Environmental Geochemistry Issues Semi-Monthly

Fracking gets green light after 9-month pause; Aera receives permits (Janet WILSON, Desert Sun ; April 3, 2020) https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2020/04/03/calgem-approves-24-fracking-permits-aera-energy-after-9-month-pause/2944712001/ Court OKs Trump repeal of Obama public lands fracking rule (Rachel FRAZIN, The Hill ; March 27, 2020) https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/489892-court-oks-trump-repeal-of-obama-public-lands-fracking-rule Court tosses blanket approval for 72,000 new oil wells (Janet WILSON, Desert Sun ; February 25, 2020) https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2020/02/25/court-tosses-environmental-approval-72-000-kern-county-california-oil-wells/4873711002/ California Court:  Kern County Violating Law By Rubberstamping Oil Drilling (Press Release, EarthJustice ; February 25, 2020) https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2020/california-court-kern-county-violating-law-by-rubberstamping-oil-drilling Website: Well Stimul...

Clean Water Act Covers Groundwater Discharges, Supreme Court Rules (Adam LIPTAK, New York Times ; April 23, 2020) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/us/supreme-court-clean-water-act-hawaii.html By Dr, Andrew Fisher - California Agricultural Water Stewardship Initiative, CC BY-SA 4.0 , Link

BLM Approves Haiwee Geothermal Leasing Area [Press Release, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ; April 23, 2020] https://www.blm.gov/press-release/blm-approves-haiwee-geothermal-leasing-area Documentation : Haiwee Geothermal Leasing Area Environmental Impact Statement ( DOI-BLM-CA-D050-2017-0002-EIS ) https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=dispatchToPatternPage&currentPageId=99709 Trump team proposes rollback of desert protections to boost Geothermal energy (Louis SAHAGUN,  Phys.org ; January 23, 2020) https://phys.org/news/2020-01-trump-team-rollback-boost-geothermal.html Also... Surface slip during large Owens Valley earthquakes (HADDON et al. , 2016) https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2015GC006033 Structural Geology and Volcanism of the Owens Valley Region, California - A Geophysical Study (PAKISER et al. , 1964) https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0438/report.pdf Owens Valley, CA By Joh...

By Rennett Stowe from USA - Coal-fired Power Plant , CC BY 2.0 , Link Trump EPA to Ease Limits on Mercury Emissions From Coal Plants : Despite bipartisan opposition in Congress, and from environmentalists and the entire electric utility industry, the Environmental Protection Agency today is expected to dramatically weaken federal air pollution standards the agency’s own scientists had estimated would prevent thousands of heart and asthma attacks, and deaths, each year. [Press Release, Environmental Working Group (EWG) ; April 16, 2020] Documentation : Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for Power Plants Electronic Reporting Revisions (Proposed Rule,  EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0794-4416 ) https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0794-4416 N. B.:  30 Day Public Comment Period for  EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0794   is from April 10, 2020 to May 10, 2020 ! By U.S. Government Accountability Office from Washington, DC, United States - Figure 1: ...

Work starts in Montana on the disputed Canada-US oil pipeline (Matthew BROWN, Associated Press ; April 7, 2020) https://apnews.com/7f0cdac0895b7c4850a9c7d7056b6408 Builder of Controversial Keystone XL Pipeline Says It’s Moving Forward (Jeff BRADY, NPR ; March 31, 2020) https://www.npr.org/2020/03/31/824445928/builder-of-controversial-keystone-xl-pipeline-says-its-moving-forward Trump Moves to Gut NEPA, Bedrock U. S. Environmental Law, Would Slash Protection for Air, Water Wildlife (Press Release, Center for Biological Diversity ; March 10, 2020) https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-move-gut-nepa-bedrock-us-environmental-law-would-slash-protection-air-water-wildlife-2020-03-10/ Conservation Groups Argue in Federal Court That Trump’s Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Was Illegal:   Approval violated the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act   (Press Release, Center for Biological Diversity ; March 6, 2020)...