Earthjustice Documents Coal Ash Health Problems in Moapa Reservation
Coal ash is the waste leftover at the end of the coal burning cycle. It’s laced with the same arsenic, mercury, lead and other toxics. It’s the second largest waste stream in America—15 billion tons of toxic sludge per year. And here’s the dirty little secret: it’s subject to less regulation than the garbage you take to the curb every week.
Natural Gas Industry Claims Lack of Baseline Data Disproves Duke Study on Water Quality
Ever since high-profile water contamination cases were linked to drilling in Dimock, Pa., in late 2008, drilling companies themselves have been diligently collecting water samples from private wells before they drill, according to several industry consultants who have been working with the data. While Pennsylvania regulations now suggest pre-testing water wells within 1,000 feet of a planned gas well, companies including Chesapeake Energy, Shell and Atlas have been compiling samples from a much larger radius—up to 4,000 feet from every well.
Democrats New Report on Hydraulic Fracturing Highlights Toxic Risks to Drinking Water on Natural Gas Sites
That list includes 29 chemicals that are either known or possible carcinogens or are regulated by the federal government because of other risks to human health. As we reported more than a year ago, most of the fluids now used in hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” are left underground when drilling ends. The report notes that while the fate of these fluids “is not entirely predictable,” in most cases, “the permanent underground injection of chemicals used for hydraulic fracturing is not regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.”
New Documentary: Living Downstream
Several experts in the fields of toxicology and cancer research make important cameo appearances in the film, highlighting their own findings on two pervasive chemicals: atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, and the industrial compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Their work further illuminates the significant connection between a healthy environment and human health.
Natural Gas Drilling: One Man’s Story on Fracking
There is still no clean water to bathe in, or to water the vegetables or to feed the animals. In November, he had a heart attack. His doctors tell him it was probably caused by stress. “I think a lot of people look at me and think what did I end up with after five years,” Meeks says. “I’m stupid for going up against a billion-dollar company.” “There is no end in sight,” he adds. “But at least they are listening now.”
EPA Proposes New Study on Hydraulic Fracturing & Its Impact on Drinking Water
The EPA proposal estimates that fracking uses 70 to 140 billion gallons of water annually, or about the same amount used by one or two cities of 2.5 million people. In the Barnett Shale, in Texas, the agency estimates fracking for gas drilling consumes nearly 2 percent of all the water used in the area.
Environmental Working Group (EWG) Renews Drinking Water Threat to Ohioans from Toxic Oil & Gas Drilling Chemicals
These distillates include kerosene, mineral spirits and a number of other petroleum products that often contain high levels of benzene, a known human carcinogen that is toxic in water at even minuscule levels. Drillers inject these substances into the earth under extremely high pressure in a process called hydraulic fracturing that energy companies use to extract natural gas and oil from underground formations.
FirstEnergy Discharge Permit Challenged by National Interests for Fish Kills on Lake Erie
A coalition of local and national conservation groups has filed a legal challenge to recently issued Ohio EPA permits allowing FirstEnergy’s antiquated Bayshore coal plant to continue destroying millions of Lake Erie’s fish rather than install modern equipment. Bayshore sits in Lake Erie’s Maumee Bay, one of the most important spawning grounds and fisheries in the world supporting a $1.4 billion annual commercial and recreational fishing economy. The suit would force FirstEnergy to install cooling towers, which would reduce the fish losses by 95%.
New Study Indicates Hexavalent Chromium Is Contaminating U.S. Drinking Water
Laboratory tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG) have detected hexavalent chromium, the carcinogenic “Erin Brockovich chemical,” in tap water from 31 of 35 American cities. The highest levels were in Norman, Okla.; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Riverside, Calif. In all, water samples from 25 cities contained the toxic metal at concentrations above the safe maximum recently proposed by California regulators.
Top 10 Frightening Facts About Lake Erie for 2010
The very real and very scary problems facing Lake Erie are not going anywhere. Agricultural runoff, sloppy development, and invasive species are all contributing to a lake that is filled with toxic chemicals and water that is at times too dangerous to swim in or drink from. This is even more terrifying when you consider that Lake Erie generates nine of the fifteen billion dollars every year in Great Lakes’ annual tourism industry.
*Accepting cases in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
