Shale Gas Issues From Various Jurisdictions ...... 7 Foreword ...... 7 Calls for Moratoriums and Bans ...... 8 First County in US Bans Oil and Gas Extraction ...... 8 Fracking Ban Stands in New York Town; Victory for Local Communities ...... 8 Inverness County bans fracking ...... 8 Three Fracking Moratorium Bills Win Key Vote in California Legislature ...... 8 Quebec tables bill to block shale gas fracking ...... 9 Woodstock town board asks New York State to criminalize fracking ...... 9 Mora County, NM passes ordinance banning all oil and gas extraction ...... 9 Senate Democratic Conference Calls For Moratorium OnHydraulic Fracturing ...... 9 National Farmers Union - Alberta, Call for Moratorium Contamination, Confidentiality Agreements ...... 10 Contamination and Science ...... 11 Is Range Resources Spokesman Lobbying or Lying? You Decide ...... 11 Gas Drilling May Be Leaking Twice as Much Gas as Previously Thought, Study Finds ...... 11 DEP: Spill at well site seeps into house, miniature horse farm ...... 11 5 Facts about Fracking Every Family Needs to Know - Leah Zerbe ...... 12 Leaking Gas Well Capped in Denton ...... 12 Drilling fluids spill into Cadron Creek ...... 12 Fracking in Nova Scotia -- the real story ...... 12 PA DEP Determination Letters - damascus citizens for sustainability ...... 13 DEBERT — About 100 people gathered in Debert on Tuesday night, ...... 13 Guidelines for the management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) ...... 13 Unreported Emissions from Natural Gas Blow Up British Columbia's Climate Action Plan ...... 14 BC LNG Exports Blow Climate Targets Way, Way Out of the Water ...... 15 Stop Fracking and Save Our Water, Air, and Land ...... 15 Brewer Lake Arkansas - Radioactive device abandoned in gas well ...... 15 Energy future may be swamped in fracking wastewater, scientists warn ...... 15 Deteriorating Oil and Gas Wells Threaten Drinking Water Across the Country ...... 16 Drilling and Fracking and the Environment - Scientists Versus Industry ...... 16 Radioactive Gas Drilling Waste Sets Off More Radioactivity Alarms ...... 16 Fracking clean-up now a $30 billion business ...... 17 Renewable Energy ...... 18 Canada is ready for a transformative energy experience - David Suzuki ...... 18 Scotland Well On-Track To Reach 500 MW Community Renewable Energy Goal ...... 18 Massachusetts Crushes Solar Goals, Aims Much Higher ...... 18 Solar–Wind Hybrid Power Plants Approximately Twice As Efficient ...... 18 For Some Wind Turbines, Batteries Are Now Included! ...... 19 REN21 Renewables Global Futures Report (GFR) ...... 19 Aquamarine Power gets approval for Western Isles wave farm ...... 19 Science and Health ...... 21 Many Stressors Associated With Fracking Due to Perceived Lack of Trust ...... 21 Fracking Ourselves to Death in Pennsylvania ...... 21 The Downwinders: Fracking Ourselves to Death in America by Ellen Cantarow ...... 21 Fracking Industry Cited By Prominent Medical Journal For Infringing Upon Patient–Physician Relationship ...... 22 Gulf doctor warns Mayflower ...... 22 Sand From Fracking Could Pose Lung Disease Risk To Workers ...... 23 Damning evidence on health impacts of coal & CSG ...... 23 Wilma Subra & Health Effects of Gas Drilling ...... 23
1 A Human Rights Assessment of Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas ...... 24 Depleted Uranium as a Catalyst for Hydrocracking Shale Oil - Argonne National Laboratory ...... 24 Is depleted uranium charges used for fracturing oil and gas wells? ...... 24 Radon in New Brunswick ...... 25 Pa. Rep. Pushes Bill To Track Fracking Health Effects ...... 25 Economics, Legal, and Investigations ...... 26 Natural Gas Revolution Is Overblown, Study Says ...... 26 3 Natural Gas Myths Debunked ...... 26 The Shale Boom Has Added Almost Nothing To US Economic Growth ...... 26 Shell Makes Big Bet on Boom in Natural Gas ...... 26 Is the shale gas bubble poised to burst? ...... 27 What boom? Industry pundits claim thousands of jobs will be created, but numbers don’t quite add up ...... 27 Debating economic impact of Marcellus Shale in Pa...... 27 Fracking Nonsense: The Job Myth of Gas Drilling ...... 28 The Economic Value of Shale Natural Gas in Ohio ...... 28 Interview: Energy Investor Bill Powers Discusses Looming Shale Gas Bubble ...... 28 Fracking update: The bad news is gaining legs ...... 29 Marcellus shale gas production boom stirs debate over taxes ...... 29 Deborah Rogers’ March 2012 Presentation – PA and NY ...... 29 Reported waste dumping results in federal charges against fracking company owner ...... 30 BP, Shell, Statoil accused of fixing oil prices ...... 30 Increased Federal Criminal Enforcement Against Oil and Gas Fracking Companies ...... 30 Texas Driller Guilty of Clean Water Act Violations ...... 31 Gas boom called hype ...... 31 In North Dakota, The Dreams And Dark Side Of Shale Gas "Black Gold Rush" ...... 31 Regulations ...... 33 Fracking giant Halliburton nixes NC's chemical disclosure rule ...... 33 NDP say single oil and natural gas regulator needed in New Brunswick ...... 33 All Around The Country, Regulators Are Getting Bullied Over Fracking ...... 33 List of Acts being amended includes Oil and Natural Gas Act ...... 34 Environment, Climate Change and Enjoyment of Property ...... 35 Poll suggests Albertans want to end love affair with coal ...... 35 The Greatest Issue of Our Time or Any Time ...... 35 DFO scientist amazed by 'extreme' ocean temperatures ...... 35 Fracking Industry Mining Iowa’s Iconic Sand Bluffs in New Form of Mountaintop Removal ...... 36 Climate Change Milestone Demands Shift To Renewable Energy ...... 36 New study projects warming-driven changes in global rainfall ...... 36 NASA Projects Carbon Pollution Impact: ‘Some Regions Outside The Tropics May Have No Rainfall’ ...... 37 NASA Study Projects Warming-Driven Changes in Global Rainfall ...... 37 99 One-Liners Rebutting Denier Talking Points — With Links To The Full Climate Science ...... 37 California Governor Jerry Brown Links Wildfires To Climate Change ...... 37 Climate change is no longer an "environmental" issue in B.C...... 38 Government Should 'Grow Up' On Climate Change, Scientist Says ...... 38 Carbon dioxide hits levels not seen for three million years ...... 38 Watch 62 Years of Global Warming in 13 Seconds ...... 39 Scientists find extensive glacial retreat in Mount Everest region ...... 39 World's Melting Glaciers Making Large Contribution to Sea Rise ...... 39 Climate change’s ‘evil twin’: Ocean acidification ...... 40 ThinkGlobalGreen ...... 40
2 Climate disasters displace millions of people worldwide ...... 40 No-Water-Gate: Scandalous NY Times Piece On Dust-Bowlification Never Mentions Climate Change ...... 40 Rocky Mountain snowpack loss foreshadows water woes ...... 41 Alan Savory: How to green the worls's deserts and reverse climate change ...... 41 Government, Meetings, News, and Letters ...... 43 Canadian doctors oppose New Brunswick medicare cuts ...... 43 Canada can't account for $3.1B in anti-terror funding, AG finds ...... 43 Shale Gas: continued resistance ...... 43 An Open Letter to Shale Oil and Gas Companies ...... 44 Open Letter On Shale Gas To Alward Government ...... 44 Interview about Open Letter to Shale Oil and Gas Companies operating in New Brunswick ...... 44 Shipbuilding contract holds $250M mystery ...... 44 First-ever charges laid under Lobbying Act ...... 45 James D. Irving named federal budget advisor - Atlantica Watch ...... 45 New Brunswick died and nobody came to the funeral ...... 45 Canada's ruined reputation: no applause for John Baird at the UN ...... 46 Canada loses WTO appeal over Ontario's green energy program ...... 46 Canada’s “Sewer Salesman” Heads to Europe ...... 46 The New Brunswick Oil and Natural Gas Blueprint May 2013 ...... 46 The New Brunswick Energy Blueprint 2011 ...... 46 Oil and gas blueprint released - Critics say they're disappointed with lack of details ...... 46 Cleary uncomfortable with shale gas blueprint ...... 47 Information Morning ...... 48 New Brunswick's top doctor question shale gas blueprint CTV Atlantic ...... 48 Dr. Eilish Cleary, Chief Medical Officer - biography ...... 48 Oil and Gas Blueprint: A Misprint for our Future ...... 48 Community Groups Respond to Government's Shale Gas Blueprint ...... 48 Shale gas opposition in New Brunswick Global News ...... 49 Residents in small town New Brunswick are ramping up efforts to stop mining in their areas...... 49 Artist finds inspiration in Canadian government's attempt to silence her ...... 49 The Canadian War on Science: A long, unexaggerated, devastating chronological indictment ..... 49 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Registrations and Determinations ...... 50 New Brunswick News ...... 51 Shale gas debate heats up in Moncton ...... 51 Anti-shale gas protesters attend disobedience school ...... 51 Maritime News ...... 53 Concerns over oil drilling brought to P.E.I. Legislature ...... 53 On Muskrat Falls and the Public Discussion That Isn't Happening ...... 53 Decision of Sewer Use Appeal Committee – Colchester County ...... 53 Fracking may jeopardize Gros Morne UNESCO status ...... 53 ZNews - Gros Morne Park ...... 54 Fracking and public debate ...... 54 Canadian News ...... 55 Donations to Alberta Tories linked to election promises ...... 55 Canada drops out of race to tap methane hydrates ...... 55 Conservatives sending political emails to public servants ...... 55 Globe’s pro-business reporting example of bad journalism ...... 56 Pipeline dreams turn to ashes for Big Oil ...... 56 What Kind of Example Is Canada Setting? ...... 56 The Canadian War on Science: A long, unexaggerated, devastating chronological indictment ..... 56
3 Thomas King on The Inconvenient Indian - Includes Audio ...... 58 Other News ...... 60 Citizen Science ...... 60 British shale gas company plans exploration drilling, but no fracking ...... 60 Obama, Biden Parroting Bogus Gas Industry Talking Points ...... 60 EPA Must Follow the Law, Set Rules for Power Plants ...... 61 Tennessee Gas Pipeline signs 20-year deal to ship natural gas from supply areas in Ohio, other states ...... 61 The Natural Gas Message - by Dory Hipauf ...... 61 German Beer Brewers Foaming over Fracking ...... 61 5/28/2013: Global sells Texas shale assets for $510,000; OPEC eyes U.S. shale oil boom ...... 61 The Congressional Budget Office Says We Need A Price On Carbon Emissions ...... 62 Schiff: We're Heading For A Crisis Worse Than 2007 ...... 62 Monsanto hires infamous mercenary firm Blackwater to track activists around the world ...... 62 Industry giant GE aims to improve fracking ...... 62 OPEC shifts its oil trade map as competition from shale grows ...... 63 ExxonMobil CEO: ‘What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers? ...... 63 'What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?': Exxon CEO ...... 63 Water ...... 64 Spread of Hydrofracking Could Strain Water Resources in West, Study Finds ...... 64 9 Things That Will Trash Your Home's Value ...... 64 Paper: Drilling damage in 161 Pa. water supplies ...... 64 Protect Albert County - Hillsborough A Village in the Crosshairs by Deborah Carr ...... 64 New Fracking Rules Leave Drought-Ridden States High and Dry ...... 65 Global majority faces water shortages 'within two generations' ...... 65 Poisoning the Well: How the Feds Let Industry Pollute the Nation’s Underground Water Supply .. 66 Barnett shale well counts and water usage ...... 66 Don't mess with Texas water, frackers warned ...... 66 Report Shows Texas Counties Where Fracking and Water Needs Collide ...... 67 Effect Of Oil Company Seismic Surveying On Water Wells ...... 67 Scientists warn that Earth faces severe water shortages within a generation ...... 67 Fracking and Earthquakes ...... 68 Earthquake Activity Picking Up in Van Buren County ...... 68 6,000 Homes Crumbling in the Groningen Gas Fields, Netherlands ...... 68 Back to back 3.5M earthquakes inside Arkansas Fracking Operation ...... 68 Potentially induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA: ...... 68 Oil & Gas - Induced Seismicity ...... 69 Coastal Commission staff recommends denial of PG&E seismic testing ...... 69 What Texas Can Do About Oil and Gas-Related Earthquakes ...... 69 Effect Of Oil Company Seismic Surveying On Water Wells ...... 70 Wyoming oil and gas commission fines seismic testing company ...... 70 Oil and Pipelines ...... 71 Arctic Ho! Canadian Official Proposes Yet Another Tar Sands Pipeline ...... 71 Tar Sands: Indigenous Peoples and the Giga Project ...... 71 Oil, natural gas spills in Lafayette Township ...... 71 Exxon says Missouri oil spills from already-ruptured Pegasus line ...... 72 Exxon Spills Tar Sands Oil Again In Missouri, Can’t Find 126,000 Gallons Spilled In Arkansas .... 72 Detroit Refinery, Owned By Marathon, Reveals Another Side Of The 'Tar Sands Oil' Debate ...... 72 TransCanada Spent $280,000 Lobbying For Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline In First Quarter .... 73 Independent Air Test at Mayflower Oil Spill Reveal 30 Toxic Chemicals at High Levels ...... 73 Northern Gateway pipeline news ...... 73
4 Enbridge depiction of clear tanker route sparks outrage ...... 73 Enbridge breaks safety rules at 117 of 125 pump stations ...... 74 Enbridge ordered to fix emergency-shutdowns at pump stations by 2016 ...... 74 Keystone XL Could Cost Society Over $100 Billion per Year ...... 74 Enbridge spill risk more than 90% ...... 75 Enbridge shuts North Dakota oil line after another leak found ...... 75 Keystone XL Decision May Not Come Until Later In The Year, U.S. Official Says ...... 75 Faulkner County: ExxonMobil's "Sacrifice Zone" for Tar Sands Pipelines, Fracking ...... 76 Protesters await Harper during New York visit to promote Canada’s environmental record ...... 76 A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit ...... 76 A Letter to Minister Oliver from Climate Scientists and Energy Experts ...... 77 Harper's Pro-Tar Sands Claims Looking Worse for Wear After New Group Launches 'Reality Check' Website ...... 77 Maine city wants U.S. review before oilsands oil flows ...... 78 More than 91,000 litres of oil spilled from derailed Train Sask...... 78 Alberta’s had an average of two crude oil spills a day, every day for the past 37 years...... 78 Bitumen Doesn’t Float ...... 78 Documents Show Exxon Lied in Aftermath of Tar Sands Pipeline Rupture ...... 79 Will eastern oil pipelines lead to lower prices at the pump for Canadians? ...... 79 The Beaver Lake Cree Judgment: The Most Important Tar Sands Case You’ve Never Heard Of . 80 OPEC Eyes U.S. Shale Oil Boom ...... 80 Train derailment causes stir in Augusta; DEP working on response plans ...... 80 B.C. officially opposes Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline ...... 81 Mining ...... 82 Enviro Minister Terry Lake faces uprising by Kamloops doctors worried about open pit mine at city's edge...... 82 Barrick debunked ...... 82 Quebec tax hike targets miners as slump hits industry ...... 82 Forestry ...... 84 The story of New Brunswick's forests by Charles Theriault ...... 84 How to See Things - Lessons in perception from five documentary filmmakers...... 84 Video Links ...... 85 LEAKED Director's Commentary - SAFETY? - Conservative TV Ad 4 ...... 85 The Greatest Issue of Our Time or Any Time ...... 85 Poune Saberi, MD Air Case Study 2 SWPAEHP Basic Toolkit for Healthcare Providers ...... 85 Interview about Open Letter to Shale Oil and Gas Companies operating in New Brunswick ...... 85 Tar Sands: The Royalty Rip Off - Royalties ...... 85 Peak Oil: Visually Explained...... 85 How to talk to a climate change denier ...... 85 Canada's ruined reputation: no applause for John Baird at the UN ...... 85 Bill Moyers interviews Sandra Steingraber ...... 86 New Brunswickers train for civil disobedience to stand against fracking. - CTV News ...... 86 Chemicals introduced into Binghamton's headwaters area: How Much? ...... 86 Do the Math - The Movie 350.org ...... 86 Stephen Harper is Dismantling Canadian Sovereignty for Globalism! ...... 86 "LOCKDOWN" Tar Sands Blockade vs. Keystone XL Pipeline ...... 86 The Radioactive Truth about CSG - Part 1 Queensland Australia ...... 86 Minister of Energy Craig Leonard is interviewed by the Blogger about the Blueprint and Kent County ...... 86 Radiation Problems due to Hydrofracking Radium primary concern...... 86 The Fracking song (Nfld) – Beautiful scenery ...... 87
5 Residents in small town New Brunswick are ramping up efforts to stop mining in their areas...... 87 Rick "Mac" Sawyer Fracking vs. Health ...... 87 Marg Delahunty & Mike Duffy ...... 87 Reality Check: Canada's Oil Sands ...... 87 Frack Attack - New Brunswick says No to Shale Gas ...... 87 ZNews - Gros Morne Park ...... 87 Hansen Corrects BBC on Climate Warming ...... 87 Silica Dust Pouring Out of Cabot Frack Site ...... 87 Hamilton Blockade Against Line 9 ...... 88 The Natural Gas Message - by Dory Hipauf ...... 88 Youngstown, OH fractivists discuss the dangers of hydraulic fracturing to the community...... 88 Heavy traffic coming to your town soon unless you stop it. From the film Groundswell ...... 88 Wilma Subra & Health Effects of Gas Drilling ...... 88 Are Banks The Masters Of The Universe? - Video ...... 88 John Baird "let us replace accountability with corruption" ...... 88 Minister of Energy Craig Leonard views on the 8 Million Litres of Waste Water left in Truro Nova Scotia ...... 88 The Necessity of Civil Disobedience: Bill Moyers Interviews Tim DeChristopher ...... 88 Compilation of photos of movement against the exploration of shale gas in NB - by Maxime Daigle ...... 89 Fracking in French-Canadian Prime-Time Comedy (with english subtitles) ...... 89 Shale Gas Confrontation in Durham Bridge, NB ...... 89 CBC News - St Louis de Kent protest, Skip to 8:00 minutes ...... 89 Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation challenges new Shell tar sands mines ...... 89 Canadian Minister and Shell embarrassed over tar sands at climate conference ...... 89 Harry Forestell talks with SWN Resources exploration manager Nicki Atkinson ...... 89 Alan Savory: How to green the worls's deserts and reverse climate change ...... 89
6 Shale Gas Issues From Various Jurisdictions
Foreword
The following documents have been collected by searching the web for information related to shale gas and from the Following web sites and
New Brunswick is NOT For Sale http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_132079906855023
New Brunswickers Concerned About Shale Gas http://www.facebook.com/ccnbshalegas
Ban Hydraulic Fracturing (hydro-fracking) In New Brunswick, Canada http://www.facebook.com/BanFrackingNB
Know Shale Gas NB – Support the legal action to stop Shale Gas in NB http://noshalegasnb.ca/news
NoShaleGasNB http://www.facebook.com/NoShaleGasNB
Shale Gas Info http://www.facebook.com/shalegas
Upriver Environment Watch http://www.facebook.com/groups/UpRiver/
Fracidental Drillers http://www.facebook.com/groups/133930663364584/
Fracking Research and New Brunswick, Canada http://nbfrackingresearch.com/
Facebook Groups: USA - A FACEBOOK FULL OF FRACTIVISTS: State-by-State Listings http://keeptapwatersafe.org/facebook-groups-usa/
Propublica – Links to many articles on Fracking http://www.propublica.org/series/fracking
Is Our Forest Really Ours? http://isourforestreallyours.com/Isourforestreallyours/Start_here.html https://www.facebook.com/groups/132079906855023/#!/groups/258525050949366/
7 Calls for Moratoriums and Bans
First County in US Bans Oil and Gas Extraction
Monday the County Commission of Mora County, located in northeastern New Mexico, became the first county in the U.S. to pass an ordinance banning all oil and gas extraction. http://www.nationofchange.org/first-county-us-bans-oil-and-gas-extraction-1367418547
Fracking Ban Stands in New York Town; Victory for Local Communities
A state appeals court ruled in favor of the towns of Dryden and Middlefield, affirming lower court decisions upholding the towns’ right to ban oil and gas development activities—including the controversial technique of fracking—within town limits. The legal battle first began in 2011, and industry is widely expected to seek review of the ruling by New York’s high court (the Court of Appeals).
Following that ruling, Norse Energy Company, a U.S. subsidiary of a foreign-owned oil and gas company, filed an appeal, with today’s decision being the result. Shortly after filing its appeal, the company declared bankruptcy.
“The first oil and gas company to sue us backed down. The second went bankrupt. They both lost against us in court,” Sumner said. “When will the oil and gas industry get the message: bullying communities isn’t good for business?” http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2013/fracking-ban-stands-in-new-york-town-victory-for-local- communities
Inverness County bans fracking
PORT HOOD — Municipal councillors in Inverness County have passed a bylaw that bans hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Deputy warden Dwayne MacDonald was the only councillor to vote against the bylaw at a meeting Monday in Port Hood. Service Nova Scotia Minister John MacDonell also said the bylaw would not supersede provincial authority over mineral rights. http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1128019-inverness-county-bans-fracking
Three Fracking Moratorium Bills Win Key Vote in California Legislature
Three bills that would halt fracking in California won key votes Monday night, passing the Assembly Natural Resources Committee despite intense pressure from the oil industry. Richard Bloom’s A.B. 1301, Holly Mitchell’s A.B. 1323 and Adrin Nazarian’s A.B. 649 would place a moratorium on fracking while threats posed by the controversial practice to California’s environment and public health are studied. http://ecowatch.com/2013/fracking-moratorium-bills-win-vote-ca/
8 Quebec tables bill to block shale gas fracking
The Quebec government has tabled legislation to impose a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing for shale gas in the Lowlands of the St. Lawrence River. The moratorium, which could last up to five years, would remain in place until a new legislative framework for hydrocarbon exploitation in the province is set up. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-tables-bill-to-halt-shale-gas- fracking/article11943093/?cmpid=rss1
Woodstock town board asks New York State to criminalize fracking
Not content to ban "fracking" for natural gas within town borders, Woodstock's town board has voted to petition New York State to make hydraulic fracturing a criminal offense. http://www.watershedpost.com/2013/woodstock-town-board-asks-new-york-state-criminalize-fracking
Mora County, NM passes ordinance banning all oil and gas extraction
Earlier today, the County Commission of Mora County, located in Northeastern New Mexico, became the first county in the United States to pass an ordinance banning all oil and gas extraction. http://croatanearthfirst.com/2013/05/06/mora-county-nm-passes-ordinance-banning-all-oil-and-gas- extraction/
Senate Democratic Conference Calls For Moratorium OnHydraulic Fracturing
(Albany, NY) The Senate Democratic Conference today called for action to enact a moratoriumon hydraulic fracturing and require a comprehensive health impact study. The moratorium will provide experts more time to assess concerns about the potential impacts hydrofracking will have on New Yorks environment and economy. http://www.scribd.com/doc/143019129/05-22-13-Hydrofracking-Moratorium-Release
Covert NY - A Natural Gas Battleground
While the state of New York does have a moratorium in place, Covert joins other towns in not counting on the moratorium to protect them from the industrialization of their communities. They know the moratorium may not last, and should a state ban on gas drilling happen it may be quickly turned over by a state administration and/or legislature. Like the Boy Scouts, they are being prepared.
On Thursday, May 2, 2013, the New York State Appellate Court upheld the use of zoning laws to ban gas drilling. At the forefront are the towns of Dryden in Tompkins County, and Middlefield in Otsego County. This is a huge defeat to the natural gas industry’s challenges to New York’s home rule provisions. http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2013/05/24/covert-ny-a-natural-gas-battleground/
9 National Farmers Union - Alberta, Call for Moratorium Contamination, Confidentiality Agreements
At NFU Region 7’s recent public meeting dozens of concerned farm families heard how their neighbors, the Campbell family from Crestomere, Alberta, had their water well contaminated by highly toxic compounds, which they clearly linked to the fracking of a nearby oil and gas well. Several other attendees then brought forward their stories of losing water wells to fracking near their own farms.
“Not many of these stories get made public because the oil and gas companies usually force farmers to sign confidentiality agreements in return for replacement of their water wells” said Slomp. http://www.albertasurfacerights.com/articles/?id=1654
10 Contamination and Science
Is Range Resources Spokesman Lobbying or Lying? You Decide
A letter to the editor published on April 24 in the Washington Observer-Reporter from Range Resources' spokesman (and registered lobbyist) Matt Pitzarella stated: "Range is on record on countless occasions being in support of, and in fact lobbying for, not against, smarter and tighter regulations that adapt to new and emerging technologies."
Mr. Pitzarella’s statement is stunning because less than 24 hours earlier, every member of the state House of Representatives was lobbied to do exactly the opposite. The Marcellus Shale Coalition, speaking on behalf of Range Resources, circulated e-mails to urge a vote against my amendments to HB 302, 303 and 308. http://canon-mcmillan.patch.com/articles/is-range-resources-spokesman-lobbying-or-lying-you-decide
Gas Drilling May Be Leaking Twice as Much Gas as Previously Thought, Study Finds
Research suggests that emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than CO2, far exceed current estimates for gas drilling and production.
The work, performed by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, focused on Weld County, Colo., home to more than 20,000 gas wells. After years of monitoring and study, the researchers estimated that about 4 percent of the methane produced by these wells is lost to the atmosphere.
Methane accounts for about 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions nationwide. Leaks during the drilling, production and transmission of natural gas are the largest source, accounting for about a third of all man-made methane emissions. http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120209/natural-gas-drilling-methane-air-pollution-noaa-epa
DEP: Spill at well site seeps into house, miniature horse farm
Briny waste fluid spilled from a natural gas well site in Wyoming County on Tuesday morning and flowed onto a miniature horse farm and into the farmhouse basement and garage before it could be contained, the state Department of Environmental Protection said.
The spill at the Mazzara well site along Sickler Road in Washington Twp. was the second in fewer than two months at a Carrizo Oil and Gas well pad in the municipality.
Approximately 9,000 gallons of filtered waste fluid spilled at the site beginning about 9 a.m. after a hose came loose on a tank, DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said. http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/dep-spill-at-well-site-seeps-into-house-miniature-horse-farm- 1.1481928
11 5 Facts about Fracking Every Family Needs to Know - Leah Zerbe
More and more science is starting to call out the practice of natural gas fracking for what it is—dirty, and a threat to everybody's health.
1. Natural gas is not clean. 2. Fracking chemicals are extremely dangerous. 3. Natural gas drilling turns clean country air to smog. 4. Fracking releases uranium. 5. Fracking affects everyone. http://www.rodale.com/fracking-2
Leaking Gas Well Capped in Denton
A leaking pipeline at a gas well in Denton prompted evactuations and restricted the airspace over the municipal airport for several hours Friday.
A Denton Public Information officer said a gas pipe had separated from the well and that fracking water and natural gas was rising into the air directly around the well site. http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Gas-Well-Leaks-Near-Denton-Airport-203794391.html
Drilling fluids spill into Cadron Creek
More than 100 barrels of oil-based drilling mud spilled into Cadron Creek after a wreck Saturday.
ADEQ inspector Thomas Hunting said there was a heavy odor of diesel in the air and the material was a non-viscous liquid and orange in color. The remediation efforts appeared to be working and the impact to Cadron Creek, which was fast moving from localized heavy rains, appeared to be minimal, according to the report. http://vanburencountydem.com/news/local-news/drilling-fluids-spill-cadron-creek.html?i&i
Fracking in Nova Scotia -- the real story
This past Monday evening (on Mother Earth Day), NOFRAC launched the report, Out of Control: Nova Scotia's experience with fracking for shale gas, in the community it happened back in 2007-2008. Kennetcook, N.S. still has tailings ponds full of fracking waste, and many community members didn't know the details of what had happened or even where the toxic waste ponds are. http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/council-canadians/2013/04/report-launch-fracking-nova-scotia-real- story#.UX7BEMzfrOA.facebook
The report http://nofrac.wordpress.com/nofrac-reports/issue-paper-2/
12 PA DEP Determination Letters - damascus citizens for sustainability
“The Department investigation indicates that gas well drilling has impacted your water supply.”
Despite the oft-repeated gas industry canard that there are no confirmed cases of fracking contaminating water supplies, the following Determination Letters from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection clearly state that “gas well drilling” has contaminated wells in Granville, Tuscarora, Terry, Orwell, Wilmot and Monroe Townships, and in Alba Boro.
■Orwell Township, November 11, 2011 ■Tuscarora Township, March 25, 2011 ■Tuscarora Township, March 7, 2011 ■Alba Boro, December 6, 2010 ■Monroe Township, December 3, 2010 ■Wilmot Township, November 10, 2010 ■Terry Township 1, October 1, 2010 ■Terry Township 2, October 1, 2010 ■Granville Township, September 2, 2010
http://www.damascuscitizensforsustainability.org/pa- dep-determination-letters/
DEBERT — About 100 people gathered in Debert on Tuesday night, many to voice concerns about a Colchester County council decision they believe could damage the environment.
The meeting was the second in as many nights to hear from people appealing the county’s decision to grant Atlantic Industrial Services of Debert a permit to treat and discharge 5.5 million litres of hydraulic fracturing waste water through the municipal sewer system. Company officials said the water would be passed through five carbon filters to remove the trace amounts of radioactive material found naturally in the ground and then treated as any other waste water at Atlantic Industrial Services’ facility before being discharged. The whole process involves nine steps.
From a comment: "I did ask a man of science the same question and he just shrugged his shoulders and wondered what kind of a process that AIS has that the rest of the world doesn't." http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1128132-fracking-waste-water-plans-rapped- again#.UYo3dLkEa-c.twitter
Guidelines for the management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) in the oil & gas industry
See page 21 for disposal options http://www.ogp.org.uk/pubs/412.pdf
Related links:
Pitt Researchers Test Waste Water From Marcellus Shale Drilling
13 http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/03/14/pitt-researchers-test-waste-water-from-marcellus-shale- drilling/
Gas patch scientists explain how hydraulic fracturing can permanently contaminate public water supplies http://checksandbalancesproject.org/2011/05/06/gas-patch-scientists-explain-how-hydraulic-fracturing- can-permanently-contaminate-public-water-supplies/
Dr. Conrad Volz Gas Drilling and Public Health http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOPLKXuiZmI
Radioactivity in Marcellus Shale Resnikof Waste Management Associated http://www.lamnipipe.com/uploads/Marcellus_Shale_Report_5-18-2010.pdf
Radon in Natural Gas from Marcellus Shale By Marvin Resnikoff, Radioactive Waste Management Associates http://gdacc.org/2012/01/10/radon-in-natural-gas-from-marcellus-shale-by-marvin-resnikoff-radioactive- waste-management-associates/
Radiation Problems due to Hydrofracking Radium primary concern. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV_Su_d3bYU
Unreported Emissions from Natural Gas Blow Up British Columbia's Climate Action Plan BC's Carbon Footprint Likely 25% Greater Than Reported
Methane emissions from British Columbia's natural gas industry are likely at least 7 times greater than official numbers blowing BC's Climate Action Plan out of the water. Natural gas is nearly all methane and since methane is such a powerful climate warming gas these unreported emissions mean the total CO2 equivalent emissions for the entire province are nearly 25% higher than is being reported.
Each year the BC gas industry "loses" about 20% of the natural gas between pumping it out of the ground and its final destination. That was 7.4 billion cubic meters in 2010 out of a total production of 36.4 billion cubic meters according government statistics (BC's Natural Gas Exports). If a cubic meter was a second, 7.4 billion seconds equals 240 years.
BC's reported methane leaks are "absurdly low" Howarth told DeSmog.
"The very, very lowest numbers ever published, and they were published by industry, were 0.67%," Howarth said.
"As more field measurements are made, our numbers (mean of 5.8%) are looking like they might even be low." http://desmog.ca/2013/05/08/unreported-emissions-natural-gas-blows-british-columbia-s-climate-action- plan-bc-s-carbon-footprint-likely-25-greater
14 BC LNG Exports Blow Climate Targets Way, Way Out of the Water
Methane leaks from British Columbia's natural gas industry are likely at least 7 times greater than official numbers increasing the entire provinces' carbon footprint by nearly 25%. That's like putting 3 million more vehicles on BC's roads.
As Part One revealed official government figures state only 0.3% to 0.4% of BC's natural gas production leaks into the atmosphere. No believes that is accurate. Independent studies in the US show these methane leaks range between 2% and 9%. http://desmog.ca/2013/05/09/bc-lng-exports-blow-climate-targets-way-way-out-water
Stop Fracking and Save Our Water, Air, and Land
This site contains many links to information about problems that have or may be lnked to fracking. http://nofracking.com/
Brewer Lake Arkansas - Radioactive device abandoned in gas well
On March 15th Pathfinder, a company hired by Chesapeake, put a string of well logging tools down the hole and two of them became stuck at a depth of about 6,700 feet. These tools are radioactive and are used to measure the porosity, or density, of the rock to give the company an idea of the best places to put their perforations for fracturing. Instead of waiting for a special tool to be brought to the site to remove the device, Chesapeake tried to free the device by twisting back and forth with their drilling rig. These attempts failed along with other attempts using a "back off tool".
These well logging tools are cylindrical metal containers that hold the radioactive isotope Cesium-137. This is a very dangerous type of radioactive material. The tools that this material is contained in are designed to keep the radiation inside the device, however if the device is damaged the radioactive material can be dispersed into the ground. Any groundwater or natural gas that comes near this material can become radioactive. This can be extremely dangerous for people living and visiting the lake as well as people who get their water from the lake. http://www.arkansasfracking.org/Brewer-Lake.html
Energy future may be swamped in fracking wastewater, scientists warn
Natural gas production is soaring thanks to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a technique that shoots several million gallons of water laced with chemicals and sand deep underground to break apart chunks of the glassy rock, freeing trapped gas to escape through cracks and fissures into wells.
An average of 10 percent of this water flows back to the surface within a few weeks of the frack job. The rest is absorbed by the surrounding rock and mixes with briny groundwater, explained Radisav Vidic, a civil and environmental engineer at the University of Pittsburgh.
15 "What happens to that water is a very good question," he told NBC News. "We would like to know how much of it stays in the shale, and for how long, and is there a potential for migration away from the well."
Vidic led a review study of the scientific literature looking into these questions, which is published in Thursday's issue of the journal Science. http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/16/18300485-energy-future-may-be-swamped-in-fracking- wastewater-scientists-warn?lite
The study http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6134/1235009.abstract?sid=95e191b3-9796-4264-9529- e0b013606d88
Deteriorating Oil and Gas Wells Threaten Drinking Water Across the Country
In the last 150 years, prospectors and energy companies have drilled as many as 12 million holes across the United States in search of oil and gas. Many of those holes were plugged after they dried up. But hundreds of thousands were simply abandoned and forgotten, often leaving no records of their existence.
In 2008, gas from an abandoned well leaked into a septic system in Pennsylvania and exploded when someone tried to light a candle in a bathroom, killing the person, according to a 2009 draft report by the state's Department of Environmental Protection. That report also documented at least two dozen other cases of gas seeping from old wells, including three where the drilling of new wells "communicated" with old wells, leaking gas into water supplies and forcing the evacuation of a home. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=deteriorating-oil-gas-wells-threatening-americas- drinking-water
Drilling and Fracking and the Environment - Scientists Versus Industry
So this latest paper leads me to wonder: what is the agenda of these guys anyway? Clearly not anti- fossil fuels given the Arkansas results, and no way pro-fossil fuels given the Pennsylvania result. Could it be that their agenda is scientific, and they report what they find regardless of who’s agenda is helped or hindered? http://blogs.nicholas.duke.edu/thegreengrok/drilling-and-fracking-and-the-environment/
Radioactive Gas Drilling Waste Sets Off More Radioactivity Alarms
Fracking truck drivers have been blowing the whistle for some time, saying that radioactivity alarms are going off “all the time.” Workers report that the radioactivity levels are sky-high, even in empty trucks that have already dumped their load of drill cuttings at landfills. Now the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Associated Press, StateImpact PA, Shale Reporter and other news outlets are revealing some of the numbers supporting an increased urgency to stop dumping radioactive waste all over Pennsylvania.
16 The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the alarms went off 1,325 times in 2012, with more than 1,000 of those from oil and gas waste, according to Department of Environmental Protection data. http://protectingourwaters.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/radioactive-gas-drilling-waste-sets-off-more- radioactivity-alarms/
Fracking clean-up now a $30 billion business
Disposing of millions of tons of waste after hydraulic fracturing is a business now worth $20 billion to $30 billion a year, an executive from Wunderlich Securities estimated this week, according to this story in the New Orleans’ The Times-Picayune.
Oil and gas companies invest an estimated $200 billion a year in fracking, as the process is more commonly known, Michael Hoffman, the Wunderlich executive, is quoted as saying. http://blogs.marketwatch.com/energy-ticker/2013/05/22/fracking-clean-up-now-a-30-billion-business/ http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/05/shale_fracking_proves_30_billi.html
17 Renewable Energy
Canada is ready for a transformative energy experience - David Suzuki
"Canada has vast renewable energy resources in the form of hydropower, solar, wind energy, and biomass, as well as geothermal, wave, and tidal resources that are many times larger than current or projected levels of total fuel and electricity consumption," the recent Trottier report, "An Inventory of Low-Carbon Energy for Canada", concludes.
Those findings are confirmed by research and experience elsewhere in the world. A study by engineers at Stanford University reports, "it is technically and economically feasible to convert New York's all- purpose energy infrastructure to one powered by wind, water and sunlight," and doing so "shows the way to a sustainable, inexpensive and reliable energy supply that creates local jobs and saves the state billions of dollars in pollution-related costs."
An article in the New York Times points to research by the Paris-based International Energy Agency, showing, "Thirteen countries got more than 30 percent of their electricity from renewable energy in 2011." http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/david-suzuki/2013/04/canada-ready-transformative-energy-experience
Scotland Well On-Track To Reach 500 MW Community Renewable Energy Goal
Scotland’s goal of having 500 MW of community-owned renewable energy projects installed by 2020 is well on track, according to new figures released by the Energy Savings Trust (EST). As of right now, there are more than 200 MW of community, or locally owned, renewable energy generating capacity installed in the country. http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/scotland-well-on-track-to-reach-500-mw-community-renewable- energy-goal/
Massachusetts Crushes Solar Goals, Aims Much Higher
Massachusetts has already surpassed its goal of installing 250 megawatts (MW) of solar energy by 2017. Just a tad early, eh? Obviously, 250 MW was far too small of a goal, so the state is planning to increase the goal to 1,600 MW ( 1.6 GW). http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/massachusetts-crushes-solar-goals-aims-much-higher/
Solar–Wind Hybrid Power Plants Approximately Twice As Efficient
A new study by the Reiner Lemoine Institut and Solarpraxis AG has found that solar and wind power generation complement each other better than previously thought.
The study examined the surface area where solar photovoltaic systems and wind turbines were installed together. In that same surface area, twice the amount of electricity was being generated, and
18 the shading produced by the wind turbines accounted for a mere 1 to 2% loss in the photovoltaic system — which is much less than previously thought would be the case. http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/01/solar-wind-hybrid-power-plants-approximately-twice-as-efficient/
For Some Wind Turbines, Batteries Are Now Included!
We reported on GE’s “brilliant” wind turbine previously. The turbine integrates energy storage, and it also allows for a tremendous amount of data collection, prediction, and responsiveness. Below is a video of General Electric (GE) technicians discussing the company’s brilliant wind turbine in Tehachapi, California.
For more information on this new wind turbine, check out Tina’s initial post on it: GE’s “Brilliant” Wind Turbine Revs Up In Netherlands. Or, here’s an infographic on the technology from GE (click here to see a larger version): http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/04/for-some-wind-turbines-batteries-are-now-included/
REN21 Renewables Global Futures Report (GFR)
The REN21 Renewables Global Futures Report (GFR) is a pioneering publication that provides access to the range of credible possibilities on the future of renewable energy. The report is based on interviews with over 170 leading experts around the world and the projections of 50 recently published scenarios. The report can serve as a tool for dialogue and discussion on future options, and compliments well the REN21 Renewables Global Status Report.
Released in January 2013, the report was authored by Dr. Eric Martinot and was the product of a unique collaboration between REN21 and the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP) during 2011-2012. http://www.ren21.net/REN21Activities/GlobalFuturesReport.aspx
The report http://www.ren21.net/Portals/0/REN21_GFR_2013_print.pdf
Aquamarine Power gets approval for Western Isles wave farm
Edinburgh-based wave energy company Aquamarine Power has today received consent for a 40MW wave farm in the Western Isles. This will be the world’s largest fully-permitted ocean energy site.
The announcement was made by Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing, at the All-Energy Conference taking place this week in Aberdeen, and shows further support for the wave energy business in Scotland.
The green light from the government and its regulator Marine Scotland, along with onshore planning which was approved last September, means the Edinburgh firm, through its wholly owned subsidiary Lewis Wave Power Limited, will be able to begin installing their near-shore Oyster wave energy
19 machines at the site in the next few years – once the necessary grid infrastructure has been put in place.
This will ultimately see the deployment of between 40 and 50 Oyster devices along the coast at Lag na Greine, near to Fivepenny Borve, in one of the best wave energy locations in Europe. Once complete, the farm will have the capacity to power nearly 30,000 homes. http://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2013/05/aquamarine-power-gets-approval-for-western-isles- wave-farm/
20 Science and Health
Many Stressors Associated With Fracking Due to Perceived Lack of Trust
Apr. 29, 2013 — Pennsylvania residents living near unconventional natural gas developments using hydraulic fracturing, known by the slang term "fracking," attribute several dozen health concerns and stressors to the Marcellus Shale developments in their area, according to a long-term analysis by University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health researchers.
"Comprehensive epidemiological studies of all potential adverse consequences of fracking need to be performed, and they should include a close look at psychosocial symptoms, including stress, which cause very real health complications." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130429130550.htm
Fracking Ourselves to Death in Pennsylvania
In an earlier era, workers’ illnesses fell into the realm of “industrial medicine.” But these days, when it comes to the U.S. fracking industry, the canaries aren’t restricted to the coalmines. People like Randy seem to be the harbingers of what happens when a toxic environment is no longer buried miles beneath the earth. The gas fields that evidently poisoned him are located near thriving communities. “For just about every other industry I can imagine,” says Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University, coauthor of a landmark study that established fracking’s colossal greenhouse-gas footprint, “from making paint, building a toaster, building an automobile, those traditional kinds of industry occur in a zoned industrial area, inside of buildings, separated from home and farm, separated from schools.” By contrast, natural gas corporations, he says, “are imposing on us the requirement to locate our homes, hospitals and schools inside their industrial space.” http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/fracking_ourselves_to_death_in_pennsylvania_20130502/?ln
The Downwinders: Fracking Ourselves to Death in America by Ellen Cantarow
More than 70 years ago, a chemical attack was launched against Washington State and Nevada. It poisoned people, animals, everything that grew, breathed air, and drank water. The Marshall Islands were also struck. This formerly pristine Pacific atoll was branded “the most contaminated place in the world.” As their cancers developed, the victims of atomic testing and nuclear weapons development got a name: downwinders.
Now, a new generation of downwinders is getting sick as an emerging industry pushes the next wonder technology -- in this case, high-volume hydraulic fracturing. Whether they live in Texas, Colorado, or Pennsylvania, their symptoms are the same: rashes, nosebleeds, severe headaches, difficulty breathing, joint pain, intestinal illnesses, memory loss, and more. “In my opinion,” says Yuri Gorby of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, “what we see unfolding is a serious health crisis, one that is just beginning.” https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/05/02-3
21 Fracking Industry Cited By Prominent Medical Journal For Infringing Upon Patient–Physician Relationship
A report issued this month in The New England Journal of Medicine cites the controversial gas extraction process known as ‘fracking’ as one of four prime examples of an increasing trend whereby legislators, in cooperation with industry, “inappropriately infringe on clinical practice and patient- physician relationships.”
The October 18 article, titled “Legislative Interference with the Patient-Physician Relationship,” states the following:
“Four states (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, and Texas) have passed legislation relating to disclosure of information about exposure to chemicals used in the process of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”).10 Fracking involves injecting into the ground toxic chemicals such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene to extract oil and natural gas. Low levels of exposure to those chemicals can trigger headaches, dizziness, and drowsiness; higher levels of exposure can cause cancer. In Pennsylvania, physicians can obtain information about chemicals used in the fracking process that may be relevant to a patient’s care, but only after requesting the information in writing and executing a nonstandardized confidentiality and nondisclosure agreement drafted by the drilling companies.” http://planetsave.com/2012/11/14/fracking-industry-cited-by-prominent-medical-journal-for-infringing- upon-patient-physician-relationship/
The article http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsb1209858
Gulf doctor warns Mayflower
Approximately three years ago the state of Louisiana, along with other gulf coast states, experienced the largest environmental disaster in the history of our nation.
The environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has been enormous, with the most productive estuarine complex in the nation being severely affected and with the lives, the health and the livelihoods of many of our community members having being devastated.
I have seen and treated over 100 individuals whose health was severely affected by this disaster and many of them will likely remain ill for the rest of their lives.
Everyone in your community needs to understand that the chemicals being released by this pipeline rupture are extremely toxic and a sizeable number of people in your community will probably become ill. Some individuals are significantly more sensitive to these toxins than are others, and one neighbor may be extremely ill while the family across the street is perfectly OK.
My experience in Louisiana suggests that your local physicians will probably be at a loss to diagnose and treat these problems effectively, as that was certainly the case along the Gulf Coast. http://thecabin.net/interact/letters/2013-05-11/guest-letter-gulf-doctor-warns-mayflower#.UY743sUsFnR
22 Sand From Fracking Could Pose Lung Disease Risk To Workers
When workplace safety expert Eric Esswein got a chance to see fracking in action not too long ago, what he noticed was all the dust.
But sand is basically silica — and breathing in silica is one of the oldest known workplace dangers. Inside the lungs, exposure to the tiny particles has been shown to sometimes lead to serious diseases like silicosis and cancer.
Traditionally, silica exposure has been associated with jobs like mining, manufacturing and construction. But, as Esswein, a researcher with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and other safety experts have started to realize, some workers in the newly burgeoning fracking industry may be at risk, too, because of their exposure to silica dust. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/03/29/175042708/Sand-From-Fracking-Operations-Poses- Silicosis-Risk
Damning evidence on health impacts of coal & CSG
Doctors have released a damning report today about the potential health effects on communities across Australia from coal and coal seam gas projects. The Health Factor by Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) reveals the costly legacy unfolding for Australia from under-regulation of the pollution caused by many resource projects.
The Health Factor describes cases where coal projects have been allowed to pollute at levels known to compromise human health and where inadequate monitoring of air quality disguises the dangers.
“It is clear that State government approvals of coal and coal seam gas projects are often influenced by potential economic gain without thorough assessment of potential harms,” said DEA spokesperson, Dr David Shearman.
The social and financial costs of this pollution are not being measured or factored in when projects are given the go ahead.
“Those who believe Australian resource projects are operating with ‘world’s best practice’ are simply mistaken. http://dea.org.au/news/article/media-release-damning-evidence-on-health-impacts-of-coal-csg
The report http://dea.org.au/images/general/DEA_-_The_Health_Factor_05-13.pdf
Wilma Subra & Health Effects of Gas Drilling
Luzerne County & surrounds had two great opportunities to see world renowned Scientist, Wilma Subra at educational events sponsored by the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition. If you missed Wilma’s presentation, or need a refresher on the information she discussed, the presentation is below, thanks to
23 Scott Cannon of Video Innovations. We have also updated our Health Effects page with Wilma’s information on compressor stations & human health. http://luzernecountycleanair.com/wilma-subra-health-effects-of-gas-drilling/
A Human Rights Assessment of Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas
This human rights report is intended to detail for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and for Earthworks' Oil and Gas Accountability Project, specific ways in which hydraulic fracturing threatens to compromise human rights norms.
Despite claims of economic benefit, hydraulic fracturing presents significant risks to local air quality, to ground and surface waters, to soils and ecosystems and to several dimensions of human health. Risks to air quality result from the chemicals used in and resulting from fracking processes; from fugitive emissions of raw methane; from accidental emissions; and from diesel exhaust due to heavy truck traffic and diesel generators.
Water concerns include possible dewatering of aquifers from high-volume extractions, contamination of ground water and drinking water wells with methane and fracking chemicals, and the permanent removal of several billion gallons of water per year from the earth's hydrologic cycle.
The current state of knowledge about potential human health and environmental impacts of these airborne and waterborne contaminants, as well as of their mixtures and interactions, is poor, though some fracking chemicals even now are known to be endocrine disruptors and neurotoxins and some have been designated by the EPA as probable or known carcinogens. http://www.earthworksaction.org/files/publications/EHRA_Human-rights-fracking-FINAL.pdf
Depleted Uranium as a Catalyst for Hydrocracking Shale Oil - Argonne National Laboratory
Hydrogenation under cracking conditions (here termed "hydrocracking") is one way of accomplishing these objectives.
Uranium compounds have, a t various times , been tested a s hydrogenation catalysts. http://web.anl.gov/PCS/acsfuel/preprint archive/Files/16_2_BOSTON_04-72_0024.pdf
Is depleted uranium charges used for fracturing oil and gas wells?
Does anyone know if depleted uranium is currently being used in the shaped charges used in hydrofracking shale gas wells? Depleted Uranium appears to provide an economical solution to hard rock penetration in any case, when used as the liner material for a shaped charge
Conical shaped charge liner of depleted uranium - United States Patent 4441428 http://wellwatch.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/marcellusgasinfo-depleted-uranium-charges-used-for- fracturing-oil-and-gas-wells/
24 Radon in New Brunswick
New Brunswick has the second highest radon concentration of all provinces, http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/17/radon-gas-deadlier-than-thought-radioactive-substance- causes-16-of-lung-cancer-cases-health-canada-says/
See page 3 http://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/h-s/pdf/en/Publications/NB-Disease-Watch- Bulletin_Volume8-e.pdf
Health Canada Study http://www.chba.ca/uploads/Policy%20Archive/2010/Health%20Canada%20Radon%20Survey %2015%20Dec%202010.pdf
Pa. Rep. Pushes Bill To Track Fracking Health Effects
Law360, Philadelphia (May 23, 2013, 2:00 PM ET) -- Following a hearing in which experts accused Pennsylvania regulators of inadequately protecting public health and the environment from the effects of Marcellus Shale drilling, organizer Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, announced Wednesday that he would push legislation expanding the responsibilities of the state's health agency.
Vitali's bill, titled the Marcellus Public Health Protection Act, would require the Pennsylvania Department of Health to detect and prevent health problems stemming from unconventional gas operations. http://www.law360.com/articles/444385/pa-rep-pushes-bill-to-track-fracking-health-effects
25 Economics, Legal, and Investigations
Natural Gas Revolution Is Overblown, Study Says
A veritable explosion in the number of natural gas wells in the United States in the late 2000's resulted in only modest gains in production, a new study finds, suggesting that the promise of natural gas as a bountiful and economical domestic fuel source has been wildly oversold.
The findings, part of a broader analysis of natural gas published Thursday by the Post Carbon Institute, an energy and climate research organization in California, is one of a growing number of studies to undermine a natural gas catechism that has united industry, environmental groups and even the Obama White House in recent years.
It also comes on the heels of another study, published Monday, lending credence to claims that modern natural gas drilling techniques are contributing to methane contamination of drinking water wells in surrounding communities. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/12/natural-gas-revolution-overblown_n_861074.html
3 Natural Gas Myths Debunked
The "Shale Revolution" is overblown, two new reports suggest.
Myth #1: The "Shale Revolution" is here to stay. Myth #2: Natural gas prices will stay low. Myth #3: Shale gas is bringing game-changing job creation. http://www.rodale.com/natural-gas-myths
The Shale Boom Has Added Almost Nothing To US Economic Growth
While the industry accounts for 2.5% of overall GDP, it's contributed just 0.6 percentage points (ppts) to the 7.6% rise in GDP since the recession, he says. Exploration and production investment has increased by 56%, but this represents only a $36 billion chunk of to real GDP, or 0.3 ppts of the increase. http://www.businessinsider.com/shale-boom-adding-little-to-us-growth-2013-4
Shell Makes Big Bet on Boom in Natural Gas
More than any of its rivals, Royal Dutch Shell, which will report its quarterly results on Thursday, is betting its future on the business of bringing natural gas from remote locations like Qatar to energy- hungry destinations like China and Japan.
“We are in the lead, and we want to stay in the lead,” Andrew Brown, Shell’s head of international exploration and production, said in a mid-April interview. Mr. Brown said Shell expected global demand
26 for L.N.G. to grow rapidly in the coming years, doubling by 2025 to about 500 million tons a year, the equivalent of about 4.5 billion barrels of oil, making it by far the fastest-growing fuel.
To Mr. Brown’s frustration, not everyone gets the message. That is one reason Shell’s big L.N.G. bet is no sure thing. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/business/energy-environment/02iht-shell02.html?_r=0
Is the shale gas bubble poised to burst?
Here, one more time, is the contrarian story Berman and Hughes have been telling: The glut of recent gas production was initially driven not by new technologies or discoveries, but by high prices. In the years from 2005 through 2008, as conventional gas supplies dried up due to depletion, prices for natural gas soared to $13 per million BTU (prices had been in the $2 range during the 1990s). It was these high prices that provided an incentive for using expensive technology to drill problematic reservoirs.
With new supplies coming on line quickly, gas prices fell below $3 MBTU, less than the actual cost of production in most cases. From this point on, gas producers had to attract ever more investment capital in order to maintain their cash flow. It was, in effect, a Ponzi scheme.
The October 21 Times article didn’t drill very far into the data that make Berman and Hughes pessimistic about future unconventional gas production prospects—the high per-well decline rates, and the tendency of the drillers to go after “sweet spots” first so that future production will come from ever- lower quality sites. For more recent analysis that does look beyond the cash flow problems of Chesapeake and the other frackers, see “Gas Boom Goes Bust” by Jonathan Callahan, and Gail Tverberg’s essay, “Why Natural Gas Isn’t Likely to be the World’s Energy Savior.” http://newyork2.sierraclub.org/content/shale-gas-bubble-poised-burst
What boom? Industry pundits claim thousands of jobs will be created, but numbers don’t quite add up
Industry, legislators, geologists -- even the press -- called it a game-changer.
They predicted it would create hundreds of thousands -- even millions -- of jobs. They talked about energy independence, waves of new industry flocking to the area. But today, years into the Marcellus shale boom, the numbers tell a different story.
Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is now higher than the national average. http://www.timesonline.com/news/energy/what-boom-industry-pundits-claim-thousands-of-jobs-will- be/article_8ec3ff50-6e38-516a-b7a1-d7b758801d20.html
Debating economic impact of Marcellus Shale in Pa.
Mark Price, a labor economist with the liberal-leaning Keystone Research Center, says he can find only 20,000 direct jobs created from Marcellus Shale. Even if all coal-mining and legacy natural gas drilling
27 is added together, "this is a sector that still only makes up half of 1 percent of Pennsylvania's economy," he said.
Timothy Kelsey, a Penn State agricultural economist who did not participate in the engineering department study, came back with a report in 2011 that pegged the economic effects more modestly. His work estimated that shale gas created more like 100,000 direct and indirect jobs. http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20130505_Debating_economic_impact_of_Marcellus_Shale_in_P a_.html
Fracking Nonsense: The Job Myth of Gas Drilling
Natural gas companies are trying to sell fracking as the solution to all of the economic ills ailing this country. Supposedly fracking can bring the economy out of its current stagnation by creating uncountable new jobs, without running up government deficits, and even save us from global warming in the process. So how come local residents and environmentalists oppose fracking? The short answer is that fracking does not create local jobs, it lowers property values, and pollutes the water we drink and the air we breathe. http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/fracking-nonsense-the-job-myth-of-gas- drilling#.TwxVjCZLuiE.twitter
The Economic Value of Shale Natural Gas in Ohio
Page 2 - Specifically, we estimate that Pennsylvania gained about 20,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs in the natural gas industry between 2004-2010, which is a far cry fewer than the over 100,000 jobs re-ported in industry-funded studies (and the 200,000 expected in Ohio by 2015). Given the anticipated size of the boom, Ohio is expected to follow the Pennsylvania‘s experience. We believe 20,000 jobs would be a more realistic starting point for what to expect in Ohio over the next four years and is in line with what other independent assessments have suggested. However, our 20,000 job estimate does not account for displacement losses in other indus-tries such as tourism, and we also note that local economic effects could appear larger in heavily im-pacted areas. http://cce.cornell.edu/EnergyClimateChange/NaturalGasDev/Documents/WeinstienPartridgeOSU_Econ omic%20Value%20of%20Shale%20Dec%202011.pdf
Interview: Energy Investor Bill Powers Discusses Looming Shale Gas Bubble
What Powers unpacks in his book, though, is that McClendon and his fellow "shale promoters," as he puts it in his book, aren't quite as "visionary" as they would lead us all to believe.
Indeed, the well production data that Powers picked through on a state-by-state basis demonstrates a "drilling treadmill." That means each time an area is fracked, after the frackers find the "sweet spot," that area yields diminishing returns on gas production on a monthly and annual basis.
It's an argument regular readers of DeSmogBlog are familiar with because of our recent coverage of the Post Carbon Institute's "Drill Baby, Drill" report by J. David Hughes.
28 Powers posits this could lead to a domestic gas crisis akin to the one faced in the 1970's.
We discuss these issues and far more in the interview below. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-horn/bill-powers-shale-gas_b_3240166.html
Fracking update: The bad news is gaining legs
From dedicated blogger Sharon Wilson in Texas:
Mike Soraghan, reporter for E&E, continues to dig in and connect dots on the Range Resources water contamination case in Parker County. Suddenly the actual facts about this case have become the focus instead of all the political posturing.
I have been writing about this case from the beginning, when the EPA stepped in with an Imminent and Substantial Endangerment Order after the Texas Railroad Commission messed around for 4 months and failed to take action. Early on and ongoing, I connected many of the dots and for my efforts I was harassed by a billion-dollar corporation that “embraces” its reputation for bullying and intimidation. Brantley Hargrove dug through court documents and connected more dots in his story: How One Man’s Flaming Water Fired Up a Battle Between Texas and the EPA: Steve Lipsky’s epic battle and what it means for the future of fracking. And Brett Shipp vindicated Steve Lipsky when his report, Welcome to his nightmare: Flaming well water, shows that his video was not deceptive. http://www.gogreennation.org/2013/02/fracking-update-the-bad-news-is-gaining-legs/
Marcellus shale gas production boom stirs debate over taxes
A boom in natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania is generating billions of dollars for companies and private landowners, but some experts question whether the state's low effective tax on the bounty makes long- term sense.
Over 20 or 30 years, that means the current impact fee here may generate $10 billion or $15 billion less than a flat tax on production, Wood said.
The Pennsylvania fee is essentially based on the numbers of wells drilled and on the wholesale price of gas, so when prices plunged last year, the revenue took a hit. Wood estimated that the 2011 revenue was the equivalent of about a 4.1 percent effective tax rate, which at first glance appears to be far lower than Texas, at 7.5 percent, or Oklahoma, at 7 percent. http://triblive.com/news/editorspicks/4003784-74/gas-production-fee#axzz2T2SgjL7f
Deborah Rogers’ March 2012 Presentation – PA and NY
Resources are the total amount of gas that is potentially available in the ground. And this is indeed about 100 years worth but this gas is not necessarily available nor is it necessarily economically viable to pull it out of the ground. The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) defines resources as “potentially recoverable but not yet mature enough for commercial development due to technological or business
29 hurdles.” In other words, it exists but cannot necessarily be pulled out of the ground because of lack of existing technology or it simply is not economically viable.
Reserves on the other hand are defined by petroleum engineers as gas that can be realistically pulled out of the ground at today’s prices and using today’s technologies. This is now estimated to be only about 11 years worth. Unfortunately, claiming resources rather than reserves makes it sound as though natural gas is very abundant when in fact it may not be. Obviously it becomes even more problematic when policy begins to be implemented based on resource numbers rather than actual reserve numbers and that is precisely what is occurring at present. That is foolish to the extreme. http://energypolicyforum.org/2012/04/06/deborah-rogers-march-2012-presentation-pa-and-ny/
Reported waste dumping results in federal charges against fracking company owner
Youngstown — The owner of an oil and natural gas drilling company accused of dumping more than 20,000 gallons of fracking waste into a tributary of the Mahoning River last month was charged Thursday with violating the federal Clean Water Act.
U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced the criminal charges against Ben Lupo, 62, of Poland, Ohio, at an afternoon news conference on the banks of the Mahoning River.
If convicted, Lupo faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/02/reported_fracking_waste_violat.html
BP, Shell, Statoil accused of fixing oil prices
The good folks at BP, Shell, and Statoil would never break the law and screw over their customers in a quest for inflated profits, surely.
Yet that is the very accusation coming out of Europe, where the industry giants are suspected of colluding to fix prices for crude, biofuel, and refined oil products at artificially high levels, allowing them to reap greater profits than the laws of supply and demand would dictate in a truly competitive economy.
Offices of the companies were raided last week by European Commission officials, and the Justice Department is being urged to investigate whether the alleged price fixing spilled over onto American shores. http://grist.org/news/bp-shell-statoil-accused-of-fixing-oil-prices/
Increased Federal Criminal Enforcement Against Oil and Gas Fracking Companies
The federal government has been stepping up criminal enforcement actions against oil and gas drilling companies under existing environmental statutes like the Clean Water Act while state and federal governments are in the process of developing policies and regulations specifically targeted at fracking.
30 On February 14, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) charged Ben Lupo, the co-owner of over 20 oil and gas drilling companies, with a criminal violation of the Clean Water Act for the alleged illegal disposal of fracking waste. The charges state that Lupo ordered his employees to dispose of brine and oil-based drilling mud into storm drains that emptied into the Mahoning River near Youngstown, Ohio.
In the last two months, DOJ and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) have also obtained guilty pleas in three cases concerning drilling or support companies working in the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia. http://www.natlawreview.com/article/increased-federal-criminal-enforcement-against-oil-and-gas- fracking-companies
Texas Driller Guilty of Clean Water Act Violations
Texas Natural Gas and Oil Drilling Contractor Pleads Guilty to Negligent Violation of Clean Water Act in Oklahoma. Houston-Based Company Will Pay $200,000 in Fines, Community Service and Training Requirements
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Integrated Production Services, LLC, (IPS), a Houston-based natural gas and oil drilling contractor, pleaded guilty today to a negligent violation of the Clean Water Act in federal court in Muskogee, Okla., announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Mark Green, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=13280&ArticleId=432267
Gas boom called hype
A natural gas drilling boom unleashed by hydrofracking will begin to recede before the end of the decade, and prices will climb as producers push for exports to shore up profits against lower prices caused by a temporary domestic glut, two energy experts said Thursday.
Dreams that natural gas from hydrofracking — a process that injects water and chemicals deep underground to break up gas-bearing shale rock formations — will provide decades of cheap energy are overblown, said David Hughes, a geoscientist with three decades of experience in the Canadian oil industry, and Deborah Rogers, a Wall Street financial consultant. http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Gas-boom-called-hype-4544302.php#photo-4676135
In North Dakota, The Dreams And Dark Side Of Shale Gas "Black Gold Rush"
Every day, hundreds of unemployed people arrive in Williston from all over the country, and you would be lucky to find a seedy motel for $130 a night. The next day, Corey Driver bought the necessary $25 pair of boots and filled out a job application at the nearest Pizza Hut. “The guy told me: ‘that won’t be necessary,’ and asked me how much I was making by the hour back home. He told me that I could start tomorrow and that I was going to earn twice as much – $15.” Here in Williston, the black-gold rush fever
31 has increased everything: population, wages, prices, traffic, work accidents, single men, sexual assaults and delinquency in general. http://www.worldcrunch.com/eyes-on-the-u.s./in-north-dakota-the-dreams-and-dark-side-of-shale-gas- quot-black-gold-rush-quot-/shale-oil-workers-north-dakota-gas-williston/c5s11949/
32 Regulations
Fracking giant Halliburton nixes NC's chemical disclosure rule
After more than six months of congenial meetings, the N.C. Mining & Energy Commission was set to approve its first fracking rule Friday, perhaps the most important of all the safety rules the commission will write to protect the public and safeguard the environment.
The standard spells out which chemicals fracking operators have to publicly disclose when drilling natural gas wells in North Carolina.
But commissioners learned Thursday the proposal they had approved in committee in March is on ice.
The problem: Fracking giant Halliburton has told North Carolina’s environmental regulators the rule goes too far. The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources is working to get the rule changed. http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/02/2866836/fracking-giant-halliburton-nixes.html
NDP say single oil and natural gas regulator needed in New Brunswick
New Brunswick's NDP leader says there needs to be a single regulator for the oil and natural gas industry in the province.
Dominic Cardy says there are at least five different government departments and agencies that regulate various aspects of the industry.
He says that's a recipe for confusion and failure in enforcement.
Cardy says the government's oil and natural gas blueprint that was released last week lacks many details, including a royalty proposal.
He says while a royalty rate of 40 per cent was proposed by Natural Resources Minister Bruce Northrup in May 2012, the new blueprint only says the royalty regime will be competitive.
Meanwhile, Green party Leader David Coon says the provincial government has denied his request filed under access to information legislation for studies done on shale gas royalties. http://www.timescolonist.com/news/national/ndp-say-single-oil-and-natural-gas-regulator-needed-in- new-brunswick-1.177026
All Around The Country, Regulators Are Getting Bullied Over Fracking
Conflicts of interest and undue corporate influence among drilling regulators features prominently in "Gasland II," documentarian Josh Fox's follow-up to his high-profile 2010 film "Gasland." "Gasland II" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last month.
33 "We know almost literally nothing about human health effects," said Duke biology professor Rob Jackson, author of a study that found a correlation between drilling and methane in northeast Pennsylvania. "Without human health studies, it's hard to conclude a process is safe."
North Carolina officials were set to unveil a new set of rules on fracking in that state earlier this month. But the legislation was scuttled after Halliburton intervened, according to the Charlotte News Observer's John Murawski. "There seem to be conversations happening offline and not in public about this rule that has already come out of committee,” he quotes one member of the Mining & Energy Commission as saying. http://www.businessinsider.com/industry-still-influencing-fracking-regulations-2013-5
List of Acts being amended includes Oil and Natural Gas Act http://www1.gnb.ca/legis/bill/index-e.asp?legi=57&num=3
An Act to Amend the Oil and Natural Gas Act
First Reading: 2013-5-22, Bill No. 45 Member: Hon. Craig Leonard http://www1.gnb.ca/legis/bill/editform-e.asp?ID=1001&legi=57&num=3 http://www.gnb.ca/legis/bill/pdf/57/3/Bill-45.pdf
34 Environment, Climate Change and Enjoyment of Property
Poll suggests Albertans want to end love affair with coal
EDMONTON - Alberta burns more coal than all other Canadian provinces combined and the vast majority of people surveyed want the provincial government to find alternatives, a new poll suggests.
A survey of 600 Albertans conducted for Clean Energy Canada at Tides Canada found 68 per cent of those polled want the government to reduce the province’s reliance on coal-fired electricity. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/Poll+suggests+Albertans+want+love+affair+with+coal/831 8511/story.html#ixzz2S407uo7v
The Greatest Issue of Our Time or Any Time
A Treasury of Observations, Commentary and Interviews Undertaken by Eleven Year-Old Noah During the British Columbia Provincial Election of 2013
As part of my reporting on this current election campaign, I prepared a video presentation regarding the greatest issue facing our politicians of today, or of any era. During the course of this presentation, I had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Andrew Weaver, renowned climate scientist and Green Party candidate for the constituency of Oak Bay -Gordon Head.
My video presentation is in two parts:
Part One may be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8z4jcPht3w
Part Two may be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQByD_xJVY
The text of my presentation is as follows: http://noahreportsonbcelection.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/the-greatest-issue-of-our-time-or-any-time/
DFO scientist amazed by 'extreme' ocean temperatures
A federal scientist based in Nova Scotia says ocean temperatures off the East Coast of Canada were about two to four degrees above normal in 2012, setting record highs.
"On average, it’s probably three to five times the normal variability. So it’s quite extreme," said Dave Hebert, a Canadian scientist at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax.
His American counterparts at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. reported sea surface temperatures on the northeastern shelf in 2012 averaged 14 C, the highest temperature recorded in 150 years.
"It’s basically the same here," said Hebert. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2013/05/01/ns-warm-ocean-wast-coast.html
35 Fracking Industry Mining Iowa’s Iconic Sand Bluffs in New Form of Mountaintop Removal
The rolling hills of Northeastern Iowa’s Allamakee County defy the state’s stereotypical flat-land geography, and local residents boast of the serene beauty and rich geological history. Yet those same bluffs also play host to robust reservoirs of frac sand.
In order to extract the frac sand, mining corporations have adopted a method of newfangled mountaintop removal of sorts, blasting away entire hills laced with this frac sand to access this new “prize.” While devastating the landscape, it’s justified by Big Oil as necessary because the Midwest’s unparalleled geological characteristics have transformed it into a “New Saudi Arabia for frac sand.” http://www.wakingtimes.com/2013/05/02/sand-land-fracking-industry-mining-iowas-iconic-sand-bluffs- in-new-form-of-mountaintop-removal/
Climate Change Milestone Demands Shift To Renewable Energy
Scientists from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, are set to announce that levels of atmospheric CO2 are reaching 400ppm now, marking a critical point on the pathway to dangerous levels of global warming.
The imperative to drive down these emissions has never been stronger, says Samantha Smith, WWF leader of the Global Climate & Energy Initiative.
“The laws of physics tell us that the more CO2 we have in the atmosphere, the warmer the world will get. The last time the Earth’s atmosphere had as much CO2 as it has today, the world was 3-4 degrees Celsius warmer. And the last time the world was that warm, sea levels were five to 40 meters higher than they are now,” she says. http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/04/climate-change-milestone-demands-shift-to-renewable- energy/#AuAphPjU5XFRYjJE.99
New study projects warming-driven changes in global rainfall
American Geophysical Union National Aeronautics and Space Administration Joint Release
WASHINGTON -- Global warming may increase the risk for extreme rainfall and drought, according to a new modeling study. The research shows for the first time how rising carbon dioxide concentrations could affect the entire range of rainfall types on Earth.
Analysis of computer simulations from 14 climate models indicates that wet regions of the world, such as the equatorial Pacific Ocean and Asian monsoon regions, will see increases in heavy precipitation because of warming resulting from projected increases in carbon dioxide levels. Arid land areas outside the tropics and many regions with moderate rainfall could become drier.
The analysis provides a new assessment of global warming's impacts on precipitation patterns around the world. The study was accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. http://www.agu.org/news/press/pr_archives/2013/2013-17.shtml
36 NASA Projects Carbon Pollution Impact: ‘Some Regions Outside The Tropics May Have No Rainfall’
Model simulations spanning 140 years [video here] show that warming from carbon dioxide will change the frequency that regions around the planet receive no rain (brown), moderate rain (tan), and very heavy rain (blue). The occurrence of no rain and heavy rain will increase, while moderate rainfall will decrease. Credit: NASA.
The summer precipitation varies year by year, of course, but as the snapshot above shows, by mid- century there is basically no rain in much of the Southwest and California some years. And the Amazon is not looking too good either (see also “NASA-Led Study Finds Warming-Driven Megadroughts Jeopardizing Amazon Forest“). http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/03/1960961/nasa-projects-carbon-pollution-impact-some- regions-outside-the-tropics-may-have-no-rainfall-at-all/
NASA Study Projects Warming-Driven Changes in Global Rainfall http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/wetter-wet.html
99 One-Liners Rebutting Denier Talking Points — With Links To The Full Climate Science
Progressives should know the disinformers’ most commonly used arguments — and how to answer them crisply. Those arguments have been repeated so many times by the fossil-fuel-funded disinformation campaign that almost everyone has heard them — and that means you’ll have to deal with them in almost any setting, from a public talk to a dinner party.
You should also know as much of the science behind those rebuttals as possible, and a great place to start is SkepticalScience.com.
BUT most of the time your best response is to give the pithiest response possible, and then refer people to a specific website that has a more detailed scientific explanation with links to the original science. That’s because usually those you are talking to are rarely in a position to adjudicate scientific arguments. Indeed, they would probably tune out. Also, unless you know the science cold, you are as likely as not to make a misstatement. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/07/1972581/99-one-liners-rebutting-denier-talking-points-with- links-to-the-full-climate-science/
California Governor Jerry Brown Links Wildfires To Climate Change
In remarks delivered to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s aviation management unit in Sacramento, Governor Jerry Brown warned that earlier wildfire seasons will become the new norm thanks to climate change.[LATimes]
[California] firefighters have responded to about twice the average number of wildfires so far this year – more than 1,100 in all.
37 “Our climate is changing, the weather is becoming more intense,” Brown said in an airplane hangar filled with trucks, airplanes and helicopters used by the state to fight fires. “It’s going to cost a lot of money and a lot of lives. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/07/1972731/may-7-news-california-governor-jerry-brown-links- wildfires-to-climate-change/
Climate change is no longer an "environmental" issue in B.C.
Something subtle but important has shifted in the climate of B.C politics.
Early in the April 29 televised leaders' debate, B.C. NDP leader Adrian Dix addressed climate change, not as an environmental issue for the consideration of future generations, but as a present-day economic and social issue.
Dix talked about how people in interior communities are already losing jobs because of trees killed by the pine beetle, which is directly linked to rising temperatures. The fact that the fossil fuel industry is already devastating the interior forestry sector is starting to sink in.
In Vancouver, where I live, it is possible to think of rising carbon levels in the atmosphere as a future environmental issue, but in rural B.C., it is a different story.
Burning fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, has already made B.C. sea water so acidic that oysters cannot reproduce. Oyster farmers now have to raise oysters in tanks of treated water until they are old enough to survive the acidic ocean water. Again, this is an immediate economic issue which primarily impacts people in smaller B.C. communities. http://www.straight.com/news/379681/eric-doherty-climate-change-no-longer-environmental-issue-bc
Government Should 'Grow Up' On Climate Change, Scientist Says
A group of 12 prominent Canadian climate scientists called out the federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver on his support for the expansion of oil infrastructure in a letter released Wednesday.
The scientists wrote that building pipelines and developing fossil fuel production delays the transition to an economy that relies less on oil and gas.
The scientists urged Oliver to move away from the high-carbon approach that will lead to climate warming of more than 2 C. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/09/joe-oliver-climate-change_n_3241165.html? utm_hp_ref=canada-politics&ir=Canada+Politics
Carbon dioxide hits levels not seen for three million years
The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the Earth for millions of years.
38 Scientific monitors reported that the gas had reached an average daily level that surpassed 400 parts per million – just an odometer moment in one sense, but also a sobering reminder that decades of efforts to bring human-produced emissions under control are faltering.
The new measurement came from analyzers atop Mauna Loa, the volcano on the big island of Hawaii. Devices there sample clean air that has blown across the Pacific Ocean, producing a record of rising carbon-dioxide levels that has been closely tracked for half a century. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/carbon-dioxide-hits-levels-not-seen-for-three-million- years/article11874930/
Watch 62 Years of Global Warming in 13 Seconds
From our friends at NASA comes this amazing 13-second animation that depicts how temperatures around the globe have warmed since 1950. You’ll note an acceleration of the temperature trend in the late 1970s as greenhouse gas emissions from energy production increased worldwide and clean air laws reduced emissions of pollutants that had a cooling effect on the climate, and thus were masking some of the global warming signal.
The data come from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York (GISS), which monitors global surface temperatures. As NASA notes, “All 10 of the warmest years in the GISS analysis have occurred since 1998, continuing a trend of temperatures well above the mid-20th century average." http://www.climatecentral.org/watch-62-years-of-global-warming-in-13-seconds-15469.html
Scientists find extensive glacial retreat in Mount Everest region
Glaciers in the Mount Everest region have shrunk by 13 percent in the last 50 years and the snowline has shifted upward by 180 meters (590 feet), according to Sudeep Thakuri, who is leading the research as part of his PhD graduate studies at the University of Milan in Italy.
Glaciers smaller than one square kilometer are disappearing the fastest and have experienced a 43 percent decrease in surface area since the 1960s. Because the glaciers are melting faster than they are replenished by ice and snow, they are revealing rocks and debris that were previously hidden deep under the ice. These debris-covered sections of the glaciers have increased by about 17 percent since the 1960s, according to Thakuri. http://moa.agu.org/2013/media-center/press-item/scientists-find-extensive-glacial-retreat-in-mount- everest-region/
World's Melting Glaciers Making Large Contribution to Sea Rise
May 16, 2013 — While 99 percent of Earth's land ice is locked up in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the remaining ice in the world's glaciers contributed just as much to sea rise as the two ice sheets combined from 2003 to 2009, says a new study led by Clark University and involving the University Colorado Boulder.
39 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130516142547.htm http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2013/05/16/world%E2%80%99s-melting-glaciers-making-large- contribution-sea-rise
Climate change’s ‘evil twin’: Ocean acidification
The rapid acidification of the Arctic Ocean will have widespread impacts to be felt for “tens of thousands of years” even if we stop emissions now, say the scientists.
The primary driver of this acidification is the ocean’s uptake of carbon dioxide. When carbon-rich materials such as coal or oil are burned, some of the CO2 is absorbed by the oceans, slowing its build- up in the atmosphere and the pace of human-induced climate warming, but at the same time increasing seawater acidity. As a result of this process, the average acidity of surface ocean waters worldwide is now about 30 percent higher than at the start of the Industrial Revolution, say the experts. http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/climate-changes-evil-twin-ocean-acidification/
Key findings press release http://www.amap.no/Conferences/aoa2013/AOA_PressRelease.pdf
ThinkGlobalGreen
Website covers a wide variety of environment issues including fracking climate change and renewable energy. http://www.thinkglobalgreen.org/ http://www.thinkglobalgreen.org/fracking.html
Climate disasters displace millions of people worldwide
More than 32 million people fled their homes last year because of disasters such as floods, storms and earthquakes – 98% of displacement related to climate change. http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/picture/2013/may/20/climate-disasters-displace-millions- worldwide#_
No-Water-Gate: Scandalous NY Times Piece On Dust-Bowlification Never Mentions Climate Change
It is increasingly clear that the gravest climate threat to the most people in the coming decades will be Dust-Bowlification and the impact that has on food security (see Oxfam: Extreme Weather Has Helped Push Tens of Millions into “Hunger and Poverty” in “Grim Foretaste” of Warmed World). As I wrote in my 2011 Nature article, “The next dust bowl,” which reviewed some of the vast literature on the growing threat of prolonged warming-driven drought, “Feeding some 9 billion people by mid-
40 century in the face of a rapidly worsening climate may well be the greatest challenge the human race has ever faced.”
You’d think that a New York Times front page story on our current return to Dust Bowl conditions — and how farmers need to adapt — would discuss some of this vast literature. Or at least mention climate change. Once.
You’d be wrong. And so this NY Times story is one of the inspirations for naming the greatest scandal of our time No-Water-Gate: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/22/2034551/no-water-gate-scandalous-ny-times-piece-dust- bowlification-never-mentions-climate-change/ http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/05/24/478771/my-nature-piece-dust-bowlification-grave-threat-it- poses-to-food-security/ https://www2.ucar.edu/atmosnews/opinion/7434/dry-and-drier
Rocky Mountain snowpack loss foreshadows water woes
The snowpack in the Rocky Mountains is getting smaller, according to a new study from scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey.
It found the snowpack in the American Rockies has shrunk by roughly 20 per cent since 1980, largely because of warmer springs.
Scientists say it will have serious repercussions for the water supply on both sides of the border.
The U.S. Geological Survey says runoff from the Rocky Mountain snowpack accounts for up to 80 per cent of the annual water supply for more 70 million people living in the western U.S. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/05/29/calgary-us-geological-survey-water-runoff- w.html?cmp=rss
USGS article. http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3587&from=rss
Alan Savory: How to green the worls's deserts and reverse climate change http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2013/04/someone-give-this-man-a-nobel-prize-already-he-is-going- to-save-the-planet.html#sthash.4CCbDCYy.7v6nyowx.dpbs
About TED:
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference on the West Coast each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer -- TED includes the award-
41 winning TED Talks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize. www.ted.com
42 Government, Meetings, News, and Letters
Canadian doctors oppose New Brunswick medicare cuts
The Canadian Medical Association and every provincial/territorial medical association have thrown their support behind the New Brunswick Medical Society in its dispute with the provincial government over medicare cuts.
The medical groups sent a letter to Premier David Alward on Wednesday, urging him to respect the negotiated, signed agreement with New Brunswick's doctors. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2013/05/01/nb-canadian-medical-association- medicare-letter.html
Canada can't account for $3.1B in anti-terror funding, AG finds
The federal government needs to do better at tracking and evaluating some of its program spending to ensure taxpayer dollars are being well-spent, Auditor General Michael Ferguson found in his spring report released today, and one of the most striking examples is that it can't account for $3.1 billion in anti-terrorism funding.
He found that departments reported spending $9.8 billion of the $12.9 billion allocated for security and anti-terrorism measures under the program but he couldn't determine where the other $3.1 billion went. The Treasury Board had no clear answers for him.
"We don’t have enough information to say whether that happened," he said.
The NDP jumped on the accounting gap as a sign the Conservatives can't manage the public purse.
"It is really scandalous that [the government] can't account for the $3.1 billion," NDP MP Malcolm Allen said. NDP Leader Tom Mulcair called the unaccounted for money a "$3-billion boondoggle." http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/04/30/pol-auditor-general-spring-report-federal- spending.html http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/05/01/matt-gurney-deficit-loving-tories-may-be-brought-down- by-3-1-billion-they-didnt-spend/
Shale Gas: continued resistance
They became an army as they strutted through the street -equipped with banners, signs and costumes ready to fight for their cause.
The elderly, the middle-aged, college and grade school students, mothers pushing children in strollers and fathers with babies on their backs pushed through sub-zero temperatures on Tuesday to send the government a message that shale gas development in the province would not go unchallenged.
43 Julia Linke, one of the event’s coordinators, said the protest was planned to remind the government about the petition against the industry presented two years ago that had 20,000 signatures. http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/26584/shale-gas-continued-resistance/
An Open Letter to Shale Oil and Gas Companies
A delegation representing 27 community groups, organizations and unions publically presented the attached letter to SWN Resources in Moncton on April 30, 2013. It was also sent to all other companies conducting shale gas exploration in New Brunswick. The letter points out that the companies do not have a social license to operate in the province, and advises them to halt their exploration activities.
Since the time of the presentation, two additional groups have signed the letter: Friends of Tantramar Marsh and the Elsipogtog Band Council. http://www.nben.ca/en/collaborative-action/news-from-groups/item/467-an-open-letter-to-shale-oil-and- gas-companies
Open Letter On Shale Gas To Alward Government
Your release of new rules for the oil and gas industry on February 15 2013 presumes that you have a mandate from the public. We believe that you have no such mandate and are not entitled to release these rules or take any further steps to proceed with the extraction of shale gas in New Brunswick. We base our claim on the following REASONS: http://www.nben.ca/en/collaborative-action/news-from-groups/item/448-open-letter-on-shale-gas-to- alward-government
Interview about Open Letter to Shale Oil and Gas Companies operating in New Brunswick
Julia Linke, Phd - April 30 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uWygZMS03I
Shipbuilding contract holds $250M mystery
Cost of Arctic patrol ships' design sparks warning of another procurement 'fiasco'
Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose and Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced March 7 in Halifax that Ottawa will pay Irving Shipbuilding $288 million just to design – not build – a fleet of new Arctic offshore patrol ships. Irving will then build the ships under a separate contract. However, a survey of similar patrol ships bought by other countries shows they paid a fraction of that $288 million to actually build the ships – and paid less than a tenth as much for the design. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2013/05/02/pol-milewski-shipbuilding-design- mystery.html
44 First-ever charges laid under Lobbying Act
The first-ever charge under the federal Lobbying Act has been laid in what is being called a “wake-up call” to those working with, or in, the government.
Andrew Skaling of New Brunswick has been charged with failure to register as a consultant lobbyist as required by s. 5(1) of the Lobbying Act.
He is alleged to have undertaken to communicate with a public office holder, for payment, on behalf of the Canadian Network of Respiratory Care. The charge relates to alleged activity between June 2010 and January 2011. http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/legalfeeds/1454/first-ever-charges-laid-under-lobbying-act.html
James D. Irving named federal budget advisor - Atlantica Watch
Source: James D. Irving named federal budget advisor/N.B. business leader appointed to newly-formed economic advisory council, By REBECCA PENTY, Times & Transcript, Published Friday December 19th, 2008, http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/search/article/516989
James Irving, the president of J.D. Irving, Limited, is one of 11 business and academic heavyweights who will advise federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on the budget and deteriorating economy. http://www.stopatlantica.org/?q=node%2F263&page=8
A Declaration by Citizens Against Atlantica - Supporters http://www.stopatlantica.org/declaration
New Brunswick died and nobody came to the funeral
In the several weeks since that amazing statement was made, the news media have not had time to examine it.
Mr. Irving’s column appeared when he was fresh from a grandly named economic summit It consisted largely of fellow businessmen, a neo-conservative think tank, along with assorted university presidents and community volunteers, with the presidents and volunteers attending who roughly in the same capacity as napkin rings and potted plants. Mr. Irving’s announcement was that he and his summiteers had formed a coalition with the New Brunswick government.
Mr. Irving announced that he and his chosen friends are now members of the government. Not friends. Not advisers. Not consultants. Coalition means taking two or more objects and making them into one and the same thing.
It is highly unlikely that a man of Mr. Irving’s education is ignorant of the meaning of coalition. It must be highly unlikely that a man in his position would issue such a public statement without showing it to his editorial and legal staff. I can’t believe that a provincial premier would be ignorant of the meaning of coalition.
45 I can believe that New Brunswick’s newspaper editors are unfamiliar with the meaning of the word; and I can believe they don’t know that such a coalition is unconstitutional. (They have frequently demonstrated serious gaps in their understanding of constitutional law.) Mr. Irving has announced that unelected he and his unelected friends are members of the government. http://nbmediacoop.org/2011/01/30/graeme-decarie/
Canada's ruined reputation: no applause for John Baird at the UN http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2012/12/best-net/canadas-ruined-reputation-no-applause-john- baird-un
Canada loses WTO appeal over Ontario's green energy program
The World Trade Organization's appeal body has upheld complaints from the EU and Japan that Ontario's program to promote green energy use violates international trade rules.
The WTO's appellate body confirmed the Ontario program to encourage the development of wind and solar power discriminates against foreign firms because Ontario's Green Energy Act mandates that a certain percentage of solar and wind components be domestically made. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/05/06/business-wto-green-energy.html
Canada’s “Sewer Salesman” Heads to Europe
One of Canada’s most senior politicians is back in Europe on yet another lobby tour to try and bully politicians there to ditch their landmark climate legislation as it discriminates against the dirty tar sands.
Joe Oliver, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, will tour Paris, Brussels and London this week. http://priceofoil.org/2013/05/07/canadas-sewer-salesman-heads-to-europe/
The New Brunswick Oil and Natural Gas Blueprint May 2013 http://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/en/pdf/Publications/9281%20ONG%20English %20Final%20web.pdf
The New Brunswick Energy Blueprint 2011 http://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/en/pdf/Publications/201110NBEnergyBlueprint.pdf
Oil and gas blueprint released - Critics say they're disappointed with lack of details
The Alward government has released its long-awaited oil and gas blueprint for how it plans to regulate development of the shale gas industry in New Brunswick.
46 But the document, unveiled on Thursday by Energy and Mines Minister Craig Leonard, is already being criticized as falling short.
But the 40-page document put off many key decisions.
It says the government will continue to study the issue of royalty and revenue sharing, with a recommendation expected next year, and it may or may not establish a regulatory commission to oversee development.
The government will work with its new energy institute to identify the economic impact of developing oil and natural gas resources, it states.
In addition, the government will "consider" key recommendations from the province's chief medical officer of health, according to the document. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2013/05/09/nb-oil-and-gas-blueprint.html
CBC News at 2 minutes 40 seconds http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/NB/ID/2384499430/
The New Brunswick government has released its so-called blueprint for the oil and natural gas industry, but it’s short on details on the government’s approach. http://globalnews.ca/news/548297/new-brunswick-blueprint-for-oil-and-gas-gives-vision-but-lacks- details/
Cleary uncomfortable with shale gas blueprint
New Brunswick chief public health officer says the provincial government's oil and natural gas blueprint should have included human health as one of its key objectives.
Energy Minister Craig Leonard released the province's oil and gas roadmap on Thursday that was based on six objectives.
But Dr. Eilish Cleary, the province's chief medical officer of health, said she would have expected a document like that to include human health as a top priority. "Because health wasn't identified specifically as an objective or a priority, that does leave me with some cause for concern," she said. "I know that's very important for my work because I'm getting asked some very practical and sensible questions for which I don't yet have the answer," she said.
She adds the suggestion in the government's report that her recommendations have been addressed is incorrect.
"I would say that for virtually all of my recommendations that there is substantive work to be done before we can say that they have been implemented in a satisfactory manner," Cleary said. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2013/05/10/nb-cleary-reax-blueprint.html
47 Information Morning http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/Maritimes/ID/2384387452/
New Brunswick's top doctor question shale gas blueprint CTV Atlantic http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/new-brunswick-s-top-doctor-question-shale-gas-blueprint-1.1276481
Dr. Eilish Cleary, Chief Medical Officer - biography http://www.nben.ca/en/component/content/article/160
Oil and Gas Blueprint: A Misprint for our Future
Government has released its “Oil and Natural Gas Blueprint” for New Brunswick. It reads like an election platform, with vagaries and cheerleading for the bright future we will all have if we just close our eyes and open our hearts and arms.
The Blueprint promises “responsible development” all the while hoping we’ll forget about all of the previous policy commitments for environmental protection and a resilient economy that have been reneged or recently stalled:
•A Comprehensive Water Management Strategy that was committed in the 2007 Climate change action plan •The next installment of the Climate Change Action Plan, that was due January 2013 •The Green Economy Strategy •Water quality standards through the Water Classification Program begun in 1999 and yet to be implemented into law •The implementation of the Wetland Conservation Policy and enforcement of the Clean Water Act, leaving 50% of the province’s wetlands open to infilling •The reduction of our greenhouse gas emissions to 10% below 1990 levels by 2020 •And the Energy Blueprint that was released in 2011 after the Energy Commission hearings, with commitments to increasing renewable energy targets, green building and efficiency programs with no mention of shale gas or natural gas playing any significant role in our energy portfolio http://www.conservationcouncil.ca/oil-and-gas-blueprint-a-misprint-for-our-future/
Community Groups Respond to Government's Shale Gas Blueprint
The government’s blueprint is not a plan for the future; it is the history of a past to which we cannot return. It was forged in an alternate reality created by fossil fuel companies, banks and PR firms. No outside information may pass into this reality. How else can we explain the following about the plan?
It ignores the worldwide alarms from scientists, global financial and energy institutions, and the world’s military and intelligence establishments that climate change is the most serious threat to our existence, our financial systems, and our security. Yet, the blueprint bases our future on shale gas and tar sands, two of the worst emitters of greenhouse gases.
48 It ignores the lack of public health studies about shale gas, and disregards the serious warnings raised from the studies that do exist.
It ignores implementing many of its own Chief Medical Officer’s recommendations for baseline health studies, and relegates others to a ‘will be considered in the future’ status.
It ignores adequately addressing some recommendations by simply claiming they are answered in the ‘Rules for Industry’. Those concerning fracking fluid disclosure, well testing and setbacks clearly are not. http://www.nben.ca/en/collaborative-action/news-from-groups/item/469-community-groups-respond-to- governments-shale-gas-blueprint
Shale gas opposition in New Brunswick Global News http://globalnews.ca/video/553043/shale-gas-opposition-in-new-brunswick
Residents in small town New Brunswick are ramping up efforts to stop mining in their areas. http://globalnews.ca/video/555538/shale-gas
Artist finds inspiration in Canadian government's attempt to silence her
Visual essays by Franke James reveal how the 'troublesome artist' was targeted because her views on climate change clashed with the push to develop Alberta's tar sands
Canada, under the government of Stephen Harper, has exhibited little patience for dissent. The government has muzzled government scientists, insulted Nasa climate experts, and dismissed environmental protesters as dangerous radicals.
But there is apparently one woman whom the government can't shut up: the Toronto environmental writer, illustrator and activist Franke James, who turned the efforts to silence her into material for a new book.
Banned on the Hill: A True Story about Dirty Oil and Government Censorship, released this week, shows how Canadian bureaucrats tried to silence James because her views on climate change clashed with the Harper government's push to develop Alberta's tar sands. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/17/artist-inspiration-canada-silence-climate
The Canadian War on Science: A long, unexaggerated, devastating chronological indictment
This is a brief chronology of the current Conservative Canadian government’s long campaign to undermine evidence-based scientific, environmental and technical decision-making. It is a government that is beholden to big business, particularly big oil, and that makes every attempt to shape public
49 policy to that end. It is a government that fundamentally doesn’t believe in science. It is a government that is more interested in keeping its corporate masters happy than in protecting the environment.
Most of the items come from various links I’ve saved over the years as well as various other media articles I’ve dug up over the last week or so. This series at The Huffington Post has been particularly useful as has this article at the Wastershed Sentinal.
A long list of various environmental programs that the Harper government has discontinued or slashed funding to is here. http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2013/05/20/the-canadian-war-on-science-a-long-unexaggerated- devastating-chronological-indictment/
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Registrations and Determinations
The following is a list of ElA project registrations and determinations for the Province of New Brunswick. To search this table, press the Ctrl and F keys, and type in a search word(s) relevant to your information needs. To access Minister’s Decisions and any applicable conditions, please click on the link in the “Status” column for the project of interest.
NEW – As of May 2013, proponent registration documents are available within the table below under “Date Project Registered”. Registration documents are prepared by proponents and made available in the language in which they were received by the Department of Environment and Local Government. http://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/env/pdf/EIA-EIE/Registrations- Engegistrements/EIA.pdf
50 New Brunswick News
Shale gas debate heats up in Moncton
Opposition to shale gas fracking is growing louder in New Brunswick after a group of protesters took their message to Moncton City Hall this morning.
Organizers say they represent 27 different groups and First Nations, and roughly 50,000 residents.
“Our understanding of what has happened, particularly in the United States, is that the development has not been responsible and it has not delivered on either the royalty revenues or the job creation that were promised,” says organizer Roy Ries.
The group released an open letter to gas exploration companies, saying they don’t have a ‘social licence’ for development. http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/shale-gas-debate-heats-up-in-moncton-1.1260347
Moncton Free Press https://monctonfreepress.ca/post/13423
Anti-shale gas protesters attend disobedience school
A workshop offered in Kent County over the weekend discussed how to peacefully oppose shale gas exploration and development in the province.
Philippe Duhamel, a member of a group called Our Environment, Our Choice, travelled from Quebec City to lead the workshop in St. Charles.
He said he was impressed with how proactive people in New Brunswick are when it comes to fighting the shale gas industry.
"New Brunswickers are ahead of Quebecers because it took us 31 shale gas wells before we woke up and got mobilized and got organized and here people are getting organized and getting ready even before exploration starts," Duhamel said.
He described New Brunswickers as "well-informed" and said that will serve the province well moving forward. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2013/05/06/nb-shale-disobedience.html
A crticial review, whether positive or negative, of the Moncton Times& Traunscript. May 3: A cranky start...
I received a media advisory today that a group in St.-Louis de Kent is giving instructions on non-violent protesting and obstruction to stop local shale gas drilling. Good for them. There's nothing illegal about being non-violent. But you and I know what will happen.
51 Most of our news media have either lied or ignored all the information they had promised to give us about shale gas. The companies don't give a damn what we want. And the government will kiss up to whatever the companies want.
In the view of governments and corporations, the police are not there to uphold the law. They're there to protect the rich and powerful. That's what's called a police state. And a police state is what we already have. The feds decided that when they used police and intelligence services to spy on environmental groups, then report their activities twice yearly to groups of CEOs.
It's not the fault of the police. It's the fault of abusive big business, and of the political rot that runs so deep in this province.
Why? To bring democracy to Syria? Get real. The Arab states that support the rebels all have two things in common. 1. They are closely allied too the US and the oil industry. 2. They are dictatorships - with, possibly, two exceptions. Morocco has an elected parliament - but it has no real power. All power is in the hands of the king (dictator); so it's something like New Brunswick. And Libya has no functioning government at all. http://themonctongrimes-dripdrain.blogspot.ca/2013/05/may-3-cranky-start.html
52 Maritime News
Concerns over oil drilling brought to P.E.I. Legislature
A group of concerned citizens calling on the Prince Edward Island government to declare a moratorium on offshore drilling in the Gulf of St. Lawrence brought their concerns to the P.E.I. legislature Tuesday.
Representatives from Save Our Seas and Shores brought forward a petition with more than 1,200 signatures, asking the P.E.I. government to take the lead in opposing an offshore oil prospect being explored by Corridor Resources Inc.
The petition was tabled in the P.E.I. legislature Tuesday. http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2013-05-01/article-3230880/Concerns-over-oil-drilling- brought-to-PEI-Legislature/1
On Muskrat Falls and the Public Discussion That Isn't Happening
Ecology Action Centre energy coordinator says project needs to be seen as part of a larger strategy
Abreu believes that talking about Muskrat Falls in purely economic terms misses much of the point. “The overall discussion [about energy] is wrapped up in this kind of aggressive and tense back and forth about power rates, so much so that in order to get the traction that the project needs the proponents immediately frame it in those terms,” says Abreu.
“It doesn't make any sense to push Muskrat Falls forward on the merit of its economic value alone,” says Abreu. “The real value proposition of Muskrat Falls is about the transition into a fossil-free energy future. It isn't about which option is cheaper, it is about which option helps this province and this region move into the kind of future that we are trying to build.” http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/story/muskrat-falls-and-public-discussion-isnt-happening/17354
Decision of Sewer Use Appeal Committee – Colchester County
Permit to discharge frack waste into sewer system denied. http://www.colchester.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=392&Itemid=582
Fracking may jeopardize Gros Morne UNESCO status
Gros Morne National Park's status as a world heritage site may be in jeopardy due to plans for controversial oil exploration on Newfoundland's west coast, CBC News has learned.
Black Spruce Exploration wants to use hydraulic fracturing to find oil and gas in Sally's Cove and other areas, which lie just a few kilometres from the boundaries of the park.
UNESCO, or the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture, has contacted Ottawa over the potential environmental impact that facking could have on the park.
53
Guy Debonnet, the UNESCO unit chief for North American heritage sites, said the issue is on the group's radar. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2013/05/16/nl-.html
ZNews - Gros Morne Park
On May 17 CBC reported that Gros Mornes UNESCO status may be threatened by controversial oil exploration on Newfoundland’s west coast by Black Spruce Exploration who wants to use hydraulic fracturing AKA fracking only a few kilometres from the park. http://www.znews.ca/2013/05/znews-28-frack-to-the-future/
Fracking and public debate
I am Mi’kmaq from the west coast of Newfoundland involved in traditional teaching and a certified prospector for 26 years, I would like to respectfully present my personal view on hydraulic fracturing.
Our people have been here for a long time.
We come from an oral tradition and learned our culture and knowledge by carefully listening to what our elders and other people say. To survive within the spirit of our traditions, respect for the environment and Mother Earth, we listen and determine the truth of what has been said by reflecting.
I understand that the Mi’kmaq people and other aboriginal peoples are the custodians of the land and water. What we do to Mother Earth, we do to ourselves. We are not outside the environment. We learn through our teachings that we have to make decisions for the next seven generations. The principle is fundamental to our ways and how we see the world.
Today we treat the land by fracking for oil and gas. What we do to the land, we do to ourselves.
When I talk about fracking with the youth, they express their deep concerns. A lot has been said about chemicals, well contamination and the lack of regulations. http://www.thetelegram.com/Opinion/Letter-to-the-editor/2013-05-30/article-3264826/Fracking-and- public-debate/1
54 Canadian News
Donations to Alberta Tories linked to election promises
A representative of a coalition of construction companies and anti-union contractors lobbied Premier Alison Redford by linking large political donations to Redford and to the provincial Conservative party with political promises to revise Alberta’s labour code, according to documents obtained through Freedom of Information.
“In my opinion, they are essentially saying, ‘Our donations are given in return for government action on specific issues,’” said Duff Conacher, founder of Democracy Watch, an Ottawa-based watchdog group. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/04/24/edmonton-investigative-election- promises.html
Canada drops out of race to tap methane hydrates
Canada is abandoning a 15-year program that was researching ways to tap a potentially revolutionary energy source, just as Japan is starting to use the results to exploit the new fossil-fuel frontier: methane hydrates.
Methane hydrates are crystals full of methane gas found both offshore and under the permafrost. Low temperatures and high pressure cause methane and water to crystallize into ice-like deposits.
While Canada has decided it isn't feasible to make further investments in the field, methane hydrate research is strategic for Japan. Exploiting the abundant methane hydrate deposits near its coast would allow Japan to end its foreign energy dependency, with enough recoverable gas to meet its power demands for 100 years. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/04/30/f-methane-hydrates-canada-japan.html
Conservatives sending political emails to public servants
OTTAWA — The Conservative party is sending email to some public servants at work promoting the government’s economic action plan and linking them to a website that asks which party they intend to vote for in the next election.
The Union of National Defence Employees has complained about the practice after one of its members received the political solicitation on their public service email account, while another received it at their home email account. The union is still trying to determine how many more such promotional messages have been sent to government emails.
Union president John MacLennan said he’s concerned that political parties are accessing the department’s email address system. http://www.canada.com/business/Conservatives+sending+political+emails+public+servants/8374069/st ory.html
55 Globe’s pro-business reporting example of bad journalism
In 1978 I was one of a small group of journalists who helped establish the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ), now the Canadian Association of Journalists (CJFE). Our “how-to” conferences and other activities were a hit with many journalists, and we were cautiously supported by several media companies and the CBC. The mainstream seemed to have an interest in expanding investigative journalism.
But by the mid-1980s conservative and right-wing ideas had become dominant in Canada, and most large media companies, instead of providing investigative and in-depth journalism, were greatly expanding the space for business journalism to attract increasing amounts of advertising dollars. http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2706/
Pipeline dreams turn to ashes for Big Oil
The arrogance of oil companies and the Harper government turned a previously obscure environmental issue into a much more potent concern regarding the erosion of democracy and fairness. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/05/17/pipeline_dreams_turn_to_ashes_for_big_oil.ht ml
What Kind of Example Is Canada Setting?
Is any nation on Earth taking seriously the need for a true-cost economy, where we live sustainably in a steady state? I have been working with Randy Hayes, founder of the Rainforest Action Network and executive director of Foundation Earth, on a report card to determine if Canada might be such a nation.
The report card, scheduled for release in June by Foundation Earth, grades the administration of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, as well as the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, on key actions and policies in economics, ecology, and equity. It will present grades in sixteen categories.
But much to our chagrin, we found that instead of taking actions to enhance the health of people and the planet, Canada has been reverting to the crass and outdated ways of cowboy economics: “exploit now, answer questions later.” The Harper administration receives failing grades in most of the sixteen categories, while Alberta and British Columbia do only slightly better. Although Vancouver, Toronto, and other locales have undertaken a number of sustainable economic initiatives, the Harper administration is promoting overly exploitative projects in most areas. http://steadystate.org/what-kind-of-example-is-canada-setting/#.UZy9-IMrly4.facebook
The Canadian War on Science: A long, unexaggerated, devastating chronological indictment
This is a brief chronology of the current Conservative Canadian government’s long campaign to undermine evidence-based scientific, environmental and technical decision-making. It is a government that is beholden to big business, particularly big oil, and that makes every attempt to shape public policy to that end. It is a government that fundamentally doesn’t believe in science. It is a government that is more interested in keeping its corporate masters happy than in protecting the environment.
56 A long list of various environmental programs that the Federal Conservative government has discontinued or slashed funding to: Apr 2006. One Tonne Challenge funding stopped Jan 2008. Office of National Science Adviser phased out Jan 2008. Nuclear safety watchdog head fired for ‘lack of leadership’ Oct 2009. Document delivery outsourced at The Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (national science library) Feb 2010. Layoffs at The Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information Mar 2010. Information restrictions brought in by government have severely restricted the media’s access to government researchers Jun 2010. Statistics Canada discontinues the mandatory long form census Mar 2011. NRC Press privatized to Canadian Science Publishing, removing Open Access to many articles Mar 2011. NSERC reduces funding for basic research Mar 2011. Tri-Council reallocates funds from discovery to industry research Jul 2011. Budget cuts to Climate Change and Clean Air, Substance and Waste Management, Weather and Environmental Services, Water Resources and Internal Services, Action Plan on Clean Water, the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan, Chemicals Management Plan, the Clean Air Agenda, the Air Quality Health Index, Species at Risk Program Jul 2011. NSERC Discovery Grants reduced Oct 2011. Canadian Environmental Network closes Dec 2011. Withdraw from the Kyoto Accord Jan 2012. Natural Resources Minister accuses foreign radical environmentalists of hijacking the system Feb 2012. Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) loses funding (later partial reprieve) Feb 2012. Closure of Kitsilano Coast Guard station Mar 2012. Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences closes Mar 2012. Guting the Fisheries Act Apr 2012. Cereal Research Centre cut Apr 2012. Muzzling of scientists at international conferences Apr 2012. Repeal of Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, download to provinces Apr 2012. Sustainable Water Management Division cut Apr 2012. Transport Canada Aircraft Services cut Apr 2012. The Centre for Plant Health relocated (later reprieve) Apr 2012. Scientists monitored at polar conference May 2012. 1000 jobs cut at Department of Fisheries and Oceans (details follow) May 2012. Ocean Contaminants & Marine Toxicology Program axed. May 2012. Centre for Offshore Oil & Gas Energy Research cut May 2012. Freshwater Institute cut May 2012. Centre for Off-shore Oil, Gas, and Energy Research cut May 2012. Maurice-Lamontagne Institute cut May 2012. Smokestacks Emissions Monitoring Team cut May 2012. Cuts to NSERC Discovery, Major Resources Support and Research Tools and Instruments programs May 2012. Mersey Biodiversity Centre slated for closure Jun 2012. Eliminate Experimental Lakes Area program Jul 2012. Arctic Institute of North America’s Kluane Research Station cut Sep 2012. Revamp Species-at-Risk act Oct 2012. DFO Habitat Management Program cut Oct 2012. Declining grant success rate for Post Doctoral Fellows
57 Nov 2012. Bill C-45 weakens environmental laws and democracy, such as Navigable Waters Protection Act Nov 2012. Salmon research lab run by Frederick Kibenge at the Atlantic Veterinary College-University of Prince Edward Island targeted Nov 2012. Navigable Waters Protection Act altered to give developers more freedom to build around most Canadian rivers and lakes without obtaining permission from the federal government Dec 2012. Eliminating the Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission Jan 2013. Very long list of scientist muzzlings from Democracy Watch Feb 2013. Restrict how researchers can share data Feb 2013. Department of Fisheries & Oceans muzzles its scientists Feb 2013. Information commissioner investigates ‘Muzzling’ of federal scientists, called a threat to democracy Feb 2013. Prairies Regional Office: Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency closes Mar 2013. Muzzling of scientists Mar 2013. Experimental Lakes Area environmental research project loses funding Mar 2013. The government votes against public science, basic research and the free and open exchange of scientific information are essential to evidence-based policy-making Mar 2013. $100 million cut from Department of Fisheries & Oceans over three years Mar 2013. National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy closes Mar 2013. Centralizing, Slashing Federal Web Info Mar 2013. Quit UN anti-drought convention Mar 2013. Unnecessarily sabotaging ongoing research at the Experimental Lakes Area and deliberately robbing international and domestic scientist of the 2013 field season Apr 2013. Create barrier to public participation in pipeline hearings Apr 2013. Environment Canada name removed from it’s weather website, replaced with government promotional links Apr 2013.Closure of Department of Fisheries & Oceans libraries Apr 2013. Prime Minister & cabinet take over power to dictate collective bargaining and terms for other salaries and working conditions at the CBC and three other cultural or scientific Crown corporations Apr 2013. Scientist at National Water Research Institute in Saskatoon muzzled Apr 2013. Minister blames David Suzuki, Environmental Groups To Blame For Pipeline Opposition May 2013. Minister of the Environment Peter Kent refuses to correct Conservative MP’s crackpot views on polar bears May 2013. Minister of Natural Resources insults oil sands critics May 2013. National Research Council overhauled to do business-friendly research rather than basic science May 2013. Hundreds of jobs cut at Agriculture Canada May 2013. Agriculture Canada cuts including Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration, Semi-Arid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre and various centres for beef and dairy research May 2013. Free-speech report takes aim at Harper government’s ‘culture of secrecy’
This list is no doubt incomplete. http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2013/05/20/the-canadian-war-on-science-a-long-unexaggerated- devastating-chronological-indictment/#.UZuKVfCioUU.twitter
Thomas King on The Inconvenient Indian - Includes Audio
Thomas King has spent a lifetime thinking about what it means to be Aboriginal in North America. The author of a number of acclaimed books, including the novel Green Grass, Running Water, King also
58 created and starred in the popular CBC Radio show Dead Dog Café. In 2003, he became the first aboriginal person to give the Massey Lectures.
The birth of activism is a turning point in the narrative of The Inconvenient Indian. King has sympathy for individuals caught in the middle of land claim disputes. But he added: "When you have this long history of injustice, at some point that bill's going to have to be paid. At some point you're going to have to stop and say, Okay, we gotta fix this. And when you do that, people are going to be inconvenienced, if you don't mind the pun. I can be sympathetic, but only to a point. Because in terms of inconvenience, we've been inconvenienced a heck of a lot longer." http://www.cbc.ca/books/2012/11/thomas-king-on-the-inconvenient-indian.html
59 Other News
Citizen Science
Welcome to the world of citizen science. It’s a growing movement that’s joining professional scientists with regular people around the world. Together, they’re expanding scientific knowledge and giving us all a better understanding of the world we live in.
This April, Western University’s masters in journalism class will be exploring the emerging world of citizen science in a seven-part series. The class will investigate the basics of the citizen science movement, the important questions and concerns in the field and what lies ahead. Through interviews, videos, and audio, they’ll be providing in-depth coverage as well as new and insightful analysis of the movement. http://rabble.ca/features/series/citizen-science
British shale gas company plans exploration drilling, but no fracking
British shale gas company Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. plans to undertake four months of exploration drilling work this summer at a site to the south of London, it said on Wednesday.
The company intends to drill a vertical well 3,000 feet deep near the village of Balcombe in West Sussex to take samples of the underground rock, with a possible horizontal leg extending 2,500 feet from the vertical section.
Cuadrilla said neither the horizontal or vertical well will be hydraulically fractured. Fracking is a way to retrieve gas trapped in tight layered rock formations by injecting high-pressure water, sand and chemicals. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/european-business/british- shale-gas-company-plans-exploration-drilling-but-no-fracking/article11789677/
Obama, Biden Parroting Bogus Gas Industry Talking Points
For several years, both President Obama and Vice President Biden have been singing the praises of natural gas and hydraulic fracturing, claiming that the upcoming “cheap energy boom” would bring hundreds of thousands of jobs to work-hungry Americans.
And while the talking point was blindly reprinted by countless media outlets, the source has been traced back to the dirty energy industry itself. Specifically, a 2012 shale gas / fracking booster sheet produced by the American Petroleum Institute.
API, the oil and gas industry's chief lobbying front in Washington, successfully influenced the President’s administration to embrace fracking as part of the “all of the above” energy approach that the administration has pushed since Obama's first days in office. http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/05/12/obama-biden-parroting-bogus-industry-talking-points
60 EPA Must Follow the Law, Set Rules for Power Plants
While harm from climate change becomes more apparent every day, EPA is dragging its feet in setting much-needed limitations on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants. This failure is a plain violation of the Clean Air Act. So CLF recently took the first step to spur EPA into action. Working with attorneys at Clean Air Task Force, we let EPA know that if it does not act, we will sue. http://www.clf.org/blog/clean-energy-climate-change/epa-must-follow-the-law-set-rules-for-power- plants/
Tennessee Gas Pipeline signs 20-year deal to ship natural gas from supply areas in Ohio, other states
A pipeline company that moves natural gas through Ohio and others states has signed a 20-year agreement with Mitsubishi Corp. to ship gas to a processing facility in Louisiana.
Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., a unit of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE:KMP), said it will transport gas to the Cameron Liquified Natural Gas facility http://cameron.sempralng.com/about-us.html in Hackberry, La., from supply areas in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Louisiana. The facility is scheduled to begin exporting LGN in the second half of 2017. http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2013/05/17/tennessee-gas-pipeline-signs-20-year.html
The Natural Gas Message - by Dory Hipauf
I recently gave a presentation on the Message and the Messengers of the natural gas industry. I have broken this presentation into two parts.
Part One dissects the standard talking points of the industry, using an opinion piece by Chris Faulkner, CEO at Breitling Energy Companies, as the prime example.
The Message video is approx. 30 minutes long. http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2013/05/20/the-natural-gas-message/ https://vimeo.com/66506520
German Beer Brewers Foaming over Fracking
Forget environmental concerns: When it comes to fracking, Germans are worried about how it might affect beer quality. In a letter to several ministries in Berlin, brewers expressed concern that the exploitation of shale gas could contaminate water supplies and thus violate the beer purity law of 1516. http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/german-brewers-oppose-fracking-because-of-fear-over- clean-water-a-901474.html
5/28/2013: Global sells Texas shale assets for $510,000; OPEC eyes U.S. shale oil boom
61 The transaction is expected to complete within 2 months. -The sale is in line with the Board's strategy to focus on its current portfolio of projects in Africa and new opportunities which will enhance shareholder value. -The company's principal assets are exploration blocks located offshore Namibia and offshore Juan de Nova Island, a French territory in the Mozambique Channel. http://pipeline.post-gazette.com/news/daily-headlines/25175-5-28-2013-global-sells-texas-shale-assets- for-510-000-opec-eyes-u-s-shale-oil-boom
The Congressional Budget Office Says We Need A Price On Carbon Emissions
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) thinks putting off efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions risks “catastrophic” losses for the United States’ economy and society. That’s according to a new report on the economic and environmental effects of a carbon tax CBO published Wednesday. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/23/2056201/cbo-price-on-carbon/
Schiff: We're Heading For A Crisis Worse Than 2007
Washington is engaged in a massive "campaign" to make Americans believe the economy is in recovery. But in reality the United States is at the brink of a devastating economic crash that will cause catastrophic market losses and impoverish millions.
That's according to Peter Schiff, the best-selling author and CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, who delivered his frightening warning to investors in a recent interview on CCTV.
"The fact is, Schiff said. "We're broke. We owe trillions. Look at our budget deficit; look at the debt to GDP ratio, the unfunded liabilities. If we were in the Eurozone, they would kick us out." http://moneymorning.com/ob-article/schiff-washington.php?code=117833
Monsanto hires infamous mercenary firm Blackwater to track activists around the world
Remember the private mercenary army Blackwater that caused such a stir in Iraq during an unprovoked attack in 2007? Apparently, Monsanto and the controversial security firm are in bed together, described by blogger Randy Ananda as "a death-tech firm weds a hit squad." At this point, you might be wondering what in the world the GM seed giant needs with the services of a 'shadow army'? It appears as though the corporation found it necessary to contract with Blackwater in order to collect intelligence on anti-Monsanto activists as well infiltrate their ranks. http://www.naturalnews.com/040492_GMO_activists_Monsanto_blackwater.html
Industry giant GE aims to improve fracking
General Electric Co. is opening a new laboratory in Oklahoma, buying up related companies, and placing a big bet that cutting-edge science will improve profits for clients and reduce the environmental and health effects of the boom.
62 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/industry- giant-ge-aims-to-improve-fracking/article12174661/
OPEC shifts its oil trade map as competition from shale grows
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has little room to pump more oil due to the U.S. oil boom that has sparked competition for market share in Asia and reignited a rivalry between its top two producers, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
At a meeting in Vienna on Friday the 12-member group is expected to stick with its 30 million barrels a day (bpd) output target for the last six months of 2013. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/opec-shifts- its-oil-trade-map-as-competition-from-shale-grows/article12265331/
ExxonMobil CEO: ‘What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?
ExxonMobil on climate change. Some quotes are more memorable than others.
Here’s what the chief executive officer of ExxonMobil Corp. told shareholders yesterday:
“What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/exxonmobil-ceo-what-good- is-it-to-save-the-planet-if-humanity-suffers/article12258350/
'What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?': Exxon CEO
Billions of poor people will remain in poverty longer if humankind attempts to cool the climate by lessening its dependancy on oil, the CEO of Exxon Mobil said this week.
"What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?" asked Rex Tillerson at the oil company's annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.
Exxon Mobil earned $44.9 billion in profits during 2012, and was recently deemed by Forbes to be the planet's fifth largest corporation (a slip from last year, when it was ranked number one).
At the annual meeting this week CEO Tillerson opposed a resolution from environmental shareholders demanding the company set goals for shrinking its carbon footprint.
The resolution was defeated nearly 3-to-1 in a shareholder vote, reported the Associated Press. http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/05/30/exxon-mobil-resolution-climate-tillerson/
63 Water
Spread of Hydrofracking Could Strain Water Resources in West, Study Finds
The rapid expansion of hydraulic fracturing to retrieve once-inaccessible reservoirs of oil and gas could put pressure on already-stressed water resources from the suburbs of Fort Worth to western Colorado, according to a new report from a nonprofit group that advises investors about companies’ environmental risks.
“Given projected sharp increases” in the production of oil and gas by the technique commonly known as fracking, the report from the group Ceres said, “and the intense nature of local water demands, competition and conflicts over water should be a growing concern for companies, policy makers and investors.” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/science/earth/hydrofracking-could-strain-western-water-resources- study-finds.html?emc=eta1&_r=1&
9 Things That Will Trash Your Home's Value
Just the threat of fracking drives home values down by 24%.
Their fears are justified. A team of Duke University economists and nonprofit research organization Resources for the Future found Pennsylvania homeowners who used local groundwater for drinking lost up to 24% of their property value if they lived within 1.25 miles of a shale gas well. http://www.businessinsider.com/what-hurts-home-value-2013-5#just-the-threat-of-fracking-drives- home-values-down-by-24-6
Paper: Drilling damage in 161 Pa. water supplies
SCRANTON, Pa. — Oil and gas development damaged the water supplies of at least 161 Pennsylvania homes, farms, churches and businesses between 2008 and the fall of 2012, according to state records obtained by a newspaper.
The (Scranton) Times-Tribune first requested the records in late 2011 under the Right to Know law, but the Department of Environmental Protection mounted legal challenges and didn’t release the records until late last year.
The Times-Tribune analyzed nearly 1,000 letters and enforcement orders written by DEP officials. The determination letters are sent to water supply owners who complained that drilling activities polluted or diminished the flow of water to their wells. http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/05/20/paper-drilling-damage-in-161-pa-water-supplies/
Protect Albert County - Hillsborough A Village in the Crosshairs by Deborah Carr
There is no way around it. A village without water will die.
64 Several years ago, our village dug 35 wells before finding two that would give us reliable water. Good water is hard to find in hydrocarbon-rich Albert County.
Now, we understand Hillsborough sits on a significant oil reservoir. Below the oil lies what a Corridor Resources spokesman calls “the largest known shale gas play in North America by an order of magnitude.”
But don’t worry, says our government. In assessing the lay of the land, they have determined if a spill or other accident occurs, the natural flow of contaminants would be away from the village water wells and toward the river.
Really? Well, that also means spills would flow toward the homes with private water wells.
Many private wells in Stoney Creek have bad water quality and quantity. Is this due to 100 years of oil drilling or because of natural contaminants? We don’t know. No one mapped aquifers or tested water back then. No one is mapping our aquifers now. https://protectalbertcounty.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/a-village-in-the-crosshairs/
New Fracking Rules Leave Drought-Ridden States High and Dry
Proposed standards that the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) announced last week for hydraulic fracturing on federal and Indian lands are hugely important, especially in the arid West where water is gold. Unfortunately, water protection gets short shrift in the rules that, once finalized, will apply to 750 million acres of public lands.
To provide a bit of context, oil and gas wells on public lands account for about 13 percent of the nation’s natural gas production and five percent of its oil production. An estimated 3,100 wells are fracked on federal lands each year. http://ecowatch.com/2013/fracking-rules-leave-drought-ridden-states-dry/
Global majority faces water shortages 'within two generations'
Experts call on governments to start conserving water in face of climate change, pollution and over-use
The majority of the 9 billion people on Earth will live with severe pressure on fresh water within the space of two generations as climate change, pollution and over-use of resources take their toll, 500 scientists have warned.
The world's water systems would soon reach a tipping point that "could trigger irreversible change with potentially catastrophic consequences", more than 500 water experts warned on Friday as they called on governments to start conserving the vital resource. They said it was wrong to see fresh water as an endlessly renewable resource because, in many cases, people are pumping out water from underground sources at such a rate that it will not be restored within several lifetimes. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/24/global-majority-water-shortages-two-generations
65 Poisoning the Well: How the Feds Let Industry Pollute the Nation’s Underground Water Supply
Federal officials have given energy and mining companies permission to pollute aquifers in more than 1,500 places across the country, releasing toxic material into underground reservoirs that help supply more than half of the nation's drinking water.
In many cases, the Environmental Protection Agency has granted these so-called aquifer exemptions in Western states now stricken by drought and increasingly desperate for water.
EPA records show that portions of at least 100 drinking water aquifers have been written off because exemptions have allowed them to be used as dumping grounds. http://www.propublica.org/article/poisoning-the-well-how-the-feds-let-industry-pollute-the-nations- undergroun http://www.propublica.org/series/injection-wells
Barnett shale well counts and water usage
Well count 2009 = 14886 Well count 2010 = 15870 New wells 1016 http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/barnettshale/barnettshalewellcount_1993-2013.pdf
Water usage Barnett shale year 2010
Page S1 - Mgal = million gallons = 3785 cubic meters Page S4 - Year 2010, 142 million cubic meters 142 milion cubic meters = 142,000,000 / 3785 * 1,000,000 = 37.5 billions gallons http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/barnettshale/barnettshalewellcount_1993-2013.pdf
Don't mess with Texas water, frackers warned
(Reuters) - Eagle Ford in Texas is one of the fastest-growing shale oil and gas plays in the United States, but it is also in one of the driest parts of the country.
Drilling and fracturing rock formations to release oil and gas uses enormous quantities of water: 4 to 5 million gallons of water for every well in the Eagle Ford, according to most estimates, equivalent to about 15 acre-feet per well.
Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District, which regulates 3,800 square miles in the Eagle Ford area, has already enforced usage restrictions on frackers since 2008. The conservation district extended existing rules, which limited water extraction to 2 acre-feet per year, to include fracking.
Other areas facing potential shortages should consider similar limits. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/01/us-column-kemp-texas-fracking-idUSBRE9400HB20130501
66 Report Shows Texas Counties Where Fracking and Water Needs Collide
Virginia Palacios, a research associate at the Environmental Defense Fund, has a new analysis showing that many of the Texas counties currently facing water shortages are also slated to have oil and gas development in the coming years.
She found that in 12 Texas counties, freshwater use by the oil and gas industry “made up at least 25 percent of overall county-wide demand in 2011.” http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2013/04/15/report-shows-texas-counties-where-fracking-and-water- needs-collide/
Effect Of Oil Company Seismic Surveying On Water Wells
Can a seismic survey by an oil company ruin your water well? The chances are slim but it can happen.
There are two types of waves that happen when an oil company seismic survey is done. The surface wave from an oil company seismic survey is most likely to affect water wells.
See picture. http://www.theinfomine.com/2010/09/09/effect-of-oil-company-seismic-surveying-on-water-wells/
Scientists warn that Earth faces severe water shortages within a generation
The majority of people on Earth will face severe water shortages within a generation or two if pollution and waste continues unabated, scientists warned at a conference in Bonn Friday.
“This handicap will be self-inflicted and is, we believe, entirely avoidable,” read a document entitled The Bonn Declaration issued at the close of the four-day international huddle.
The conference sought to assess the evidence of man’s impact on freshwater resources, which constitute only 2.5 percent of the total volume of water on Earth.
Currently, an estimated third of the world’s seven million people has limited access to adequate fresh water, according to conference delegates.
“In the short span of one or two generations, the majority of the nine billion people on Earth will be living under the handicap of severe pressure on fresh water,” said the declaration.
The nine billion mark is widely projected to be reached from about 2040. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/24/scientists-warn-that-earth-faces-severe-water-shortages-within- a-generation/#comment-909126923
67 Fracking and Earthquakes
Earthquake Activity Picking Up in Van Buren County
VAN BUREN COUNTY, AR - The Arkansas Geological Survey is stepping up its monitoring of seismic activity southeast of Clinton near Greers Ferry Lake. The area has seen nine earthquakes since the weekend including three on Tuesday morning.
In late 2010 through early 2011, the shaking and earthquakes were much stronger just south in Faulkner County around Greenbrier and Guy.
The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission isolated Injection wells related to natural gas exploration as the cause. No new wells were allowed and the four operating were capped and abandoned. http://arkansasmatters.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=660312
6,000 Homes Crumbling in the Groningen Gas Fields, Netherlands
Some 60,000 homes lie within the earthquake zone, and so far the gas companies have received about 6,000 earthquake damage claims from the residents, the report said.
“Last August there was a magnitude 3.4 tremor. Higher than any expert had previously predicted, it further sapped the residents’ confidence and forced the ministers to commission an inquiry,” according to the report.
“Until now we always knew that earthquakes could occur, now we don’t know what the new maximum could be,” says Chiel Seinen, who represents the NAM oil company collective incorporating Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. http://feww.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/6000-homes-crumbling-in-the-groningen-gas-fields-netherlands/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22542982
Back to back 3.5M earthquakes inside Arkansas Fracking Operation
Two 3.5M earthquakes struck central Arkansas, inside the fracking operation that has put off several earthquakes over the past few months.
See map and pictures. http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/5232013-back-to-back-3-5m-earthquakes-inside- arkansas-fracking-operation/
Potentially induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA: Links between wastewater injection and the 2011 Mw 5.7 earthquake sequence
Significant earthquakes are increasingly occurring within the continental interior of the United States, including five of moment magnitude (Mw) ≥ 5.0 in 2011 alone. Concurrently, the volume of fluid injected
68 into the subsurface related to the production of unconventional resources continues to rise. Here we identify the largest earthquake potentially related to injection, an Mw 5.7 earthquake in November 2011 in Oklahoma.
It occurred in a sequence, with 2 earthquakes of Mw 5.0 and a prolific sequence of aftershocks. We use the aftershocks to illuminate the faults that ruptured in the sequence, and show that the tip of the initial rupture plane is within ∼ 200 m of active injection wells and within ∼ 1 km of the surface; 30% of early aftershocks occur within the sedimentary section.
Significantly, this case indicates that decades-long lags between the commencement of fluid injection and the onset of induced earthquakes are possible, and modifies our common criteria for fluid-induced events. http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2013/03/26/G34045.1.abstract
Oil & Gas - Induced Seismicity
Induced seismicity in oil and gas production has been observed ever since the 1930s, i.e., ever since large-scale extraction of fluids occurred. The most famous early instance was in Wilmington, California, where oil production triggered a series of damaging earthquakes. In this instance, the cause of the seismicity was traced to subsidence due to rapid extraction of oil without replacement of fluids. Once this was realized, the oil extraction was balanced with water injection to mitigate the seismicity. Ever since then, the oil and gas industry has adopted these practices not only to mitigate seismicity, but also to mitigate damage to the oil wells in the producing field (wells would be sheared off in the subsurface as subsidence occurred). http://esd.lbl.gov/research/projects/induced_seismicity/oil&gas/ http://esd.lbl.gov/research/projects/induced_seismicity/
Coastal Commission staff recommends denial of PG&E seismic testing
California Coastal Commission staff recommended on Friday that the board vote to deny PG&E’s seismic testing permit application and object to its consistency certification, according to a staff report.
Renewal of Diablo Canyon’s nuclear power plant’s operating license requires approval of its consistency certification by the commission. PG&E applied for the certification in 2009. The commission determined the application was incomplete partially because of a need for updated information regarding seismic studies that had been performed by the USGS and PG&E, according to a 2010 letter from the commission. http://calcoastnews.com/2012/11/coastal-commission-staff-recommends-denial-of-pge-seismic-testing/
What Texas Can Do About Oil and Gas-Related Earthquakes
Three earthquakes in six days. Those were the surprising numbers that greeted Texans on Monday morning. What’s becoming less surprising is the notion that they could have been man-made. All three
69 of the quakes (two near Dallas, one around San Antonio) happened near areas with extensive oil and gas excavation.
A scientific consensus is forming around the notion that wastewater disposal wells, a common byproduct of oil and gas drilling, are causing quakes. As that understanding grows, the debate has moved from what is causing the quakes to what policymakers should do about it. http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/06/28/what-texas-can-do-about-oil-and-gas-related-earthquakes/
Effect Of Oil Company Seismic Surveying On Water Wells
Can a seismic survey by an oil company ruin your water well? The chances are slim but it can happen. The way that an oil and gas seismic survey works is that surface equipment produces vibration, utilizing trucks with large hydraulic vibration pads.
There are two types of waves that happen when an oil company seismic survey is done. The surface wave from an oil company seismic survey is most likely to affect water wells.
See diagram http://www.theinfomine.com/2010/09/09/effect-of-oil-company-seismic-surveying-on-water-wells/
Wyoming oil and gas commission fines seismic testing company
CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming oil and gas regulators fined a seismic company $10,000 for failing to keep in touch with the commission, nearly a year after the company damaged ranches in southeast Wyoming.
At a Tuesday meeting in Casper, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission voted to fine Geokinetics Inc., a Houston-based seismic exploration company, for what commission attorney Eric Easton described as failure to provide updates on ongoing and commission-ordered reclamation work.
The company first drew the commission's attention last May after seismic work in Platte and Goshen counties damaged the surface of 10 ranches, causing deep ruts and other disturbances. http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/wyoming-oil-and-gas-commission-fines- seismic-testing-company/article_084ec0ac-18b7-553c-916d-6dd8240fa4a0.html
70 Oil and Pipelines
Arctic Ho! Canadian Official Proposes Yet Another Tar Sands Pipeline
Energy minister exploring northern option for transporting 500,000 gallons a day of tar sands oil to Arctic ports
As the Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipeline construction projects have encountered repeated setbacks thanks to aggressive indigenous and environmental campaigns and repeated assertions that opening up the Alberta tar sands would mean "game over" for the climate, Canadian officials are reportedly considering an alternative pipeline route.
Alberta energy minister Ken Hughes announced Friday that the Canadian government is "mulling" the idea of building a line north to an Arctic port.
According to Reuters, Hughes has been in talks with the government of Canada's Northwest Territories about transporting the tar sands via pipeline up the Mackenzie River Valley to a proposed deep-water port at Tuktoyaktuk or Inuvik on the Beaufort Sea, a section of the Arctic Ocean. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/04/26-5
Tar Sands: Indigenous Peoples and the Giga Project
The tar sands development around Fort McMurray and Fort McKay are located upstream along the Athabasca River basin. Current tar sands development have completely altered the Athabasca delta and watershed landscape, with deforestation of the boreal forests, open pit mining, de-watering of water systems and watersheds, toxic contamination, disruption of habitat and biodiversity and disruption to the indigenous Dene, Cree and Métis trap-line cultures.
In northern Alberta, beneath 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres), an area the size of Florida, are tar sands that are a mixture of sand, clay and a heavy crude oil, or tarry substance called bitumen. To get the oil out of the ground, the tar is superheated in “cookers” with steam to make the oil flow. For each barrel of oil produced from the tar sands, between 2 and 4.5 barrels of water is required. In 2007, Alberta approved withdrawal of 119.5 billion gallons of water for tar sands extraction. An estimated 82% of this water comes from the Athabasca River. The extracted bitumen is later processed in industrial facilities called up graders into synthetic crude oil to be piped to the U.S. for refining. These up grader facilities look like “refinery cities” with smoke stacks bellowing polluting emissions and wastewater emptied into toxic tailing ponds. http://www.dirtyoilsands.org/files/IEN_CITSC_Tar_Sands_Info_Sheet.pdf
Oil, natural gas spills in Lafayette Township
A considerable amount of natural gas and crude oil residue blew out of a pipeline when a valve broke in Lafayette Township on Saturday afternoon.
Around noon, passersby on U.S. Route 219 reported the spill, visible from the highway shooting about 60 feet in the air out of a pipe, according to fire chief Don Fowler of the Lafayette Township Volunteer Fire Department.
71 According to Fowler, the spill mainly involved a great deal of natural gas blowing off into the atmosphere for about three hours.
The pipeline is owned by Atlas Energy, which has a local office in Mayville, N.Y.
Fowler said the natural gas was blasting into the air with crude residue and drip gas residue, and the wind was blowing it across the highway. “That’s why we had to close the road off,” he said. “This stuff was really slippery.” http://www.bradfordera.com/news/article_45596d42-b06d-11e2-874a- 001a4bcf887a.html#.UYE4v1UaMYU.facebook
Exxon says Missouri oil spills from already-ruptured Pegasus line
May 1 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil confirmed on Wednesday that an oil spill occurred Tuesday on its Pegasus crude pipeline in Ripley County, Missouri, the same line that ruptured thousands of barrels of oil into an Arkansas neighborhood at the end of March. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/01/exxon-pipeline-spill-idUSL2N0DI14U20130501
Exxon Spills Tar Sands Oil Again In Missouri, Can’t Find 126,000 Gallons Spilled In Arkansas
ExxonMobil has now confirmed that on Tuesday, the Pegasus pipeline that has been out of service since it spilled thousands of barrels of oil into Mayflower, Arkansas in March spilled some more into a yard in Missouri. In the town of Doniphan about 190 miles north of Mayflower, a resident reported seeing some oil and dead vegetation in the yard. Though small in scope, perhaps as little as 42 gallons, the spill is a reminder that oil is messy, tar sands oil particularly so, and transporting it across the country is extremely risky.
Despite a massive cleanup effort in the Mayflower, Arkansas, neighborhood, the federal pipeline safety agency reports that ExxonMobil has recovered only 2,000 of the total 5,000 barrels of spilled tar sands crude. The accident incident report, which the agency shared with the Sierra Club after a Freedom of Information Act request, gives new insight into the size of the spill and the ineffectiveness of the cleanup effort. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/02/1952171/exxon-spills-tar-sands-oil-again-in-missouri-cant- find-126000-gallons-spilled-in-arkansas/
Detroit Refinery, Owned By Marathon, Reveals Another Side Of The 'Tar Sands Oil' Debate
On April 20, protesters gathered in the central Michigan city of Marshall, where a pipeline owned by a company called Enbridge spilled 800,000 gallons of heavy crude oil into the Kalamazoo River in 2010. The demonstrators came from as far as Detroit to oppose "tar sand oil" and to demand a cleanup of the river.
It's not surprising Detroiters would be among the crowd. The Motor City is now a major destination for that particular type of petroleum, due to a recent $2.2 billion expansion of a Marathon Oil refinery that allows the facility to process more heavy crude oil from tar sands.
72 "We found terrible things. Carcinogens, carbon monoxide, benzene and toluene, which harm the nervous system, methyl ethyl ketone, which can cause blindness. A lot of really bad stuff," she said in a Sierra Club release.
More recently, residents have been concerned about huge black piles appearing along the Detroit River. They're made up of a material known as petroleum coke, or petcoke, that originates from the Marathon facility and is being sold to a company called Koch Minerals LLC. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/26/detroit-refinery-marathon-tar-sands_n_3156341.html
TransCanada Spent $280,000 Lobbying For Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline In First Quarter
TransCanada, the multinational corporation hoping to build the controversial northern half of the Keystone XL pipeline, spent over $280,000 on lobbying the U.S. government in the first quarter (Q1) of 2013, according to lobbying disclosure records.
In addition to the $250,000 paid to Paul Elliott - TransCanada's infamous in-house lobbyist and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's national deputy campaign manager during her 2008 run for president - three outside firms lobbied on TransCanada's behalf to promote KXL. http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/05/02/keystone-kops-transcanada-spent-over-280-000-lobbying-first- quarter-kxl-tar-sands-pipeline
Independent Air Test at Mayflower Oil Spill Reveal 30 Toxic Chemicals at High Levels
According to Dr. Neil Carman with the Lone Star Chapter of Sierra Club and former Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, “Thirty toxic hydrocarbons were measured above the detection limits. Each of the thirty hydrocarbons measured in the Mayflower release is a toxic chemical on its own and may pose a threat to human health depending on various exposure and individual factors. Total toxic hydrocarbons were detected at more than 88,000 parts per billion in the ambient air and present a complex airborne mixture or soup of toxic chemicals that residents may have been exposed to from the Mayflower tar sands bitumen spill.” http://www.gcmonitor.org/article.php?id=1672
Northern Gateway pipeline news http://bc.ctvnews.ca/more/the-pipeline
Enbridge depiction of clear tanker route sparks outrage
VICTORIA -- About 1,000 square kilometres of islands have disappeared from Douglas Channel in an animated depiction of Enbridge Inc.'s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker route.
The project would send bitumen by pipeline from Alberta's oilsands to Kitimat, where it would be loaded onto tankers for export to Asia.
73
A video on the Enbridge website shows Douglas Channel as a wide open funnel leading from Kitimat to the Pacific, omitting the narrow channels, islands and rocky outcrops that make up the potential tanker access route.
"I find the pictures shocking. It's reprehensible behaviour," said University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver.
"These images are disturbing enough to make me no longer trust anything coming from Enbridge. It's utterly shameful," he said. http://bc.ctvnews.ca/enbridge-depiction-of-clear-tanker-route-sparks-outrage-1.916234
Enbridge breaks safety rules at 117 of 125 pump stations
The biggest oil and gas pipeline company in Canada is breaking National Energy Board safety rules at 117 of its 125 pump stations across the country, but Enbridge says it's not to blame.
Enbridge was ordered by the Canadian energy regulator to disclose whether or not it had backup power to operate emergency shut-down systems in the facilities that keep oil flowing through its pipes. The company told the NEB only eight of its pump stations complied with the board's backup power system regulation.
On top of that, Enbridge disclosed that 83 of its pump stations were missing emergency shut-down buttons.
But the NEB admits that it has only just started to concentrate inspections on regulations covering backup power and shut-down systems. The regulations are anywhere from 14 to 19 years old. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/05/05/pol-enbridge-breaks-neb-safety-rules.html
Enbridge ordered to fix emergency-shutdowns at pump stations by 2016
Canada’s energy regulator has given Enbridge Inc., one of the country’s two pipeline giants, until 2016 to comply with rules tied to its emergency shutdown requirements – demands the watchdog made after finding 117 of 125 pump stations across the country were not up to snuff. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/enbridge- ordered-to-fix-emergency-shutdowns-at-pump-stations-by-2016/article11741957/
Keystone XL Could Cost Society Over $100 Billion per Year
The EPA weighed in too. In its review of the State Department draft Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), the EPA identified “significant environmental impacts” and noted that full assessment of these impacts was not possible due to insufficient information.
74 One of the missing pieces of information is an estimate of the damage – translated into dollars – that Keystone XL’s climate pollution would do to health, property, agriculture, ecosystem services, and more. If society has to subsidize Keystone XL to the tune of billions of dollars per year, maybe over $100 billion per year, how can it possibly be in the national interest?
So far, the State Department’s assessment has failed entirely to consider the social cost of carbon. Until government agencies properly account for the cost of climate change caused by major fossil fuel infrastructure, projects like Keystone XL will continue to impose disproportionate costs on society. The failure to account for those costs is at the root of our failure to address global climate change and its consequences. http://priceofoil.org/2013/05/07/keystone-xl-could-cost-society-over-100-billion-per-year/
Enbridge spill risk more than 90%
A new report from Simon Fraser University claims there is at least a 90 percent probability of an oil tanker spill if the Enbridge plan for the Northern Gateway pipeline goes ahead.
The report’s lead author is Tom Gunton, director of the resource and environmental planning programme and former deputy environment minister for Mike Harcourt’s NDP provincial government. Gunton said his team used a standard model used by the U.S. government for projecting spill risk — and the new numbers are much higher than those used by Enbridge.
Gunton said based on spill rates seen with other Enbridge pipelines, he expects 15 spills per year from the Northern Gateway pipeline project. http://westcoastnativenews.com/enbridge-spill-risk-more-than-90/
Enbridge shuts North Dakota oil line after another leak found
May 7 (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc, Canada's largest pipeline operator, said it shut its 210,000 barrel-per- day North Dakota pipeline for the second time in less than a week after finding contaminated soil during integrity checks.
Graham White, a spokesman for the company, said in an email the line was shut on Monday after the discovery. The company does not yet know when it will restart. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/07/enbridge-pipeline-northdakota-idUSL2N0DO2KI20130507? type=companyNews&feedType=RSS
Keystone XL Decision May Not Come Until Later In The Year, U.S. Official Says
WASHINGTON, May 10 (Reuters) - The Obama administration is unlikely to make a decision on the Canada-to-Nebraska Keystone XL pipeline until late this year as it painstakingly weighs the project's impact on the environment and on energy security, a U.S. official and analysts said on Friday. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/11/keystone-xl-decision-us-official_n_3256336.html
75 Faulkner County: ExxonMobil's "Sacrifice Zone" for Tar Sands Pipelines, Fracking
There are few better examples of a "sacrifice zone" for ExxonMobil and the fossil fuel industry at-large than Faulkner County, Arkansas and the counties surrounding it.
Six weeks have passed since a 22-foot gash in ExxonMobil's Pegasus tar sands Pipeline spilled over 500,000 gallons of heavy crude into the quaint neighborhood of Mayflower, AR, a township with a population of roughly 2,300 people. The air remains hazardous to breathe in, it emits a putrid strench, and the water in Lake Conway is still rife with tar sands crude.
"Private Empire" ExxonMobil is now the defendant in a class action lawsuit filed by the citizens of Mayflower claiming damages caused in their community by the ruptured Pegasus Pipeline. ExxonMobil's XTO subsidiary was also the subject of a class action lawsuit concerning damages caused by fracking in May 2011 and another regarding fracking waste injection wells in Oct. 2012. http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/05/15/faulkner-county-exxonmobil-sacrifice-zone-tar-sands- pipelines-fracking
Protesters await Harper during New York visit to promote Canada’s environmental record
As he lands in New York on Thursday to promote Canada’s energy agenda, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will face protesters bearing a banner with a simple message: “tar sands equal climate destruction.”
In a letter to Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass released Wednesday, prominent Canadian scientists rejected Ottawa’s argument that the oil sands are being developed in an environmentally responsible fashion.
“The pace and scale of expansion of oil sands and a safe climate for all of us cannot co-exist,” the letter said. “Unless the exploitation of the oil sands are brought under control, in a responsible manner, Canada and the world will have no hope of keeping global warming below the promised 2 degrees Celsius.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/protesters-await-harper-during-new-york-visit-to- promote-canadas-environmental-record/article11959342/? utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=Referrer%3A+Social+Network+ %2F+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links
A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit
WINDSOR, Ontario — Assumption Park gives residents of this city lovely views of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit skyline. Lately they’ve been treated to another sight: a three-story pile of petroleum coke covering an entire city block on the other side of the Detroit River.
Detroit’s ever-growing black mountain is the unloved, unwanted and long overlooked byproduct of Canada’s oil sands boom.
And no one knows quite what to do about it, except Koch Carbon, which owns it.
76 The company is controlled by Charles and David Koch, wealthy industrialists who back a number of conservative and libertarian causes including activist groups that challenge the science behind climate change. The company sells the high-sulfur, high-carbon waste, usually overseas, where it is burned as fuel. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/18/business/energy-environment/mountain-of-petroleum-coke-from- oil-sands-rises-in-detroit.html?smid=tw-share&_r=2&
A Letter to Minister Oliver from Climate Scientists and Energy Experts
On May 7th 2013, I was among twelve Canadian climate scientists and energy experts who sent a letter addressed to Natural Resources Minister the Hon. Joe Oliver.
As professionals who have devoted our careers to understanding the climate and energy systems, we are concerned that the Minister’s advocacy in support of new pipelines and expanded fossil fuel production is inconsistent with the imperative of addressing the climate change threat. We are going to have to wean ourselves off our addiction to fossil fuels. Thus our choices about fossil fuel infrastructure carry significant consequences for today’s and future generations. http://www.desmog.ca/2013/05/09/letter-minister-oliver-climate-scientists-and-energy-experts
Harper's Pro-Tar Sands Claims Looking Worse for Wear After New Group Launches 'Reality Check' Website
Harper’s overarching message when it came down to pipeline politics was this: Canada is working on its emissions problem, so Americans concerned about the environmental fallout of the Keystone pipeline needn’t worry. Besides, there are far more important economic benefits associated with the energy project that the U.S. “can’t afford to turn down.”
That is to say, the Prime Minister’s address, a rarity these days, brought little else than more of the same.
True enough, no one expected anything different from Harper, a leader intent on accelerating tar sands development. Although the familiar talking points are sounding worse-for-wear these days, as environmental groups, prominent scientists and energy economists warn that government misinformation about the tar sands is endangering Canada’s future prospects, international reputation and the global climate. http://www.desmog.ca/2013/05/16/harper-s-pro-tar-sands-claims-looking-worse-wear-after-new-group- launches-reality-check-website
Northern Gateway Pipeline Crew Evicted By Gitga'at Nation
HARTLEY BAY, B.C. - Members of the Gitga'at Nation say they have evicted a Northern Gateway Pipelines crew from their territory on the north coast of British Columbia as it tried to conduct oil spill response surveys.
Note* See the tar sands pictures.
77 http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/16/northern-gateway-pipeline-crew-evicted-gitgaat- nation_n_3287712.html
Maine city wants U.S. review before oilsands oil flows
Portland joins list of U.S. communities raising opposition to reversal of pipeline from Montreal
The city of Portland, Maine, passed a resolution Monday night calling on the U.S. government to conduct an environmental review of Portland-to-Montreal pipeline before it is allowed to reverse its flow and potentially bring oilsands oil to a terminal on the Atlantic coast.
The resolution passed by a vote of 7-2 in a late-night session held in Portland's council chambers. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/05/21/pol-portland-maine-passes-oilsands-resolution.html
More than 91,000 litres of oil spilled from derailed Train Sask.
The accident happened as the Canadian Pacific Rail (TSX:CP) eastbound train was rolling through an area near the village of Jansen, about 150 kilometres southeast of Saskatoon.
The company said five cars derailed, but only one leaked its contents. A total of 575 barrels hit the ground, said spokesman Ed Greenberg. http://westcoastnativenews.com/more-than-91000-litres-of-oil-spilled-from-derailed-sask/
Alberta’s had an average of two crude oil spills a day, every day for the past 37 years.
That makes 28,666 crude oil spills in total, plus another 31,453 spills of just about any other substance you can think of putting in a pipeline – from salt water to liquid petroleum.
It sounds like a lot. And it isn’t a number the provincial government throws around often.
Authorities point to a much more encouraging statistic: There were 1.5 incidents per 1000 kilometres of pipeline in 2011, and that figure’s been dropping for the past three years. http://globalnews.ca/news/571494/introduction-37-years-of-oil-spills-in-alberta/
Bitumen Doesn’t Float Study debunks Enbridge claims that oil sands crude spill is standard clean-up.
Jeffrey Short was leading chemist for governments of Alaska and US focusing on Exxon Valdez oil spill, guiding numerous studies on oil effects.
Some diluted bitumen products will sink in fresh and brackish marine waters in less than 26hours following a tanker spill or accident at a marine terminal.
78 That’s the conclusion of new report by Jeff Short, a highly respected U.S. environmental chemist who worked with for National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for decades. http://pipe-up.net/2013/05/23/bitumen-doesnt-float/
The Study https://www.neb-one.gc.ca/ll- eng/livelink.exe/fetch/2000/90464/90552/384192/620327/624910/701018/941166/D72-80- 2_Gitxaala_Nation_- _Susceptibility_of_Diluted_Bitumen_Produts_from_Alberta_Tar_Sands_to_Sinking_in_Water_by_Jeff_ Short_d._Mar._17,13-FINAL_-_A3G6I6?nodeid=941362&vernum=0
Documents Show Exxon Lied in Aftermath of Tar Sands Pipeline Rupture
Oil giant knew of dangerous toxins in Arkansas' Lake Conway, yet claimed waterway was “oil free”
A new batch of documents received by Greenpeace in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has revealed that Exxon downplayed the extent of the contamination caused by the ruptured pipeline. Records of emails between Arkansas’ DEQ and Exxon depict attempts by Exxon to pass off press releases with factually false information. In a draft press release dated April 8, Exxon claims “Tests on water samples show Lake Conway and the cove are oil-free.” However, internal emails from April 6 show Exxon knew of significant contamination across Lake Conway and the cove resulting from the oil spill. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/05/22-6
Will eastern oil pipelines lead to lower prices at the pump for Canadians?
The Conservatives in Ottawa are staunch supporters, the New Democrats have called it a “win-win-win” and the premiers of Alberta and New Brunswick have loudly touted the benefits of an oil pipeline from west to east.
But the degree to which Eastern consumers will benefit at the pump is unclear, as it’s up to the pipeline’s customers – oil producers at one end and refineries at the other – to determine which barrels go where.
“I would say the real target here is to get it to the deepsea port at Saint John and export it either down to the U.S. Gulf or to India or wherever – whoever wants it,” said Roger McKnight at En-Pro International, which helps clients manage their fuel and energy costs.
“I don’t see how it’s going to benefit consumers. I just don’t see it.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/will-eastern- oil-pipelines-lead-to-lower-prices-at-the-pump-for-canadians/article11429689/
79 The Beaver Lake Cree Judgment: The Most Important Tar Sands Case You’ve Never Heard Of
But the constitutional standing of the tar sands – one of the world’s largest and most carbon-intensive energy projects – is just what’s at stake in a treaty rights claim the Beaver Lake Cree Nation (BLCN) is bringing against the Governments of Alberta and Canada in a case that promises to be one of the most significant legal and constitutional challenges to the megaproject seen in Canada to date.
On April 30th, 2013, the courts told Canada and Alberta they’d had enough of the bickering. “The parties will be well-served by returning to their case management judge for the implication plan to advance this litigation through trial,” they wrote.
In other words: get your act together, you’re going to court.
And the significance of this judgment cannot be overstated. The BLCN’s claim now stands as the first opportunity for legal consideration of the cumulative impacts of the tar sands on First Nation’s traditional territory and the implications of those impacts on the ability to uphold Treaty Rights.
And First Nation’s Rights – enshrined as Aboriginal Rights in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 – are arguably some of the most important emerging rights on the Canadian legal landscape and certainly the most powerful environmental rights in the country. http://desmog.ca/2013/05/23/beaver-lake-cree-judgment-most-important-tar-sands-case-you-ve-never- heard
OPEC Eyes U.S. Shale Oil Boom
OPEC could be facing a new internal clash on how it chooses to respond to the increasing U.S. output of shale oil, reports the Wall Street Journal. “Rising American output is rewriting global oil-trade patterns and deepening existing fault lines within the powerful exporters' group, limiting its ability to mount a collective response — including possible production cuts — ahead of a crucial meeting in Vienna Friday,” writes the newspaper, adding that although no change is expected during the meeting to OPEC’s oil production, it will mark “the first stage of a thorny debate on shale's oil's impact that is already showing signs of dividing the group.” http://pipeline.post-gazette.com/news/daily-headlines/25175-5-28-2013-global-sells-texas-shale-assets- for-510-000-opec-eyes-u-s-shale-oil-boom
Train derailment causes stir in Augusta; DEP working on response plans
The train appears to have been slowing to stop at a switch, Scarano said, ultimately due to arrive at a refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick. Pan Am was due to hand off the cars to New Brunswick Southern Railway in Mattawamkeag, she said. http://bangordailynews.com/2013/03/07/news/state/train-derailment-causes-stir-in-augusta-dep- working-on-response-plans/
80 B.C. officially opposes Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline
"British Columbia thoroughly reviewed all of the evidence and submissions made to the panel and asked substantive questions about the project, including its route, spill response capacity and financial structure to handle any incidents," said Environment Minister Terry Lake.
"Our questions were not satisfactorily answered during these hearings."
"The panel must determine if it is appropriate to grant a certificate for the project as currently proposed on the basis of a promise to do more study and planning after the certificate is granted,” Lake said.
“Our government does not believe that a certificate should be granted before these important questions are answered." http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/05/31/bc-northern-gateway-rejected.html
81 Mining
Enviro Minister Terry Lake faces uprising by Kamloops doctors worried about open pit mine at city's edge.
BC Election 2013 Hot Riding: Kamloops-North Thompson
For the moment, the area southwest of Kamloops, B.C., remains rolling grassland, interspersed with patchy woods and lakes. But already, terracing of the ground has begun. By 2014, full-scale construction could start to transform the landscape into a 261-hectare open pit mine for gold and copper.
Dr. Jill Calder has spent her entire career in Kamloops, a total of almost 22 years now. Mines are nothing new to her.
None, however, have ventured so close to the city as this proposed mine, called the Ajax project. This unprecedented proximity has Calder and other physicians banding together out of concern that the city's health might be put in danger.
Barely three weeks ago, they formed the Kamloops Physicians for a Healthy Environment, a group of local physicians pressing for an independent health assessment of the mine. http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/04/25/Kamloops-North-Thompson-Riding/
Barrick debunked
Over a hundred people braved the rain outside Barrick Gold’s annual general meeting to tell shareholders to divest from the gold mining giant. Protesters held a 14-foot effigy of founder and Chairman Peter Munk (85) with a Pinocchio nose and blood on his hands (Photo by Allan Lissner).
A carefully footnoted alternative annual report was delivered at the AGM by the campaign organization Protest Barrick. The report debunks Barrick’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs and their socially responsible image, revealing “a pathological company that has ignored the warning signs of numerous conflicts across the globe”.
To make matters worse, Barrick is more indebted than any other gold miner (net debt is now US$12.5- billion, up from US$2.7-billion in 2010). The company seems to be going so bad that a group of institutional shareholders voted against executive-compensation proposals at the AGM http://www.ejolt.org/2013/05/barrick-debunked/
Quebec tax hike targets miners as slump hits industry
The Quebec government is boosting its take from a mining sector already beset by a global downturn, introducing minimum royalty payments and other tax increases aimed at generating up to $200-million a year.
According to the Quebec government, at least 10 mining companies didn’t pay any taxes to the province in 2011. The proposed changes, to take effect in 2014, take aim at those firms, requiring that
82 any mining operation pay the higher of two fees: either a royalty on production (with a 1-per-cent tax on the first $80-million on the value of the mineral output, increasing to 4 per cent after that point) or a graduated tax based on a firm’s profit margin (starting at 16 per cent and rising to a top rate of 28 per cent). http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/quebec-tax- hike-targets-miners-as-slump-hits-industry/article11742406/
Giant Exploration Inc. and PetroWorth Resources Inc. Announce Entering into of Claims Purchase Agreement
Giant Exploration Inc. ("Giant") and PetroWorth Resources Inc. (cnsx:PTW) (frankfurt:T3F) ("PetroWorth) are pleased to announce the entering into of a claims purchase agreement dated May 24, 2013 (the "Purchase Agreement") between the two companies pursuant to which PetroWorth has agreed to purchase from Giant 695 mineral claims located in the Province of Quebec, representing all or substantially all of the assets of Giant, in exchange for the issuance of 32,360,948 common shares in the capital of PetroWorth and the assumption by PetroWorth of substantially all of Giant's current debt. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/giant-exploration-inc-and-petroworth-resources-inc-announce- entering-into-of-claims-purchase-agreement-2013-05-28
83 Forestry
The story of New Brunswick's forests by Charles Theriault
An old friend of mine (84 years old) is a well respected filmmaker/producer of award winning series and investigative shows (remember This hour has seven days on C.B.C.). Richard Neilson, originaly from Plaster Rock, wanted me to write a 4 pager encapsulating all I have learned in the past few months about the state of our Crown Forest. So if you will bear with me, here is my story.
My name is Charles Thériault, I am a 57 year old filmmaker living in Kedgwick, N.B. and this is the story of my fight to make things right for my family, my friends and my co-residents of this fine province.
It all started five years ago when I settled here in this french speaking Appalachian back woods community deep inside the New Brunswick Acadian forest, nestled among the finest salmon fishing rivers in the world. The Restigouche, Kedgwick and Little Main rivers attract the wealthiest of aficionados willing to shell out thousands of dollars a day just to sit in a boat for hours, along pristine waterways, tickling the waters hoping to feel that rush of adrenaline when a majestic Atlantic salmon decides to hook into the fly. https://monctonfreepress.ca/post/13706
How to See Things - Lessons in perception from five documentary filmmakers.
Filmmaker and activist Richard Boyce went way off the beaten track to find harrowing stumps of 1,000- year-old western red cedars. He’d already kayaked beside the same section of Crown land, along the shoreline of Quatsino Sound off northern Vancouver Island, a hot spot for sport fishers, whale watchers and cruise ships. Yet from the water’s surface, the forest still looks intact. Boyce says this is because the clear-cut is designed using the land contours to hide logging from fishing boats and tourists – to preserve the concept of BC’s supernatural wilderness, rather than the ecosystem itself. http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/people-and-profiles/how-see-things
84 Video Links
LEAKED Director's Commentary - SAFETY? - Conservative TV Ad 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KvSH4DLKqY&feature=player_embedded
The Greatest Issue of Our Time or Any Time
Part One http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8z4jcPht3w
Part Two http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQByD_xJVY
Poune Saberi, MD Air Case Study 2 SWPAEHP Basic Toolkit for Healthcare Providers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0OZH4R-NRM&feature=player_embedded
Interview about Open Letter to Shale Oil and Gas Companies operating in New Brunswick
Julia Linke, Phd - April 30 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uWygZMS03I
Tar Sands: The Royalty Rip Off - Royalties https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGAzdGjGaGs&feature=player_embedded
Peak Oil: Visually Explained. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNAEk9BA918&feature=player_embedded
How to talk to a climate change denier http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp-nJKBwQR4&feature=youtu.be
Canada's ruined reputation: no applause for John Baird at the UN http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2012/12/best-net/canadas-ruined-reputation-no-applause-john- baird-un http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oZhfWv6Sds4
85 Bill Moyers interviews Sandra Steingraber
An Interviewer Asks An Expert What We Can Do To Stay Safer. Her Answer Is Not What I Expected. Shortly after this interview, Sandra Steingraber went to jail for her actions. Watch this clip, then share her moving words. http://vimeo.com/64260859
New Brunswickers train for civil disobedience to stand against fracking. - CTV News http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=919627&binId=1.1145463&playlistPageNum=1
Chemicals introduced into Binghamton's headwaters area: How Much? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIrcenYEclg&feature=player_embedded
Do the Math - The Movie 350.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsIfokifwSo&feature=player_embedded
Stephen Harper is Dismantling Canadian Sovereignty for Globalism! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQTGG5pecEY
"LOCKDOWN" Tar Sands Blockade vs. Keystone XL Pipeline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9siVZrg8_n0&feature=player_embedded
The Radioactive Truth about CSG - Part 1 Queensland Australia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk_Nubey1j8&feature=player_embedded
Minister of Energy Craig Leonard is interviewed by the Blogger about the Blueprint and Kent County http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4XhTYhn-Tvo#t=173s
Radiation Problems due to Hydrofracking Radium primary concern. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV_Su_d3bYU
86 The Fracking song (Nfld) – Beautiful scenery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0IsLfa5vgM&feature=player_embedded
Residents in small town New Brunswick are ramping up efforts to stop mining in their areas. http://globalnews.ca/video/555538/shale-gas
Rick "Mac" Sawyer Fracking vs. Health https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSvMhmF4Myw&feature=player_embedded
Marg Delahunty & Mike Duffy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ka93rytRe8&feature=player_embedded
Reality Check: Canada's Oil Sands https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwwVo3CEFAQ&feature=player_embedded
Frack Attack - New Brunswick says No to Shale Gas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_uYxv7h8ZE&feature=player_embedded
ZNews - Gros Morne Park http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fjVaj7i5WE&feature=player_embedded
Hansen Corrects BBC on Climate Warming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geS6mtY0XsQ&feature=player_embedded
Jack MacDougall chat about the 8 million litres of waste water left in Nova Scotia By Charles Leblanc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNZxXYZ6Z5U&feature=player_embedded
Silica Dust Pouring Out of Cabot Frack Site https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDv9U_Jevho&feature=player_embedded
87 Hamilton Blockade Against Line 9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8etmKsBDJic&feature=player_embedded
The Natural Gas Message - by Dory Hipauf https://vimeo.com/66506520
Youngstown, OH fractivists discuss the dangers of hydraulic fracturing to the community. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d3F3yBbFLU&feature=player_embedded
Heavy traffic coming to your town soon unless you stop it. From the film Groundswell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZZQxe6FiGA&feature=player_embedded
Frackalypse: The Fracking Industry's PSYOPS Campaign to Deal with an "Insurgency" by Mark Fiore for DeSmogBlog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJwAXTxPIXo&feature=player_embedded
Wilma Subra & Health Effects of Gas Drilling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9SEBpVJRwU&feature=player_embedded
Are Banks The Masters Of The Universe? - Video The best kept secrets of the Dollar. Is the whole US economy a farce? http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/83310991
John Baird "let us replace accountability with corruption" http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=isxADTDdRBY
Minister of Energy Craig Leonard views on the 8 Million Litres of Waste Water left in Truro Nova Scotia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr4tRoQTSAo
The Necessity of Civil Disobedience: Bill Moyers Interviews Tim DeChristopher http://vimeo.com/66874475
88 Compilation of photos of movement against the exploration of shale gas in NB - by Maxime Daigle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVDsU7yqTvA&feature=player_embedded
Fracking in French-Canadian Prime-Time Comedy (with english subtitles) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB7F-FiUX9k&feature=youtu.be
Shale Gas Confrontation in Durham Bridge, NB http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLTayqAPRNM
CBC News - St Louis de Kent protest, Skip to 8:00 minutes http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/ID/2388368406/
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation challenges new Shell tar sands mines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE92JEg4JEU
Canadian Minister and Shell embarrassed over tar sands at climate conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lEjgPePdUg
Harry Forestell talks with SWN Resources exploration manager Nicki Atkinson http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/ID/2388533318/
Alan Savory: How to green the worls's deserts and reverse climate change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTHi7O66pI&feature=player_embedded
89