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Fracking Support Plummets Among Americans
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 13th, 2014
EcoWatch: As more stories emerge about the dangers posed by the toxic fallout from the aggressive drilling process to communities near the operations, support for fracking tilts negative for the first time, with 41 percent favoring increased use of fracking and 47 percent opposing it. That’s a huge swing from 20 months ago. In Pew’s March 2013 poll 48 percent supported more fracking while only 38 percent opposed it.
Support for fracking has dropped most steeply among women and people under 50, whose opinions...
Groups Sue U.S. State Dept. to Stop Alberta Clipper Tar Sands Pipeline
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 12th, 2014
EcoWatch: Yesterday the Washington Spectator ran an investigative piece tearing the veil of secrecy from the Alberta Clipper pipeline project, a plan by Canadian mining company Enbridge to build a pipeline nearly equal in length and capacity to the Keystone XL to transport tar sands crude oil to the Gulf of Mexico for refining and exporting. With the U.S. State Department’s cooperation, Enbridge found a loophole to circumvent the legal approval process needed to cross the international Canadian/U.S. border....
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Groups Sue U.S. State Dept. to Stop Alberta Clipper Tar Sands PipelineIndustry Responds to Denton, Texas Fracking Ban
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 12th, 2014
EcoWatch: This may be the shortest blog I’ve ever written. On Election Day, voters in a number of cities and counties voted on whether to severely restrict or ban oil and gas development—the oil industry poured millions of dollars in an effort to avoid these restrictions. In Richmond, California Chevron spent $3 million to gain control of the city council; this overreach backfired and Chevron’s slate was trounced. In San Benito County, $2 million wasn’t enough to stop a ban on fracking and other intensive...
Will GOP Try To Fast-Track Keystone XL Pipeline?
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 5th, 2014
EcoWatch: Now that Republicans have taken control of the Senate in addition to the House of Representatives, the attacks on the environment they`ve long advocated for will most likely rise to the top of the congressional agenda.
One prominent item on their wish list is the Keystone XL pipeline to transport tar sands bitumen oil from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico for export overseas. They`ve been open about their frustration that President Obama has so far heeded the mounting opposition and not allowed...
Fracking Bans Pass Denton, Texas, Two Calif Counties & One Ohio Town
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 5th, 2014
EcoWatch: With a record number of fracking issues on local ballots in California, Texas and Ohio, the outcome was decidedly mixed. Of the eight measures--three in California, four in Ohio and one in Texas--four passed and four failed.
The biggest victory came in Denton in north Texas, located atop the lucrative Barnett shale play. After citizens demanded action from city council on a fracking ban and council punted last July, the issue went to the ballot where it passed last night.
"As I have stated...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fracking Bans Pass Denton, Texas, Two Calif Counties & One Ohio TownFrack Waste Investigation Launched by Pennsylvania Congressman
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on October 30th, 2014
EcoWatch: In light of an increasing number of studies showing that fracking produces toxic emissions that have serious human health impacts throughout the entire process, Pennsylvania Congressman Matt Cartwright, a first-term Democrat, has opened an investigation into how toxic wastes from fracking are regulated.
"Preliminary reports indicate there are big gaps in protections and oversight that the federal government might have to fill," Cartwright told Inside Climate News.
Fracking is big business in...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Frack Waste Investigation Launched by Pennsylvania CongressmanMountaintop Removal Linked to Cancer
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on October 20th, 2014
EcoWatch: We know what a mess mountaintop removal makes when the tops of mountains are literally blown off to access the coal inside them. Forests are stripped and debris is dumped into streams and valleys, leaving behind a ravaged landscape. It`s partly responsible for the loss of jobs in the coal industry since it requires only a handful of workers to operate the huge machines involved. Now we`re learning that the process, which has been touted by advocates as cleaner and safer than below-ground coal mining,...
Lab Official Pleads Guilty Faking Water Quality Tests for Coal Companies
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on October 10th, 2014
EcoWatch: A West Virginia lab technician pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of faking water sample quality tests so that coal mining companies could be guaranteed clean reports to submit to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), reports the Charleston Gazette.
John W. Shelton worked for Appalachian Laboratories Inc. (AL), a company certified by DEP to conduct such tests as part of the Clean Water Act. The company conducts tests...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Lab Official Pleads Guilty Faking Water Quality Tests for Coal CompaniesMassive Methane Hot Spot Detected by Satellite
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on October 10th, 2014
EcoWatch: One tiny section in the U.S. is responsible for a significant amount of the country`s methane emissions, according to new information released by scientists from NASA and the University of Michigan.
In a study published this week, they analyzed satellite-gathered data and found that an area about 2,500 square miles, near the "Four Corners" where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah connect, produces the largest concentration of these greenhouse gas emissions ever found in the U.S., more than...
Cowspiracy Exposes the Truth About Animal Agriculture
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on October 10th, 2014
EcoWatch: A recent documentary, Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, asks why most leading environmental organizations are ignoring a leading cause of environmental damage.
In 90 minutes, co-producers Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn argue that our institutional and individual attention to selected environmental issues will not make a collective difference unless we also confront the realities of animal agriculture. Animal agriculture’s environmental effects are so pervasive that apparent progress elsewhere...