EPA is conducting a study of fracking, no matter where it is used (e.g., gas shale, oil shale, coalbed methane, tight sands). Public comment is being allowed as the agency's Science Advisory Board meets March 7-8, 2011, to review the draft study plan. Initial study and research results are possible by the end of 2012, and a report may be published some time in 2014.
Natural gas drillers hail newly begun reuse and recycling of the millions of gallons of toxic wastewater as a breakthrough that will mitigate harmful effects of their operations. But not all of it is being recycled. Some of it is being spread on roads and contaminating surface water -- rather than groundwater, as before.
The consent decree that established the March 16 release date also mandates that a final rule be published by Nov. 16, 2011 (nine years later than the deadline dictated by the Clean Air Act). Here are several tools you can use to get a handle on the power plants and their emissions in your audience area prior to release of the rule.
As gas companies race to drill more wells that produce gas with a technique known as hydrofracking, the dangers of the toxic wastewater they discharge turn out to be greater than previously understood.
Greenwire sorts through the dust storm of counterclaims on the accuracy of "Gasland," an Oscar-nominated documentary about the impacts of gas drilling and production methods known as "fracking."
As part of the continuing resolution (HR 1) the House approved largely along party lines an amendment sponsored by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) to cut an additional $8.5 million from the budget for EPA's Greenhouse Gas Registry.
After a December 2008 spill of toxic coal ash at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston plant, EPA vowed to bring the ubiquitous waste under regulation. First, industry got to the Obama White House to sandbag the effort. Now, GOP lawmakers heavily funded by electric utilities have slipped a rider into the House stopgap spending bill to quash EPA's effort to protect the public altogether.
"The Obama administration scaled back toxic air rules on heavy industrial boilers, a sign it may be willing to compromise with businesses and Republicans on future air pollution rules."
"Miami-Dade, amid a changing regulatory environment and slower growth, is looking for cheaper ways to meet future water needs."
The removal of a dam on Twelve Mile Creek in Pickens County, SC, will release a glut of sediment that will bury more deeply PCB-tainted sediments in a reservoir further downstream.
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