The Gap Between Business Ethics and the Law

The fracking issue inspired this Suite101 article about closing the gap between business ethics and the law; the article discusses more than fracking, however, and goes on to cover the history of bad business ethics and laws enacted to stop them.

Basically, business exist to make money, and laws are enacted only AFTER enough people get hurt, and even die, to make the media and law-makers take notice. Only then have companies shifted to more ethical practices.

Companies can come back after the bad press if truly committed to doing the right thing. The injured people and those who have lost their lives due to unethical companies, do not have that luxury.

Review of Sportsmen Alliance for Marcellus Conservation

Frustrations over seeing hunting and fishing areas affected by fracking chemicals has prompted the Sportsmen Alliance for Marcellus Conservation. Rather than accept information handed to them by gas companies, regarding the safety of hydro-fracture+ gas drilling and fracking brine, they are looking at the effects on water supplies and land surrounding areas near drilling sites.

This quote from a June 25, 2011 Huff Post article by Kevin Begos about the issue and group describes their findings in one short paragraph. "Already, preliminary water testing by sportsmen is showing consistently high levels of bromides and total dissolved solids in some streams near fracking operations, Dufalla said. Bromide is a salt that reacts with the chlorine disinfectants used by drinking water systems and creates trihalomethanes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says trihalomethanes can be harmful to people who drink water with elevated levels for many years."

Pennsylvania Fracking Brine Dumped in Ohio

Awareness of brine dumping in Ohio is growing, but getting citizens to comprehend the severity of the problem is a challenge. Dumping brine into wells dug in the 1960's and 1970's, that contaminated the water by breaking through the water table when drilled, are unproven as secure brine containment vessels. 

June 20th newspaper article about the issue.

Ohio taking in flood of Pennsylvania's toxic brine for disposal

Hydro-Fracture Facts

This article, Environmental Dangers of Hydro-Fracturing the Marcellus Shale

by Robert Myers (Lock Haven University) is loaded with information about the dangers of Fracking. 

In addition to a multitude of well-explained facts, the article contains links to numerous other informative sites and documents about the dangers of hydro-fracture gas drilling. 

Understanding The Environmental Issues Of Our World Today

Author: Janice Sherwood

There is enormous talk about there being an environmental problem. Is it effecting you or your children? Will it effect your children and grand children? You be the judge. The jury say there sure is.

The U.S. Census Bureau states that the world population is expanding at an alarming rate. In 1800 the world population was estimated at one billion people and two billion by the year 1922. In the year 2000 population was at six billion worldwide. Researcher are estimating that this will grow by one half time to nine billion in the year 2050.

Now what do those numbers mean to our environment?

Simply put that in 2050 we will have 25% less natural resources per capita than people had in 1950. So with the growth of population our fixed amount of natural resources will have to be stretched further. What will that growth do to our greenhouse gas emissions? So if we keep living as we are, changing nothing, what kind of world are our children and grand children going to live in?

We want our children to have a better lifestyle, or at least comparable to ours. We save to further their education, their weddings and yes sometimes even what they will inherit. What we are not saving for them are the most important things, clean air,water, land, and an abundance of natural resources. We are not saving their health or the planet they live on. Instead we are leaving them a huge environmental problem full of health risks.

Fact: A carrot grown in 2002 has about a seventh of the beta-carotene as a carrot grown in 1950?

Some of the biggest threats to our future stems from the home and our family. From the dangerous chemicals used when cleaning your house to what you put in your trash bag.

Fact: House hold batteries can leak dangerous chemicals over time and should not be sent to landfills.

What happens to those Household chemicals that you pour down the drain or out behind the house. They can pollute the ground water that will eventually make it to aquifers and turn into tap water. This can also contaminate the soil in which our food is grown. Many of these chemical can not be removed from drinking water or from crops harvested in contaminated fields. Ever wonder where your waters been or what was in the field that potato was grown in.

Fact: Indoor air is more polluted than outdoor air.

So, what can you do to help solve the environmental problem we all face. You can Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. I know you have heard it for years, but its time to take it seriously. Be aware of what you do. One person can make a difference.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/news-and-society-articles/understanding-the-environmental-issues-of-our-world-today-4403568.html
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Learn about skunks habitat and skunk bait at the Skunk Facts site.

Environmental issues can be a touchy subject

Author: Rubel Zaman

Whether the subject is global warming, clean energy sources, or toxic chemicals environmental issues are almost always a "point of contention" among those who discuss them. Like politics and religion, it is another subject that has a wide assortment of opinions regarding the many facets or sides of the issue. Even the so called experts can't seem to agree on what's best for us and our planet.

Global Warming is killing the people and the planet

Many environmental experts contend that our earth's atmosphere has become overloaded with carbon dioxide which traps in heat and threatens to disrupt the planets climate permanently. Even though the temperature change may amount to a mere three to nine degrees it can have disastrous effects on the world as we know it. Solving the issue of global warming will bring about improvements in our lives by clearing up the air pollution. As we invest in sources of clean energy and adapt energy saving solutions there will be less risk of global warming and other environmental issues that are plaguing us today. Some say the polar ice caps will melt and flood the planet, warming the earth and creating diseases. They do not consider the fact that this planet has done quite nicely for millions of years before we came along and that man's actions are inconsequential when looking at the big picture.

Renewable energy sources result in clean energy

There is no doubt that fossil fuels are a major contributor to the global warming issue our planet faces today. It creates toxic air that threatens to smother us in smoke and ash. Finding ways to invest in more energy efficient methods of power and energy is necessary for the health and welfare of each of us. Wind, biomass, and solar are clean alternatives to coal and oil for powering our world and will help cut down on global warming as well.

What part of toxic don't you understand?

Asthma, cancer, birth defects, infertility, brain impairments, and learning disabilities offer only a small picture of the amount of destructive power in the toxic chemicals we are surrounded by. Those chemicals can be found in furniture, electronics, beverages, food, toys, cleaning products, personal care products, and many children's products. Among all the environmental issues currently being debated and studied, the one that should concern us most is the toxicity of our surrounding environment. With the dramatic rise in Autism and ADHD in children in the past few decades we have come to realize there must be an underlying cause and it is most likely in the chemical pollutants our youth must face from time of conception on.
Eliminating the toxic elements will take time and must be addressed before it's too late. Testing of all new or existing chemicals is currently being conducted to learn which ones are safe and which must be replaced or even eliminated.

Toxic chemicals like dioxin, lead, mercury, and PCB's are allowed to contaminate our environment every day and that must be stopped. Many of these chemicals enter the system of fish, birds, and mammals which we then consume. Children especially must not be exposed to these deadly contaminants.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/environmental-issues-can-be-a-touchy-subject-2495531.html


About the Author

For an organically grown and processed baby clothing for newborn, older babies and toddlers take a look at Bamboo Baby's organic baby clothing store.

Flammable Methane in Drinking Water Near Fracking Wells, Study Finds

Author: howto35

For the first time, a scientific study has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire.

The peer-reviewed study, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stands to shape the contentious debate over whether drilling is safe and begins to fill an information gap that has made it difficult for lawmakers and the public to understand the risks. wholesale electronics suppliers


The research was conducted by four scientists at Duke University. 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.

"Our results show evidence for methane contamination of shallow drinking water systems in at least three areas of the region and suggest important environmental risks accompanying shale gas exploration worldwide," the article states.

The group tested 68 drinking water wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale drilling areas in northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York State. Sixty of those wells were tested for dissolved gas. While most of the wells had some methane, the water samples taken closest to the gas wells had on average 17 times the levels detected in wells further from active drilling. The group defined an active drilling area as within one kilometer, or about six tenths of a mile, from a gas well. wholesale Android Tablets The average concentration of the methane detected in the water wells near drilling sites fell squarely within a range that the U.S. Department of Interior says is dangerous and requires urgent "hazard mitigation" action, according to the study.

The researchers did not find evidence that the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing had contaminated any of the wells they tested, allaying for the time being some of the greatest fears among environmentalists and drilling opponents.

But they were alarmed by what they described as a clear correlation between drilling activity and the seepage of gas contaminants underground, a danger in itself and evidence that pathways do exist for contaminants to migrate deep within the earth.

"We certainly didn't expect to see such a strong relationship between the concentration of methane in water and the nearest gas wells. That was a real surprise," said Robert Jackson, a biology professor at Duke and one of the report's authors.

Methane contamination of drinking water wells has been a common complaint among people living in gas drilling areas across the country. A 2009 investigation by ProPublica revealed that methane contamination from drilling was widespread, including in Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In several cases, homes blew up after gas seeped into their basements or water supplies. In Pennsylvania a 2004 accident killed three people, including a baby.

In Dimock, Pa., where part of the Duke study was performed, some residents' water wells exploded or their water could be lit on fire. In at least a dozen cases in Colorado, methane had infiltrated drinking water supplies that residents said were clean until hydraulic fracturing was performed nearby.

The drilling industry and some state regulators described some of these cases as "anecdotal" and said they were either unconnected to drilling activity or were an isolated problem. But the consistency of the Duke findings raises questions about how unusual and widespread such cases of methane contamination may be.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/news-and-society-articles/flammable-methane-in-drinking-water-near-fracking-wells-study-finds-4749989.html


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The Dangers of "Fracking"

Author: Brian

As the Gulf Coast continues to struggle with the impending environmental consequences of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil leak, another energy harvesting technique that could have potentially devastating effects on Alabama's ecology is beginning to draw attention, thanks in part to the recent HBO documentary, "GasLand."

"Fracking" – or more precisely hydraulic fracturing – is a method of drilling for natural gas developed by Halliburton that involves pumping extreme volumes of water, sand and a host of chemicals at high pressure into the ground, fracturing the rock structures below to allow easier access to natural gas deposits.  It is a process that has been used in Alabama for a long time – and contaminated streams and wells have been reported in areas near fracking operations since the 1990s, though the Alabama Oil and Gas Board claims that there have been no confirmed findings of contaminated groundwater.

A recent article in the Birmingham News spells out the extent of fracking is taking place in Alabama.  The article notes, "Energen, which also owns the Alagasco utility, has a lot resting on unconventional gas wells which require fracking. The company has spent about $40 million leasing 400,000 acres around the state from landowners whose property sits above natural gas shale formations. Most of the attention in recent years on Alabama shale gas has been in Tuscaloosa, Bibb, St. Clair, Cullman and Etowah counties."

With the increased practice of fracking comes the increased risk of contamination of the fresh water aquifer in areas where the practice is employed.  Around the United States, reports of water contamination have followed in fracking's path.  Contaminated drinking wells, including wells where the water is so contaminated it has become flammable, have been reported in areas where fracking has been employed.  Chemicals commonly used in the fracking process include diesel fuel, benzene, methanol, formaldehyde and hydrochloric acid.  The Environmental Protection Agency is looking at this dangerous practice which, as of today, is exempt from federal regulation.

If you believe that you have been exposed to a toxic substance, or want more information about toxic exposure, you should contact a Birmingham toxic tort lawyer.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/national-state-local-articles/the-dangers-of-fracking-3220021.html


About the Author

Alabama class action lawyer, Brian Turner focuses primarily on complex civil litigation, including class actions and mass tort litigation.  Attorney turner has worked on national litigation committees, including steering committees and various sub-committees for several pharmaceutical mass tort litigation matters.  Brian received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of South Florida, and his Juris Doctor degree from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.

Class action lawyer, Brian Turner is a member of the Alabama State Bar Association and is admitted to practice in all of Alabama's State and Federal Courts as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.  Brian has been admitted to practice pro hac vice in various State and Federal courts throughout the United States.