Environmental Glance
Scientists have linked the underground injection of oil-drilling wastewater to a magnitude-5.7 earthquake in 2011 that struck the US state of Oklahoma. Wastewater injection from drilling operations has been linked to seismic events in the past, but these have typically been much smaller quakes.
They also have tended to occur in the first weeks or months of injection. The study in Geology suggests that "induced seismicity" can occur years after wastewater injection begins.
5.7 Oklahoma earthquake linked to oil extraction wastewater
EPA: Most U.S. waters polluted
More than half of U.S. rivers, streams and other waterways are in too poor of a condition for aquatic life, the Environmental Protection Agency said. The EPA said most the nation's streams, rivers and other waters were in poor health.
EPA analysis said that 27 percent of the nation's waterways have high levels of nitrogen and 40 percent have high levels of phosphorus. Those chemicals lead to algae blooms that can deprive water of oxygen.
Scientists link frozen spring to dramatic Arctic sea ice loss
Melting sea ice, exposing huge parts of the ocean to the atmosphere, explains extreme weather both hot and cold.
Climate scientists have linked the massive snowstorms and bitter spring weather now being experienced across Britain and large parts of Europe and North America to the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice.
Erin Brockovich carcinogen endangering thousands in New Jersey
The neighborhood looks exceedingly normal: single-family homes and apartment buildings packed together, dogs barking from postage-stamp-size lawns, parents hustling down narrow sidewalks to fetch their children from school. But something with very dangerous potential lies below the surface, officials say.
The residents' toenails will provide confirmation.
A plume of hexavalent chromium, a metal used in industrial production that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls a "well-established carcinogen," has spread under Garfield, putting about one-tenth of the city's homes — about 600 structures and 3,600 residents — at risk.
Utah’s Fight For Clean Air: Breathless in Zion
Did you know that Utah has one of the worst air pollution problems in the country? The impacts are startling: The pollution is making people sick. Living under the smothering summer ozone or winter inversion is a big reality that many families and mothers have to endure.
Many studies point to the link between exposure to air pollutants and dangerous consequences to health. Asthma, respiratory diseases, strokes and heart attacks are just some of the health issues associated with bad air quality.
Drilling Companies Agree to Settle Fracking Contamination Case for $750,000
Range Resources, MarkWest Energy and Williams Gas agreed to settle a high profile contamination case in Washington County for $750,000, according to recently unsealed court records. An order to unseal the records was entered Wednesday in Washington County Court of Common Pleas by President Judge Debbie O’Dell-Seneca.
Judge O’Dell-Seneca reversed an earlier decision to permanently keep the more than 900 pages of court records secret. In the order she stated that the drilling company’s claims of privacy rights had no merit.
Obama Energy Nominee’s MIT Fracking Study Faulted Over Industry Ties
President Barack Obama’s nominee for energy secretary is drawing criticism for leading a study that minimized risks of natural gas while failing to disclose that some of its researchers had financial ties to the industry.
The nominee, Ernest Moniz, who now is the head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Energy Institute, came out with its report in 2011 that said the environmental risks of increased drilling and production “are challenging but manageable.”
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