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Archive for May 16th, 2013
Fracking on Federal Lands Said to Get Scaled-Back Rule Proposal
Posted by Bloomberg: Mark Drajem and Jim Snyder on May 16th, 2013
Bloomberg: Oil and gas industry representatives offered qualified support for a U.S. proposal to govern hydraulic fracturing on public lands that establishes federal oversight while deferring to state standards in some cases. In the proposal released yesterday, the U.S. Interior Department made a second attempt to establish national regulations for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. While industry officials said they prefer state to federal regulation, they welcomed the changes made by the Bureau of Land...
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Will the Colorado River Get Fracked?
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on May 16th, 2013
EcoWatch: Two months ago a story started ‘leaking’ out of Western Colorado about a fracked-gas pipeline break--loaded with cancer-causing benzene--with fluids heading toward and eventually into Parachute Creek which is a tributary to the Colorado River. As water wells close to the Creek started testing positive for benzene, and then as the Creek itself tested positive for benzene above drinking water standards, the news media started telling a story of how the Colorado River--a drinking water source for 35...
Canadian government drops over $16 million on advertising its tar sands
Posted by Guardian: Jeremy Hance on May 16th, 2013
Guardian: The Canadian government has nearly doubled its advertising spending to promote the Alberta tar sands in an aggressive new lobbying push ahead of Thursday's visit to New York by the prime minister, Stephen Harper.
The Harper government has increased its advertising spending on the Alberta tar sands to $16.5m from $9m a year ago.
The Canadian Press news agency, which first reported on the increase in advertising spending by the Department of Natural Resources, said the television advertising...
10 Reasons Canada’s Tar Sands Suck
Posted by EcoWatch: Kevin Grandia on May 16th, 2013
EcoWatch: Pardon my french, but Canada`s tar sands suck.
As a Canadian it blows my mind that we can have the second largest deposits of oil in the world, but our government remains billions in debt and one in seven Canadian children live in poverty.
I feel like we are being played for fools here in Canada, because foreign owned oil companies like ExxonMobil, British Petroluem and PetroChina (71 percent of oil sands production is owned by foreign shareholders) are making billions exporting raw tar sand...
New Fracking Rule Issued By Interior On Public Land
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2013
Associated Press: Companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands will be required to disclose publicly the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations, the Obama administration said Thursday. The new "fracking" rule replaces a draft proposed last year that was withdrawn amid industry complaints that federal regulation could hinder an ongoing boom in natural gas production.
The new draft rule relies on an online database used by Colorado and 10 other states to track the chemicals used in fracking...
Keystone won’t hurt environment as much as feared, MIT prof says at hearing
Posted by MarketWatch: None Given on May 16th, 2013
MarketWatch: The controversial Keystone XL pipeline, whose approval has been delayed by the Obama administration, would not create the extensive environmental damage that some fear, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology energy economics professor told a House small business subcommittee Thursday.
The pipeline, proposed by Canadian company TransCanada /quotes/zigman/27155 /quotes/nls/trp TRP , would transport crude oil from the oil sands in Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico. The State Department needs...
Major U.S. Cities Are at Risk for Climate-Related Water Shortage: Report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2013
Bloomberg: Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, and San Diego are among the cities most likely to face water scarcity as climate change increases drought potential, a study released May 15 found.
Along with the potentially 40 million Americans affected in these cities, several “breadbasket region” states such as Nebraska, Illinois, and Minnesota also made the list of vulnerable areas.
The report, America's Water Risk: Water Stress and Climate Variability, examined how climate could affect “vulnerability...
Canada: After Upset Election, Route for Tar Sands to Pacific Doesn’t Close
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song on May 16th, 2013
InsideClimate: Environmentalists suffered a setback on Tuesday when British Columbia re-elected a premier who left the door open for approval of two oil pipelines that would carry tar sands oil across B.C. to the Pacific Coast, where it could be exported to the world market. Despite trailing in the polls, incumbent Christy Clark, the leader of B.C.'s Liberal Party, defeated Adrian Dix and his New Democratic Party. Dix had opposed both pipelines, and environmental groups had hoped his win would signal the end of...
Pipeline Owner Asks Vermont to Reconsider Tar Sands Oil Ruling
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2013
Associated Press: The owner of a crude oil pipeline that runs between Maine and Montreal is asking Vermont environmental regulators to reconsider a ruling that would require a new review under the state's land-use planning law if the company seeks to move Canadian tar sands oil to Portland for possible shipment to markets across the world.
In its motion to reconsider, the Portland-Montreal Pipeline Corp. Pipeline said the coordinator of the District 7 Environmental Commission, who issued the ruling last month,...
Canada: Protestors Pulled From Cement at the Keystone XL Construction Site
Posted by KRMG: April Hill on May 16th, 2013
KRMG: Police had a hard time trying to figure out how to get three protestors out of solid cement near Wewoka and Holdenville Tuesday morning. The protestors are with the Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance and Cross Timbers Earth First. They put themselves in the cement Monday to protest construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. On the organization’s Facebook page, they say, “A Deputy from the Hughes County Sheriff’s Department is full-force swinging a sledgehammer at one of Holly and Bailey’s lockdown...