skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Fracking and the EPA: Two Endangered Species?

play audio
Play

Monday, December 12, 2011   

ALBANY, N.Y. - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that groundwater in Wyoming had been contaminated by chemicals associated with fracking - the process used to extract natural gas and oil using pressurized water and other fluids. It was news that didn't surprise Ramsay Adams of Catskill Mountainkeeper.

"We knew that they would find chemicals in groundwater. It's very significant in de-bunking the line that the industry has been using, saying that it's safe."

The EPA itself may not be safe, with some Republican presidential candidates saying they'll shut it down if elected, and 57 percent of likely Iowa caucus voters agreeing, according to a newspaper poll.

Adams and other critics of fracking point out that the natural gas industry has been exempted from federal clean air and water rules. Therefore, they say, state and local regulators need the EPA to help in determining the health and safety risks of fracking.

Adams says he's not oblivious to the jobs and economic boost New York could gain from extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation.

"Can they one day find a way to extract deep-shale, tight-formation natural gas? Maybe. But fracking is not safe. If we have to create jobs - which we do - we should be looking toward renewables."

The Canadian company that owns the Wyoming mine where groundwater contamination was found says the evidence is "a probability" and "not a definitive conclusion."

Jessica Ennis of the environmental group Earthjustice welcomes the evidence from the EPA's study of Wyoming fracking. She says it's part of the agency's vital role.

"If people don't want to be assured that their water is safe to drink and that their air is safe to breathe, then go ahead and get rid of the EPA. But I think it's common sense: EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, is there to protect the environment and public health."

EPA opponents, who include presidential candidates Michele Bachman and Newt Gingrich, say states should monitor the environment. Adams points out that states are already hard-pressed to monitor natural gas fracking.

"It falls directly on the states to regulate this industry. And that needs to be changed."






get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Social Issues

play sound

This year's high school graduates will be eligible for 14,000 new scholarships offered through Opportunity Next Colorado, a $21 million investment …

The new law will apply only to future sales of Indiana farmland. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

Environment

play sound

Traffic deaths are trending higher in Minnesota this year after a decline the previous year. Groups pushing for safer roads are convinced a small …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021