Many landowners who sign leases with oil and gas companies as the "fracking" boom rolls through Texas, Colorado, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia think the lease terms pay them well and protect them from damage. Investigative reporters from the New York Times got the leases and read the fine print. They concluded that many of the leases victimize landowners.
"BALTIMORE — An environmental group said Wednesday that infrared video shows air pollution streaming from natural gas sites that have been sprouting up across the Chesapeake Bay watershed."
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- CONSOL Energy has signed on to a legal settlement that marks the first time a coal company has agreed to clean up conductivity pollution associated with a valley fill, an environmental group lawyer said Wednesday."
"TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The Environmental Protection Agency proposed stricter requirements Wednesday for cleaning ballast water that keeps ships upright in rolling seas but enables invasive species to reach U.S. waters, where they have ravaged ecosystems and caused billions of dollars in economic losses."
Maryland is struggling with a backlog of water pollution violations.
"A federal appeals court today rejected nearly all the claims environmentalists had made against an Army Corps of Engineers decision to issue a permit for a major development in Florida wetlands."
The culprits often are one or more significant lead emitters such as smelters, iron or steel foundries, waste incinerators, utilities, or lead-acid battery manufacturers. Piston-engine planes using leaded aviation gasoline are another source.
"A highly toxic industrial chemical has been spreading under a Garfield neighborhood for almost three decades, slowly seeping into homes and threatening the health of thousands."
On Nov. 9, 2011, EPA signed a consent decree that requires the agency to receive from and approve a State Implementation Plan for DC, VI, and 43 states that don't have a fully approved one. Each state can determine how it wants to reduce haze. In some cases, the plan will rely on actions already taken, such as reductions in emissions from power plants or vehicles.
New Jersey was once the poster child of hazardous waste sites. After four decades of promises, legislation, and considerable cleanup action, it is still littered with sites where cleanup has failed.
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