Feds Link Water Contamination to Fracking for the First Time

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In a first, federal environment officials today scientifically linked underground water pollution with hydraulic fracturing, concluding that contaminants found in central Wyoming were likely caused by the gas drilling process.

The findings by the Environmental Protection Agency come partway through a separate national study by the agency to determine whether fracking presents a risk to water resources.

In the 121-page draft report released today, EPA officials said that the contamination near the town of Pavillion, Wyo., had most likely seeped up from gas wells and contained at least 10 compounds known to be used in frack fluids.

Access the entire story with graphics, video, photos, and links at:

Feds Link Water Contamination to Fracking for the First Time

(By Abrahm Lustgarten and Nicholas Kusnetz, ProPublica)

Megaload Accident (with photos)

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A mega-load driver is to blame for an accident Tuesday night that damaged two vehicles.

LEWISTON, ID – Idaho State Police say just before 9:45 a Mammoet driver destined for Canada got confused in the staging area south of Moscow on U.S. 95. Instead of stopping, he continued through the area and hit a van that was stopped for the staging. The van was pushed into the vehicle behind it. No one was injured. ISP said the accident was caused only by driver error. It’s not yet been decided if the driver will be charged. The other two loads in the same convoy continued north.

View video with photos: Megaload Accident

(By Tracci Dial, KLEW TV)

(Link provided by Linwood Laughy)

Megaloads Suspended after Accident

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Driver leaves staging area, striking van with module

The Idaho Transportation Department has suspended further shipments of Imperial Oil refinery modules from the Port of Lewiston following a Tuesday night accident south of Moscow.

Three shipments that left the port Tuesday night were supposed to stop at a staging area on U.S. Highway 95 before traveling through Moscow in a convoy, but one driver attempted to leave the area before southbound traffic was released, said Capt. Lonnie Richardson with Idaho State Patrol Region 2 in Lewiston. The module itself struck a Chevy Astro causing severe damage and minor damage when it was pushed into the vehicle behind it. No one was injured, Richardson said. Continue reading →

EPA Connects ‘Fracking’ to Water Contamination

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For the first time, a government study has tied contamination in drinking water to an advanced drilling technique commonly known as “fracking.”

The Environmental Protection Agency released a draft study Thursday tying the technique, formally called hydraulic fracturing, to high levels of chemicals found in ground water in the small town of Pavillion, Wyoming.  EPA scientists found high levels of benzene, a known carcinogen, and synthetic glycol and alcohol, commonly found in hydraulic fracturing fluid.

Read/listen to more: EPA Connects ‘Fracking’ to Water Contamination

(By Elizabeth Shogren, National Public Radio)

Moscow Megaload Protests Dwindling

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MOSCOW – Carrying her signature sign that reads “Stop Exxon Genocide,” 68-year-old Ellen Roskovich was first on the protest scene and one of the last to leave early Wednesday morning after three more megaloads destined for Canadian oil fields rolled through town.

Just a few months ago, Roskovich was among nearly 300 demonstrators who tried to curtail the twice-weekly parades of oversize infrastructure equipment.ith her sign this week, Roskovich was among nine protesters at first, then just two, or perhaps four, after a minor accident south of town delayed passage of the Exxon/Mobil equipment. Continue reading →

Accident Suspends Some Megaload Movements

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MOSCOW – After a noninjury accident on U.S. Highway 95 about one mile south of here, megaload movements through Moscow have been suspended.

The suspension follows an incident Tuesday night, and resumption is pending the filing of an accident mitigation plan, the Idaho State Police reported. Continue reading →

ISP Investigating Accident Involving Megaload

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ISP investigating accident involving megaload

MOSCOW – Idaho State Police are investigating a non-injury accident involving a megaload destined for Canadian oil fields Tuesday night just south of town here.

Capt. Lonnie Richardson said the accident involved a van that had been stopped, along with other traffic, and was struck when one of three megaloads moved forward in a staging area. He said police are investigating whether proper safety protocol was followed.

The accident caused delay of three megaloads through town, but eventually all three passed through without further incident, Richardson said.

(The Lewiston Tribune)

Flashpoints Interview of Lin Laughy & Helen Yost

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Thanks to Cass Davis who sought broader media coverage of our ordeals, our anti-megaload campaigns and quandaries finally emerged on the national airwaves!  For a comprehensive description of our Idaho battles against ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil equipment transports degrading our rural roads and wild places into police state industrial corridors to the Alberta tar sands, listen to between 17:30 and 34:30 of the nationally syndicated progressive radio program Flashpoints, broadcast on Tuesday, December 6, 2011.  On listener-sponsored KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley, free speech radio host Dennis Bernstein, who visited Idaho in October 2010, interviewed anti-megaload litigants and activists Linwood Laughy and Helen Yost.  Although we neglected to mention our usual spiel about our constant, most urgent motivations to halt the boreal forest/wetland ecosystem ruin and global climate chaos resulting from Alberta tar sands exploitation, our disproportionate ranting about megaload mishaps presaged a strange four-hour synchronicity with the worst megaload accident yet: a second direct collision with a vehicle stopped by a flagger (please see the television video at Megaload Accident).

Listen to Flashpoints – December 6, 2011 to hear our stories.

(Link provided by Romney Boehm & Rob Briggs)

Halt the Mega-Haul, Y’All!

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While America sleeps, the mechanisms of planetary demise rumble through our streets toward the dirty depths of our oil addiction hell.  As most of the nation remains fixated on the Keystone XL and other tar sands pipelines, the machinery that processes the low-grade Alberta fuel that fills those conduits rolls closer to construction.  Some brave and abandoned Northwesterners are physically confronting ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil’s tar sands equipment as it degrades their roads and rights on the way to devastating whole watersheds and cultures. Continue reading →

Citizen-Led Upper Lochsa Land Exchange Public Meeting

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On Monday, December 12, at 7 pm MST, representatives of the National Association of Forest Service Retirees (NAFSR) and Friends of the Palouse Ranger District (FPRD) are sponsoring and hosting an educational meeting in the Multipurpose Room of the Riggins High School in Riggins, Idaho.  NAFSR is a national organization that opposes the Upper Lochsa Land Exchange, while FPRD is a local group that has actively challenged the land swap since 2009.  These stalwart guardians of our public lands will provide relevant information and straight answers to all of your questions about this egregious federal acquiescence to land speculator greed.  They will share the inaccuracies and omissions of narratives forwarded by the Forest Service and exchange proponents, the administrative processes and evolution of the trade proposal, and the actions you can engage to oppose the exchange.  Please also visit Stop the Swap! for further insights.

(From WIRT Newsletter)