Pennsylvania
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EPA: ‘This water is fine, apart from all the methane’
The Environmental Protection Agency said that Dimock, Pa., has safe drinking water in spite of fracking. But independent testing found dangerous levels of methane. What gives?
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Did fracking turn this squirrel purple?
One of the explanations being floated for the purple squirrel recently captured in Pennsylvania: An organobromide overdose caused by fracking. Yeah, it sounds a little far-fetched, but doesn’t it sound more interesting than “it fell in a port-a-potty”?
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Critical List: IG blesses State’s Keystone work; fair trade gasoline
The State Department’s inspector general has delivered his report on the Keystone XL environmental review process, and concludes that TransCanada did not improperly influence the assessment. The gist of the report is that the review wasn’t corrupt, just incompetent. Two nuclear new reactors have been approved, the first ones since 1978. The Pennsylvania government could […]
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Government energy geeks: Fracking might not get us as far as we thought
Government energy geeks from the Energy Information Administration this morning released the abridged version of their Annual Energy Outlook. One of the most dramatic bits of the outlook for 2012 is that the EIA cut their estimate of “technically recoverable” shale gas almost in half, from 827 trillion cubic feet to 482 trillion cubic feet. […]
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Infographic: Fracking violations in Pennsylvania
The orange dots here are natural gas extraction operations with one or more environmental violations. But, you know, deer and rainbows! Click through to NPR's interactive graphic to find out more about each operation and how many laws they're flouting. (You can also get more detailed maps and information by county.)
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NYT Mag: Country folk understand fracking better than city folk
The New York Times has a long article in this weekend's magazine about hydraulic fracturing in southwestern Pennsylvania. It tries to capture the culture of the place and to show the tensions for people who have an economic interest in drilling but are at risk of suffering health impacts. But it also manages to glance […]
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Oil and gas reps suggest using counterinsurgency tactics on fracking opponents
It's obvious that the natural gas industry has no love for opponents of fracking in places like Pennsylvania. But recordings from an industry meeting reveal that the industry's animosity goes a little deeper than mere irritation — they think of opponents as an "insurgency" that should be handled with techniques developed to fight terrorism in […]
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Critical List: U.S. solar files complaint against China; crayon sculpture melts in Texas heat
American solar companies filed a trade complaint against China for dumping cheap solar panels in the U.S. market.
California could pass cap-and-trade.
Adrian Grenier from Entourage is opening a pop-up gallery in L.A. that focuses on sustainable living.
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Critical List: Enviros want Lisa Jackson to stay; a Penn. town could ban fracking
Enviros are hoping Lisa Jackson, their one stalwart ally high up in the administration, will keep on keeping on, despite the White House's decision to undermine her work on smog regulations.
A Pennsylvania town could vote to ban natural gas drilling.
One organizer of Rio+20, a U.N. summit next year on climate issues, says the conference should split environmentalism away from climate change issues. Basically, he says, we’re at the point where it’s much more important to embrace sustainability and prepare for climate change than it is to resolve the Green vs. Brown faceoff.