Research Shows Radioactive Dangers to Marcellus Shale Fracking

October 27th, 2010 | Environment | | Leave a comment

As Wall Street keeps pushing the Marcellus Shale “play” word now comes from University of Buffalo researchers that hydro fracking not only releases natural gas but is likely to release uranium as drilling companies our millions of gallons of water and fracking fluids into rock to force the gas to the surface. A University of Buffalo reports:

“Marcellus shale naturally traps metals such as uranium and at levels higher than usually found naturally, but lower than manmade contamination levels,” says Tracy Bank, PhD, assistant professor of geology in UB’s College of Arts and Sciences and lead researcher. “My question was, if they start drilling and pumping millions of gallons of water into these underground rocks, will that force the uranium into the soluble phase and mobilize it? Will uranium then show up in groundwater?”

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Al-Jazeera: UK admits using Depleted Uranium ammunition in Iraq

July 23rd, 2010 | National Security | | Leave a comment

UK Defense Secretary Liam Fox says American and British forces utilized Depleted Uranium (DU) ammunitions during the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. UK forces used about 1.9metric tons in Iraq.

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Fluoride from Municipal Water Supplies is Toxic to Fish

July 6th, 2010 | Bulldog Blog | | One comment

Photo: Ildar Sagdejev
Photo: Ildar Sagdejev

Water Fluoridation Impacts the Environment

Fluoride pollution from aluminum smelters has long been known to cause problems such as damage to plants and risk to livestock grazing grasses exposed to the chemical. But there are not many highly publicized studies that look at the ecological impact of fluoridating municipal water supplies. Past research, however, shows that the practice hailed by the CDC as one of the greatest public health advances of the 20th century for humans may be causing damage to the environment.

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Guardian: Drop in rich countries’ emissions caused by recession in 2009 was nullified by steep increases from China and India

July 2nd, 2010 | Environment | | Leave a comment
Photo: High Contrast / wikicommons
Photo: High Contrast / wikicommons
Greenhouse gas emissions from rich countries fell a record 7% in 2009 because of the recession, but the cut was entirely nullified by steep increases from fast-growing China and India. Overall, this meant annual global climate emissions remained steady for the first time since 1992, says the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

But the Dutch government-funded agency, which in 2007 was the first to correctly identify that China had overtaken the US as the world’s greatest greenhouse gas polluter, warned that the figures did not mean that rich countries had cleaned up their act.

“A large part of production capacity has been suspended, but this could be re-employed as soon as the economy improves. It is likely that a recovering economy would cause emission levels in industrialized countries to go up. Nevertheless, the economic downturn has meant that these countries can meet their reduction obligations with more ease,” said NEAA spokeswoman Anneke Oosterhuis

READ THIS STORY AT GUARDIAN.CO.UK

Continue reading Guardian: Drop in rich countries’ emissions caused by recession in 2009 was nullified by steep increases from China and India