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Archive for August 2nd, 2013
United Kingdom: Aerial footage: Fracking test drilling begins in Balcombe
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 2nd, 2013
Telegraph: Cuadrilla's oil drilling project has been subject to days of delays because of high-profile protests designed to halt delivery of trucks and equipment to the plant. Today a Cuadrilla spokesman said: "We started test drilling at 11.15am, and we will do a 3,000ft vertical well. We will be there for two to three months." Campaigners fear the project at Lower Stumble, near Balcombe, West Sussex, could lead Cuadrilla to go on to conduct hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The controversial method of...
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Balcombe oil drilling begins after anti-fracking protests cause delay
Posted by Guardian: Robert Booth on August 2nd, 2013
Guardian: Drilling for oil close to the West Sussex village of Balcombe has begun following a week of blockades and protests by anti-fracking activists who fear that the possible use of the extraction method could lead to the pollution of water courses. Cuadrilla, the oil and gas exploration company headed by the former BP boss Lord Browne, said work started at around 11.30am on Friday and drills would penetrate more than 900 metres (3,000ft) into the Sussex shale to test for the availability of oil reserves....
Recent Devastating Wildfires Could Be Result Of Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 2nd, 2013
RedOrbit: The larger, more destructive wildfires devastating some regions of the western US could be fueled by climate change, according to new research appearing in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology.
These erratic fires are more difficult to contain, as well as more dangerous to people living in the area and likely to cause catastrophic damage, lead author and Michigan State University assistant professor of geography Lifeng Luo and his colleagues said.
Furthermore, they predict the...
Fracking firm begins tests at Balcombe oil site as protests enter ninth day
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 2nd, 2013
Guardian: The energy firm Cuadrilla has started testing equipment ahead of exploratory oil drilling in West Sussex as anti-fracking protests at the site entered a ninth day. The project has been subject to days of delays because of protests led by Frack Off campaigners designed to halt delivery of equipment to the site. On Friday a Cuadrilla spokesman said: "Testing of equipment started last night but we haven't started drilling yet." Drilling could start later on Friday. Campaigners fear the project at...
State Dept. Watchdog Launches Inquiry into Keystone XL Environmental Analysis
Posted by Hill: Zack Colman on August 2nd, 2013
Hill: The State Department’s internal watchdog has “initiated an inquiry” into whether the contractor Foggy Bottom used for a draft environmental analysis on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline had a conflict of interest.
The move is a response to allegations from several outside groups, Doug Welty, a spokesman with the State Department Office of Inspector General, told The Hill on Friday.
The development raises the possibility of another redo of the analysis assessing Keystone’s environmental impact....
The academic turned protester behind anti-fracking group Frack Off
Posted by Telegraph: Gordon Rayner on August 2nd, 2013
Telegraph: Dr Edward Lloyd-Davies, 39, worked until last year as a research fellow at the University of Sussex’s Astronomy Centre, but now tours the country attending demonstrations and speaking at town hall meetings. The campaign group behind the disruption of an exploratory drilling operation in Balcombe, West Sussex, does not publicise the identities of its leaders, but its website is registered in Dr Lloyd-Davies’s name and he helped found Frack Off two years ago. He has convictions for assault and trespass...