Source: New York Times Online, March 3, 2011 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com Congressional Democrats are demanding answers from the Environmental Protection Agency about the safety of hydraulic fracturing, a form of natural gas drilling also known as fracking, after revelations that wastewater from such drilling, which contains radioactive material, is regularly dumped into rivers and streams […]

Source: Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA), March 2, 1011 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com U.S. Sen. Bob Casey joined a chorus of lawmakers on Tuesday seeking additional testing of public water supplies following a report that the wastewater produced from Marcellus Shale gas wells in Pennsylvania contains higher levels of radioactive materials than was previously disclosed. An article published […]

Source: Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA), March 1, 2011 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com John Audubon Elementary School students probably will not return to their school by fall, officials said at Monday’s buildings and grounds meeting of the Scranton School Board. As engineers conduct a study to determine the scope of work needed at the closed school, district officials […]

Source: The New York Times, March 1, 2011 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com The Interior Departmentsaid Monday that it had approved the first new deepwater drilling permit in the Gulf of Mexico since the BP explosion and spill last spring, a milestone after a period of intense uncertainty for industry and a wholesale remaking of the nation’s […]

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), March 1, 2011 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com Arch Coal Inc., the nation’s second-largest coal producer, will pay a $4 million penalty to settle claims that it violated federal water-quality standards in three eastern states. The agreement was announced Tuesday morning by the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency. Under the […]

Source: The New York Times, February 27, 2011 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com The American landscape is dotted with hundreds of thousands of new wells and drilling rigs, as the country scrambles to tap into this century’s gold rush — for natural gas. The gas has always been there, of course, trapped deep underground in countless tiny […]

Source: Sun News (Myrtle Beach, SC), February 28, 2011 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com AVX Corp. on Monday reached a confidential settlement with an adjacent land owner over groundwater contamination near the manufacturer’s facility on 17th Avenue South in Myrtle Beach, bringing an end to a dispute that started in late 2007. The settlement was announced during […]

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA), February 26, 2011 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com Just a week after repealing a policy requiring an environmental assessment of Marcellus Shale gas well permit proposals in state parks, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has announced it is suspending and reconsidering key air pollution controls governing the drilling industry. The latest policy […]

Source: The Times Tribune, Scranton, PA, February 24, 2011 By: Steve McConnell A $4.3 million toxic mold jury verdict in October involving two homeowners, their ruined “dream” home, a North Pocono township and a private contractor remains buried in litigation. More money, or a lengthy appeals process, could be at stake, according to recent court […]

Source: Risk and Insurance, February 22, 2011 By: Dan Reynolds, senior editor of Risk & Insurance Carriers look to “mine” coverage for smaller contractors and subcontractors working to uncork Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale natural gas reserves. The natural gas trapped in the shale layers running from below the Finger Lakes in New York to western Virginia […]

Source: BestWire Services, February 22, 2011 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com Insurers could be facing a test of their pollution exclusions as the complex multidistrict litigation involving allegedly defective Chinese drywall moves forward. Judge Eldon E. Fallon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana rejected eight commercial general liability insurers’ contention that the […]

Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA), February 23, 2011 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com The owner of 20 Jiffy Lube stores in Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties has paid a $130,000 fine for violating environmental regulations, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced. Jiffy Lubes owned by M.C. LLC failed to mark and label tanks […]