13 Nov ICYMI: Important News Stories from the Last Few Weeks

November 13, 2014 –

US News – Toxic Chemicals, Carcinogens Skyrocket Near Fracking Sites
“‘This is a significant public health risk,’ says Dr. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany-State University of New York and lead author of the study, which was published Thursday in the journal Environmental Health. ‘Cancer has a long latency, so you’re not seeing an elevation in cancer in these communities. But five, 10, 15 years from now, elevation in cancer is almost certain to happen.'”  READ MORE & READ THE STUDY

KVNF – Fracking & Agriculture Clash In Colorado’s North Fork Valley
“Oil and gas exploration and development is an industrial process,” CHC Board Member and Owner of Stone Cottage Cellars Brent Helleckson told KVNF.  “And that industrial scale business will by necessity occur within the watershed, along the creeks, and along the irrigation systems that we depend on for irrigating our crops here. And so if there is an accident or spill or simply just the standard operating procedures of bulldozing roads and other things they can negatively affect all of those gathering structures and water delivery structures.”  LISTEN HERE

Longview News-Journal – GOP win a boon for oil industry
“Republicans emboldened by their Election Day victories are poised to use their new power on Capitol Hill to advance oil and gas industry priorities, beginning with approving the Keystone XL pipeline. Supporters of that TransCanada Corp. project now count a filibuster-proof 61 votes in the Senate, at least, for legislation authorizing the pipeline and are preparing to advance the measure early next year, once Republicans take control of the chamber. But they won’t stop there.”  READ MORE

High Country News – Analyst challenges predictions for Western oil booms
“Spurred by hydraulic fracturing, the deep shale fields of North Dakota’s Bakken and Texas’s Eagle Ford are collectively producing two and a half million barrels of oil per day. By some measures, the boom appears to be turning to glut.”  READ MORE

Denver Post – Gunnison sage grouse gets federal protection to prevent extinction
“Federal wildlife officials on Wednesday embarked on an ecological rescue of the Gunnison sage grouse, a flamboyant bird forced to the brink of extinction by development in the West.” READ MORE

E&E News – Poisoned by the shale? Investigations leave questions in oil tank deaths
“Dustin Bergsing was 21 and six weeks a father when he arrived here at Marathon Oil Corp.’s Buffalo 34-12H well pad, a square of red gravel carved into a low hill.  By dawn, he was dead.  A co-worker found him shortly after midnight, slumped below the open hatch of a tank of Bakken Shale crude oil.  It was Bergsing’s job to pop the hatch and record how much was inside.  An autopsy found he died of ‘hydrocarbon poisoning due to inhalation ofpetroleum vapors.'”  READ MORE

Denver Post – Emissions rules yield little benefit along Colorado’s Front Range
“Even though the volume of emissions per well may be decreasing, the rapid and continuing increase in the number of wells may potentially negate any real improvements to the air quality situation,” the study said.  READ MORE

CNN –  US and China reach historic climate change deal, vow to cut emissions
“In a historic climate change deal, U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced both countries will curb their greenhouse gas emissions over the next two decades. Under the agreement, the United States would cut its 2005 level of carbon emissions by 26-28% before the year 2025. China would peak its carbon emissions by 2030 and will also aim to get 20% of its energy from zero-carbon emission sources by the same year.”  READ MORE