Image of the Day

States — drillers producing polluted, radioactive wastewater with no
where to put it except into our aquifers or our rivers. It’s the same as in the
oil patch down in the Gulf, or as uranium mining in Wyoming. And it will
continue to happen as long as our leaders don’t start looking more
seriously at alternative forms of energy.
It’s beginning to look like 2013 is going to be a make or break year
for fracking in the United States. On the big screen, the Oscar buzz about
the soon-to-be-released Matt Damon movie “Promised Land” should bring
the issue to the forefront for citizens who hadn’t been paying attention.
Politically, leaders such as New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo and the
Obama administration in Washington have critical decisions to make on
whether to allow fracking and how stringently we will regulate it. The
notion of injecting so much radioactive water into potential sources of
drinking water ought to be a warning sign: America’s energy policy does
not need tinkering, but a major overhaul.
To read the new ProPublica report on uranium mining and water
pollution in Wyoming, please go to: http://www.propublica.org/article/ona-wyoming-ranch-feds-sacrifice-tomorrows-water-to-mine-uranium-today
To check out the trailer for the movie “Promised Land,” please
watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHQt1NAkhIo
Environmental Must-Reads – December 27, 2012
Restoring Democracy in the Fight Against Fracking
Same story. Different day.
People are threatened by an activity that will injure them, and they
work overtime to pass a law that bans the activity.
An affected corporation—or industry association—then sues the
municipality, contending that the community can’t prohibit what the state
allows, and that the ban violates the “rights” of the corporation.
The BLM makes the case for banning pits, but doesn’t ban them
The BLM recently issued a new Instruction Memorandum to its field
offices. This IM establishes policy for reducing preventable wildlife
mortality, increasing protection of livestock, and increasing human health
and safety around oil and gas facilities.