pollution
Close the Halliburton Loophole
Wed, 05/20/2009 - 10:55 | 
TXsharon
Congress Should Close the Halliburton Loophole
Hydraulic fracturing should be regulated under the
Safe Drinking Water Act
Only one industry in the U. S. can legally inject known toxins directly into sources of drinking water without federal regulation, but as early as this week, legislation may be introduced in Congress to overturn the exemption granted to Big Oil by the 2005 Congress at the urging of Dick Cheney, former Halliburton CEO
Hydraulic fracturing (FRACKing) is a technique that was developed by Halliburton. Millions of gallons of fresh water, mixed with sand, and often containing a witch’s brew of cancer-causing and toxic chemicals are injected under high pressure miles down the drilling hole to fracture the underground formation and release the oil and gas trapped within. Ninety percent of all U.S. oil and gas wells undergo hydraulic fracturing to stimulate the production of oil and gas.
These chemicals can be lethal! Last month 16 cattle died a gruesome death when a spill of hydraulic fracturing fluid landed in their pasture.
Yesterday, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told Hinchey that she believed her agency should review the risk that fracturing poses to drinking water in light of various cases across the country that raise questions about the safety. Some of those cases are detailed in a 2 page hydraulic fracturing FACT SHEET developed by Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oil and Gas Accountability Project and Western Organization of Resource Councils to help counter Big Oil’s 14 page "Response to Allegations" document sent to our Congress Members.
The following key points from the fact sheet prove there is no legitimate reason to keep this exemption:
Are we too stupid to save ourselves?
Sun, 12/21/2008 - 16:38 | the national gadfly
(Image courtesy of indiesocial.com)
I walked onto the train platform in downtown Chicago today. A woman had just finished shopping at Macy's and had several red shopping bags. She was trying to put everything into one bag. The wind picked up and blew some of the empty bags down the platform. I took off running and stopped them from blowing out onto the street.
'60 Minutes on 'E-Waste'ing Toxics
Fri, 11/07/2008 - 14:05 | rba
CBS Interactive/CNET: '60 Minutes': Following the trail of toxic e-waste:
Jumped by a gang of men overseeing the e-waste operations who tried to take the CBS team's cameras, Pelley's crew managed to escape and bring back footage of the hazardous activities. .. The Chinese attackers were trying to protect a lucrative business of mining the e-waste . .
Fascinating read, with the full report coming this Sunday.
Domestic Drilling Pollution Pictures
Fri, 07/25/2008 - 12:16 | TXsharon
TXsharon's blog | 
9 comments | 
Tags: accountability, domestic drilling, ecology, oil, pollution, sludge, waste
Trash and The Garbage Patch
Sun, 02/10/2008 - 01:22 | GreyHawk
On Monday, January 28th 2008, the History Channel premiered a show called Life After People.
It was very interesting.
The first segment of the show, titled Trash, provided some excellent food for thought regarding what we'll leave behind. One of the items mentioned is an abomination called "the Pacific Gyre" or "Garbage Patch" -- an area of plastic and man-made trash floating in the north Pacific, currently twice the size of Texas.
Below are two videos: the first is a YouTube segment of the first part of the History Channel special that addresses "Trash" after all the humans have gone. The second video is specifically about the Garbage Patch.
Watch them both, then think about what alternatives we have to address the following issues:
- Re-use, recycling and minimization of non-biodegradable resources, including possibilities of re-engineering some items and re-purposing others in ways that could mitigate the negative impact.
- Cleaning up our current mess: how?
- Living and working smarter: how can we better utilize our technology and our understanding of science and nature to live, grow and mature as a species?
There are options. Some involve rethinking, some involve changing habits and some involve altering expectations. One resource I've mentioned before is this one -- what have you got in mind?
I will kill you for water.
Sun, 12/16/2007 - 14:20 | TXsharon
When the well is dry we learn the worth of water. ~~Benjamin Franklin
[Learning the worth of water]
The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's fourth international assessment released earlier this year predicted that "drought-affected areas will likely increase"
TXsharon's blog | 1 comment | Tags: Barnett Shale, environment, environmental, oil and gas, pollution, Texas, water
