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Archive for February 20th, 2015
Alberta Fracking Quake Fears Prompt Tougher Rules for Shale Area
Posted by Bloomberg: Rebecca Penty on February 20th, 2015
Bloomberg: Shale producers in Alberta’s Duvernay region are being asked to monitor and prevent earthquakes after regulators linked a series of seismic events over the last two months to hydraulic fracturing.
Producers must test for quakes and, if they detect seismic events greater than magnitude 2.0 on the Richter scale, take measures to reduce the impact of their activity, the Alberta Energy Regulator said Thursday. If a tremor is detected above magnitude 4.0, producers must immediately halt drilling and...
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Brazil: Dams or indigenous land: battle over the Munduruku frontier
Posted by Mongabay: Ana Aranha and Jessica Mota on February 20th, 2015
Mongabay: The Munduruku indigenous tribe have begun to mark out the limits of their land, in an action that could halt the giant São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric dam, the apple of the Brazilian government's eye. Although sacred, this land will be flooded if the dam goes ahead. "We are not leaving," says the village chief. Along the banks of Brazil's Tapajós River in the west of the state of Pará, the forest undergrowth crackles as Munduruku warriors march over it. They are about 20 in number, all strong,...
Fossil fuel divestment effort comes to energy-rich Colorado
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 20th, 2015
Associated Press: A campaign to get universities to stop investing in greenhouse gas-producing fuels has come deep into energy country as activists ask the University of Colorado to divest from coal and petroleum companies. A group called Fossil Free CU planned to make the request to the university's governing Board of Regents on Friday. The board wasn't expected to make any immediate decisions. Colorado is the nation's No. 7 energy state, and its coal, oil and gas industries produce billions of dollars in revenue...
US geological agency calls for data sharing on fracking-induced tremors
Posted by RT: None Given on February 20th, 2015
RT: The US Geological Survey has called for more transparency and cooperation among “interested stakeholders” in order to monitor and mitigate the effects of fracking, a process widely blamed for the recent explosion of earthquakes in states like Oklahoma.
A new USGS report, published in the journal Science, connected the increase of unnatural seismic activity in states targeted for oil and gas drilling -- including Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania -- with the injection of wastewater vital...