mining

Cabot Oil and Gas Faces Lawsuit in Marcellus Shale Drilling

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:36:16 -0500

by Adam Federman

Of all the towns that have been subjected to drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania since the opening up of the Marcellus Shale, none have suffered more than Dimock. In just over a year several drinking water wells have been contaminated (one of which exploded on New Years Day, ripping through an 8 foot slab of concrete), numerous spills have dumped highly toxic wastewater, diesel fuel, and fracking fluid into local streams and rivers, and residents have been exposed to dangerously high levels of methane gas and heavy metals.

Unnatural Gas: The Inflated Promise of a Not-So-Clean Fuel

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:19:38 -0500

by Stan Cox

Holding out the prospect of vast new domestic reserves, the natural gas industry is promising to make the United States an energy-rich nation once again. But we should be careful what we wish for. Spending those riches could endanger water supplies for millions of Americans while still failing to solve the climate crisis.

Trading the Watershed to Trash the Catskills

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:24:23 -0500

by Adam Federman

Aerial photographs of land surrounding the millennium pipeline north of Sullivan County, NY show sweeping tracts of largely unspoiled forest. They are ecologically important for several species including neo-tropical migrant birds that travel from South America to breeding habitats in the northern latitudes, bald eagles, and the endangered timber rattlesnake.

The Struggle Against Free Trade Continues

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:38:28 -0400

by Gabriella Campos

On October 15th, La Mesa Nacional Frente a La Minería Metálica en El Salvador, also known as El Salvador's National Roundtable on Mining, won the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award awarded by the Institute for Policy Studies for their fight against mining in El Salvador.

As the international community's attention is fixed on the coup and crisis in Honduras, another Central American country fights the constraints and inequalities caused by flawed free trade agreements between the United States and the hemisphere.

Native American Uranium Miners Still Suffer, As Industry Eyes Rebirth

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:29:55 -0400

by Kari Lydersen

ACOMA, NEW MEXICO-On the Navajo Nation, almost everyone you talk to either worked in uranium mines themselves or had fathers or husbands who did. Almost everyone also has multiple stories of loved ones dying young from cancer, kidney disease and other ailments attributed to uranium poisoning.

The effects aren't limited to uranium miners and millers; whole families are usually affected as women washed their husbands' contaminated clothes, kids played amidst mine waste and families even built homes out of radioactive uranium tailings.

Stop Texting, to Save Lives in Africa

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:25:39 -0400

by Jeffrey Allen

WASHINGTON- Activists asked cell phone users to stop texting for one hour on Wednesday -- not to save energy or focus on the road, but to call attention to one of the deadliest and most underreported conflicts in the world.

What's the Story?

Abuse Claims Against Peru Police Guarding British Firm Monterrico

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:54:45 -0400

by Ian Cobain

The British mining corporation Monterrico's plan was to create Peru's second largest copper mine at Rio Blanco, a vast site in the Huancabamba mountains in the north-west of the country.

Peru is already the world's third-largest copper-producing nation, and the mine in the province of Piura was to have increased output by around a quarter, producing exports worth up to $1bn (£600m) a year for the next 20 years.

The Coalfield Uprising

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:03:02 -0400

by Jeff Biggers

When the Environmental Protection Agency declared this year on September 11 that all pending mountaintop removal mining permits in four Appalachian states stood in violation of the Clean Water Act and required further review, Lora Webb didn't have time to join in any celebrations. As she and her husband, Steve, a coal miner, packed up their possessions and left his family's ancestral property outside Lindytown, West Virginia, Lora was more concerned about finding a place to sleep that night.

Activist's 'Necessity' Defense May Get the Boot

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:55:46 -0400

by Amy Joi O'Donoghue

A federal judge is expected to hear arguments Friday detailing why environmental activist Timothy DeChristopher should be allowed or prohibited from presenting evidence he acted out of "necessity" when he deliberately bid on and won oil and gas leases he couldn't pay for as part of a protest.

The December disruption of the Bureau of Land Management auction in Salt Lake City led to an indictment on two criminal charges against DeChristopher - violation of the federal oil and gas leasing reform act and providing a false statement.

EPA Gets Approval to Move Residents From Polluted Town

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:17:17 -0400

by Dion Lefler

Residents of Treece moved a step closer to being moved out of their lead-polluted town Thursday when the U.S. Senate approved an amendment to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to buy out and shut down the community.

The amendment was attached to the Interior and Environment Appropriations Act by Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, both R-Kan., and James Inhofe, R-Okla.

The bill passed the Senate on Thursday evening.

The Treece amendment "represents one of the rare instances of true bipartisan support," Roberts said.