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Interior Department Endorses Seismic Testing for Oil and Gas Off Atlantic Coast

Interior Department Endorsement Is A First Step Toward Allowing Drilling

wsj.com - by Alicia Mundy - February 27, 2014

WASHINGTON—The Interior Department endorsed seismic testing in Atlantic waters on Thursday, a first step toward allowing oil and gas drilling from Delaware Bay to Florida's Cape Canaveral.

In its long-awaited environmental impact statement on what's known as seismic air gun testing, Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it would demand that the oil and gas companies exploring in the Outer Continental Shelf meet tough environmental standards to protect marine life from the underwater seismic blasts.

Environmental groups oppose the use of the controversial geological survey technology, contending that the seismic blasts pose a significant risk to whales, dolphins, fish and sea turtles.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - BOEM - Atlantic Geological and Geophysical (G&G) Activities Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)

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Fracking Boom Leaves Texans Under a Toxic Cloud

      

Natural gas is flared at a Pioneer Natural Resources well, in Karnes County, Texas in 2010. 
Photographer: Eddie Seal/Bloomberg

bloomberg.com - by Lisa Song, Jim Morris and David Hasemyer - February 20, 2014

. . . For the past eight months, the Center for Public Integrity, InsideClimate News and The Weather Channel have examined what Texas, the nation's biggest oil producer, has done to protect people in the Eagle Ford from the industry's pollutants. What's happening in the Eagle Ford is important not only for Texas, but also for Pennsylvania, Colorado, North Dakota and other states where horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have made it profitable to extract oil and gas from deeply buried shale.

Our investigation and records obtained from Texas regulatory agencies reveal a system that does more to protect the industry than the public. . .

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Stanford Scientist Unveils 50-State Plan to Transform U.S. to Renewable Energy

                                        (CLICK ON MAP IMAGE BELOW FOR INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE)

      

This interactive graphic shows how each state can move to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. See http://thesolutionsproject.org/infographic/.

Mark Jacobson and his colleagues have created a 50-state roadmap for replacing coal, oil and natural gas with wind, water and solar energy.

stanford.edu - by Mark Shwartz - February 26, 2014

Stanford University scientist Mark Jacobson has developed a 50-state roadmap for transforming the United States from dependence on fossil fuels to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. He unveiled the plan at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.

"Drastic problems require drastic and immediate solutions," said Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering. "Our new roadmap is designed to provide each state a first step toward a renewable future."

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Oil Closes New Orleans Port, Part of Mississippi River

news.yahoo.com - AP - by Janey McConnaughey - February 23, 2014

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 65-mile stretch of the Mississippi River, including the Port of New Orleans, was closed to all water traffic Sunday as crews cleaned up oil that spilled from a barge after it ran into a towboat between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the Coast Guard said.

Officials don't know how much oil spilled, but only a sheen was reported on the river following the collision, which happened Saturday afternoon near Vacherie, 47 miles west of New Orleans by land, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough. . .

. . . Public drinking water intakes on the river were closed as a precaution in nearby St. Charles Parish, officials said.

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Some Pa. Residents Near Blown Chevron Gas Well Finding Pizza Gift Hard to Swallow

cnn.com - By Allie Malloy and Lauren Morton - February 19, 2014

(CNN) -- Some Pennsylvania residents who live near a Chevron natural gas well that exploded, killing a worker, are getting compensation of sorts from the corporation.

Free pizza and sodas.

The blast killed a worker and injured another, and although the fire is out gas and heat are still being emitted into the atmosphere, Rhodes said.

Chevron's edible outreach is not sitting well with some recipients.

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(CLICK HERE - Chevron Updates - Pennsylvania Incident)

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Radionuclides in Fracking Wastewater: Managing a Toxic Blend

A lined impoundment receives waste at a fracking site in Dimock, Pennsylvania.  J. Henry Fair

Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP)
ehp.niehs.nih.gov - Valerie J. Brown - February 1, 2014

Naturally occurring radionuclides are widely distributed in the earth’s crust, so it’s no surprise that mineral and hydrocarbon extraction processes, conventional and unconventional alike, often produce some radioactive waste.1 Radioactive drilling waste is a form of TENORM (short for “technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material”)—that is, naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) that has been concentrated or otherwise made more available for human exposure through anthropogenic means.2 Both the rapidity and the extent of the U.S. natural gas drilling boom have brought heightened scrutiny to the issues of radioactive exposure and waste management.

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Research Poll - Public Support for Climate and Energy Policies in November 2013

yale.edu

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH POLL
Public Support for Climate and Energy Policies in November 2013

thinkprogress.org - by Ryan Koronowski - February 12, 2014

A recent survey found that most Republicans want the government to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, and regulate carbon pollution. And the vast majority of Americans believe the U.S. should take action to reduce global warming, regardless of any perceived cost to the economy.

The new poll by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication found that 83 percent of Americans want their country to make an effort to reduce global warming, even if it has economic costs. Despite calls for American inaction on climate until other countries act first, 60 percent of Americans think the U.S. should act “regardless of what other countries do.”

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U.S. Energy Mapping System

                                                     (CLICK ON THE MAP IMAGE BELOW)

      

U.S. Energy Information Administration - eia.gov

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) collects, analyzes, and disseminates independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment.

Mission and Overview

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is the statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. EIA collects, analyzes, and disseminates independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. EIA is the nation's premier source of energy information and, by law, its data, analyses, and forecasts are independent of approval by any other officer or employee of the U.S. Government.

EIA conducts a comprehensive data collection program that covers the full spectrum of energy sources, end uses, and energy flows. EIA also prepares informative energy analyses, monthly short-term forecasts of energy market trends, and long-term U.S. and international energy outlooks. EIA disseminates its data, analyses, and other products primarily through its website and customer contact center.

The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977 established EIA as the primary federal government authority on energy statistics and analysis, building upon systems and organizations first established in 1974 following the oil market disruption of 1973. Located in Washington, DC, EIA is an organization of about 370 federal employees, with an annual budget in Fiscal Year 2013 of $99.5 million.

http://www.eia.gov/state/maps.cfm

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Fracking is Depleting Water Supplies in America's Driest Areas, Report Shows

      

Source: Ceres

From Texas to California, drilling for oil and gas is using billions of gallons of water in the country's most drought-prone areas

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH REPORT - Hydraulic Fracturing & Water Stress: Water Demand by the Numbers
(85 page .PDF report)

theguardian.com - by Suzanne Goldenberg - February 5, 2014

America's oil and gas rush is depleting water supplies in the driest and most drought-prone areas of the country, from Texas to California, new research has found.

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North Carolina Coal Ash Spill Renews Push For Long-Delayed Federal Regulations

huffingtonpost.com - by Kate Sheppard - February 5, 2014

WASHINGTON – Between 50,000 and 82,000 tons of coal ash flowed into North Carolina's Dan River on Sunday, prompting renewed calls for long-delayed federal rules on the disposal of coal waste.

The ash and water mixture spilled when a stormwater pipe broke at Duke Energy's Dan River Steam Station, a plant that is no longer in operation in Rockingham County, N.C.

The slurry from coal ash can contain potentially toxic elements like arsenic, mercury and lead.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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