"Louisiana is married to the oil and gas business, for better or for worse. The energy industry depends on Louisiana to supply 30 percent of the nation's oil supply, and Louisiana depends on the industry as the state's biggest economic engine. But there is a cost, as the Deepwater Horizon has proven."
Driving this trend is mounting time pressure in many states for utilities to meet deadlines and quotas for renewable energy production, as well as the recession and federal tax incentives.
A new report makes the myth-busting assertion that the coal industry costs the state of West Virginia more in expenses than it brings in economic benefits.
The Superfund tax on oil and chemical companies that helped support cleanup of abandoned hazardous waste sites expired in 1995. Now the Obama administration plans an effort to revive it.
WDSU, the NBC affiliate in New Orleans (Channel 6), found that BP's highly publicized statement that it is not barring news media from witnessing the cleanup, or its failure, is in fact not true. See video of this and other examples, and get contact info for the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center if you've been denied access.
"Billions of dollars of new business and tens of thousands of jobs will flow to four hub cities -- Los Angeles, Chicago, Orlando and Albany, N.Y. -- where plans for major high-speed rail networks are located, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors."
Some Americans are expressing their anger about the Gulf oil spill by protesting against local BP gas stations. But the pain of boycotts in many cases is felt by independent franchisees, not BP.
"The town of Grand Bayou, Louisiana, has no streets and no cars, just water and boats. And now the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico threatens the very existence of the Atakapa-Ishak Indians who live there. 'We're facing the potential for cultural genocide,' says one tribe member."
Wastewater treatment plants can't mitigate the problem, which is compounded by other sources of water contamination, such as drugs that end up in landfills or flushed down toilets, and metabolites or unutilized drugs that pass through people who take the drugs.
The changes affect only new drilling areas and may include greater consideration of environmental impacts, more public review, fewer "categorical exclusions" from environmental review, and more.
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