by Nelson Bailey | Mar 5, 2017 | Accidents, Health & Safety
What could go wrong? A massive natural gas leak from an offshore pipeline near Anchorage could continue for another month because Hilcorp Alaska says sea ice in the Cook Inlet is preventing a repair. So why would we believe that the same company can safely drill for...
by Nelson Bailey | Mar 4, 2017 | Politics of energy
Big Oil’s lies about the existential risk posed by its product are now catching up with the industry and threatening profits. For the first time, one of the major publicly owned fossil fuel companies admitted publicly to investors that climate change lawsuits poses a...
by Nelson Bailey | Mar 4, 2017 | Environmental Justice, Politics of energy
Editor: I am responding to the article on Feb. 12 regarding the lawsuit against Buckingham County supervisors for their approval of a special use permit for a compressor station for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (“Supervisors, ACP face suit over compressor station,”...
by Nelson Bailey | Mar 4, 2017 | Conservation, Health & Safety, Politics of energy
Dominion Criticized for Lack of Responsiveness to the Forest Service The Forest Service has made repeated requests for information to Dominion/ACP over the course of several teleconferences and in-person meetings; however, Dominion/ACP has not yet adequately...
by Nelson Bailey | Mar 4, 2017 | Health & Safety, Politics of energy
DENVER – More than 60 local elected officials from four western states are calling on the U.S. Senate to defend the Bureau of Land Management’s natural-gas waste rule adopted last year. The rule directing the oil and gas industry to capture gas lost...
by Nelson Bailey | Mar 3, 2017 | Natural Gas, Pipelines, Regulatory Permit Process
On Feb. 3, Norman Bay’s last day as a commissioner for the federal agency that evaluates interstate natural gas pipelines, it suddenly seemed to pipeline watchdogs that he had at least a portion of one foot in their camp. Carolyn Elefant, who once worked as a lawyer...
by Nelson Bailey | Mar 2, 2017 | Fracking, Health & Safety, Natural Gas
PITTSBURGH – Forty-thousand doctors, nurses and public-health professionals have asked the oil and gas industry to stop opposing policies to reduce methane emissions. In an open letter to the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry lobbying group, the health advocates...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 28, 2017 | Health & Safety, Pollution - Other Sources
PHOENIX – Efforts by the oil and gas industry to roll back an Obama-era environmental rule don’t sit well with most Arizonans, according to a new poll. The energy industry wants Congress to kill a rule which reduces the amount of natural gas released or burned...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 28, 2017 | Accidents, Pipelines
After a years-long search for a country place to retire, Bill and Lynn Limpert found a home in the mountains near Bolar in Bath County, Virginia. Forested and mountainous, Bath County’s 4,600 residents live in the Alleghany Mountains. Know for its picturesque farms...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 28, 2017 | For Landowners, Pipelines
William Atkinson and his wife Wilma are among 58 property owners in Michigan facing an eminent domain lawsuit filed in federal court by Energy Transfer Rover Pipeline earlier this month. “They want to build an access road through our property, but we have not...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 28, 2017 | Accidents, Fossil Fuels, Fracking
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has long been tied to environmental risks such as spills. The frequency of spills, however, has long been murky since states do not release standardized data. Estimates from the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) vary wildly....
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 28, 2017 | Accidents, Fossil Fuels, Pipelines
This is why water protectors continue to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, despite freezing temperatures and winter storms. In case you missed it, “water protectors” have been camped out near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, since April in protest of the four-state Dakota...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 27, 2017 | Fossil Fuels, Fracking, Pipelines
Legislation that would have shielded specific concentrations of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing from public disclosure was rejected in a Senate committee this month, a vote that drew cheers from environmental groups. “The dangers of fracking proved simply too...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 26, 2017 | Health & Safety, Pipelines
A proposed 300-mile natural gas pipeline would cut a swath across the Appalachian Trail and could undermine protections for other National Scenic Trails across the country. In Virginia, where the Appalachian National Scenic Trail is crossed by more black bears and...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 26, 2017 | Fossil Fuels, Pipelines
Opponents of the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines thought they finally had an idea that Virginia legislators could support: a resolution that merely encourages the developers to use state courts instead of federal courts for land condemnation cases if the...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 26, 2017 | Pipelines, Politics of energy
This is the first of a two-part story about the potential impacts of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline on people and the environment. The second story, dealing with the environmental ramifications, will run Monday. Belinda Joyner rode shotgun and stared out the window at...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 23, 2017 | Fossil Fuels, Fracking, Pipelines
Only a few dozen people remained at the Dakota Access pipeline protest encampment on Wednesday night after the state’s eviction deadline saw most of the activists leave voluntarily amid a show of force from law enforcement in riot gear. Ten activists were arrested on...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 23, 2017 | Politics of energy, Regulatory Permit Process
More than 100 people attended the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) public comment session at the Robert R. Moton Museum, held Tuesday, regarding a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the proposed 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project....
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 23, 2017 | Fossil Fuels, Fracking
Demonstrators protest an executive order that could leave local communities vulnerable to contamination. The anti-Trump resistance isn’t just about marching on Capitol Hill; it’s about organizing and showing up for your community, every day. “If you...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 22, 2017 | Pipelines, Politics of energy
When Hope Rosinski’s father gave her a six-acre plot in Louisiana more than a decade ago, she was surprised to find oil and gas pipelines crisscrossing the property. Pipeline companies later secured her permission for two more lines, one of which has since...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 21, 2017 | Fossil Fuels, Fracking
Up to 16% of hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells spill liquids every year, according to new research from US scientists. They found that there had been 6,600 releases from these fracked wells over a ten-year period in four states. The biggest problems were...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 20, 2017 | Compressor Stations, Health & Safety
Mayor Robert Hedlund is forming a 10-member citizen committee to monitor air quality hearings held by the state Depar tment of Environmental Protection when it reviews Spectra Energy’s plan to construct a compressor station near the Fore River. Town Solicitor...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 19, 2017 | For Landowners, Pipelines
Holdouts at the camp see the justice department’s recent round of arrests and warrants as an attempt to kill the movement’s momentum. Aubree Peckham darted through the hallways of the casino, desperate for answers. Word had spread that day in early February that...
by Heidi Dhivya Berthoud | Feb 18, 2017 | Regulatory Permit Process
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is responsible for deciding whether to authorize the construction, operation, and maintenance of interstate natural gas transmission pipeline facilities. As part of its decision making process, the agency is required by...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 17, 2017 | Politics of energy
Second in a two-part series Editor’s note: This series informs about the ability citizens have to observe how they are governed through and in using the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and it analyzes the openness and responsiveness of governments in the...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 17, 2017 | Fossil Fuels, Pipelines
Reilly to organize fellow landowners to resist the proposed Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast fracked gas pipelines Carolyn Reilly is Bold Alliance’s new Regional Pipeline Fighter in Virginia and W. Virginia.Rocky Mount, Virginia — Bold Alliance has hired landowner...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 17, 2017 | Health & Safety, Politics of energy
By NICK GILMORE • FEB 15, 2017 According to a new analysis released this week, two proposed pipeline projects in the state could have significant environmental impacts. From the very beginning, the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines have been highly...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 16, 2017 | Accidents, Fossil Fuels, Health & Safety
The energy company behind the disputed Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has reported hundreds of thousands of gallons of spills from pipelines between 2015 and 2016, according to an analysis released earlier this month. According to the Feb. 6 report from the Louisiana...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 16, 2017 | Health & Safety, Politics of energy, Regulatory Permit Process
Just 15 minutes after the doors opened last night, the auditorium at Forest Hills Middle School — a public school — in Wilson was beginning to fill with people. But the “public” listening session about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline wasn’t really public. And only select...
by Nelson Bailey | Feb 16, 2017 | Coal, Fossil Fuels
A bill that would have required Dominion Virginia Power to submit more information to state regulators before it is allowed to close what environmental groups contend are leaky, unlined ponds containing millions of tons of coal ash has cleared a House committee,...
