Energy

japan hazmat

Japanese grapple with waste mountain

Giant piles of debris from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami scar the country’s once picturesque northeast coast — and the clear-up is hamstrung by fears the rubbish may be contaminated by radiation.
Decades-worth of waste was left behind when the waters receded in March last year after claiming more than 19,000 lives.
The survivors are desperate to rebuild, [...]

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Hydrofracking, quakes, injection wells, water contamination: what’s not to like?

Geologist Susie Beiersdorfer has discussed the connection between Youngstown earthquakes and the nearby injection well. She has said the brine toxic waste injected into the well reactivated an ancient fault by acting as a lubricant and reducing friction between layers of the shale, thereby causing earthquakes, meeting organizers said.
The situation in the Youngstown area has [...]

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Metals found in water at coal plants

Elevated levels of metals have been found in groundwater near ash basins at all 14 N.C. coal-fired power plants, state regulators say after intensified monitoring.
Coal ash holds metals that can be toxic in high doses. But the elements most widely detected at the power plants, iron and manganese, also occur naturally and aren’t considered health [...]

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An Oil Minister, Plugging Renewables? – NYTimes.com

When you think of proponents of green energy, the Saudi oil minister may not be the first person who comes to mind. But in a speech on Monday in London, Ali al-Naimi, the minister from OPEC’s leading member nation, had a lot to say about renewable energy and global warming.Ali al-NaimiAssociated PressAli al-Naimi, the Saudi [...]

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Environmental goals are job creators

The East Bay Express figures out the jobs picture:
During a Republican presidential primary debate last June, Michele Bachmann lit into the Environmental Protection Agency, recommending it be renamed the “job-killing organization of America.” Her fellow contenders nodded in agreement, each explaining how shutting down the EPA, or at least instituting a moratorium on regulations, would [...]

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Industry objects to the new f-word

By Jonathan Fahey, AP Energy Writer

NEW YORK — A different kind of F-word is stirring a linguistic and political debate as controversial as what it defines.
The word is “fracking” – as in hydraulic fracturing, a technique long used by the oil and gas industry to free oil and gas from rock.
It’s not in the dictionary, [...]

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The man who crushed the Keystone XL pipeline – Boston.com

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On November 6, 2011, Bill McKibben arrived at Washington, D.C.’s, Lafayette Park to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, designed to carry oil 1,700 miles from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. McKibben, a Vermont writer and environmentalist, had been one of 1,252 people arrested in front of the White House in [...]

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Fracking chemicals spill into Texas creeks

Fracking Denton Creek Txsharon

Sharon Wilson in Texas reports:
Huge thanks go to Brett Shipp for staying on this story. To recap:

A chemical plant blew up and I knew right away that fracking was involved.
Chemical fire spawns fish kill, criminal investigation
Waxahachie chemical firm cited for environmental violations
Chemical plant relocation upsetting Ellis County residents
Ellis County Commissioners catch heat from chemical plant [...]

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Obama delays Keystone Pipeline

The San Jose Mercury News editorial:
President — finally — stands up to GOP, Big Oil
President Barack Obama finally seems to be standing his ground in the philosophical fight with Republicans over the direction of the country.
The decision to not approve the Keystone oil pipeline was the right one. Obama clearly signaled to Republicans, Big Oil [...]

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Whistleblower says Keystone isn’t safe

The JournalStar published this statement from a civil engineer who served as an inspector for TransCanada:
There has been a lot of talk about the safety of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
I am not an environmentalist, but as a civil engineer and an inspector for TransCanada during the construction of the first Keystone pipeline, I’ve had [...]

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SoCal Edison blocks renewable energy projects

Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times reports:
January 9, 2012
Millions of dollars in renewable energy projects intended to provide power to facilities in California’s national parks and forests are sitting idle because of a years-long squabble with Southern California Edison.
A new $800,000 solar project at Death Valley National Park, photovoltaic panels at the state-of-the art [...]

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Oil and gas companies turn to psy ops

By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe and Lowell Brown / Staff Writers, Denton Record-Chronicle

FLOWER MOUND — In the months before, it was just Tammi Vajda and several others who came to Town Council meetings.
They were outnumbered by other Flower Mound residents who favored natural gas drilling in town. They called Vajda names.
“My husband asked me why I did [...]

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Lists of lists, best and worst of 2011

THE ULTIMATE LIST FOR ENVIRONMENTAL “LIST JOURNALISM” from the Society of Environmental Journalists
One of the latest trends, as journalism and publishing turn
increasingly to online media, is “list journalism.” We know it when we
see it — without too much basis beyond personal opinion, a
publication will ballyhoo the Top Ten of something. We have long
suspected that the [...]

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China buys out Canadian oil project

HuffPo reports:
TORONTO — PetroChina, Asia’s largest oil and gas company, is buying the 40 percent interest it didn’t own in the MacKay River oil sands project in Canada for US$673 million.
The deal with Athabasca Oil Sands Corp., announced Tuesday, gives PetroChina full ownership in one of the newest of northern Alberta’s oil sands developments. Athabasca [...]

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Plan for a cleaner Gulf of Mexico, healthier region

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The Obama administration did the nation — and Florida in particular — a great service by putting forth an ambitious plan to restore the Gulf of Mexico. The blueprint unveiled this month could, over time, begin to reverse decades of man-made damage that hammered the gulf long before last year’s historic oil spill. The federal [...]

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Santorum takes on EPA over mercury limits rule

Speaking to voters in Iowa Monday, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania ripped the Environmental Protection Agency’s new rule placing first-ever limits on the amount of mercury that coal-fired power plants can emit into the air.
The GOP presidential contender claimed the new regulations would shut down 60 coal fired power plants in America, and he [...]

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U.S. Shale Oil Boom Fought By Green Groups

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A resurgent green
movement is launching a multi-pronged counter-attack against the
shale oil and gas boom in the United States that could slow,
though ultimately not stop, development.
Building upon their unexpected success in the battle against
the Keystone XL pipeline, a renewed onslaught from
environmentalists is putting the shale industry on the defensive
while adding to costs, limiting expansion and potentially
scuttling [...]

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Can Web-Savvy Activist Moms Change Japan? : NPR

Japan New Activism

Japan’s nuclear crisis has turned Mizuho Nakayama into one of a small but growing number of Internet-savvy activist moms.Worried about her 2-year-old son and distrustful of government and TV reports that seemed to play down radiation risks, she scoured the Web for information and started connecting with other mothers through Twitter and Facebook, many using [...]

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Mercury rule to limit risk to lives, IQs

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It is one of the most important public health measures in a generation, one that will save tens of thousands of American lives. It will protect the IQ of countless American kids and help clear the air for the millions of Americans with asthma. It may be the biggest health story you’ve never heard of.
I’m [...]

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Japan Fukushima Disaster: Probe Finds Response Failed

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Japan’s response to the nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 tsunami was confused and riddled with problems, including an erroneous assumption an emergency cooling system was working and a delay in disclosing dangerous radiation leaks, a report revealed Monday.
The disturbing picture of harried and bumbling workers and government officials scrambling to respond to the [...]

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