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New York bans fracking after health report

ALBANY, NY/NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York state will ban hydraulic fracturing after a long-awaited report concluded that the oil and gas extraction method poses health risks, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration said on Wednesday. New York Environmental Commissioner Joseph Martens said at a cabinet meeting he will issue an order early next year banning fracking, which has been under a moratorium since 2008. Once that happens, New York will join Vermont as the only states to completely prohibit fracking. The decision ends what has been a fierce debate in New York over the benefits and pitfalls of fracking, a process that involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into a well to extract oil or gas. Many in the state saw gas drilling as a key economic resource while others argued it was too dangerous. The state’s health commissioner, Howard Zucker, said there is not enough scientific information to conclude […]

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New York fracking ban reverberates nationally

NEW YORK — The news took even the most seasoned environmental activists by surprise: after years of review,  Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday  that New York State would ban hydraulic fracturing. “I can barely contain myself,” said Nadia Steinzor, the eastern coordinator for national non-profit Earthworks. “Even though Cuomo recently said he was going to make a clear decision, we were not expecting something as exciting and straightforward as this.” New York State’s decision comes two years after the state’s Department of Health initiated a review of the possible health impacts of hydraulic fracturing, a process in which thousands of gallons of water is mixed with chemicals and sand and pumped deep into the earth to break up gas-rich shale rock formations. The process has been approved in dozens of states across the U.S. and has often been touted by supporters as an economic boon to struggling regions, including next […]

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Study Finds Toxins, Cancer-Causing Air Pollution at Oil, Gas Wells

Study Finds Toxins, Cancer-Causing Air Pollution at Oil, Gas Wells thumbnail A cadre of citizens taking air samples for a scientific study has found toxic emissions from Wyoming oil and gas operations, some that are many, many of times above federal health standards. In a six-state study published in Environmental Health , authors say the Wyoming samples show high concentrations of benzene, hydrogen sulfide, formaldehyde and more. Air samples taken in 13 of 15 sites in Park and Fremont counties exceeded the standards, prompting a call to action. Deb Thomas of Clark, one of the co-authors of the study, said residents close to increasing oil and gas developments are in peril and have been abandoned by government watchdogs. She is a director of the group ShaleTest, and formerly worked with the Wyoming-based landowner advocacy group Powder River Basin Resource Council. “They’re fighting for their lives,” she said. “Fracking not […]

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Oil Drillers to Accept Some EPA Rules to Avoid Curbs on Methane

A lobbying group for oil producers including Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) said it would accept proposed rules on pollution from oil wells in order to head-off a broad federal standard for methane leaks. The American Petroleum Institute , which has fought U.S. mandates on everything from smog rules to renewable fuel quotas, said it is willing to meet Environmental Protection Agency limits on the release of smog-forming compounds from hydraulically fractured wells. Such rules are in place for gas wells, and the EPA is considering expanding them to oil wells. “That’s a far better approach than any regulation towards methane,” Howard Feldman, director of regulatory affairs, told reporters in Washington today. “If it were done in the right way, it could be something acceptable.” In what environmental advocates say is the next climate test for President Barack Obama, the EPA is set to announce […]

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Coal conversion plants sap China’s emissions targets

A dump truck carries coal at the open pit in the Tsankhi section of the Tavan Tolgoi coal deposit, developed by Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi LLC, in South Gobi, Mongolia, on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 Chinese negotiators attending this week’s climate change talks in Lima have come armed with a long and detailed list of measures to rein in the coal use that creates smog at home and climate change worries abroad. Early this month President Xi Jinping unveiled an estimate that China’s greenhouse gases would stop climbing in about 2030, thanks to policies restricting coal use around big cities in the east. More On this story On this topic IN China But there’s a wild card in the carefully tabulated spreadsheets of boilers to be shut and pipes to be laid. Emissions from an industry that transforms coal into gas or liquid fuel are proving difficult to measure and […]

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E.P.A. Ozone Rules Divide Industry and Environmentalists

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday announced a long-delayed environmental regulation to curb emissions of ozone, a smog-causing pollutant linked to asthma, heart disease and premature death. The sweeping regulation, which are aimed at smog caused by power plants and factories across the country, particularly in the Midwest, is the latest in a series of Environmental Protection Agency controls on air pollution that wafts from smokestacks and tailpipes. Such regulations, released under the authority of the Clean Air Act , have become a hallmark of President Obama’s administration. Environmentalists and public health advocates have praised the E.P.A. rules as a powerful environmental legacy. Republicans, manufacturers and the fossil fuel industry have sharply criticized them as an example of costly government overreach. The National Association of Manufacturers has called the proposal “the most expensive regulation ever.” The proposed regulation would lower the current threshold for ozone pollution to a […]

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EPA Proposes Stricter Ozone Air Pollution Standard

Los Angeles has been ranked the worst in the nation for ozone pollution. ENLARGE Los Angeles has been ranked the worst in the nation for ozone pollution. Getty Images WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is preparing for the release of a series of energy regulations over the coming weeks in advance of a Republican-controlled Congress next year that will prompt pushback from industries and lawmakers, testing President Barack Obama’s commitment to his environmental agenda. On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed lower limits for ground-level ozone , or smog, in the atmosphere, setting off a nearly yearlong regulatory process for setting a new standard. Public-health and environmental groups say the limits are essential in preventing a range of respiratory diseases. Businesses say it could be the costliest regulation in U.S. history. By year’s end, the administration plans to release at least three other regulations, including another from EPA regulating coal ash, […]

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Supreme Court to Review EPA Rule on Power Plant Emissions

The Supreme Court will review the first-ever national environmental standards requiring power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollutants. WSJ’s Amy Harder reports. Photo: Getty. WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to review the first-ever national environmental standards requiring power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollutants, saying it would decide whether the government should have considered how much the rules would cost utilities. The court’s action extends a saga that dates back more than two decades. Congress first required the Environmental Protection Agency to issue regulations in 1990, but the agency’s efforts had been stalled for years because of several factors, including lengthy court battles. The EPA rules, adopted in 2012, require coal and oil-fired power plants to cut most of their emissions of mercury, a neurotoxin the EPA says is particularly harmful for children, unborn babies and women […]

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EPA To Propose Limit to Ozone Air Pollution Wednesday, Sources Say

WASHINGTON—The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to announce Wednesday a sweeping federal air-pollution standard limiting ground-level ozone, or smog, in the atmosphere, according to people familiar with the plan. The proposal will likely reanimate a battle between businesses and environmental groups that has been dormant for three years. In 2011, the EPA estimated that the proposed standard—set then at the toughest level the agency had yet considered—could cost utilities and other businesses as much as $90 billion a year. Mr. Obama delayed issuing it. The EPA will seek public comment on limiting ozone pollution between 65 and 70 parts per billion of ozone in the air, the people familiar with the matter said, which is in line with what an independent scientific advisory panel had recommended earlier this year. The current level, established in 2008 by the George W. Bush administration, is set at 75 parts per billion. Environmental […]

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