Energy

Activists Permanently Shut Down Vermont Yankee Nuke Plant

December 30, 2014 Harvey Wasserman, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Energy, Environment, Fracking, Nuclear Energy

The Vermont Yankee atomic reactor goes permanently off-line today, Dec. 29, 2014. Citizen activists have made it happen. The number of licensed U.S. commercial reactors is now under 100 where once it was to be 1,000. Decades of hard grassroots campaigning by dedicated, non-violent nuclear opponents, working for a Solartopian green-powered economy, forced this reactor’s corporate owner to bring it down. Entergy says it shut Vermont Yankee because it was losing money. Though fully amortized, it could not compete with the onslaught of renewable energy and fracked-gas. Throughout the world, nukes once sold as generating juice “too cheap to meter” comprise a global financial disaster. Even with their capital costs long-ago stuck to the public, these radioactive junk heaps have no place in today’s economy—except as illegitimate magnets for massive handouts.

Dominion Leans On Landowners To Survey For Atlantic Coast Pipeline

December 30, 2014 Cetology, www.cetology.org Resist! Energy, Environment, Land, Law

Dominion Transmission, Duke Energy and other partners are trying to nail down the route of the 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline to transport fracked gas from the Marcellus Shale through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. Many landowners have refused to let Dominion onto their land to survey for the pipeline. Sometimes, surveyors have even been caught trespassing without permission. Now, Dominion is playing hardball and taking landowners who won’t cooperate to court to get access to their land: Dominion Resources is suing more than 40 landowners in Virginia who won’t allow the energy company to survey their properties for a proposed $5 billion natural gas pipeline. Dominion filed lawsuits earlier this week in circuit courts against 20 property owners in Nelson County and 27 in Augusta County. That number is expected to double, the company said.

Resistance To Skouries’ Gold Mine Persists Despite Aggression

December 30, 2014 Ged Travers, www.facebook.com Resist! Energy, Environment, Mining

The Save Skouries/S.O.S. Halkidiki anti-gold mining campaigners held a follow-up demonstration today (28/12/14) to keep the pressure on Eldorado Gold Corporation after the disgraceful scenes of indiscriminate state violence against the peaceful demonstration held on 23rd. November 2014. Xekinima comrades made the trip from Thessaloniki to show solidarity with the campaigners who continue to oppose the destructive gold mining operation which threatens water supplies, releases a toxic cocktail of pollutants into the atmosphere and has laid waste to acres of forest. Once again the uniform and MAT riot police deployed teargas with a variety of delivery systems including hand-thrown grenades, compressed gas jets and the converted flare pistol which fires three gas cylinders at once indiscriminately into the crowd.

Enbridge And Regulators Missed Most Oil Spills From Pipeline

December 29, 2014 Jessica McDiarmid, www.thestar.com Educate! Energy, Environment, Oil & Gas, Oil Spill

An aging Enbridge pipeline that runs across Ontario has had at least 35 spills — far more than reported to federal regulators — but many municipalities along its route have never been informed of the incidents, a CTV W5 investigation reveals. The National Energy Board, which regulates pipelines in Canada, has records of seven spills, while Enbridge told the investigative program there had been 13. But W5’s analysis of information from the energy board, the company and Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment showed 35 spills associated with the 830-kilometre Line 9. (The Quebec government refused to provide W5 with any information). The company is seeking federal approval to increase and reverse flow on the 38-year-old pipeline and use it to transport, in part, diluted bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands.

The Fracking Fight Spreads—And Spreads Apart

December 28, 2014 Resist! Energy, Environment, Fracking, Oil & Gas

At least 20 towns, counties and states across the country closed their borders to fracking and fracking waste in 2014. Most recently, on Dec. 17, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York is banning fracking—becoming the first state to do so. Activists around the country, from California to Colorado to Washington, D.C. hailed the move. A month prior, Texas, the No. 1 oil-and-gas-producing state, saw its first-ever ban against the controversial process that injects a slurry cocktail of sand, water and chemicals underground to crack open bedrock and extract oil-and-gas reserves. The north Texas town of Denton voted in favor of the ban by nearly 59 percentdespite grassroots activists of Frack Free Denton being outspent more than 10-1 by the energy industry. Meanwhile, California, the nation's No. 2 oil producer, saw a dramatic rise in ban efforts, including its first municipality-level ban (Beverly Hills) and two county-level bans (San Benito and Mendocino). And the Northeast, where there's no major fracking potential, saw a wave of temporary and permanent initiatives targeting the industry's sludgy waste, from Connecticut's state government to small towns in Massachusetts.

A Report From the Frontlines In The War Against Fracking

December 27, 2014 Paul A. Passavant, www.counterpunch.org Resist! Energy, Environment, Fracking

A mixture of emotions is running through the Finger Lakes region of New York in the wake of Governor Cuomo’s announcement on Wednesday, December 17 to ban hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in the state. Residents are relieved to be protected from the health risks and environmental damage produced from fracking. Nevertheless, they are continuing their struggle to oppose the Texas-based Crestwood corporation’s project to store volatile gases extracted from other states, such as Pennsylvania, in salt caverns along the shores of Seneca Lake, which provides drinking water for approximately 100,000 people. Crestwood is seeking to make the Seneca Lake location a hub in its broader infrastructure that supports fracking.

All Naughty, No Nice: 5 Worst Fracking Moments

December 26, 2014 Jo Miles, www.foodandwaterwatch.org Educate! Energy, Environment, Fracking

There’s never much chance of fracking companies ending up on Santa’s “nice” list, considering that polluting our air and water and making people sick is a regular part of how they do business. But while the movement to ban fracking made great strides in 2014, most notably with the recent ban in New York, the oil and gas industry seemed to go the extra mile this year to get onto the “naughty” list. Even here at Food & Water Watch, we were surprised by some of the dirty tactics some fracking companies used to attempt to sway public opinion and win over lawmakers. Here are a few of the most unbelievable fracking industry stunts that made the news in 2014. . .

Obama Hires Former Keystone XL Lobbyist As Senate Liaison

December 25, 2014 Andrea Germanos, www.commondreams.org Educate! Energy, Environment, Keystone XL, Obama

The Obama administration has appointed as new Senate liaison a former lobbyist whose job included pushing for construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline—an appointment that required the waiving of an ethics rule. As deputy assistant for legislative affairs, Marty Paone "will be the White House’s main staffer responsible for outreach to the Senate," the Wall Street Journal reports. Paone worked from 2010-2014 as Executive Vice President at the Prime Policy Group, whose clients included a group "dedicated to the development of Canada's vast oil sands,"according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Also citing the Center's data, Reuters reports that Paone's "firm received $280,000 in 2013 and 2014 from the In Situ Oil Sands Alliance, a group of four companies working to develop oil sands in Alberta, Canada, that would be exported to the United States should Transcanada's Keystone XL pipeline be constructed."

Santa and Mrs. Claus, 7 Elves Arrested At Seneca Lake

December 23, 2014 We Are Seneca Lake, www.youtube.com Resist! Energy, Environment, Seneca Lake

Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and 7 Elves Arrested Today Blocking Crestwood Gas Storage Facility, Marking 170 Arrests in Two-Month-Old Civil Disobedience Campaign. Carrying banners that declared “Christmas Against Crestwood” and “Methane in Your Stocking is Worse Than Coal,” on December 22, 2014, Santa, Mrs. Claus, and seven elves stood in solidarity with We Are Seneca Lake to protest the proposed Crestwood project to store methane, propane, and butane gas in unstable salt caverns next to Seneca Lake. 170 people have been arrested over the past two months in civil disobedience against this project. Almost all the towns have passed resolutions opposing it, but FERC approved the methane storage anyway and the LPG has only the DEC standing in its way.

Chevron Halts Arctic Drilling Plans ‘Indefinitely’

December 19, 2014 Andrea Germanos, www.commondreams.org Educate! Energy, Environment

In a move cheered by environmental groups, Chevron has put its plans to drill for oil in the Arctic "on hold indefinitely," the energy company said Wednesday. It had planned on drilling by 2020 in the Beaufort Sea, but in a letter to Canada's National Energy Board (NEB), Chevron cited "the level of economic uncertainty in the industry" for its decision, Reuters reports. CBC News reports that Chevron has already spent over $100 million on exploration in the Beaufort Sea. NEB policy is that companies engaged in drilling must be able to drill a "same season relief well" in the case of an out-of-control well—an ability, according to the Financial Times, Chevron said was "not feasible."

Greenpeace Activists Acquitted Of Nuclear Protest Charges

December 19, 2014 Andrew Kerr, www.greenpeace.org Resist! Energy, Environment, Spain

In a victory for the freedom to engage in peaceful protest, 16 activists from Greenpeace Spain, along with a freelance photojournalist – together known as the #Cofrentes17 – were yesterday acquitted by a court in Valencia of causing public disorder and injury for calling attention to the dangers of nuclear power, during a protest in February 2011. Nearly four years ago, the activists entered the 30-year old Cofrentes nuclear power plant, some 60 km from Valencia, and painted "Peligro Nuclear" (Nuclear Danger) on one of the plant's cooling towers. Their argument rested in part on Article 45 of the Spanish Constitution that, "Everyone has the right to enjoy an environment suitable for the development of the person, as well as the duty to preserve it". This didn't stop prosecutors from demanding prison sentences of two years and eight months for each of the #Cofrentes17.

Out Of Control Fracking Well Forces Evacuations

December 19, 2014 Andrea Germanos, www.commondreams.org Educate! Energy, Environment, Fracking

An out-of-control natural gas fracking well in Monroe County, Ohio forced more than two dozen families from their homes and may pose the threat of an explosion. The blowout at the Triad Hunter-operated well on the Utica Shale happened at approximately 2:00 p.m. EST on December 13, 2014, according to a statement released Sunday by the operator's parent company, Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation. According to reporting by the Columbus Dispatch, the well had been temporarily plugged a year ago. Bethany McCorkle, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the agency which regulates the gas and oil industry, told the Dispatch Tuesday: "There’s still a steady stream of natural gas coming from the wellhead," and though there is no fire, the gas being emitted could be explosive.

New Brunswick’s Fracking Ban Coming Into Force

December 19, 2014 Kevin Bissett, www.huffingtonpost.ca Educate! Canada, Energy, Fracking, Law

The New Brunswick government is introducing a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing that the premier says won't be lifted until five conditions are met. Those conditions include a process to consult with First Nations, a plan for wastewater disposal and credible information about the impacts fracking has on health, water and the environment, Brian Gallant said Thursday. "We have been clear from Day One that we will impose a moratorium until risks to the environment, health and water are understood," Gallant told a news conference in Fredericton. "We believe these conditions to be very reasonable."

Nader: Oil Trains Unsafe (& Unecessary) At Any Speed

December 19, 2014 Ralph Nader, www.counterpunch.org Educate! Energy, Environment, Oil & Gas, Transportation

Now, in the midst of a North American oil boom, oil companies are using fracking and tar sands mining to produce crude in remote areas of the U.S. and Canada. To get the crude to refineries on the coasts the oil industry is ramping up transport by oil trains. In 2008, 9,500 crude oil tank cars moved on US rails. In 2013 the number was more than 400,000! With this rapid growth comes a looming threat to public safety and the environment. No one — not federal regulators or local firefighters — are prepared for oil train derailments, spills and explosions. Unfortunately, the rapid increase in oil trains has already meant many more oil train disasters. Railroads spilled more oil in 2013 than in the previous 40 years combined.

Closed For Risky Business: Stop Supporting Toxic Tarsands

December 19, 2014 Toronto Media Co-op, www.toronto.mediacoop.ca Resist! Canada, Energy, Environment, Tar Sands

This morning more than a dozen affiliates of Enbridge and the Tar Sands have been locked out of their workplaces throughout Ontario. Individuals in 9 cities have participated. Doors to banks, political offices, and other institutions associated with Enbridge have been locked or otherwise disabled, with “Closed for Risky Business” notices posted. The National Energy Board has already had to crack down on Enbridge's Line 9 project this year for negligence and safety concerning watercourses line 9 crosses however, anti-Line 9 activists are adamant that the public cannot rely on the NEB to be an effective watchdog sinceenvironmental protection is not in their mandate.

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