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The Pennsylvania homes of Karl Wasner and Arline LaTourette both sit atop the Marcellus Shale, a geologic formation that stretches from Tennessee to New York and holds vast deposits of natural gas. They also sit on opposite sides of a national debate over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. That's the process that makes it economical for energy companies to tunnel 5,000 feet below ground and remove the gas—but also poses environmental risks.
Wasner settled 14 years ago in Milanville, in the state's northeast corner, and will leave if drilling companies set up derricks nearby. He already moved away for six weeks last year while an exploratory well was drilled nearby. The noise, muddy water pouring from his taps, and chemicals that turned up in a neighbor's well drove him off, he says. "I moved to a beautiful rural residential area," says Wasner, "not an industrial park."
LaTourette, whose roots in the area go back five generations, is banking on the drilling. Her family has leased almost 700 acres of farmland to Hess (HES) and other companies to tap into the Marcellus Shale. She won't say what she's getting, but signing bonuses can range from $2,000 to $5,000 an acre, and royalty payments are about 20 percent of the value of the gas produced.
President Barack Obama enthusiastically backs gas drilling, and these days 90 percent of it is done by fracking, which involves forcing below ground chemically treated water under high pressure to smash through layers of rock, thus freeing the gas to flow upward. Along with wind, solar, and nuclear power, natural gas is crucial to Obama's goal of producing 80 percent of electricity from clean energy sources by 2035. But the drilling is taking place with minimal oversight from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. State and regional authorities are trying to write their own rules—and having trouble keeping up.
Now, reports of contaminated water and alleged disposal of carcinogens in rivers have caught state and federal regulators, and even environmental watchdogs, off guard. Sometimes the fracking mix includes diesel fuel. Between 2005 and 2009, drillers injected 32 million gallons of fluids containing diesel into wells in 19 states, an investigation by Representative Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) concludes. Just as it recovers its footing from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Administration faces a new threat, again involving a risky drilling technology and charges of lax regulation. Obama is "evaluating the need for new safeguards for drilling," says White House spokesman Clark W. Stevens. "It's likely that the science is going to say we need to regulate fracking," says Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program for Public Citizen, a liberal advocacy group. "But Obama's political team is going to say don't regulate, and I think the political team will win."
The Marcellus Shale may contain 490 trillion cubic feet of gas—enough to heat U.S. homes and power electric plants for two decades, says Terry Engelder, professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University. That makes it the world's second-largest gas field behind South Pars, shared by Iran and Qatar. The shale gas rush is creating thousands of jobs and reviving the economy in states such as Wyoming, Texas, and Louisiana. In Pennsylvania, where 2,516 wells have been drilled in the last three years, $389 million in tax revenue and 44,000 jobs came from gas drilling in 2009, according to a Penn State report. Perhaps best of all, natural gas emits half the carbon emissions of oil.
While there have been no documented cases of fracking fluids flowing underground into drinking water, there have been spills above ground. Fracking produces millions of gallons of wastewater; some of it containing benzene has spilled from holding tanks. The wastewater can overwhelm treatment plants not equipped to handle high levels of contaminants. A Feb. 26 New York Times article, using documents from the EPA and state regulators, described how radioactive wastewater is being discharged into river basins. Sierra Club Deputy Executive Director Bruce Hamilton says Obama "has been sold a bill of goods." But even the Sierra Club has struggled with fracking. Last year it overruled New York and Pennsylvania chapters calling for a national fracking ban; now it's reconsidering that decision, Hamilton says.
The Delaware River Basin Commission, which manages the watershed that supplies drinking water to 15 million people in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, has put gas development on hold while it drafts rules. Wasner and LaTourette were among scores of people to comment at a Feb. 22 hearing in Honesdale, Pa., on a commission proposal to regulate the drilling. New York also has fracking on hold while it develops a drilling playbook. The Marcellus Shale runs beneath the watershed that supplies just over 1 billion gallons of water a day to New York City, the U.S.'s largest unfiltered water system.
The White House has sent mixed signals. "It's not necessarily federal regulation that will be needed," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson told a Feb. 3 Senate hearing, noting that many communities and states already monitor parts of the process. Energy Secretary Steven Chu seems to differ. In a 2010 speech, he said fracking can be "polluting" and that rules were inevitable. "We continue to believe that state regulatory agencies have the appropriate expertise" to oversee gas production, says Dan Whitten, a spokesman for America's Natural Gas Alliance.
Even if the EPA stepped in, its authority would be limited. A clause in a 2005 energy law—dubbed the "Halliburton (HAL) loophole" for the company that helped pioneer fracking and is a supplier of fracking fluids—exempts fracking from parts of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) says Dick Cheney, once head of Halliburton, pushed for the exemption when he was Vice-President. Hinchey's evidence is circumstantial: Fracking was endorsed in Cheney's 2001 energy task force report, which led to the 2005 law and, according to Waxman, did not reflect the EPA's initial concerns about water pollution. Cheney declined to comment. Halliburton referred a request for comment to its website, which doesn't discuss fracking's risks.
So far, the EPA has begun a study of fracking's effect on drinking water. In February the agency said final results will come in 2014, two years after its initial target—and the 2012 elections. Its emphasis is "politics first and regulation second," says Kevin Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington policy group. "It's impossible to miss the jobs power of fracking in the Marcellus."
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_11/b4219025777026.htmThe Pennsylvania homes of Karl Wasner and Arline LaTourette both sit atop the... more
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The MARDI GRAS Parade Schedule 2011 of the month Mach is as following. The routes and time are also given in the schedule. The City of New Orleans have right to change the schedule when they will found a need to change.The MARDI GRAS Parade Schedule 2011 of the month Mach is as following. The routes and... more
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Christian fundamentalist Rev. Grant Storms, 53, protester of the largest gay event in New Orleans, the Southern Decadence festival, was arrested for obscenity at Lafreniere Park, New Orleans.
Mr Storm said he was urinating in a bottle on his lunch break, but two witnesses say they saw him masturbating. His bail was set at $5,000 but he was released due to overcrowding at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center jail.
Southern Decadence organiser, Chuck Robinson, told the Times-Picayune: “He’s done everything through the years to disturb [the festival] and try to make it into something nasty.
“If the Rev. Storms is caught doing that in our city, it is ludicrous and heinous that he would have the nerve to complain about any kind of sexuality.”
According to the Advocate, “Storms has orchestrated counter-events for Southern Decadence in the past, and in 2004, filed a lawsuit against gay rights group Action Wisconsin for defamation, but the suit was thrown out of court. He has also been an advocate for cleaning up the French Quarter, and has gone as far as filming sexual acts that took place during Southern Decadence, and screening his videos to lawmakers as a way to coerce them to stop allowing the annual festival from taking place.”
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/03/01/anti-gay-christian-pastor-arrested-for-alleged-masturbation-in-front-of-children/Christian fundamentalist Rev. Grant Storms, 53, protester of the largest gay event in... more
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Latest Complete News Updates Today The top prize is half a million dollars. More significant to most, if not all, is the title of "Bassmaster Classic Champion. What will it take to win the Bassmaster Classic 2011, which gets under way Friday morning on the vast coastal wetlands of southeast Louisiana?Latest Complete News Updates Today The top prize is half a million dollars. More... more
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Latest News Updates As you install a kitchen sink you will invariably need to install a sink flange in the sink. Westhill-based ThinJack has extended its range of engineering services to include specialist consultancy for the oil and gas industry.Latest News Updates As you install a kitchen sink you will invariably need to install... more
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NEW ORLEANS — People charged with possession of marijuana in New Orleans will no longer be arrested and taken to jail.
A city law that went into effect at 7 a.m. Sunday now gives police the option of issuing a summons to violators.
District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said the point of the new law is to free up local judges to handle more important cases.
http://www.jackherer.com/archives/new-marijuana-possession-law-goes-into-effect-in-new-orleans/NEW ORLEANS — People charged with possession of marijuana in New Orleans will no... more
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Recently Complete News Updates Ms. Brandi Favre has been arrested in connection with a meth lab bust. The arrest of Vikings quarterback Brett Favre's sister during a drug raid in southern Mississippi isn't the first time she's been in trouble with the law.Recently Complete News Updates Ms. Brandi Favre has been arrested in connection with a... more
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kamoo
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More than eight months after an oil rig explosion launched the biggest oil disaster in U.S. history, Louisiana officials say they're still finding thick layers of oil along parts of the state's coastline.
"Every day, this shoreline is moving inland," lessening flood protection for residents, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said.
On Friday, Robert Barham, secretary of Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, joined Nungesser on a tour of portion of Louisiana's coastline still heavily oiled by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to a statement from the wildlife and fisheries department.
"It has been eight months since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, and five months since the well was capped. While workers along the coast dedicated themselves to cleaning up our shores there is still so much to be done," Barham said in the statement.
During a walking tour of an area called Bay Jimmy, Nungesser said oil can be seen from a distance.
"When the tide is out ... you can see thick oil onto the water for 30, 40 feet out," the parish president said. "There's been no mechanism to clean that up thus far."
At one point on Friday, Nungesser began cursing at U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Dan Lauer.
"It seems like the federal agencies and the Coast Guard is there protecting BP. You guys ought to be as angry as me, that we don't have more people out here doing this," Nungesser said.
Lauer said officials are trying to determine the best way to rid the oil while considering long-term effects of cleanup techniques.
"The main thing we want to make sure of is ... in trying to get this oil out that we don't kill the rest of the isle -- that we don't do more damage to the environment long-term than the good we would do from removing this oil right now, " Lauer said.
"Clearly, there is oil. Clearly, this is heavily oiled marsh. But we are working together in a team," Lauer said. "No one is walking away. Clearly these are high priorities. But there are different phases in different areas."
Louisiana officials said biologists have found several oiled birds in the past few days, including at least two dead brown pelicans. The wildlife and fisheries department also said oiled boom remains in "numerous locations, forgotten or lost by contractors charged with their maintenance and removal."More than eight months after an oil rig explosion launched the biggest oil disaster in... more
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Dead Birds Fall From Sky In Sweden, Millions Of Dead Fish Found In Maryland, Brazil, New Zealand
The Huffington Post | Travis Walter Donovan First Posted: 01- 5-11 09:11 AM | Updated: 01- 5-11 06:16 PM
UPDATE: Wildlife officials say that even more previously unreported dead birds were found in Kentucky last week.
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Millions of dead fish surfaced in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay in the U.S., Tuesday, while similar unexplained mass fish deaths occurred across the world in Brazil and New Zealand. On Wednesday, 50 birds were found dead on a street in Sweden. The news come after recents reports of mysterious massive bird and fish deaths days prior in Arkansas and Louisiana.
The Baltimore Sun reports that an estimated 2 million fish were found dead in the Chesapeake Bay, mostly adult spot with some juvenile croakers in the mix, as well. Maryland Department of the Environment spokesperson Dawn Stoltzfus says "cold-water stress" is believed to be the culprit. She told The Sun that similar large winter fish deaths were documented in 1976 and 1980.
ParanaOnline reports that 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish have washed up in Brazilian fishing towns since last Thursday. The cause of the deaths is unknown, with an imbalance in the environment, chemical pollution, or accidental release from a fishing boat all suggested by local officials.
In New Zealand, hundreds of dead snapper fish washed up on Coromandel Peninsula beaches, many found with their eyes missing, The New Zealand Herald reports. A Department of Conservation official allegedly claims the fish were starving due to weather conditions.
While all three events are likely unrelated, they come after recent reports of mysterious dead birds falling from the sky in both Arkansas and Louisiana. Thousands of dead birds were found in Beebe, Arkansas on New Year's Eve, and a few days later, around 500 of the same species were found 300 miles south in Louisiana. A Kentucky woman also reported finding dozens of dead birds scattered around her home. In the days prior to New Year's, nearly 100,000 fish surfaced in an Arkansas river 100 miles west of Beebe. Officials are now saying that fireworks likely caused the Arkansas bird deaths, and power lines may be to blame for the death of the birds in Louisiana.
Some remain skeptical of the explanations. Dan Cristol, a biology professor and co-founder of the Institute for Integrative Bird Behavior Studies at the College of William & Mary, told the AP that he was hesitant to believe fireworks were to blame unless "somebody blew something into the roost, literally blowing the birds into the sky."
Wednesday, officials in Sweden reported the finding of 50 dead birds on a street, suggesting that cold weather or fireworks were the likely culprit.
Bird deaths and fish kills at smaller numbers aren't all that uncommon, though the size and proximity of some of the recent events have led people to allege their relation, though officials deny the frequency of these wildlife deaths as being anything other than coincidence.
In August of 2010, tens of thousands of dead fish were reported washing ashore in two separate occasions, 200 miles apart on the East Coast.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------... more
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Last week, a celebrated and influential Pentagon insider and defense contractor was found dead in New Jersey. The body of John P. Wheeler was discovered as a garbage truck dumped its load at a landfill. The death has been ruled a homicide, and thus far the investigators who are piecing together the case have offered no clear motive or reason for his mysterious murder.
In seemingly unrelated news, there has been a sudden die-off of birds and fish in the southern United States that has a lot of people talking about the apocalypse. First 5,000 blackbirds plummeted to the earth in Arkansas, littering the ground with their corpses and even hitting passers-by. Then a few days later, 500 red-winged blackbirds and starlings were found dead in nearby Louisiana. And 80,000 drum fish died in an Arkansas river close to where the blackbirds died.
No one knows for sure what has caused all these animals to die. Some people feel that the fish deaths were caused by the outbreak of disease, and are thus unrelated to the bird deaths. So then what caused the birds to drop dead so suddenly? Most experts are suggesting massive trauma (as opposed to disease) caused by such things as fireworks displays, collisions with power lines, and possibly even extreme weather.
Naturally, conspiracy theories abound. Some have suggested miniature black holes caused by the particle accelerators at Fermilab. Others think that HAARP, a government-funded atmospheric radio frequency project, is to blame. But the most fascinating theory centers around John Wheeler.
According to an article at WhatDoesItMean, and reprinted at The EU Times in a more readable form, Wheeler may have been killed because he knew too much. He was apparently an expert many times over in the field of chemical and biological weapons. So he certainly would have been familiar with Phosgene, "described as one of the most feared chemical weapons ever used due to its ability to literally cause the lungs and respiratory system to explode."
Apparently, Phosgene taken from Iraq's stockpiles had been stored at a military base in Arkansas for the past few years. Last week it was loaded onto a military transport plane bound for Afghanistan, which subsequently had some sort of malfunction shortly after takeoff, which may have released some of the deadly chemical into the air.
Interestingly, what has been observed so far in the bodies of the dead birds? ABC News reports:
"According to preliminary testing, the trauma was primarily in breast tissue, with blood clots in the body cavity and internal bleeding."
And George Badley, Arkansas state veterinarian, is quoted in the same article as saying:
"Almost every one of them ... had multiple internal hemorrhages which would mean that it was trauma, not a disease process. Their stomachs were empty, which would rule out toxicity from eating some kind of poison grain."
According to the aforementioned WhatDoesItMean article, Wheeler knew exactly what was happening, and determined to keep this dangerous chemical weapon from being used on the battlefield in Afghanistan, marched straight to Washington D.C. to raise hell with the powers-that-be. That got him "marked", and soon after, he was dead.
The latest eyewitness reports to trickle in of Wheeler in the days before his death describe a "disheveled" and disoriented man, stumbling into various businesses and mumbling strange statements. Could he have been drugged? Was it perhaps an attempt at character assassination, so that any information revealed after his death could be conveniently disregarded as the ramblings of a drunk, a junkie, or a lunatic?
What do you think about the theory posited above? Is there a real connection between the animal deaths in the southern US and John Wheeler's murder? Or is it truly just a conspiracy theory dreamed up by people with too much time on their hands? Post a comment at TalkingSkull.com and let us know your opinion - we're actively seeking commenters!
All links to source material can be found at the original article below:
http://talkingskull.com/article/murder-of-john-p-wheeler-connected-to-mass-bird-deathsLast week, a celebrated and influential Pentagon insider and defense contractor was... more
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Were they shooting fireworks too?
"Paging Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren...
After reports of thousands of dead red-winged blackbirds falling from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas -- along with reports of a massive fish kill in the same area -- raised concerned eyebrows across the land, another bird kill is being reported in a small town near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Reports the Baton Rouge Advocate:
State biologists are trying to determine what led to the deaths of the estimated 500 red-winged blackbirds and starlings on La. 1 just down the road from Pointe Coupee Central High School.
The discovery of the dead birds — some of which were lying face down, clumped in groups, while others were face up with their wings outstretched and rigid legs pointing upward — comes just three days after more than 3,000 blackbirds rained down from the sky in Beebe, Ark. ... In Louisiana, biologists with the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries spent part of the day Monday scooping up some of the birds in Pointe Coupee Parish to be sent for testing at labs in Georgia and Wisconsin.
Officials in Arkansas say that the thousands of dead birds and fish discovered there over the weekend died of natural causes. As you might expect, others are insinuating that something more sinister is going on."Were they shooting fireworks too?
"Paging Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi... more
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Latest Complete Sports News Updates College football, AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl, Georgia Tech vs. Air Force at Shreveport, Louisiana. Well, that name is a mouthful, anyway.Latest Complete Sports News Updates College football, AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl,... more
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Kansas City Chiefs Play An Important Game.This week when they host the Tennessee Titans. The Chiefs have a 1-game lead on the Chargers right now and would like to keep it that way with a win at home.Kansas City Chiefs Play An Important Game.This week when they host the Tennessee... more
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Louisiana Hunter Films Strange Creature with Deer Cam at a Hunting Camp in Berwick: Real or Hoax? A hunter is claiming to have shot eerie footage of a strange humanoid creature with a deer cam. The caption on the NBC33 newscast of the video says What is this?!?! , which pretty much sums it up.
See the video footage at: http://thedailyblender.blogspot.com/2010/12/louisiana-hunter-films-strange-creature.htmlLouisiana Hunter Films Strange Creature with Deer Cam at a Hunting Camp in Berwick:... more
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Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada.Lindsay Lohan was granted her freedom as a Thanksgiving Day present yesterday when she was allowed out to have dinner with her family.Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and... more
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Way back in 2008, when George W. Bush was still running the country, I rode a bicycle across the Southern Tier of the United States to document different environmental perspectives. At the time of the ride my Dad was going through Chemo and his first Bone Marrow Transplant. My Brother's girlfriend Meghan, age 24 was three years into chemo for colon and liver cancer. Meghan's fight with cancer was over in the end of July 2009.
During the making of this documentary I did not tell anyone I interviewed about my proximity to cancer. But it was the proximity to cancer that continued to get me further across the country on a bicycle everyday. More and more the thinking with cancer
is that it exists in all of our DNA. The triggers to manifest cancer come from the environment around us. Through out the bike ride ride I thought constantly of the fight that my Dad and Meghan were going through each day.
I wanted to know what people thought about the polluted planet we live on. Do they ask themselves about water and air quality issues? Is the food they are eating safe for human consumption? What do you think about climate change? Does God play a role in keeping the planet clean?
Project: Southern Tier
Episode 3
From: Alpine, TX
To: New Orleans, LA.
Topics: Return to Organics, Christianity and the Environment, Erosion, Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Surge Barrier (INHC), The Dead Zone, Bead ReUSE in New Orleans.
http://www.vimeo.com/16317153
http://www.southern-tier.net/Southern_Tier/Southern_Tier_Welcome.htmlWay back in 2008, when George W. Bush was still running the country, I rode a bicycle... more
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UPDATE: Tony is still "living" at the tiger truck stop in Louisiana, it's very important that we the public keep the pressure on the government agency which decides the fate of Tony.
Keep up to date with Tony's situation here: http://www.bigcatrescue.org/FreeTony.htmUPDATE: Tony is still "living" at the tiger truck stop in Louisiana,... more
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BigCat
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