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A Chance for More Transparency on Oil and Gas Production on Public Lands: My Congressional Testimony

A Chance for More Transparency on Oil and Gas Prod...

Today I had the opportunity to testify to Congress on an important bill, The Transparency in Energy Production Act of 2020, that would require energy companies that lease federal land to disclose more about their social and environmental impact. This is an important idea that I have been advocating for over many years and several reports.  My full written testimony is here, and the oral testimony I delivered today is below....
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1982 American Petroleum Institute Report Warned Oil Workers Faced ‘Significant’ Risks from Radioactivity

1982 American Petroleum Institute Report Warned Oi...

Back in April last year, the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency decided it was “not necessary” to update the rules for toxic waste from oil and gas wells. Torrents of wastewater flow daily from the nation’s 1.5 million active oil and gas wells and the agency’s own research has warned it may pose risks to the country’s drinking water supplies. On Tuesday, a major new investigative report published by...
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Science journalist to give talk about radioactive risks

Science journalist to give talk about radioactive ...

The presentation will be Friday, Jan. 24 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Ohio University Eastern, Shannon Hall Theater, 45425 National Road West, St. Clairsville. ST. CLAIRSVILLE — On Friday, Jan, 24, Justin Nobel, science journalist writing for the Rolling Stone Magazine, will have an informational meeting regarding the radioactive risks associated with the oil and gas industry at Ohio University Eastern in Belmont County. Nobel...
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America’s Radioactive Secret

America’s Radioactive Secret

Oil-and-gas wells produce nearly a trillion gallons of toxic waste a year. An investigation shows how it could be making workers sick and contaminating communities across America. (Ed. Sorry that the formatting cuts off the text. I don’t know how to fix it. Go to the Source for the original story: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/oil-gas-fracking-radioactive-investigation-937389/)   Brine...
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Study Finds Coal Closures Saved Thousands Of Lives in Ohio Valley

Study Finds Coal Closures Saved Thousands Of Lives...

A new study finds the closure of coal-fired power plants and transition to natural gas generation across the United States over a decade saved an estimated 26,610 lives due to a reduction in air pollution, with about a fifth of those avoided deaths in the Ohio Valley. The coal-rich Ohio Valley states received outsized health benefits from the shift from coal to gas. The analysis found about 5,300 deaths were avoided in ...
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Colorado Fracking Study Shows Toxic Chemicals Up to 2,000 Feet Away From Drilling Sites

Colorado Fracking Study Shows Toxic Chemicals Up t...

Data from a Colorado study finds that people living near oil and gas fracking sites may have heightened risk of nose bleeds, dizziness, headaches and other short-term health effects, according to The Denver Post. Right now, state regulators have set a 500-foot minimum setback distance for residences. Evidence from the study finds that residents living between 500-2,000 feet of fracking sites are exposed to benzene and other...
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California Ramps up Fossil Fuel Fight With Ban on Fracking

California Ramps up Fossil Fuel Fight With Ban on ...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed new restrictions on oil exploration in his state yesterday by putting a moratorium on hundreds hydraulic fracturing permits until the projects are reviewed by independent scientists, as the AP reported. His mandate also banned new wells from being drilled using a new method that employs a high-pressure cyclic steaming process. Regulators believe that process led to an oil leak that...
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Dangerous oil and gas industry exemption slipped into highway bill

Dangerous oil and gas industry exemption slipped i...

A landmark five-year, $287 billion highway bill moving in the Senate contains a poison pill provision that must be eliminated. The measure — which would be the largest highway legislation in history — is noteworthy for its inclusion of the first climate title in a surface transportation bill. The climate provisions are an important step toward addressing the urgent need to reduce transportation emissions and invest in...
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Inside Energy Questions: Is Fracking Dangerous?

Inside Energy Questions: Is Fracking Dangerous?

There are many hazards associated with oil and gas development: air and water pollution, accidents, and threats to mental health. Clearly, oil and gas development can be dangerous, but HOW dangerous? And for whom? That’s what we will try to lay out in this story, with some important caveats to keep in mind: Some hazards are very likely to happen; Some hazards have a low probability of happening Some hazards are very...
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BUT AT WHAT COST? -To many, the pipelines are a lifeline in impoverished Appalachia, bringing in jobs and money.

BUT AT WHAT COST? -To many, the pipelines are a li...

The first signs of change came to Belmont County several years ago, as natural gas extraction company trucks rumbled over the roads. Next came drilling rigs and pipelines for hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. To many, the pipelines are a lifeline in impoverished Appalachia, bringing in jobs and money. Despite the economic boom, environmentalists and some residents are questioning the health and safety of...
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Millions of abandoned wells spark climate, safety fears

Millions of abandoned wells spark climate, safety ...

A couple of years ago, Charlie Brethauer started to smell gas in the backyard of his home. Figuring it was a leak from the service line that heats his garage, he grabbed a shovel and started digging in a patch of blackened soil about 20 feet from the back door of his rural home in Richland Township, Pa., 15 miles north of Pittsburgh. The shovel struck a plastic bucket covering the end of a vertical steel pipe. As he widened...
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Coal’s other dark side: Toxic ash that can poison water and people

Coal’s other dark side: Toxic ash that can poison ...

Workers who cleaned up a huge spill from a coal ash pond in Tennessee in 2008 are still suffering—and dying. The U.S. has 1,400 ash dumps. 11 Minute Read On December 22, ten years to the day after a dike ruptured at a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant near Kingston, Tennessee, pouring more than a billion gallons of toxic coal ash into the Emory River, TVA took out a full-page ad in the local paper to congratulate itself...
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Germany Closes Its Last Active Coal Mine, Ending 200-year-old Industry

Germany Closes Its Last Active Coal Mine, Ending 2...

Germany will witness the end of an era Friday. Around mid-afternoon, a team of dusty miners will bring up the last lumps of hard coal mined in the country from the Prosper-Haniel mine in Bottrop, in the heart of Germany’s industrial northwest. It’s a bittersweet farewell for an area already down on its luck. Prosper-Haniel was the last operating hard coal mine in a region defined by that industry for 200 years. The Ruhr...
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An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands Of Coal Miners. Regulators Could Have Stopped It

An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands Of Coal Miners. R...

Greg Kelly at home in Delphia, Ky. A former coal miner, Kelly has an advanced stage of black lung disease known as complicated black lung or progressive massive fibrosis. Rich-Joseph Facun for NPR hide caption toggle caption Rich-Joseph Facun for NPR Greg Kelly at home in Delphia, Ky. A former coal miner, Kelly has an advanced stage of black lung disease known as complicated black lung or progressive massive fibrosis....
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How the energy boom shaped a small town in rural America – Amity and Properity

How the energy boom shaped a small town in rural A...

When a fracking company came to a small community in rural Pennsylvania, many people signed the lease that allowed the company to access the natural gas resources on their land. Among them was Stacey Haney, who at that time owned a small farm. Haney saw the lease as a way to support American energy, and like many other people, a way to get some extra money to support life. But money is not the only thing fracking brought to...
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