Environment

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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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.

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A fireball goes up at the site of an oil train derailment on Monday, Dec. 30, 2013, in Casselton, N.D. (AP Photo/Bruce Crummy) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

huffingtonpost.com - by James Gerken - January 22, 2014

A new analysis of government data shows that more oil was spilled from trains in the U.S. in 2013 than in every year between 1975 and 2012 combined. Railcars released more than 1.15 million gallons of crude oil last year, reports McClatchy's Curtis Tate, while only a combined 800,000 gallons were spilled in the previous 38 years.

The analysis used data from the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and does not include the deadly July 6 train derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, that released an estimated 1.58 million gallons of oil and killed 47 people.

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Image: The new pressure from both sides could have an impact on critical permitting decisions on issues ranging from the Keystone XL pipeline to natural gas exports and federal coal leases. Nati Harnik/AP

washingtonpost.com - January 16th, 2014 - Juliet Eilperin and Lenny Bernstein

A group of the nation’s leading environmental organizations is breaking with the administration over its energy policy, arguing that the White House needs to apply a strict climate test to all of its energy decisions or risk undermining one of the president’s top ­second-term priorities.

The rift — reflected in a letter sent to President Obama by 18 groups, including the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund and Earthjustice — signals that the administration is under pressure to confront the fossil-fuel industry or risk losing support from a critical part of its political base during an already difficult election year.