Situation Report

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.

Deepwater Horizon disaster, 2010: BP's bill keeps rising. Photograph: Handout/Getty Images

Latest update on continuing costs of Macondo blowout comes as oil firm reports fall in quarterly and yearly profits

theguardian.com - by Terry Macalister - February 4, 2014

BP has been forced to set aside an extra $200m (£123m) for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, bringing the bill so far to $42.7bn.

The final figure could be far higher, however, as the latest tally does not take account of additional provisions for economic loss claims from a further legal settlement BP has made, the group said. BP is also waiting for a final US court decision over whether it was considered grossly negligent for the Deepwater Horizon accident.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Image: The Phoenix home of David Leeper, a Republican who has installed solar panels on his roof. Samantha Sais for The New York Times

nytimes.com - January 25th, 2014 - John Schwartz

In conservative politics, solar power is often dismissed as an affectation, part of a liberal agenda to funnel money to “solar cronies” of the Obama administration and further the “global warming hoax.”

So one would not expect to see Barry Goldwater Jr., the very picture of modern conservatism and son of the 1964 Republican nominee for president, arguing passionately on behalf of solar energy customers. But there he was last fall, very publicly opposing a push by Arizona’s biggest utility to charge as much as $100 a month to people who put solar panels on their roofs.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

cdc.gov - January 24, 2014

The 2013-2014 National Snapshot of Public Health Preparedness  is the CDC’s fifth preparedness report, demonstrating how federal investments enhance the nation’s ability to respond to public health threats and emergencies. We present activities that occurred during 2012 and 2013 in the framework of CDC’s three priorities. The three priorities are:

- Improving health security at home and around the world

- Better preventing the leading causes of illness, injury, disability, and death

- Strengthening public health through collabora­tion with healthcare