A Crash Course

Can we benefit by this new source of natural gas without it affecting our water and lifestyle? This collection of bibliographic resources, government documents, letters, and videos is a crash course in fracking.

Publications Mix

Of all the lobbyists bringing their issues to Capitol Hill, the Groundwater Protection Council is one of the smaller players.  I have to wonder, reading the rankings on Open Secrets, "Lobbying Spending Database: Environment, 2009", why this groundwater organization spends less on its annual lobbying than "Fur Wraps the Hill" or the "Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy"?  Groundwater is a hot button national issue, affecting both the urban and agricultural sectors.
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Some of the new data [Wikileaks] coming out today makes it clear that everyone’s suspicion that the U.S. was both bullying and buying countries into endorsing their do-little position on climate were even sort of worse than we had realized...

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European energy companies are scrambling to secure licenses to roll out extraction projects this side of the Atlantic. ...Experts have increasingly expressed concern that the chemicals used in fracking may pose a threat underground or when waste fluids are transported or spilled.

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Not long ago scientists thought that the placenta shielded cord blood — and the developing baby — from most chemicals and pollutants in the environment. But now we know that at this critical time when organs, vessels, membranes and systems are knit together from single cells to finished form in a span of weeks, the umbilical cord carries not only the building blocks of life, but also a steady stream of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides that cross the placenta as readily as residues from cigarettes and alcohol.
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T. Boone Pickens has somehow managed to sell President Obama and an astonishing number of Congress members on the myth that nat-gas is a homegrown wonder fuel.

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This conservative organization's action page has form letters on a number of issues that Republican voters may send to their representatives to let them know that the party line may not be in their best interests.

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Do you know that pediatric cancer is the leading disease killer of children in the United States? That 35 children are diagnosed with cancer in the US every day? Do you know that, according to the National Cancer Institute, pediatric cancer as a whole received only $200 million for research in 2009?

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"The U.S. Chamber Doesn’t Speak For Me” campaign is designed to expose the Chamber’s dirty business in Washington D.C. and discredit their efforts.

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For years, a chemical plant in the Chinese village of Qiugang had polluted the river, poisoned the drinking water, and fouled the air — until residents decided to take a stand. The Warriors of Qiugang, a Yale Environment 360 video co-produced by Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon, tells the story of the villagers’ determined efforts to stop the pollution.

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Kentucky ranks dead last in healthy behavior, and 49th in overall well-being, ..More mountaintop removal will only make these problems with the health of Appalachian people even worse. Its hard to get worse than worst, but Hal Rogers is doing his darndest.

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