The New Yorkers Against Fracking coalition is planning a rally in Albany to urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to keep fracking out of the state. Opponents of fracking in the Empire State are worried that draft rules for gas wells has paved the way for gas well permits in advance of needed scientific scrutiny.
Tags: · environment, fracking, Gov. Cuomo, New York, New Yorkers Against Fracking, protest, water
From Green Right Now Reports New Yorkers Against Fracking will be holding vigils in several communities this week, stretching from Brooklyn to Syracuse and several other cities. The coalition is urging Gov. Cuomo to maintain a moratorium against natural gas fracking, which it sees as endangering private and public water supplies and the Hudson River [...]
Tags: · fracking, natural gas, New York, water contamination
Anti-fracking forces in New York suffered a setback this week when a federal judge threw out their lawsuit asking for a full environmental review of possible damages from natural gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin, a prelude to a potential ban of drilling in the region.
The activists fear that natural gas “fracking” would jeopardize water supplies for the 15 million, including some residents of New York City, who depend on water originating in the Delaware River Basin. Fracking involves deep wells into shale deposits which are blasted open by injecting a water-chemical mix at high pressures. The fissures in the underground rock then release natural gas deposits.
Tags: · anti-fracking groups, Delaware River Basin, Don't Frack with New York, federal court decision on fracking, Marcellus Shale, New York
Natural gas is portrayed as the “bridge fuel” that will save the US from uneven electricity supply and prices as we transition off coal and oil on our way toward using renewable biofuels, solar and wind power.
A drilling rig in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo: Green Right Now)
Tags: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, Barnett Shale, bridge fuel, clean energy, cleaner fuels, Colorado, fracking opposition, Marcellus Shale, natural gas, New York, Pennsylvania, renewables, Sierra Club, Texas, top ten natural gas drilling states, WaterDefense.org, Wyoming
B Corps, or benefit corporations, have arrived in the state of New York.
Earlier this month, the legislature passed, and Gov. Cuomo signed, a bill (S.79-A) approving this new type of corporate structure in which companies promise to have a positive impact on the environment and watch out for the rights of workers and communities.
State officials then immediately registered 13 companies as B Corps on Feb 10, the same day the law was enacted.
Tags: · B Corps, environmental businesses, Greyston Bakery, Illinois, local businesses, New York, New York legislature, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, social responsibility
The Environmental Protection Agency is threatening to hit five mid-Atlantic states with new rules that could raise sewer bills and limit construction in a large-scale crackdown on pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.
The move represents the most aggressive action in the 27-year history of the Chesapeake cleanup. When states previously failed to meet deadlines in 2000 and 2010, the agency did nothing. The new deadline is 2025, but the EPA served notice that it will not tolerates states lagging behind in improvements.
Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and New York are in the EPA crosshairs. Those states combine to account for more than 70 percent of the pollution that causes “dead zones” in the bay. The agency informed those states that their cleanup plans “serious deficiencies” and threatened to force them to make up the difference with costly new measures.
Tags: · Chesapeake Bay, Chesapeake Bay dead zones, Dead Zones, Delaware, Environmental Protection Agency, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia
In a symbolic but moving gesture, the Hands Across the Sands oil drilling protest on Saturday brought out people from Miami to Melbourne to stand in solidarity for clean beaches, and against more offshore oil drilling.
There were events around the world, but the turnout was especially heavy in the U.S., spanning the nation from High Line Park in New York City and Nags Head in North Carolina in the East, to Puget Sound and Los Angeles and several beaches in between on the West Coast. People lined up in Anchorage and Maui.
Tags: · American oil, Bay Area, beaches, BP, Cape May, DelRay Beach, Evanston, Florida, gulf coast, Hands Across the Sands, Los Angeles, Miami, Miami Beach, New Jersey, New York, offshore oil, oil, oil disaster, oil drilling, oil protest, oil spill, Pinellas County, Puget Sound, St. Petersburg, Venice Beach
Ford Motor Company announced it will partnering with Coulomb Technologies to provide free in-home charging stations for some of the automaker’s first electric vehicle customers under the Ford Blue Oval ChargePoint Program.
Tags: · Austin, Coulomb Technologies, Detroit, electric vehicle, EVs, Ford Blue Oval ChargePoint Program, Ford Motor Company, Ford Transit Connect Electric vehicle, in-home charging stations, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Redmond Wash., Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington D.C.
The Sheraton Austin Hotel will compete in the EPA energy contest.
Tags: · 1525 Wilson Boulevard Building, 522 Fifth Avenue Building, Arlington Va., Atlanta, Bridgewater N.J, Carbondale Colo., Chapel Hill, Courtyard by Marriott San Diego Downtown, Crystal River Elementary School, Glen Burnie Md., JCPenney, Maplewood Mall, Memorial Arts Building at the Woodruff Arts Center, Morrison Residence Hall at UNC Chapel Hill, New York, Orange Calif., Raleigh N.C., San Diego, Sears, Sheraton Austin Hotel, Solon Family Health Center at the Cleveland Clinic, St. Paul, Tucker Residence Hall at North Carolina State Universit, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Van Holten Primary School, Virginia Beach Convention Center, Virginia Beach Va.
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Congressmen Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) are asking for more information about the chemicals used to extract natural gas wells.
Urban gas well outside a mall in North Texas
Today, the two lawmakers sent letters to eight oil and natural gas companies requesting details of the ingredients used in hydraulic fracturing, a method of accessing natural gas deposits by blasting or fracturing the rock with a high pressure injection of water treated with chemicals.
Tags: · Barnett Shale, Clean Water Act, Edward Markey, Fossil Fuels, fracking fluid, gas drilling, Halliburton Loophole, Henry Waxman, Marcellus Shale, natural gas, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia
Los Angeles is the most EV-ready U.S. city.
Electric vehicle company THINK has released its first U.S. EV-Ready Cities Index. The THINK EV-Ready Cities Index takes into account purchase and usage incentives – such as HOV lane access and infrastructure support, and market fit, including hybrid sales, traffic congestion, EPA air quality zone status, and potential energy sources for vehicle recharging. The index was compiled for THINK by ASG Renaissance, a market research and business services firm located in Dearborn, Mich.
Tags: · Chicago, Electric vehicles, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, THINK
A field monitor checks a gas meter for leaks. (Photo: Department of Energy)
From Green Right Now Reports
Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell announced today that the first installment of $123 million in federal Recovery funds for weatherization will begin to be released Nov. 2, part of $253 million that the state will use for this purpose.
The Governor said the funding represents an unprecedented level of investment that will help to create new, “green” jobs, save money for struggling families, and stimulate local economic activity as weatherization agencies buy required material, vehicles and equipment.
Tags: · New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell, Texas, weatherization, Weatherization Assistance Program
Barbara Kessler
Andrew Winston
Danielle Nierenberg
Anthony Swift