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Bees Survival More Possible Now in Europe
2.6 million petition signers influenced the EU to halt the use of certain pesticides that hve been attributed to the anhilation of bees worldwide. As word spread nation by nation starting in France, throughout the U.K. and then Germany, over one half of the European governments then signed on to follow the ban. Paul de Ylva, head of Pesticides and Pollinators unit of Friends of the Earth was a chief advocate of a halt on the use of poisonous chemicals. More here: http://bit.ly/WjM0BD
Fracking is Now the No. 2 Contributor to Global Warming in the U.S.
By Brian Merchant
Everyone’s favorite oil-n-gas-grubbing, chemical cocktail-blasting extravaganza is officially the No. 2 driver of sea-rising civilizational decline this side of the Atlantic. The United States guv just deemed the act of hydraulic fracturing, or shooting tons of water and toxic chemicals and tiny granules of sand deep into the earth’s crust. Read more: http://bit.ly/WPRimS
Radioactive Waste from Gas Drilling Causes Rash in Truck Driver
By Andrea Germanos
Randy Moyer of Portage, Pennsylvania said he began transporting brine, the wastewater from gas wells that have been hydraulically fractured, for a small hauling company in August 2011. He trucked brine from wells to treatment plants and back to wells, and sometimes cleaned out the storage tanks used to hold wastewater on drilling sites. By November 2011, the 49-year-old trucker was too ill to work. He suffered from dizziness, blurred vision, headaches, difficulty breathing, swollen lips and appendages, and a fiery red rash that covered about 50 percent of his body.
“They called it a rash,” he said of the doctors who treated him during his 11 trips to the emergency room. “A rash doesn’t set you on fire. http://bit.ly/TyqxEV
What do you think? Will Fracking Affect Drinking Water? - Poll
With technology, the U.S. has much more accessible natural gas than many ever imagined. Opponents say contamination of ground water is inevitable, and some have even gone so far as to approve fracking bans.
Add your opinion to this CNN poll - will fracking affect drinking water? http://www.cnbc.com/id/47679288
Red Cross Emergency Shelter Help at BRISTOL SENIOR CENTER
The only Bucks County, PA shelter is now located at the Bristol Senior Center, 501 Bath Street in Bristol. For more information, please call (215) 785-6322. This is the ONLY shelter in Bucks County for people suffering from power outages; if you need help, please call.
General Aviation Airports Pose a Threat to National Security
By Miki Barnes
Only scheduled commercial airline operations are required to abide by the TSA's full airport screening program. General aviation aircraft are not. According to the TSA, "General Aviation (GA)...accounts for some 77 percent of all flights in the United States. It encompasses a wide range of activities, from pilot training to flying for business and personal reasons, delivery of emergency medical services, and sightseeing. This according to a US Government Accounting Office Report on General Aviation Security in 2012.
Operations range from short-distance flights in single-engine light aircraft to long-distance international flights in corporate-owned wide-bodies, and from emergency aero-medical helicopter operations to airships seen at open-air sporting events. The sole characteristic that General Aviation operations have in common is that flights are not routinely scheduled; they are on-demand."
Key points by the GAO report regarding general aviation airports:
- Serious Flaws in TSA Program for Monitoring Students Pilots, Foreign Pilots May Be in
the Country Illegally,
- No TSA Security Program for Aircraft Weighing Less Than 12,500 Pounds,
- Some Aircraft Weighing More Than 12,500 Pounds Exempt From TSA,
- Public Monies Subsidizing Pilot Training for Foreign Nationals,
- Smaller Aircraft Can Cause Considerable Damage to Life and Property
Wed. Aug. 22nd 6:30PM - LOCAVORE Potluck
By Hans Peters
BE INFORMATIVE AND INFORMED! Come to the Bristol Township Senior Center at 2501 Bath Road in Bristol.
Share your recipe and gather others. Bring reusable dishes and utensils, plus a 3X5 card listing all your ingredients and preparation instructions to display with your dish. We’ll compile them into a Recipe Book and make copies for all to enjoy.
CELEBRATE AND EXPAND YOUR RESOURCES! Love your kitchen? Got a great garden or a favorite vegetable patch? Proud of your livestock? Take a picture of it and email to BucksTransition@gmail.com. Call Deb Barndt at 267-337-0489.
Ethics Complaint Submitted Against Bucks County D.A. Who Supports Controversial Solicitor Sean Corr
By Stuart Chaifetz
Our complaint the State Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania alleges a number of issues, including an inappropriate/unethical relationship between Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler and Bucks County Attorney Sean Corr, and that relationship has benefited both a client of Mr. Corr and Mr. Corr himself, including affording Mr. Corr an unadvertised position as Bucks County Solicitor.
Read more: http://www.pashame.com/hecklerethicscomplaint.html
Anti-Fracking Sign Offends Bucks County Official Sean Corr -- Not A Word From Him About the Poisoning of P.A. Drinking Water
“I am sure it was the message about fracking that really bothered Marguerite Quinn and I can understand why,” said Joe Frederick, Democratic candidate for State Representative for the 143rd Assembly District, who won his party’s nomination to take on Quinn. Quinn's brother, part time Bucks County solicitor Sean Corr, came to her rescue and angrily took a sign that said, "Margarite Quinn "Fracked You." But now a citizen who is opposed to gas drilling is under attack in the comments sections of the local news.
“Quinn did not merely vote for Act 13 which allows fracking right in our own backyard here in Bucks County and strips any municipal zoning designed to protect local residents, she helped lead the effort to get Act 13 passed,” said Frederick. Such anti-fracking signs have been posted all over the country because of citizens' concerns over poisoned drinking water and other destructions to quality of life that have been confirmed in PA. Apparently, signs as a form of freedom of speech can be problematic for some in Buck County. More here: http://bit.ly/IcNML5 and here: http://bit.ly/KgG7JR and here: http://bit.ly/Jf2VZt
The investigation into Sean Corr's alleged theft will taken out of the county because District Attorney David Heckler has given to both the campaigns of Quinn and Governor Tom Corbett, supporters of fracking.
EPA and Philadelphia's Mayor Nutter Sign Landmark Clean Water Partnership
"The EPA is proud to be working in partnership to support green infrastructure advances that will lead to cleaner waters and a stronger economy for the city of Philadelphia. This city has earned a place as a national and global leader on sustainable innovation and clean water protection," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.
Read more: http://bit.ly/ImHIzE
Environmental Group Sues EPA to Get the Lead out of Aviation Gasoline
Friends of the Earth, a leading advocate for a healthy environment, filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency today after the agency did not reply to a May 2011 Notice of Intent to sue. The lawsuit challenges EPA’s failure to respond to a 2006 petition from Friends of the Earth asking for the regulation of lead emissions from general aviation aircraft under the Clean Air Act.
The petition specifically asked EPA to find that lead emissions from aircraft using leaded aviation gasoline (avgas) may endanger public health. Nearly six years later, despite continuing to acknowledge that there is no safe threshold for lead exposure, EPA has taken no final action with regard to Friends of the Earth’s petition.
Recently, members of the aviation community have come on board calling for more immediate action. A group of pilots known as the Aviation Fuel Club have started a grassroots movement to make unleaded fuel available at airports. Read more: http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.1003231
Confirmed: Fracking Caused Ohio Earthquakes
ODNR regulators and geologists found a number of co-occurring circumstances strongly indicating the Youngstown area earthquakes were induced. Specifically, evidence gathered by state officials suggests fluid from the Northstar 1 disposal well [a deep injection well primarily used for oil and gas fluid waste disposal] intersected an unmapped fault in a near-failure state of stress causing movement along that fault. More here: http://bit.ly/w2toQV
Did Michael Brune Lie About Gas Industry Funding
Michael Brune (5/11/2011): "I do want to be clear about one thing: we do not receive any money from Aubrey McClendon, nor his company Chesapeake. For that matter, we do not receive any contributions from the natural gas industry. Hopefully this will alleviate some concerns." [see full letter below]
http://www.wearepowershift.org/blogs/environmentalists-need-oppose-fracking-forever
Environmental Coalition Focuses of "Home Rule" Bill to Preserve Rights Against Fracking
A coalition of NYS environmental organizations focus on Home Rule Bill S5830 which would enforce protections and repeal existing provisions that support gas drilling.
http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S5830-2011
The state completely omitted an assessment of potential health impacts from the RDSGEIS The Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement. This is despite the fact that fracking-related pollution across the country has been associated with a range of health impacts, from loss of smell, memory problems, and headaches to a number of serious respiratory illnesses. The report fails to quantify any negative socioeconomic impacts associated with fracking or the fundamental regional geological conditions that pose significant risk of groundwater contamination.
Last month, Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy delivered 28,000 letters from concerned citizens to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
For further information call (845) 468 7063, or email info@catskillcitizens.org
Despite Public Awareness and Concerns, NYS Inches Towards Gas Drilling of Marcellus Shale
New York state officials continued to inch closer to allowing drilling to take place in the coveted Marcellus Shale. After a multi-year process and its own temporary moratorium on some fracking activity, New York finished up the latest version of its environmental review and has signaled that it intends to begin permitting more drilling early next year.
The state's chief environmental regulator, Joe Martens, told ProPublica he is confident the drilling can proceed safely, and that he does not expect there will be much to learn from the EPA's research into the issue. New York's draft plan is in its final stage of public review, and is expected to be completed on Jan. 11, 2012.
Read More Here:
http://bit.ly/spyRfi
Wayne Leasing Consent for Gas Drilling Rescinded by Forest Service
Wayne Forest Service has opposed the leasing of public lands over concerns about potential drilling accidents and contamination of the aquifer used by Nelsonville, Athens, Le-Ax Water District and Burr Oak Regional Water District. Amid industry officials’ assertions the process is safe, the Wayne officials say they will continue to gather information about hydraulic horizontal fracturing.
By Steve Robb, Messenger Staff Journalist - Read More Here: http://bit.ly/uGXD4
CANCELLED: Nov. 21st - Anti-Fracking Meeting at Patriots Theater - Trenton
People are being asked to join and testify before the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) which has scheduled a special meeting in Trenton, NJ to vote on proposed regulations that would allow gas drilling within the watershed that is important to people’s health. The DRBC is expected to lift the moratorium on gas drilling which tens of thousands of people have fought to keep in place and won.
The DRBC has yet to provide an environmental or health impact study. The natural gas drilling industry in other locales has polluted drinking water and has negatively impacted local economies. More here: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6055/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=33251
Where: Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive Trenton, N.J.
When: Convene at 7:30am; DRBC meets from 10:00 am – 12:00 p.m
Get on POW’s Philly bus from 30th St. Station at 6:30am:
(the bus leaves from JFK blvd just west of 30th St.)
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Oct. 31st - Nov. 1st - Gas Drillers Plan Media Communications Strategy
On Halloween, 2011, the gas drilling industry will commence a strategic media planning session to combat anti-gas drilling initiatives by citizens and environments with a special emphasis on journalism that examines the dangers the hydrofracturing. The three day session is scheduled to be held in Houston, Texas. The conference description reads as follows:
"Whether it originates from militant NGOs or well-respected journalists from the New York Times, sensationalist stories motivated by an anti-unconventional oil & gas agenda, specifically regarding hydraulic fracturing, are now an every day reality that shale gas and tight oil operators must deal with.
Therefore, to ensure the long term sustainability of North American unconventional oil & gas production and protect the industry from demands for intrusive regulation, it is vital that E&P companies develop the right tools and strategies to devise an effective, media, stakeholder, community and public engagement strategy to overcome concern over hydraulic fracturing."
The plan description covers: media relations strategies, leveraging social media, engaging communities, creating a united front, employee advocacy and engaging with environmental NGO's. Communications experts are provided from Chesapeake Energy, Range Resources, Anadarko Petroleum, EQT Corporation, Cabot Oil and Gas, Encana, Norse Energy, Apache, Wlliams, American Petroleum Institute, Independent Petroleum Association of America and Energy In Depth.
More here: http://www.media-stakeholder-relations-hydraulic-fracturing.com/
This gas drilling strategic communications planning event is being sponsored by: http://www.american-business-conferences.com/
Halliburton Exec Sips Fracking Fluid
The executive mocked reluctance, then took a swig.
What he drank was apparently CleanStim, which when Halliburton announced it in November was undergoing field trials.
http://news.yahoo.com/halliburton-exec-takes-swig-fracking-fluid-223702201.html
NJ Gov. Christie and Legislature Clash over Climate Change
Unlike many Republicans making national headlines on global warming issues, Governor Christie has concurred with the scientific consensus that global warming is real, caused by human activity, and potentially disastrous. The governor’s stated reasons for pulling out of RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative) is that the policy “simply doesn’t work.” Among Christie’s objections are that the price imposed on carbon pollution is too low and the cap on allowable pollution is too high to affect behavior.
Read more here: http://onforb.es/jjdqn4
NJ State Legislators emails: http://bit.ly/lgZXNE
Seven Wells in Muncy, PA Contaminated; Officials Examine Fracking as Cause
An active investigation is underway by the Department of Environmental Protection after methane bubbles were found in residential water wells as well as a nearby creek. The gas drilling company, XTO, a subsidiary of ExxonMobile responded by ceasing the drilling. http://bit.ly/kY5iyg
Town of Wales, New York, Adopts Community Rights Ordinance That Bans “Fracking”
The Town of Wales, NY, adopted a community rights ordinance titled "Town of Wales Community Protection of Natural Resources.” TheOrdinance ( No.3-2011) was enacted as a local law under NYS Municipal Home Rule Act, which recognizes broad police powers under the statute. The Ordinance establishes a Bill of Rights for Wales residents and “recognizes and secures certain civil and political rights of the residents of the Town of Wales to govern themselves and protect themselves from harm to their persons, property and environment.”
The Ordinance was drafted in consultation with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) and advocated for by the community group Protecting Our Water Rights (POWR).
Two key prohibitions are enacted to protect the rights enumerated. The Ordinance bans “ any individual or corporation to engage in the extraction of natural gas or oil utilizing in whole or in part the process commonly known as and herein defined as hydraulic fracturing” and also prohibits “any individual or corporation to engage in the extraction of natural gas or oil utilizing in whole or in part the process commonly known as horizontal gas well drilling,” with the exception, in each case, of gas wells installed and operating at the time of enactment of the Ordinance.
Gas Drilling Industry Admits Contamination
The Marcellas Shale Coalition concluded that natural gas exploration causes contamination after reviewing research from Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. In the study, researchers tested waste water from shale gas drilling. The unnatural process of gas drilling indicated that waste water plants have difficulty stripping all radioactive materials and heavy metal contaminants discharged from water in the process. Watch here: http://cbsloc.al/iSmCR7
July 20th - Citizens Re-converge on Harrisburg
By Ken Weir
Residents from around Pennsylvania joined us to stir up trouble at the Governor's office in Harrisburg. Here is a round-up of the action. Thank you for everyone who attended our impromptu sit-in to demand a meeting with the Governor. He wouldn't meet with a delegation of four of us to demand a ban and tell our stories of water contamination. A decision was reached by the protesters to return on July 20 for the Governor's sham Marcellus Advisory Commission meeting.
Also, with our spare time, we got to make lots of new friends and hear Josh Fox read us the first chapter of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.
The conversation moved from severance tax -- a drilling fee -- as some legislators proposed -- to an outright ban. Citizens called for gas companies to be banned from the state of Pennsylvania for good.
Hear more on Sustainability Blogspot Radio: http://bit.ly/kXOLXd
Contact: mailto:kenweir629@yahoo.com
Mom organizes busses to Harrisburg to say "No" to Fracking
On Tuesday June 7 - Josh Fox will speak on PA Capitol steps at noon before Bucks County residents and parents from across the state in Harrisburg, PA. They let their representatives know that our leaders need to protect our water, air and land from unsafe, unregulated gas drilling practices in the Marcellus Shale. Get bus reservations here: http://bit.ly/mowSmi
Can families thrive on the chemicals leeched into clean fresh water?
Please read up on the town of Dimock, PA to see cautionary facts about a town irreversibly damaged by gas drilling. More: http://bit.ly/mqnc2D
"If you think it is enough that some of us are involved – be aware – the only way we can be certain to protect our state from irreversible damage is for each and every one to take action." say the Plumsteadville Democrats. The gas industry projects tens of thousands of wells in PA, each producing about 1 million gallons of toxic wastewater per frack, and each well can be fracked multiple times. The sheer magnitude of this exploration is the tipping point which makes it imperative that we have the proper policy in place BEFORE more damage is done. In the first several years of drilling in PA there have been over 1000 serious violations. Some of these violations can be seen on the PA Department of Environmental Protection website. The rally will be on the Capitol Steps, North 3rd and State Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101. For more information:
http://bit.ly/lpps8J - Your State Legislators' Email Addresses
Coal Industry Exec Punked by Yes Men
By Rebecca Bowe, The San Francisco Bay Guardian
The Yes Men, that prankster-activist group that has ruined many a corporate executive's day, have struck again. This time their target is the notorious Peabody coal company, which operates environmentally devastating mountaintop removal mining sites in West Virginia and has strip mining operations in Arizona. Read More: http://bit.ly/l2XHeK
Scientific Study Links Flammable Drinking Water to Fracking
by Abrahm Lustgarten
The research was conducted by four scientists at Duke University. http://bit.ly/jaBxGa
They found that levels of flammable methane gas in drinking water wells increased to dangerous levels when those water supplies were close to natural gas wells. They also found that the type of gas detected at high levels in the water was the same type of gas that energy companies were extracting from thousands of feet underground, strongly implying that the gas may be seeping underground through natural or manmade faults and fractures, or coming from cracks in the well structure itself.
Nuclear Power: Adequate Insurance Too Expensive
Governments that use nuclear energy are torn between the benefit of low-cost electricity and the risk of a nuclear catastrophe, which could total trillions of dollars and even bankrupt a country.
The bottom line is that it's a gamble: Governments are hoping to dodge a one-time disaster while they accumulate small gains over the long-term. Yet in financial terms, nuclear incidents can be so devastating that the cost of full insurance would be so high as to make nuclear energy more expensive than fossil fuels.
The cost of a worst-case nuclear accident at a German plant, for example, has been estimated to total as much as euro7.6 trillion ($11 trillion), while the mandatory reactor insurance is only euro2.5 billion ($3.65 billion). More:
http://bit.ly/i2kIJ8
Scientists have new measure for species threat
"SAFE is a leap forward in how we measure relative threat risk among species," says co-author Professor Corey Bradshaw, Director of Ecological Modelling at the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute.
"Alternatively, conservationists with limited resources may want to channel their efforts on saving the tiger, a species that is at the 'tipping point' and could have reasonable chance of survival."
"The idea is fairly simple - it's the distance a population is (in terms of abundance) from its minimum viable population size. While we provide a formula for working this out, it's more than just a formula - we've shown that SAFE is the best predictor yet of the vulnerability of mammal species to extinction."
More:
http://bit.ly/g6qlap
GoDaddy CEO criticized for killing an elephant, posting on YouTube
GoDaddy, one of the top 10 of web hosting companies is in a quandry.
CEO Bob Parsons posted video on YouTube, saying "I spend a few weeks in Zimbabwe each year helping the farmers deal with problem elephants. The people there have very little, many die each year from starvation and one of the problems they have is the elephants, of which there are thousands and thousands, that trash many of their fields destroying the crops.
More:
http://bit.ly/gcbVsh
Why you should take the bus on your next trip
If you haven't taken an inter-city bus in a while, you just might be surprised by how they've changed -- especially here in the U.S.The American Bus Association reports that in 2010, buses were the fastest growing mode of inter-city transportation, outpacing both air and rail travel for the third year in a row. With extremely affordable rates and new amenities -- like free Wi-Fi and extra legroom -- Greyhound and other companies are making bus travel more enticing than it's ever been. And buses are often a safe and inexpensive transit alternative overseas, too. More: http://bit.ly/hXm5BR
April 9th - University of Pennsylvania POW WOW!
Natives at Penn would like to invite you to UPENNS 2nd Annual Powwow. Bring your regalia! and come dance to great music and enjoy the vendors
University of Pennsylvania campus
40th Street Field (40th & Locust)
Philadelphia, PA
HEAD STAFF:
Host Drum: Black Horse Butte
Cohost Drum: TBA
Head Man Dancer: Jiles Pourier
Head Lady Dancer: Katy Isennock
Master of Ceremonies: Clayton Old Elk
Arena Director: TBA
FREE ADMISSION!
Come enjoy a traditional powwow!
All Native Princesses and Drums Invited to attend.
Please bring your own chairs!
Jiles Pourier - jilesp@sas.upenn.edu
Vanessa Iyua - nessiu@gmail.comMegan Red Shirt-Shaw - mhshaw@sas.upenn.edu
April 17th 10AM - Earth Day Bike Race!
Environmentally friendly vendors and exhibitors will be located on the infield help disadvantaged youth rough the Cadence Foundation. Come to the Valley Forge Corporate Center, off Rt. 422 at the Trooper Road Exit on the northwest exit of Valley Forge Park. After the event there is the Audubon Center at Mill Grove http://audubon.org/centers_mill_grove.org/
about 1/2 mile away with has the Brewster Ice Cream shop and the Audubon Ale House.
Contact Parks and Recreation Department for safest directions for cyclists: Trooper Road has no shoulder, drain inlets or curbs and has FAST MOVING TRAFFIC. 610-635-3543
March 31st 7 PM - Church of Earthalujah! Come to Drexel U.
Reverend Billy isn’t your typical clergyman. His message is about consumerism, rather than religion and God. Along with his Life After Shopping Gospel Choir, Reverend Billy is coming to Drexel on Thursday, March 31st at 7 PM in Behrakis Grand Hall, to give a new performance about the Church of Earthalujah! T
The event is presented by the Kal and Lucille Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies with support from Asbury Ministries. It’s free for Drexel students and $5 (cash only at the door) for the general public. http://www.revbilly.com/ for more information on Reverend Billy.
Photos Indiciate Contaminants in Streams and Rivers
"I am ringing the public health alarm bell as loudly as I can regarding contaminants going into streams and rivers in NY-OH-PA-WV and MD from Marcellus and Utica shale gas extraction."
See Photos Here:
http://bit.ly/90feUj
Im sure you have all seen the NY Times series by Ian Urbana that highlighted radium problems last Sunday?
Frankly our problems go far beyond radioisotopes in surface water- which certainly is a threat ( and radiation gets attention while some things more toxic might not) but we know now and my group has direct evidence that extremely high levels of bromide-chloride-strontium-barium and even the glycol either called 2-butoxyethanol (added to frac fluid as a solvent and emulsifer) are being directly discharged to surface water from these facilities--at incredible volumes and in high concentrations. So Im going to be presenting these results first at the EPA workshop on fate and transport of contaminants related to HF at the end of the month-but CHEC is working right now to inform the ATSDR-EPA-all Departments of Health and DEP's of this problem.
What is important here is to realize that we are at public health risk from ALL the contaminants in flowback and produced water that are going into local waterways and some of these are entering our waterways AT KNOWN AND MEASURED HIGH LEVELS.
Particularly disturbing are the releases of bromide and chloride and bromide in particular. Bromide can form with organic compounds in water-especially during water purification procedures many different halogenated hydrocarbons which are carcinogenic-mutagenic--and even teratogenic. At the end of this emil Ive attached an abstract of a review paper on some of these compounds.
The Center for Healthy Environments and Communities (CHEC) has sampled effluent from three plants that take this flowback/produced or brine water from both conventional and unconventional drilling. At the McKeesport POTW Plant, which receives wastewater from oil and gas operation and then runs the load all at once through their primary and secondary treatment process one can see the slug of bromide come out--it goes from about a 250ppb background up to 900 ppb quickly and then decays gradually over time, Strontium another fingerprint chemical of shale gas drilling shows the same type curve here as Br--Strontium replaces calcium in bone and is particularly something you want to not have children drink.
Please take a look at the ppt Ive attached that shows some results from McKeesport POTW, a POTW in Greene County and from the PA Brine Treatment Facility at Josephine operated by Hart Resources----actually most disturbing of all are the levels of contaminants that are coming out of the "real treatment facility"--they are even much much worse than from the sewage treatment plants we studied. Levels of Barium are at 35 ppm--Strontium must not be taken out well as it is coming out at 3000 ppm (this is whopping) and we are finding 2 butoxyethanol coming into the stream from the plant in the mid 50 ppm level---2-BE is also able to penetrate the skin and we have evidence that kids swim in this area and we know it is a stocked trout stream--now this problem probably predates Marcellus as this plant has been getting conventional wastewater from area oil and gas operations for years!
Now this Josephine facility empties into the Allegheny ultimately and then of course is used as a drinking water source for Pittsburgh--but upstream there are many water intakes such as Freeport--Oakmont etc etc.
I send this out widely because I know this watewater is being disposed of in all the states I outlined above--we could use some help identifing plants that take this water in your state-neighborhood--we would like to expand this study to a more multi-site and multi-state approach.
Submitted by
Ken Weir
mailto:kenweir629@yahoo.com
Hundreds of Bucks County Absentee Ballots are Tossed - Check your driver's licenses.
Six hundred applications for absentee ballots were rejected by Bucks County election officials as of Monday. Local Republican Party officials are involved and they say the reason for the rejections is the defects in the applications.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/the_intelligencer/the_intelligencer_news_details/article/27/2010/october/26/600-absentee-requests-tossed-1.html
Voter Registration Director Deena Dean said the applications were being tossed for mismatching signatures, incorrect birthdates and other problems but she says the problem is substantially higher than in recent elections.
But Dean said she can't verify the claim because she hasn't kept count in years past. At this point the file drawer where her workers store rejects is overflowing.
Voting rights groups are calling for an examination of the applications and a process by which voters can reapply. Paddy Shaffer, an advocate in Ohio, says ballots can be tossed for signatures that may not match driver's licenses. The ballots must be signed exactly as on the government document, including a middle initial, if that was the way it was originally signed.
Concerns: Food Production and the Impact on the Planet
Is industrial farming devastating this planet? Clare Maher's niece, Alice Fridemann has this entry about food production causing vast dead zones in the gulf of Mexico.Her view: All industrial farming is devastating the planet. Not just vegetables, fruit, and grain.
The CAFO's where by far the most meat animals are grown produce such huge amounts of fecal matter that it often overflows into rivers and creates dead zones in rivers and lakes. Herbivores are only sustainable when they eat and poop on vast amounts of land, but they're fed grain. And even when they're raised properly, the people who eat the meat don't return their poop and piss to the land where the cattle are raised, so the phosphorous and nitrogen end up in waste-water treatment plants that eventually release it to lakes and oceans. The nutrients are lost to the land and create vast dead zones in rivers, lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Our entire system is unsustainable and harms the planet, and it totally depends on fossil fuels which are rapidly disappearing.
Our genetics have changed more in the past 10,000 years than the past 6 million to adapt to the agricultural diet -- the hunter-gatherer diet is not "healthy" for us anymore -- we've evolved to eat more carbs (grains)....
SEPTA for Newtown?
Watch here - http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/5345286
What will the Lower Makefield community and officials think on 3/10/10 as Newtown SEPTA supporters make their presentation to the EAC?
03/10/2010 Lower Makefield Township EAC Presentation
Location: 1100 Edgewood Rd, Yardley PA 19067
Time: 7:30PM
PA-TEC presented the R8 project to members of the Lower Makefield Township's Environmental Advisory Committee, and members of the public.
http://www.r8newtown.com/
For more information contact: jfrey40535@gmail.com
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