In a stunning conflict of interest, public hearings on federal approval for a proposed tar sands pipeline are being run by a contractor for the pipeline company itself. The U.S. Department of State’s public hearings along the proposed route of the TransCanada Keystone XL tar sands pipeline this week are under the purview of Cardno Entrix, a “professional environmental consulting company” that specializes in “permitting and compliance.”
Cardno is not only running the State Department hearings, but also manages the department’s Keystone XL website and drafted the department’s environmental impact statement. Comments from the public about the pipeline go not to the government, but to a cardno.com email.
State Department Keystone XL Hearings Run By TransCanada Contractor
EPA to regulate natural gas fracking operations' gas emissions
Much of the focus on hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) for natural gas pertains to potential effects of this technology on water resources, as I discussed in an earlier blog entry.
Yet, the process of fracking, oil and gas production, natural gas processing, natural gas transmission, and natural gas distribution also releases a variety of potentially harmful gases into the atmosphere.
Even Those Cleared of Crimes Can Stay on F.B.I.’s Watch List
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is permitted to include people on the government’s terrorist watch list even if they have been acquitted of terrorism-related offenses or the charges are dropped, according to newly released documents.
The files, released by the F.B.I. under the Freedom of Information Act, disclose how the police are instructed to react if they encounter a person on the list. They lay out, for the first time in public view, the legal standard that national security officials must meet in order to add a name to the list. And they shed new light on how names are vetted for possible removal from the list.
Facebook tracks your every move, even after logging out
With each new change Facebook makes, users' privacy becomes a little less ... nonexistent, if you will. The most recent "News Feed" modifications, for example, display everything you say and do on the site to all of your "friends," and even to the public. And now, even after logging out of Facebook, permanent "cookies" track all your movements on websites that contain Facebook buttons or widgets.
U.S. secretly asked Japan to help dump nuclear reactors
The United States secretly sought Japan's support in 1972 to enable it to dump decommissioned nuclear reactors into the world's oceans under the London Convention, an international treaty being drawn up at the time.
Countries working on the wording of the pact wanted to specifically prohibit the dumping of radioactive waste at sea.
But Washington wanted to incorporate an exceptional clause in the case of decommissioned nuclear reactors.
Diebold voting machines can be hacked by remote control
It could be one of the most disturbing e-voting machine hacks to date.
Voting machines used by as many as a quarter of American voters heading to the polls in 2012 can be hacked with just $10.50 in parts and an 8th grade science education, according to computer science and security experts at the Vulnerability Assessment Team at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. The experts say the newly developed hack could change voting results while leaving absolutely no trace of the manipulation behind.
Fracking for natural gas expanding in Ohio
The eastern Ohio area is dotted with old wells and abandoned mines. But the humongous drilling rig in a farm field east of Carrollton represents something new, something that promises to change Ohio forever.
A crew working for Chesapeake Energy drilled down more than a mile in late May before the drill bit turned 90 degrees. It then chewed a 4,000-foot-long horizontal shaft through a dense layer of flaky black rock that geologists call Utica shale.
Is 'Our Man in Kandahar" a drug dealer and mass murderer?
Raziq has long been publicly suspected of drug trafficking and corruption; allegations that he and his men have been involved in extrajudicial killings, torture, and illegal imprisonment have been trickling out for years. Raziq categorically denies all such charges, telling The Atlantic, “When someone works well, then he finds a lot of enemies who try to ruin his name.”
Last fall, Raziq and his militia were given a starring role in the U.S.-led military offensive into Taliban-controlled areas west of Kandahar City, a campaign that boosted his prestige immensely. Mentored by an American Special Forces team, Raziq’s fighters won public praise from U.S. officers for their combat prowess.
U.S. condemns Israeli plan for new construction beyond Green Line
The U.S. condemned Tuesday Israel's plan to build 1,100 new housing units in Jerusalem's contested Gilo neighborhood, which lies beyond the Green Line.
"We are deeply disappointed by this morning's announcement by the government of Israel approving the construction of 1,100 housing units in East Jerusalem," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
Page 537 of 1139
