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Archive for August 13th, 2013
Fight Brewing Over a Plan to Build the Nation’s Largest Trash Incinerator
Posted by AlterNet: Linda Greene on August 13th, 2013
AlterNet: Citizens in Logansport, Indiana, are fighting a proposal to build the country’s largest trash incinerator in their town.
Logansport, population 20,000, is located in Cass County in the north-central part of Indiana, on the Wabash River, 76 miles north of Indianapolis.
The City of Logansport has allocated $1.5 million to investigate, and prepare contracts for, the incinerator.
The incinerator, to be operated by a company named Pyrolyzer LLC, based in Baco Raton, Florida, is supposed to generate...
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US government ordered to act on Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 13th, 2013
Reuters: A federal appeals court said on Tuesday that the US nuclear regulatory commission can no longer delay a decision on whether to issue a permit for the long-stalled nuclear waste project at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
On a 2-1 vote, a three-judge panel of the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit ordered the commission to promptly decide to license the project or reject the application.
The Obama administration, which picks the Senate-confirmed commissioners, wants to abandon the...
North Dakota oil boom seen adding costs for rail safety
Posted by Bloomberg: Jim Efstathiou Jr. and Angela Greiling Keane on August 13th, 2013
Bloomberg: Crude oil shipped by railroad from North Dakota is drawing fresh scrutiny from regulators concerned that the cargo is adding environmental and safety hazards, something that analysts say could raise costs.
The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration is investigating whether chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing are corroding rail tank cars and increasing risks. Separately, three pipeline companies including Enbridge Inc. warned regulators that North Dakota oil with too much hydrogen sulfide, which...
Report: Climate change already having major impacts on California
Posted by KQED: None Given on August 13th, 2013
KQED: Climate change poses an "immediate and growing threat" to California's water, vegetation and wildlife according to a report released Thursday by the state's Environmental Protection Agency. The report outlines the current effects, which include increased wildfires, rising sea levels along the California coasts and migration of plants and animals to higher elevations. We discuss the study, and examine state efforts to address the climate challenge. Host: Penny Nelson Guests: Christopher Field,...
Fracking could accelerate global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 13th, 2013
New Scientist: The row over fracking for natural gas has hit the UK, with protests over plans in the village of Balcombe. Could they have a point? Studies are suggesting fracking could accelerate climate change, rather than slow it.
The case for fracking rests on its reputed ability to stem global warming. Burning gas emits half as much planet-warming carbon dioxide as an equivalent amount of coal. That is why, after embracing fracking, CO2 emissions have fallen in the US.
But leading climate scientists are...
Unfair share: How oil and gas drillers avoid paying royalties
Posted by Pro Publica: Abrahm Lustgarten on August 13th, 2013
Pro Publica: Don Feusner ran dairy cattle on his 370-acre slice of northern Pennsylvania until he could no longer turn a profit by farming. Then, at age 60, he sold all but a few Angus and aimed for a comfortable retirement on money from drilling his land for natural gas instead.
It seemed promising. Two wells drilled on his lease hit as sweet a spot as the Marcellus shale could offer -- tens of millions of cubic feet of natural gas gushed forth. Last December, he received a check for $8,506 for a month`s...