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Do you think frackers should disclose the chemicals they use? EPA wants to know

by GarnetPalafox Posted on May 12, 2014

Do you think frackers should disclose the chemicals they use? EPA wants to know

By

Shutterstock

The EPA is about to ask you an important question — and it could be mistaken as rhetorical because the answer is such a no-brainer: Should frackers be required to reveal the secret sauces of chemicals that they pump into the ground?

Reuters explains:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would gather public comment for 90 days on whether it should require chemical manufacturers to disclose what is in the fluids that are injected into shale seams to release trapped oil or gas, a technology that has transformed the oil and gas industry.

The so-called “advanced notice of proposed rulemaking” came as a response to a petition by the environmental group Earthjustice under a section of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The act enables anyone to petition the EPA to initiate an amendment or repeal of rules requiring chemical testing, imposing regulatory controls and requiring information.

Fracking companies claim that disclosing the chemicals they use would mean revealing trade secrets, and the EPA, along with various other government bodies and courts, has consistently bowed to industry on this issue. The newly announced public-consultation process could eventually help to shake up that imbalance between corporate desire and the public’s right to know.

But the agency is making it clear that the whole process might lead to no changes at all. Perhaps that should come as no surprise, given the Obama administration’s steadfast support for a drilling method that is helping to boost the nation’s fossil-fueled energy supply while doing little to nothing to help combat climate change.

“Although EPA has granted the petitioners’ request to initiate a rulemaking proceeding …, the Agency is not committing to a specific rulemaking outcome,” the EPA wrote in its public notice.

We will let you know how to submit comments to the EPA once the public comment period begins.


Source
U.S. considers fracking fluid disclosure rules, Reuters
EPA/OCSPP, U.S. Office of Management and Budget

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Do you think frackers should disclose the chemicals they use? EPA wants to know

Posted in alo, ALPHA, Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Paradise, solar, solar panels, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Do you think frackers should disclose the chemicals they use? EPA wants to know

Should we be calling it “climate disruption”?

by LeonoreLongwell Posted on May 5, 2014

Let’s confuse everybody

Should we be calling it “climate disruption”?

By

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

John Holdren has a disruptive idea.

White House science adviser John Holdren knows a lot about climate change. Just a couple of months ago, he smacked down climate deniers in a video released by the White House in which he coolly explained the links between climate change and the polar vortex. Now he’s hoping to change the words we use when talking about the climate. ScienceInsider reports:

“I’ve always thought that the phrase ‘global warming’ was something of a misnomer because it suggests that the phenomenon is something that is uniform around the world, that it’s all about temperature, and that it’s gradual,” Holdren said [Thursday] at the annual [American Association for the Advancement of Science] Forum on Science and Technology Policy in Washington, D.C. …

Instead, he said, “we should call it ‘global climate disruption.’ Although the rising average global surface temperature is an indicator of the degree of disruption that we have imposed on the global climate system, what’s actually happening involves changes in circulation patterns, changes in precipitation patterns, and changes in extremes. And those are very different in different places.”

Holdren has made similar calls before, apparently with limited effect on the public’s vocabulary. This time, the remarks came in the context of a brief preview Holdren gave of a new climate report that the Obama administration is scheduled to release [this] week. The document will, in part, spell out the potential disruptions the United States faces as a result of a changing climate, perhaps giving Holdren’s idea some currency.

It makes perfect sense to refer to climate disruptions. But asking an already climate-confused populace to embrace a new term probably won’t do much to help bust down that wall of corporate-sponsored climate denialism.


Source
Let’s Call It ‘Climate Disruption,’ White House Science Adviser Suggests (Again), ScienceInsider

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Should we be calling it “climate disruption”?

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Pipeline builder says oil spills can be good for the economy

by Julie Plunkett Posted on May 5, 2014

It’s dirty work, but …

Pipeline builder says oil spills can be good for the economy

By

Mic Stolz

Kinder Morgan’s idea of job creation.

Kinder Morgan wants to spend $5.4 billion tripling the capacity of an oil pipeline between the tar sands of Alberta and the Vancouver, B.C., area. Yes, the company acknowledges, there’s always the chance of a “large pipeline spill.” But it says the “probability” of such an accident is “low.” And anyway, if a spill does happen, it could be an economic boon.

“Spill response and cleanup” after oil pipeline ruptures, such as the emergency operations near Kalamazoo, Mich., in 2010 and in the Arkansas community of Mayflower last year, create “business and employment opportunities for affected communities, regions, and cleanup service providers,” the company argues.

Those aren’t the outrageous comments of a company executive shooting off his mouth while a reporter happened to be neaby. Those are quotes taken from an official document provided to the Canadian government in support of the company’s efforts to expand its pipeline.

It’s a bit like claiming cancer caused by nuclear accidents can be great because it provides work for oncologists. Here’s more from The Vancouver Sun:

“Pipeline spills can have both positive and negative effects on local and regional economies, both in the short- and long-term,” the company states in its submission to the National Energy Board, the federal government’s Calgary-based regulatory agency. …

The New Democratic Party MP who represents Burnaby, including the Westridge Marine Terminal where large tankers will arrive to carry diluted bitumen overseas, accused the company of insensitivity.

“We know Kinder Morgan is using every trick in the book to push this pipeline through our community, but this takes the cake — proposing that a spill would actually be good for the local economy,” said Kennedy Stewart, MP for Burnaby-Douglas riding. “This assertion shows the utter disregard this company has for British Columbians.”

The company said it was just fulfilling its regulatory requirements.

The company’s submission also says the ecological impacts of an oil spill, such as on beavers and otters, would be “potentially high.” Perhaps cleanup companies just need to find a way to put wildlife to work.


Source
Kinder Morgan pipeline application says oil spills can have both negative and positive effects, The Vancouver Sun

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Pipeline builder says oil spills can be good for the economy

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The men who poisoned Charleston’s drinking water now have a “new” business

by DevonCallinan Posted on May 2, 2014

The men who poisoned Charleston’s drinking water now have a “new” business

By

West Virginia University

“Freedom Industries, the company whose chemical leak contaminated the tap water of 300,000 West Virginians, will cease to exist once it goes through bankruptcy, but that doesn’t mean its executives are out of the chemical business,” according to an excellent investigative report by The Charleston Gazette.

A January spill of a coal-cleaning chemical from one of Freedom’s rusty tanks triggered a major crisis for Charleston residents, who had to find alternate sources of water. Roughly a third of them experienced negative health impacts from the polluted water, experts estimate.

But while Freedom Industries is technically going out of business, its leaders are quietly starting up again under a new name, as the Gazette explains:

Lexycon LLC, a chemical company whose characteristics are strikingly similar to Freedom Industries, registered as a business with the West Virginia secretary of state about a month ago.

The companies share addresses and phone numbers, Lexycon was founded by a former Freedom executive and it has ties to at least two other current or former Freedom executives. …

After the Gazette emailed [Kevin Skiles and Bob Reynolds, former senior Freedom employees who now work for Lexycon,] to ask if the new company was affiliated with Freedom, the two men’s names disappeared from the Lexycon website and a new phone number was listed in their place. …

The companies’ descriptions of their businesses match, almost verbatim. …

Freedom Industries’ logo appeared on Lexycon’s exhibitor page on the Coal Prep [conference] website Wednesday afternoon.

More than 60 lawsuits have been filed against Freedom Industries over the spill, but the plaintiffs shouldn’t count on payouts because the company is quickly running through its cash by paying its high-priced lawyers.


Source
Freedom execs tied to new chemical company, Charleston Gazette

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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The men who poisoned Charleston’s drinking water now have a “new” business

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Greenpeace activists arrested — again — for trying to block Russia’s Arctic oil activities

by HarlanPrentice Posted on May 1, 2014

Greenpeace activists arrested — again — for trying to block Russia’s Arctic oil activities

By

Greenpeace

Greenpeace activists aren’t letting a little jail time dissuade them from continuing their fight against Russia’s nascent Arctic oil-drilling program.

The crew aboard Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior ship tried on Thursday to block the first delivery of oil from Russia’s first offshore oil rig to a harbor in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The crew included some of the same activists who were arrested by Russian authorities in September for attempting to scale the oil rig in frigid waters. The activists were released from jail in December as part of a pre-Olympics amnesty program.

This latest stunt got them arrested again — but this time by Dutch police instead of Russian ones. Reuters reports:

Dutch police stormed a Greenpeace ship on Thursday to prevent environmental activists blocking delivery of the first oil from Russia’s new Arctic drilling platform reaching port in Rotterdam. …

A Reuters photographer said activists had draped banners saying “No Arctic Oil” from the Russian vessel.

“The Russian ship is very big, about 250 meters long, and there are safety concerns when you try and stop it mooring,” Rotterdam police spokesman Roland Ekkers said.

He said the activists had been detained in a room on the Rainbow Warrior until it docked, when the captain was arrested. The oil-tanker Mikhail Ulyanov entered the harbor unhindered, and moored at about 0915 GMT.

These activists seem as stubborn as climate change.


Source
Dutch police storm Greenpeace ship trying to block Arctic oil delivery, Reuters

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Greenpeace activists arrested — again — for trying to block Russia’s Arctic oil activities

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This company’s gas plants just keep on exploding

by HFOSpencer Posted on April 25, 2014

This company’s gas plants just keep on exploding

By

Shutterstock

Perhaps executives at the Williams energy company have fiery personalities. Or maybe they just don’t care about safety, or about their workers or neighbors.

A huge explosion at one of the company’s gas processing plants in southern Wyoming on Wednesday afternoon triggered the evacuation of all residents of the small nearby town of Opal. The plant, which is connected to six pipelines that help feed fracked natural gas to customers throughout the American West, burned throughout Wednesday night and into Thursday, when its neighbors were allowed to return to their homes.

As extraordinary as the (fortunately injury-free) accident sounds, something similar happened just four weeks ago at a Williams gas processing plant near the Washington-Oregon border. That explosion injured five workers and led to the evacuation of 400 residents.

Less than a year ago, workers were injured when one of the company’s natural gas facilities blew up in Branchburg, N.J. The company’s pipelines have also blown up.

Also last year, a leak of 241 barrels of fluid from a Williams natural gas processing plant in Colorado contaminated a creek with carcinogenic benzene. At least nothing blew up that time.

“Williams is committed to maintaining the highest standards of safety,” the company claims on its website. We’d hate to see what lower standards looked like.


Source
Opal residents return home after gas plant blast; gas flows diverted, Casper Star-Tribune
Workers injured as blast rocks Washington gas plant, The Associated Press

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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This company’s gas plants just keep on exploding

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Canada orders dangerous oil cars off its railways

by Junepps1b Posted on April 25, 2014

Canada orders dangerous oil cars off its railways

By

Shutterstock

Oil industry train tickets are about to expire in Canada.

Canada’s transportation department on Wednesday announced a suite of new safety rules, motivated by the horrific oil-train explosion last summer in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, which killed 47 people. The rules heavily target DOT-111 rail cars, which are widespread across the continent but are vulnerable to puncture and explode. (The U.S., meanwhile, is being outrageously slow in updating its oil-train safety rules.)

The Ottawa Citizen reports:

About 5,000 DOT-111 tanker cars are to be removed from Canadian railways within 30 days. Another 65,000 DOT-111 cars must be removed or retrofitted within three years, a timeframe rail industry experts are calling “ambitious.”

The measures didn’t fully satisfy [New Democratic Party] leader Tom Muclair. “What happens in the meantime in all those communities where this very dangerous material is being transported today?” he asked. “You can’t tell us you know that they’re dangerous and yet you’re going to continue to allow them to roll through these communities.”

[Transport Minister Lisa] Raitt said, however, that the DOT-111 cars are just one of several risk factors contributing to rail crashes. “There’s not just one aspect in mitigating risks, there’s many.”…

Effective immediately, Transport Canada will conduct risk assessments of routes where dangerous goods are transported, and establish speed limits of 50 miles per hour or less in areas that are built up or near drinking water.

Good for Canada. But what will happen with all those dangerous rail cars that are retired in Canada? Some fear that they could end up over the border, hauling explosive crude through American communities.


Source
Transport Canada orders 5,000 tanker cars off the rail system, Ottawa Citizen
Canada to phase out old railway oil tankers; won’t wait for U.S., Reuters

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Canada orders dangerous oil cars off its railways

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Ukraine belatedly seeks renewable energy as weapon against Russia

by Gaberilla Eve Posted on April 21, 2014

Ukraine belatedly seeks renewable energy as weapon against Russia

By

Shutterstock

It took a military invasion to get Ukrainian leaders to look seriously at renewable energy.

Ukraine is buying up as much natural gas as it can from Russia before its military tormentors cut off the spigot. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that his Eastern European neighbor had a month to pay its back bills or be forced to start paying in advance for its gas. Bloomberg analyzed energy data and reported Monday that Ukrainians nearly trebled their daily gas imports following Putin’s statement.

But the crisis hasn’t just triggered a fossil fuel buying spree. It has prompted Ukrainian officials to reimagine their embattled nation’s very energy future. From a separate Bloomberg article:

Ukraine is seeking U.S. investment in its biomass, wind and solar power industries. The idea is to use renewable energy to curb its reliance on fuel imports from Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region last month and has troops massed on the border.

“Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine indeed brought energy security concerns to the fore,” Olexander Motsyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., said at a renewable-energy conference at his country’s embassy in Washington yesterday. “I strongly believe the time has come for U.S. investors to discover Ukraine, especially its energy.” …

[T]he Energy Industry Research Center said Ukraine’s heating supply accounts for about 40 percent of all gas imported from Russia, which could be replaced with renewable energy within three to five years.

Unfortunately, the Ukrainians are a little late getting started on a green energy blitz. By 2030, hopefully long after military tensions have eased, the country could be getting just 15 percent of its energy supply from renewables, the Energy Industry Research Center estimates — up from a miserable 2 percent today.


Source
Ukraine Boosts Russian Gas Imports as Prepayment Threat Looms, Bloomberg
Ukraine Seeks Renewable-Energy Boost to Counter Russia, Bloomberg

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Ukraine belatedly seeks renewable energy as weapon against Russia

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Ex-BP official got rich on Deepwater Horizon spill, gets busted

by AdrianaGivens Posted on April 18, 2014

It’s just capitalism, right?

Ex-BP official got rich on Deepwater Horizon spill, gets busted

By

SkyTruth

When Keith Seilhan was called in to coordinate BP’s oil spill cleanup after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, the senior company official and experienced crisis manager looked at the situation and thought, “Fuck this.” He dumped his family’s $1 million worth of BP stock, earning a profit and saving $100,000 in potential losses after the share price tanked even further.

But Seilhan knew something that other investors did not know when he made that trade. The company was lying to the government and the public about the amount of oil that was leaking from the ruptured well — by a factor of more than ten. And the feds say that doesn’t just make Seilhan an awful person — it means he was engaging in insider trading. Charges and a settlement were announced Thursday.

“The complaint alleges that within days, Seilhan received nonpublic information on the extent of the evolving disaster, including oil flow estimates and data on the volume of oil floating on the surface of the Gulf,” the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in its announcement.

Without admitting or denying guilt, the Texan, who has since left BP, agreed to pay the government a penalty equivalent to double the $105,409 that he allegedly gained through the trade.


Source
SEC Charges Former Bp Employee with Insider Trading During the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, SEC

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Ex-BP official got rich on Deepwater Horizon spill, gets busted

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New hurricane maps will show whether your house could drown

by GilbertHancock Posted on April 17, 2014

New hurricane maps will show whether your house could drown

By

Gina Jacobs / Shutterstock

The federal government will begin making its hurricane warning maps more colorful this summer, adding a range of hues to represent the danger of looming floods.

Red, orange, yellow, and blue will mark coastal and near-coastal areas where storm surges are anticipated during a hurricane. The different colors will be used to show the anticipated depth of approaching flash floods.

Severe flooding that followed Superstorm Sandy helped prompt the change — NOAA says it had a hard time convincing Manhattanites that they faced any real danger from such floods.

“We are not a storm-surge-savvy nation,” Jamie Rhome, a storm surge specialist with NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, told Reuters. “Yet storm surge is responsible for over half the deaths in hurricanes. So you can see why we’re motivated to try something new.”

Here’s a hypothetical example of what one such map might look like for Florida. Beware, Ft. Myers!

National Hurricane CenterClick to embiggen.


Source
New hurricane forecast maps to show flood risk from storm surge, Reuters

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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New hurricane maps will show whether your house could drown

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