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Fracking Fuels Water Fights in Nation’s Dry Spots

Associated Press: The latest domestic energy boom is sweeping through some of the nation's driest pockets, drawing millions of gallons of water to unlock oil and gas reserves from beneath the Earth's surface. Hydraulic fracturing, or the drilling technique commonly known as fracking, has been used for decades to blast huge volumes of water, fine sand and chemicals into the ground to crack open valuable shale formations. But now, as energy companies vie to exploit vast reserves west of the Mississippi, fracking's...

Judge: Feds violated law in Monterey oil leases

Associated Press: Federal land managers violated a key environmental law when they auctioned off the rights to drill for oil and gas on 2,500 acres of prime public lands in Monterey County, home to one of the largest deposits of shale oil in the nation, a judge ruled. U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal said in a ruling posted Sunday that the Bureau of Land Management should have conducted a comprehensive environmental review of the potential impacts caused by fracking before accepting bids for the drilling rights,...

EPA ratchets down radiation samples in milk, water

Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency has ratcheted down the nation's radiation monitoring program for rain, drinking water and milk in response to a consistent drop in the levels of fallout detected in the wake of the Japanese nuclear crisis. Extremely low amounts of radioactive iodine showed up in milk sampled in California, Colorado, Connecticut and Massachusetts over the last two weeks, but agency officials said Friday the levels were so miniscule they were not harmful to public health. A...