I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
A Congressional investigation has revealed that oil and gas service companies are violating the Safe Drinking Water Act federal by pumping diesel into the ground as part of the fracking process.
Our former AINN colleague Andrew Restuccia at The Hill reports:
The investigation found that 32 million gallons of diesel fuel or diesel fuel mixture has been injected into the ground as part of a controversial drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” The investigation found instances of diesel fuel use in 19 states from 2005 to 2009.
The investigation was conducted by House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), House Natural Resources Committee ranking member Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), ranking member of the Energy panel’s Oversight and Investigations subcommittee.
In a letter to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson today Waxman, Markey and DeGette reported that although EPA requires permits for hydraulic fracturing that involves diesel none of the companies that admitted using diesel have sought or received permits.
They write:
A key question is whether the unauthorized injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids containing diesel fuel is adversely affecting drinking water supplies. None of the oil and gas service companies could provide data on whether they performed hydraulic fracturing in or near underground sources of drinking water, telling us that the well operators, not the service companies, track that information.
Diesel is thought to be especially threatening to water supplies and is the only fracking chemical that is regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
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