Petrochemicals - US

                                (FOR THE INTERACTIVE MAP - CLICK ON THE MAP IMAGE BELOW)

The U.S. Energy Mapping System shows the web of natural gas pipelines, power plants and refineries that spread across the Louisiana Gulf Coast both on and off shore, an area hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  Credit: EIA

climatecentral.org - by Bobby Magill - June 12, 2014

Imagine living near the Jersey Shore and a hurricane is barrelling in your direction, or living along the South Platte River in Colorado and an unexpected torrential downpour is flooding the river.

Are there natural gas, oil pipelines or electricity transmission lines that could break and leak in the flood or storm surge? Are oil and gas wells nearby that could flood and leach hydrocarbons into the river?

Those answers can be found online using the U.S. Energy Information Administration's interactive U.S. Energy Mapping System, which shows all the major energy infrastructure for any given address in the U.S.

submitted by Margery Schab

Click on the link below for a list of resources: Materials on Radioactivity in Gas and Gas Drilling Waste

http://treichlerlawoffice.com/radiation/index.html

Growing Economy, Falling Emissions

Economic growth has been stronger in nine Northeast states that have a current cap-and-trade program. Carbon emissions in those states have fallen much more quickly than in the rest of the country.

The New York Times
Sources: ENE; Energy Information Administration

nytimes.com - by Hannah Fairfield - June 6, 2014

Some critics of the Environmental Protection Agency’s new requirements for power plants argue that forcing emissions reduction will curtail economic growth. But the recent experience of states that already cap carbon emissions reveals that emissions and economic growth are no longer tightly tied together. . .

. . . The nine states already in the program — Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont — have substantially reduced their carbon emissions in recent years. At the same time, those states have had stronger economic growth than the rest of the country.

Firefighters have worried that in the event of a fracking chemical spill, without information on the chemicals they would not know the best way to respond. Photo courtesy Kaye Bewley, flickr creative commons

Legislators are pushing for a rule that would require fracking operators to provide information about the chemical contents of fracking fluid in the event of a spill.

northcarolinahealthnews.org - by Gabe Rivin - May 16, 2014

North Carolina - First responders are applauding a recent legislative proposal that would allow state officials to retain confidential information about hydraulic-fracturing chemicals, with the intention that the information reach those first responders quickly during an emergency.