Laboratories had been set for Jan. 24 after the disclosure last November that department scientists had omitted data on some toxic metals found in water taken from a site in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Tagged with: fracking, water, pa dep
PA DEP Keeps Homeowners in the Dark on Water Testing Policy, Abruptly Cancels Meeting w/Environmental Groups
Earthworks, et al
February 4, 2013
PA DEP’s failure to explain their water testing policies and use of suite codes continues to leave concerned public demanding answers
Harrisburg, PA – Mystery, questions and concern continue to surround Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (PADEP) water testing and reporting policies related to suspected impacts from Marcellus Shale natural gas operations. These issues were originally revealed in the Kiskadden vs. PADEP deposition of Taru Upadhyay, technical director of DEP’s Bureau of Laboratories—and described widely in subsequent news stories regarding the use of suite codes, which result in only partial test results being sent to homeowners.
“Where gas development goes, problems follow. Yet the DEP seems more interested in protecting its own information than protecting the environment," says Nadia Steinzor, Eastern Program Coordinator, Earthworks' Oil & Gas Accountability Project. "DEP should stop playing hide and seek and start giving the public better water and air tests, complete results, and honest answers."
Tagged with: water, pennsylvania department of environmental protection, transparency, michael krancer
EPA Gets Access To Wells For Fracking Study
Knovel
January 30, 2013
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As much as the U.S. economy has enjoyed the benefits of the recent boom oil and gas exploration, plenty of questions have been raised about the engineering resources being used to tap into these new deposits.
Environmental activists have been fighting the spreading use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, insisting that the process could cause water contamination, a claim the energy industry has vehemently denied.
Focus On Fracking Diverts Attention From Horizontal Drilling
KQED | Jeff Brady
January 27, 2013
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Mention the recent surge in oil and natural gas production in the U.S. and one word comes to mind for a lot of people: "fracking." Hydraulic fracturing is a controversial technique that uses water, sand and potentially hazardous chemicals to break up rock deep underground to release oil and natural gas.
But there's another technology that is just as responsible for drilling booms happening across the country: horizontal drilling.
Tagged with: fracking, california
Groups In Court Today Seeking Fracking Chemical Information
EARTHWORKS et. al.
January 22, 2013
CASPER, WY – In an effort to help protect the public from exposure to toxic chemicals, the Powder River Basin Resource Council, Wyoming Outdoor Council, Earthworks and Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) went to court today to ask a judge to require the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC) to disclose information about chemicals used during the controversial oil and gas development process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Under regulations approved in 2010, Wyoming became the first state in the nation to require well operators to disclose the identities of chemicals that are mixed with water and injected into the ground during fracking. But since the regulations were adopted, the Commission has approved some 50 secrecy requests, shielding identifying information about over 190 different chemicals, by Halliburton and other oil and gas service companies.
Tagged with: fracking, wyoming, disclosure, wogcc
Putting an (Ethical) Ring on It
Etsy Blog | Lisa Butterworth
January 22, 2013
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When Beyoncé told dudes the world over that they should have put a ring on it, she didn’t specify what kind, but knowing Bey, I bet she’d suggest getting one that’s conflict-free and environmentally conscious. Whether you’re looking for a ring that will signify your betrothal, buying a fancy bauble for yourself, or simply dropping hints to a loved one about what you might want for V-day, feeling good about what a ring represents is just as important as the cut, the setting, and the size. From conflict-free diamonds to non-traditional stones and vintage pieces, there are a number of ways to score a high-end ring you can be proud to rock.
Tagged with: mining, gold, jewelry
Releases of Toxic Chemicals Increased By 8 Percent in 2011, EPA Data Show
BNA | Andrea Vittorio
January 18, 2013
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Total releases and transfers of toxic chemicals in the United States increased by 8 percent from 2010 to 2011 to 4.09 billion pounds, according to a data analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency released Jan. 16.
The rise in releases is mainly from increases in land disposal at metal mines, where small changes in the composition of the ore being mined can lead to big changes in the amount of toxic chemicals reported nationally, EPA said. Smaller increases in releases occurred in the hazardous waste management sector.
Tagged with: epa, tri, toxics release inventory
New AP Report Raises Alarming Questions about EPA's Oversight of Oil and Gas Drillers
Environmental Working Group, Earthworks
January 17, 2013
Joint statement by Bruce Baizel, Director of Earthworks' Oil & Gas Accountability Project, and Dusty Horwitt, Senior Counsel for Environmental Working Group
A report yesterday (1/16) that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency withdrew action against a natural gas company despite evidence that its drilling operations had contaminated drinking water in Texas raises alarming questions about the industry’s influence and the agency’s commitment to protecting public health and the environment.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, regulation, enforcement, range resources
EPA: Metal Mining Industry Is Nation’s Top Toxic Polluter
Earthworks
January 16, 2013
Toxics Release Inventory illustrates why EPA must protect taxpayers from mining cleanup costs
Jan 6th, Washington, D.C. -- Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified the metal mining industry as the nation’s largest toxic polluter. The metal mining industry reported the release of 1.9 billion pounds of toxic chemicals in 2011, according to EPA’s annual Toxics Release Inventory, or 46% of all reported toxics.
“Billions of pounds of pollution requires billions of dollars to clean up,” said Earthworks’ Strategic Communications Director Alan Septoff. He continued, “If the EPA doesn’t act soon to require cleanup bonds, taxpayers could be paying the cleanup bill instead of the polluting mining companies. Meanwhile, our nation’s rivers, streams, air and land remain at risk.”
Tagged with: mining, pollution, toxics release inventory, bonding, cercla, lucky friday, 108b, hecla
NEW MEXICO OIL CONSERVATION COMMISSION SHUTS DOWN ENVIRONMENTAL TESTIMONY AT PIT RULE HEARING
Earthworks, New Mexico Environmental Law Center
January 10, 2013
Rejection of Expert Witnesses Part Of National Trend To Avoid Truth About Oil & Gas Development Impacts
Joint release: Earthworks * New Mexico Environmental Law Center
SANTA FE, N.M.— Today, the New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission concluded a public hearing on proposed amendments to the oil and gas waste pit regulation (the Pit Rule) without allowing conservation groups to testify. Expert technical witnesses offered by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC) were not permitted to comment on the potential effects that burying toxic waste products from oil and gas drilling in the ground would have on the state's groundwater and public health.
“Irony aside, blocking testimony on a public health issue at a public hearing is part of an unfortunate trend across the country to avoid emerging science concerning the impacts of oil and gas development,” said Earthworks' Oil & Gas Accountability Project Director, Bruce Baizel. “In New Mexico, Colorado, and New York, industry and its advocates have recently attempted to obstruct input into public rulemakings regarding the environmental and health impacts of oil and gas development. You have to ask yourself, what are they afraid of? We think the answer is: the truth.”
Tagged with: regulation, new mexico, pit rule, transparency, new mexico oil conservation division
EPA’s Fracking Study May Dodge Water Contamination Frequency Issue
Huffington Post | Kevin Begos
January 6, 2013
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PITTSBURGH (AP) — An ongoing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study on natural gas drilling and its potential for groundwater contamination has gotten tentative praise so far from both industry and environmental groups.
Glenn Paulson, the EPA's science adviser, describes the project as "one of the most aggressive public outreach programs in EPA history."
The final report won't come out until late 2014. But a 275-page progress report was released in December and, for all its details, shows that the EPA doesn't plan to address one contentious issue — how often drinking water contamination might occur.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, water contamination
Statement of Earthworks Executive Director Jennifer Krill on the release of the movie Promised Land
Earthworks
January 4, 2013
The new movie Promised Land is no fairy tale.
Matt Damon film understates oil and gas company misbehavior, unintentionally highlights need for stronger oversight.
Jan 4 -- The new film Promised Land -- opening today -- is bringing welcome attention to the issue of irresponsible oil and gas development. The sad truth is that Promised Land is no fairy tale.
The movie turns on the amoral and unethical behavior of a fracking/drilling company, and the landmen that try to convince citizens to lease their property for drilling.
We can tell you from experience that Promised Land understates the depths to which some companies are willing to stoop. In fact, fracking company representatives have told us so.
Tagged with: fracking, communities, promised land, matt damon
Damon’s fracking hunt finds little good will
E&E News | Mike Soraghan
January 2, 2013
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"Promised Land," Matt Damon's movie tale about the shale boom in rural America, is posting "modest" box office results for its limited early release along with middling reviews.\
And, as expected, the movie some have dubbed "Good Will Fracking" has been praised by environmentalists and seen scorn from the natural gas industry and supporters.
"It's entertainment, and pretty silly entertainment," said former Pennsylvania environmental regulator John Hanger. "It doesn't pretend to deal with the real issues."
Tagged with: fracking, psyops, promised land
Statement of Bruce Baizel, Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project Director, on EPA’s Progress Report on its study of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.
Earthworks
December 21, 2012
Most significant about the progress report is the lack of progress it reports. In its inability to find a single company willing to test water quality before and after drilling and fracking, the EPA is being thwarted in perhaps the most important part of its study of fracking’s impacts.
We are not surprised, however. Oil and gas companies’ unwillingness to cooperate continues a pattern of obstruction of actual science on the impacts of drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Oil and gas developers and their advocates are quick to claim that fracking is safe, but they are unwilling to put their money where their mouth is. Until they do, the industry has no credibility in the debate about the science and safety of fracking.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, groundwater, pollution, fracking study
Draft of fracking regulations released
San Francisco Chronicle | David Baker
December 19, 2012
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California would require oil companies engaged in the controversial practice of fracking to pressure-test their wells first, notify the state in advance and make sure they aren't working too close to a fault line under regulations proposed Tuesday.
But the draft regulations, issued by the California agency that oversees oil drilling, would not force companies to obtain a special permit for fracking. Nor would the regulations give people living near oil wells much warning that fracking was about to begin.
Environmentalists immediately attacked the proposals as too weak.
Tagged with: fracking, regulation, california
Looking for Trouble: Will Lawmakers Beef Up Drilling Inspections?
NPR | Dave Fehling
December 18, 2012
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Chances may be better this time around that the Texas legislature might actually strengthen regulation of oil and gas drilling by the Texas Railroad Commission.
“I think there’s more and more consensus on what needs to happen at the Railroad Commission,” says Royce Poinsett. He’s a lawyer with Baker Botts and a lobbyist for the oil and gas industry.
Part of the reason is oil and gas drilling is getting far more public scrutiny. There’s even a Matt Damon movie now bringing attention to the hydraulic fracturing technique that’s behind a massive surge in oil and gas drilling.
Tagged with: fracking, texas, promised land
Rosemont Copper - A Tale of Two Mines
Earthworks
December 17, 2012
Tucson, AZ - The same Canadian mining speculators who are now seeking government permits to build the Rosemont copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains near Tucson, Arizona, left behind a trail of unpaid vendors, a misspent government loan, hidden investors, and a toxic mess known to locals as "Cyanide Beach" after owning and operating an open-pit gold mine in Sardinia, Italy from 2003-07.
Tagged with: 1872 mining law, arizona, rosemont, cyanide beach, augusta resources
New EPA Clean Water Act policy aids abandoned mine cleanup
Earthworks
December 12, 2012
Lack of funding still main obstacle to reclaiming hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines
Washington, D.C. -- Today, the EPA aided abandoned mine cleanup efforts by assuring Good Samaritans who would perform such cleanup that they do not need Clean Water Act permits -- if they enter into a formal agreement with EPA. Clean Water Act concerns have given pause to some Good Samaritans who want to help clean up some of the nation’s hundreds of thousands of abandoned hardrock mines. Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) has been a staunch advocate for Good Samaritans on this issue, pressing the EPA to help ensure mine cleanups throughout Colorado.
Tagged with: epa, abandoned mines, clean water act, good samaritan, abandoned mine cleanup, mark udall, liability
Billions in publicly owned gold, copper, other metals unaccounted for as fiscal cliff nears
Earthworks
December 12, 2012
New government report details lack of transparency, data
Washington, DC – A new Government Accountability Office report to Congress reveals that American taxpayers annually give away to mining companies unknown billions in hardrock minerals like gold, copper and uranium. Because the law does not allow taxpayers to charge a royalty for hardrock minerals taken from publicly owned lands, the Interior Department collects no data on their value. In 2011, Interior estimated their sales value at $6.4 billion
Tagged with: 1872 mining law, hardrock mining, subsidies, royalty, government accountability office
Regulators Under Fire for Keeping Fracking Pollution Test Results Under Wraps
Truthout | Mike Ludwig
December 11, 2012
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Residents living in the shadow of fracking rigs say they've suffered from headaches, nosebleeds and other health effects since drilling began in their communities. Meanwhile, state agencies refuse to release the results of air and water pollution tests.
Thirty years ago, Jenny and Tom Lisak moved into a historic farmhouse in Pennsylvania's rural Jefferson County. The couple raised three children there and established a certified organic farm they named LadyBug Farm.
"When living in the country, your time is marked by nature and each season comes with its own smells, sounds and colors," Jenny Lisak recently told environmental researchers. "But those colors have faded and our wellbeing, livelihood and dreams are now threatened."
Tagged with: fracking, regulations, inspections
Approval process for mine criticized
Arizona Daily Star | Tony Davis
December 9, 2012
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A new Washington, D.C.-based mining advocacy group is criticizing the U.S. Forest Service for its recent decision not to rule on the Rosemont Mine this month as previously planned.
The group, Mined in America, said in a news release that Arizona workers are "paying a heavy price for this unreasonable postponement."
"With so many Americans out of work and such a tremendous need for American natural resources so that we can revitalize manufacturing, it's time for regulators to stop delaying and allow this project to move forward," said Maurice Daniel, executive director of the group, in an interview.
Tagged with: mining, arizona, rosemont
Ohio’s next challenge might be finding enough inspectors to keep up with drilling activity
Crain's Cleveland | Dan Shingler
December 3, 2012
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No one knows exactly how many shale gas wells will be drilled in Ohio in 2013, but most experts agree on one thing: it will likely be more than the state can inspect with its current roster of inspectors.
That’s why the state is making a hard push to hire and train more inspectors to keep the expected rush of new drillings up to code.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is the state agency charged with regulating oil and gas drilling in the state, and within it the Oil and Gas division handles inspections. It had 41 inspectors going into the fourth quarter of this year, up from 30 at the end of 2011, said ODNR spokeswoman Heidi Hetzel-Evans.
Tagged with: fracking, enforcement, inspections, ohio
Over Our Dead Salmon: Bristol Bay, DeBeers and Ethical Jewelry
CSR Newswire | Marc Choyt
November 27, 2012
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With the value of precious metals near all-time highs, hard rock mining will continue to threaten sensitive environmental areas.
We cannot expect much help from Congress. Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid is strongly supported by the mining lobby, and so long as he is in power, the 1872 mining act will remain the law of the land. One way forward with domestic mining reform may be through a concerted alliance between environmental organizations and a new coalition of ethical jewelers, particularly in the most prominent environmental mining battle at Bristol Bay, a pristine ecological national treasure located in Southwestern Alaska.
Tagged with: mining, gold, bristol bay, jewelry
Enviros vexed by what’s missing in water contamination reports
E&E News | Ellen Gilmer
November 20, 2012
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Pennsylvania's environmental protection chief is defending his agency's controversial system for testing water wells near Marcellus Shale operations by saying other states work the same way. But regulators in those states say that's not true.
The flap began in the Keystone State, where it recently came to light that the state Department of Environmental Protection routinely withholds water quality data it deems irrelevant to oil and gas contamination. Critics are pressuring regulators to overhaul that practice because they say the untold contaminants could make people sick.
Tagged with: fracking, public health, pennsylvania, toxics, water
REGULATION: N.M. is loosening drilling rules, bucking trends and riling ranchers
E&E News | Mike Soraghan
November 15, 2012
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TATUM, N.M. -- The bare patch is pale gray, gravelly and about the size of a baseball infield. It's been 60 years since an oil well was drilled here, the waste washed into a pit, then buried. Nothing has grown here since.
"That soil there is dead," growls Carl Johnson, a rancher who owns the land around here for miles, pointing over a box of bullets on the dash. "It'll still look like that in 60 years."
He spins the wheel of his mud-splattered Ford Super Cab pickup and crunches to a stop at another site that looks similar, except for a pile of dirt on the side, and his stern mood lifts a bit.
Tagged with: new mexico, pit rule
Organizations Demand PADEP Reveal all Data from Water Tests, Provide Information to Homeowners
Earthworks, et al
November 14, 2012
Harrisburg, PA – 25 organizations sent a letter to Governor Tom Corbett today criticizing the PA Department of Environmental Protection’s well water testing and notification policies as outdated, lacking transparency, and inadequate to protect residents and drinking water from pollution caused by gas drilling. The groups called on the Governor to take immediate action to reform PADEP’s procedures and disclose all data collected through DEP water tests but only partially reported to households where the testing occurred.
The letter and requests for action were prompted by information revealed through depositions in the case of Kiskadden vs. PADEP and DEP Secretary Michael Krancer’s recent announcement of changes to how suspected water pollution from shale gas operations is investigated.
Tagged with: fracking, public health, pennsylvania, drinking water, pennsylvania department of environmental protection, testing
Towns Fight Back Against Fracking
Living Green Magazine | Sharon Guynup
November 8, 2012
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A growing boom in natural gas drilling near homes and schools prompted the city of Longmont, Colorado to vote last July to bar new oil and gas permits in residential neighborhoods.
The state quickly overturned the ordinance. Gov. John Hickenlooper said that letting it stand would “stir-up a hornet’s nest,” encouraging other Colorado towns to pass their own drilling rules. Longmont Mayor Dennis Coombs argued that communities have the right to restrict heavy industry in residential zones – including oil and gas drilling.
Tagged with: fracking, communities
Longmont frack ban may end up in court
Durango Herald | Joe Hanel
November 7, 2012
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DENVER – Longmont residents voted Tuesday to ban hydraulic fracturing inside their city limits, a stand that will intensify the battle between the state and the city on who gets to regulate natural-gas and oil production.
Gov. John Hickenlooper predicted that private oil companies will sue the northern Colorado city to overturn the ban.
Tagged with: fracking, ban, longmont
Local-State Clashes Grow During Oil And Gas Drilling Boom
Think Progress | Tom Kenworthy
November 1, 2012
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Many parts of the nation are experiencing a boom that is unlocking large new reserves of oil and gas from shale formations. While this means an increase in domestic fuel production, it is also fostering a gusher of increasingly bitter fights among local authorities, state governments, energy companies, and landowners about who has the right to regulate where and how drilling occurs.
Spurred in large part by concerns over the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, citizens and local governments are mobilizing in support of bans or other restrictions on oil and gas drilling and, specifically, fracking.
Fracking—the high-pressure injection of water, chemicals, and sand to fracture underground rock formations and release trapped natural gas and oil—along with advances in horizontal drilling, has made it possible to develop extensive new fields of oil and gas around the United States. But the practice now used in an estimated 95 percent of U.S. oil and gas wells has elevated concerns about the health and safety of drilling, particularly in regard to those communities close to oil and gas developments.
Tagged with: fracking, regulation
Montana Supreme Court blocks construction of Rock Creek mine
Earthworks, Rock Creek Alliance, Clark Fork Coalition
October 30, 2012
The Montana Supreme Court voided a key water quality permit for the proposed Rock Creek Mine on Monday, holding that the state’s use of a permitting shortcut would not sufficiently protect Rock Creek’s threatened bull trout population, a resource of “unique ecological significance” under state law. The Rock Creek Mine is a controversial mining project that would excavate for silver and copper underneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in the lower Clark Fork River drainage near Idaho.
Tagged with: montana, rock creek mine, rock creek alliance, clark fork coalition, montana supreme court, sediment
Environmental Group Launches Cellphone Recycling Website
Paul Darin | Epoch Times
October 30, 2012
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Following the launch of the iPhone 5 in late September, Earthworks, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting communities and the environment formerly known as Mineral Policy Center, followed up with the launch of its “Recycle My Cell Phone” website, which helps mobile consumers and the environment by keeping cellphones out of landfills and helps to conserve precious minerals.
Throwing an old cellphone into the trash, the most likely end to any cellphone, over time leads to the leaching of hazardous chemicals like lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and other rare earth elements into the soil and groundwater. In some areas that incinerate their trash, these toxins could quickly find their way into our atmosphere.
Tagged with: recycle my cell phone, recycling, iphone
Montana Supreme Court: Stricter permit needed for Rock Creek Mine
Rob Chaney | Missoulian
October 30, 2012
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The Rock Creek Mine can’t use a general water discharge permit to build its access roads because those roads would threaten a population of bull trout in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, according to the Montana Supreme Court.
A four-justice majority ruled this week that Revett Silver Co. needs a more site-specific permit with greater public review before it starts a five-year effort to develop its copper and silver mine north of Noxon.
Writing for the majority, Justice Michael Wheat said the state Department of Environmental Quality erred in granting a general permit if the “point source will be located in an area of unique ecological or recreational significance,” according to Montana law.
Tagged with: montana, rock creek mine, bull trout
17 Groups Petition EPA for Public Reporting of Chemical Releases from Fracking, other Oil and Gas Operations
Environmental Integrity Project, Earthworks, and others
October 24, 2012
127,000 Tons of Undisclosed Hazardous Emissions: Oil and Gas Would Join Other Industries, Including Coal, That Already Report to the Toxics Release Inventory; Federal Disclosure for O&G Not Yet Required Despite Surge in Fracking Chemical Pollution.
WASHINGTON, D.C.///October 24, 2012///The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), along with 16 other local, regional, and national organizations petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today to require the oil and gas extraction industry—including companies engaged in fracking—to report to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The oil and gas extraction industry has long used and released large amounts of TRI-listed toxic chemicals, and this has dramatically increased in the last decade with the rapid spread of horizontal hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”).
Tagged with: fracking, oil and gas, tri, toxic release inventory
New research links health problems with oil and natural gas development
Earthworks
October 18, 2012
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October 18th –The largest health survey to-date of Marcellus Shale residents living near oil and gas development shows a clear pattern of negative health impacts associated with living near gas facilities, according to a new report released by Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project today. Released in association with ShaleTest, Gas Patch Roulette: How Shale Gas Development Risks Public Health in Pennsylvania surveyed 108 residents in 14 Pennsylvania counties, and conducted air and water tests at more than half of the households were surveys were completed.
Tagged with: fracking, public health, regulation, marcellus shale, pennsylvania, toxics, health and toxics, gas patch roulette
Marcellus Gas Wells Likely Harming Public Health: Survey
Bloomberg | Jim Efstathiou Jr.
October 18, 2012
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People living near natural gas wells in Pennsylvania say drilling has triggered respiratory problems, fatigue, severe headaches and skin rashes, according to a study from Earthworks, a Washington-based environmental group.
The findings come from a survey released today of 108 residents in 14 Pennsylvania counties. Since 2009, more than 5,000 wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania’s portion of the Marcellus Shale using hydraulic fracturing. This process requires sending millions of gallons of chemically treated water and sand underground to break shale rock and free trapped gas.
There should be ‘‘no more permitting for drilling until the health impacts can be fully understood.’’
Tagged with: fracking, public health, pennslyvania
Fracking Pollution Sickens Pennsylvania Families, Environmental Group Says
Huffington Post | Lynne Peeples
October 18, 2012
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The McIntyres of Butler County, Pa., no longer drink the water piped into their home. They no longer brush their teeth with it, shower or do laundry with it.
"We use water for nothing other than flushing the commode," said Janet McIntyre, after describing her family's wide-ranging health problems -- from projectile vomiting to skin rashes -- that she attributed to the water.
Tagged with: fracking, public health
Suit says California hasn’t looked at fracking’s risks
Washington Times | Ben Wolfgang
October 16, 2012
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The heated fight over fracking has reached California. A coalition of environmental advocacy groups on Tuesday filed a lawsuit charging that the state’s Department of Conservation “has failed to consider or evaluate the risks of fracking” and therefore is in violation of state law, the latest state-level clash over the booming new technique for obtaining oil and natural gas.
“Right now, the people of California don’t know where or when the drillers are fracking, what chemicals they are using, what pollutants they’re releasing into the air and water and what other risks they are taking,” said George Torgun, an attorney with the non-profit environmental law firm Earthjustice, which filed the suit on behalf of the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups.
Tagged with: fracking, california, lawsuit
CA sued over environmental toll of fracking
San Francisco Chronicle | David Baker
October 16, 2012
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The suit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court by five environmental groups, would force the state office that oversees oil drilling to study the possible effects on groundwater and air quality before letting companies use hydraulic fracturing.
The state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources currently lets oil companies frack wells without an environmental impact report, according to the suit. Such reports are required for most major construction or infrastructure projects.
"It's time for our regulators and our oil and gas industry to stop denying the negative impacts of fracking and start working to prevent them," said Jennifer Krill, executive director of Earthworks.
Tagged with: fracking, california, lawsuit
Use Care in Disposing of Your Old Cell Phone
Consumer Affairs | Mark Huffman
October 16, 2012
Whether you are lining up to buy a new iPhone 5 or one of its many competitors, you then have the problem of what to do with your old cell phone. The last thing you should do is simply throw it away.
Not only are there toxic materials in these devices that should not go into a landfill, there is sensitive information that you should keep out of the hands of people who might misuse it.
Tagged with: mining, gold, rare earths, recycle my cell phone, recycling
New Mobile Phone Recycling Website Launches as 50 Million *Old* Phones Look for a Home
EARTHWORKS and MPC
October 16, 2012
Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis, Minn., October 16, 2012— As millions of new iPhones appear in mailboxes around the country, Earthworks, the only U.S. environmental watchdog focusing exclusively on the impacts of resource extraction on communities and the environment, announces the launch of their new Recycle My Cell Phone website.
Through the website, consumers can responsibly recycle their phones; reducing the demand for newly mined metals – including conflict minerals, and protecting groundwater by keeping hazardous metals out of landfills. For example, recovering the gold found in 50 million cell phones (iPhone5 sales are projected to reach 50 million by year’s end) could prevent the creation of 2 million tons of mining waste.
Tagged with: recycle my cell phone, recycling
Wyoming Water Tests in Line With EPA Finding on Fracking
Bloomberg | Mark Drajem
October 11, 2012
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Tests of drinking water near a natural-gas drilling site in Wyoming back up findings that established the first link by the federal government between hydraulic fracturing and tainted water, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
The EPA yesterday issued its follow-up analyses of two test wells it drilled in Pavillion and of five residents’ water wells, saying the pollutants it found were “consistent” with the results last year used to establish that connection to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Water quality in Pavillion, Wyoming, has attracted national attention since the EPA’s draft report in December showed that fracking may have contaminated homeowners’ water.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, wyoming, usgs
More data shows groundwater pollution from fracking
Summit County Citizens Voice
October 9, 2012
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SUMMIT COUNTY — There’s more evidence suggesting that fracking in Wyoming is polluting groundwater near the town of Pavilion, as U.S. Geological Survey water quality sampling appears to show similar results as an earlier EPA study.
The 2011 EPA sampling was one of the first to document hydrocarbons consistent with fracking fluid chemicals in drinking water wells and monitoring wells located near natural gas wells.
The latest USGS study was conducted specifically to check EPA’s results, even as the the oil and gas industry continue to question the results. Environmental advocates accuse the industry of protecting their economic interests at the expense of public health and safety.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, wyoming, water, usgs
A tale of one shale helped guide another
Houston Chronicle | Jeannie Kever
October 7, 2012
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For decades, most urban Texans thought of oil and gas as a West Texas thing - pump jacks bobbing along the horizon, glimpsed from cars speeding on their way to somewhere else.
That changed in the 1990s with the bonanza of natural gas in the Barnett shale, as drilling became an up-close-and-personal experience for suburbanites in North Texas.
"Everybody was going to be wealthy," said Sharon Wilson, who lived in Wise County at the time. "I launched a campaign to get people to drill on my property."
Texas energy company fined $207,150
Durango Herald | Jordyn Dahl
October 4, 2012
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A Texas-based energy company has agreed to pay a $207,150 fine in a settlement agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for polluting air around Ignacio for more than 10 years.
Court documents show the Elm Ridge Exploration Co. violated the Clean Air Act by operating engines that are not in compliance with emission and operating limitations. The company also failed to get written approval from the EPA to install several high-pollutant engines.
Elm Ridge owns the Ignacio Gas Treating Plant on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation about eight miles west of Ignacio. The plant has been in operation since 1999 and accepts low-pressure raw and untreated natural gas from about 140 surrounding wells owned by the company, according to the court complaint filed by the EPA.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, natural gas, colorado, fines
U-Liners Benefit Concert for Earthworks
EARTHWORKS
October 3, 2012
Join us for a fun night out at the Red Palace in the hip Atlas District of H St. NE. Have a beer with Earthworks staff members from around the country and listen to the music of the U-Liners.
The U-Liners, based in Takoma Park, play a deep and eclectic repertoire of roots-rock and Americana with a social conscience. Members of the band have shared a stage with diverse artists such as Tom Morello, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, the Dropkick Murphys, Jill Sobule, Lester Chambers and Pete Seeger.
Proceeds from this show will benefit Earthworks, which fights to hold the oil, gas and mining industries accountable while protecting clean air, water, public health and people’s rights.
Tagged with: mining, fracking, concert
New Study Supports Water Contamination Due to Fracking
EARTHWORKS
October 3, 2012
Joint release with Natural Resources Defense Council * Sierra Club
U.S. Geological Survey Verifies EPA Findings in Pavillion, WY
Pavillion, WY -- An independent analysis of new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) water monitoring data verifies a 2011 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigation into whether hydraulic fracturing contaminated the Wind River aquifer near Pavillion, Wyoming - an important groundwater source that provides water to thousands of Wyoming residents and farmers.
The preliminary results of EPA’s study was one of the first to document hydrocarbons consistent with fracking fluid chemicals in drinking water wells and monitoring wells located near natural gas wells. EPA’s preliminary results have since been attacked by the oil and gas industry, as they seek to continue their dangerous practices and protect their own interests over public health and safety. USGS’s study was conducted specifically to check EPA’s results.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, wyoming, pavillion, water contamination
Report: Enforcement of Texas Oil and Gas Laws Is Kind of a Joke
Dallas Observer | Brantley Hargrove
September 26, 2012
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Anybody who is at all familiar with the Texas Railroad Commission won't be surprised to learn that the almighty oil and gas regulator isn't exactly aggressive in its enforcement of the rules. The highly political commission's contradictory charges are to promote oil and gas development while holding the developers accountable. You can guess which charge usually wins out.
Earthworks, the nonprofit oil-and-gas accountability outfit, helpfully quantified the commission's lackadaisical approach to enforcement in a recent report.
It's helpful to understand the scale of oil and gas development in Texas. Between 1993 and 2011, the number of active wells increased by 24,000. Meanwhile, the number of inspectors decreased by 20. That means each inspector is responsible for inspecting, give or take, 2,700. That is, of course, not physically possible. Earthworks estimates some 300,000 oil and gas facilities weren't inspected in 2011.
Tagged with: fracking, texas, texas railroad commission
Wyoming tests still detect benzene
Albany Time Union | Mead Gruver
September 26, 2012
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CHEYENNE, Wyo. — New groundwater testing in Wyoming shows lower levels of the carcinogen benzene than what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported when it linked contaminants in two water wells to hydraulic fracturing, but only one well was tested this time.
Benzene is a hydrocarbon commonly associated with oil and gas development. Last year's testing by the EPA showed benzene at almost 50 times the recommended EPA limit. The new data released Wednesday by the U.S. Geological Survey show benzene at 3 percent of the recommended EPA limit.
Tagged with: fracking, epa, public health, wyoming
NY records show history of oil, gas well problems
Bloomberg | Mary Esch
September 26, 2012
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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — State regulators claim a strong record of oil and gas drilling oversight, but their own reports reveal thousands of unplugged abandoned wells and other industrial problems that could pose a threat to groundwater, wetlands, air quality and public safety.
Annual reports and incident reports prepared by Department of Environmental Conservation staff and reviewed by The Associated Press run counter to the agency's long-stated assertion that the types of problems reported in other states have been prevented in New York by strong regulations.
Tagged with: fracking, new york, enforcement
Report criticizes Pa. gas drilling enforcement
Wall Street Journal | Kevin Begos
September 26, 2012
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PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania regulators aren't inspecting tens of thousands of oil and gas wells even once a year, a new report says. But state officials say they're inspecting most new wells in the Marcellus Shale region, which is the right place to focus.
The report issued Tuesday by Earthworks, a Washington D.C. nonprofit, found that more than 66,000 active wells weren't inspected by the Department of Environmental Protection last year, and that many companies cited for violations aren't punished.
Tagged with: fracking, pennsylvania, enforcement
Group says many Texas wells aren’t inspected
Houston Chronicle | Jeannie Kever
September 25, 2012
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An environmental group Tuesday released a study contending that regulatory officials in Texas and five other states affected by the shale drilling boom have been overwhelmed by the rush of activity, leaving residents at risk of air and water problems caused by drilling.
The report, "Breaking All the Rules: The Crisis in Oil & Gas Regulatory Enforcement," contends that hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells - including more than half of active wells in Texas - never are inspected to see whether they comply with state rules.
Tagged with: fracking, enforcement
Fracking Regulations In States Leave Wells Without Inspection, Environmental Group Says
Huffington Post | Tom Zeller Jr.
September 25, 2012
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Hundreds of thousands of active oil and gas wells go without government inspection in any given year, and fines for regulatory violations are too small to change drilling company behavior, according to an energy watchdog group's review of regulation and enforcement activities in six states.
The 124-page report, released Tuesday by the Oil & Gas Accountability Project at Earthworks, an environmental and public health advocacy group based in Washington, examined well inspection data, violations, enforcement actions and penalties in Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Tagged with: fracking, enforcement
Watchdog group faults states’ inspections of oil, gas wells
LA Times | Neela Banerjee
September 25, 2012
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WASHINGTON -- State regulators inspect oil and gas wells sporadically, do not consistently record violations, and impose light penalties on companies that are found to break environmental, health or safety rules, according to a new research report issued by the environmental watchdog group Earthworks.
The report, “Breaking All the Rules,” comes out at a time when hydraulic fracturing -- known as "fracking" -- and horizontal drilling have touched off a nationwide boom in oil and gas production. While the growth in domestic energy production has nudged the United States closer to energy self-sufficiency and created jobs, it has also raised questions about the adequacy of environmental and health safeguards and elicited pushback from localities that contend that their states are not doing enough to protect them.
Tagged with: fracking, enforcement
States Fail to Oversee U.S. Fracking, Environmental Group Says
Bloomberg | Kasia Klimasinska
September 25, 2012
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U.S. states fail to adequately monitor hydraulic fracturing and use outdated fines that are inadequate to deter violations, an environmental group said as drillers back state rather federal oversight.
Pennsylvania and Ohio each didn’t inspect 91 percent of active oil and gas wells in 2010, Washington-based Earthworks said today in a report. In New Mexico, the top fine of $1,000 per day has been in place for more than 75 years.
Tagged with: fracking, enforcement
States Aren’t Enforcing Their Own Oil and Gas Rules
Mother Jones | Josh Harkinson
September 25, 2012
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The biggest domestic oil and gas boom in a generation is going unpoliced by regulators in many states, according to a report released today by the environmental group Earthworks. Since 2005, the United States has increased oil production by about 10 percent and gas production about 20 percent, largely due to technological advances in horizontal drilling and fracking. Meanwhile, enforcement actions in six major oil and gas states have not kept pace with all the new drilling.
The report, "Breaking All the Rules," examined oil and gas regulation in Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. It found that in recent years the number of oil-and-gas-related enforcement actions and total dollar amount in penalties in each state have either remained fairly constant or dropped. The only exception was in Colorado, where penalties increased because the state addressed a backlog of old cases.
Tagged with: fracking, enforcement
New research: States don’t enforce oil and gas regulations
September 25, 2012
September 25th, Washington, D.C. – Today Earthworks released Breaking All the Rules: The Crisis in Oil & Gas Regulatory Enforcement, a new research study revealing that states across the country are failing to enforce their own oil and gas development regulations. The one-year, in-depth research project examined enforcement data and practices in Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio, New York, New Mexico and Colorado and included interviews with ex-industry and state agency employees.
"State enforcement of oil and gas rules is broken," said Earthworks' Senior Staff Attorney Bruce Baizel. He continued, "Across the country, public health and safety are at risk because states are failing to uphold the rule of law. Until states can guarantee they are adequately enforcing their own rules on an ongoing basis, state agencies must not permit new drilling."
Tagged with: fracking, drilling, regulations, enforcement, inspections, transparency, violations, penalties, fines
Group challenges Ohio’s drilling rules
Canton Repository | Edd Pritchard
September 25, 2012
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A national environmental group working with several statewide organizations took shots at Ohio’s regulations governing oil and natural gas drilling in a report issued Tuesday.
Earthworks, which calls itself a national resource extraction watchdog, issued a 13-page report contending that several states fail to enforce oil and gas extractionregulations. A separate four-page report claimed the Ohio Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management provide inadequate enforcement, which means ongoing drilling in Ohio is irresponsible.
Tagged with: fracking, enforcement
Report Claims That Oil Companies Are Breaking Rules, Not Being Regulated
CBS 7 | Felicia Bolton
September 25, 2012
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GARDENDALE, TX - In the document, exclusively obtained by CBS 7 earlier today, the Gardendale Accountability Project (GARDAP) and 11 other Texas environmental groups are demanding oil companies clean up their act to better protect the public.
In a 124 page report titled "Breaking All the Rules: The Crises In Oil and Gas Regulatory Enforcement", Earthworks, GARDAP and 11 other Texas groups claim that the Texas oil & gas regulations are not being enforced.
Tagged with: fracking, enforcement
Report says states are too lax on oil, gas
Fort Worth Star-Telegram | Jim Fuquay
September 25, 2012
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States don't adequately regulate oil and gas production activities, says a new study by an environmental group, which urges them to establish firm rules for how often wells are inspected.
State regulators should require oil and gas producers to do their own monitoring of emissions and pollution, and should charge more for drilling permits to help cover the costs of boosting enforcement, says the study by the Washington-based Earthworks and its oil and gas accountability project.
Tagged with: fracking, enforcement
Analysis finds faults in drilling oversight
Denton Record Chronicle | Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
September 25, 2012
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States with the heaviest oil and gas development in the shale drilling boom are doing a poor job enforcing rules meant to protect public health and safety, according to a new analysis by Earthworks.
The 124-page analysis — “Breaking all the rules: the crises in oil and gas regulatory enforcement” — was partially paid for with a $25,000 grant from The Heinz Endowments. The foundation has given grants to a number of projects related to the shale boom recently, said Jennifer Krill, executive director of Earthworks.
Tagged with: fracking, enforcement
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