Governor Rick Perry has signed a bill requiring gas drillers to publically disclosed the chemicals used in hydraulic facturing, or fracking. That's when water and chemicals are injected into the ground to crack the shale and extract the natural gas.
Ed Ireland with the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council says the industry supports the bill.
Ireland: Once people can go to the database and see exactly what chemicals are used and in what quantity that it will help clear up the debate.
The natural gas industry says fracking is safe and does not contaminate groundwater.
Texas becomes first to require fracking disclosure
U.S. military's need for biofuels could build new market
Biofuels have buzz in the military because the Air Force and the Navy are taking a lead role in creating a U.S. market for them. They've spent the past few years testing and certifying aircraft to run on them. Now they need hundreds of millions of gallons of biofuels to meet the goals they've set for using alternative energy by the end of this decade.
The challenge for the new industry is to find money to ramp up from nearly zero today. The Department of Defense has called for biofuels that don't displace food, don't use up fresh water, yield less greenhouse-gas pollution than conventional fuels and cost the same. About a dozen companies that want to make this jet fuel for the global market have exhibits for the first time this year at the Paris Air Show, which began Monday.
New graphic cigarette warnings unveiled
The federal government Tuesday unveiled nine graphic images that will be required on all cigarette packs and advertising as part of a powerful new warning strategy.
The images include a picture of a man smoking through a tracheotomy hole in his throat, a horribly diseased lung, mottled teeth and gums, a man breathing with an oxygen mask and a man’s body with a large scar running down the chest. They will be accompanied by messages such as, “Warning: Cigarettes are addictive,” “Warning: Cigarettes cause cancer” and “Warning: Smoking can kill you.”
Fukushima USA? Dangerous radioactive leaks and cracked foundations go unpunished at American nuclear power plants
Safety has taken a back seat to cost-cutting at most of the nation's nuclear power plants, sparking fears that America could be facing its own Fukushima disaster.
An investigation by the Associated Press has revealed federal regulators are repeatedly weakening - or simply failing to impose - strict rules.
Officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have frequently decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril.
Aides To GOP Governor Indicted For Trying To Suppress Black Voter Turnout In 2010 Campaign
Two longtime political operatives who worked last year on Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s gubernatorial return campaign were indicted today for ordering what the state prosecutor called deceptive robocalls intended to suppress votes on the night of the election.
Julius Henson and Paul Schurick each face three counts of conspiracy to violate Maryland election laws, one count of attempting to influence a voter's decision and one count of failing to provide an authority line (on campaign material). Schurick also is charged with one count of obstruction of justice.
FDA gears up for 'perfect storm'
In a report released Monday, "Pathway to Global Product Safety and Quality," the FDA said two-thirds of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States and 80 percent of the seafood eaten domestically are imported.
Half of the medical devices sold in the country and "80 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients in medications sold here are manufactured elsewhere," the report said.
"There has been a perfect storm -- more products, more manufacturers, more countries and more access. A dramatic change in strategy must be implemented," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said.
AMA affirms support of health insurance requirement
Despite an uprising of member doctors, the American Medical Association will continue to support a key tenet of the health care law that requires Americans to buy health insurance.
By a margin of 2 to 1, the AMA's policy-making House of Delegates voted Monday to continue to back the so-called "individual mandate," saying such individual responsibility for Americans who can afford to buy coverage was the best option to expand benefits to the uninsured. The results of the vote were 326 in favor and 165 opposed.
Multiple ocean stresses threaten "globally significant" marine extinction
The 27 participants from 18 organisations in 6 countries produced a grave assessment of current threats — and a stark conclusion about future risks to marine and human life if the current trajectory of damage continues: that the world's ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.
Delegates called for urgent and unequivocal action to halt further declines in ocean health.
The report summary (released 21 June 2011) outlines the main findings and recommendations. The full report will be released at a later date.
US nuke regulators weaken safety rules
Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.
Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews.
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