Amity & Prosperity are communities in Washington County, PA

From an Article by Don Hopey and David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 7, 2019

A Washington County judge has denied a request by Range Resources Appalachia LLC to subpoena and depose two Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporters and a former editor who are attempting to unseal a private settlement of a family’s health claim against the drilling company.

Range had sought to depose and collect information from Post-Gazette Managing Editor Sally Stapleton, who left the paper at the end of March, and reporters Don Hopey and David Templeton.

The decision, issued Friday by Washington County Common Pleas Court President Judge Katherine Emery, denied the company’s attempt to uncover the reporters’ sources and obtain their notes and documents related to the case, saying the newspaper’s sources are protected from disclosure by Pennsylvania’s Shield Law.

“The Shield Law must be liberally construed in favor of the news media,” Judge Emery wrote in her order and opinion. “Under this law, the employees of the newspaper cannot be required to disclose any information that could lead to the disclosure of their sources.”

Later she writes that while circumstances may exist in which the law “may have to yield, those circumstances must be narrowly construed. They are not present at this juncture.”

The Post-Gazette also asked Judge Emery to order Range to pay the newspaper’s attorney’s fees, alleging that the company’s attempt to subpoena reporters’ documents, notes and deposition testimony was an attempt to “harass and intimidate” reporters, but she denied that request.

Judge Emery has scheduled a hearing for 1 p.m., May 28, on the newspaper’s petition to intervene and unseal the settlement of a high-profile case brought in 2012 by Stacey Haney and several neighbors. They alleged they were exposed to spills, leaks and air pollutants from Range’s “Yeager” well site in Amwell, Washington County, and experienced serious health problems, including a heightened risk of cancer.

That case was settled and sealed in September 2018. But Ms. Haney has asked the Washington County court for a protective order that would allow her to reference details of that settlement in a separate but related case she has brought in Allegheny County.

In February 2019, the Post-Gazette found out about Ms. Haney’s request and moved to intervene in the Washington County proceedings, arguing that Range had not overcome the constitutional presumption that court proceedings and documents should be accessible to the public.

Range is claiming the newspaper’s intervention request was made after the case was settled and is therefore not timely.

In the Allegheny County court case, Ms. Haney is alleging that the Washington County case settlement was compromised by a medical professional’s unauthorized sharing of her health records with an attorney representing Range.

Range spokesmen did not respond to requests for comment Monday or Tuesday. Frederick Frank, an attorney representing the Post-Gazette in the case, declined to comment.

The Post-Gazette learned of the Haney settlement in late January 2019 while working on a story about a grand jury empaneled by state Attorney General Josh Shapiro to investigate the oil and gas industry and potential environmental crimes in Washington County.

As part of that investigation, Mr. Shapiro asked attorneys representing Range and Ms. Haney and her neighbors to preserve documents and records in the Washington County case.

The health problems of Ms. Haney, her family and neighbors were chronicled in the book “Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America,” by Eliza Griswold, which won a Pulitzer Prize earlier this year.

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Eliza Griswold, “Amity and Prosperity” – YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNh7Z6Svz7I

The OFF Act Is a Climate Game Changer

From an Article by Mark Schlosberg, Food & Water Watch, September 7, 2017

Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) introduced the Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act (OFF Act) last week. This visionary bill comes as the nation bears witness to the devastation being brought by the climate change-super charged storm Harvey to Texas and Louisiana and braces for Irma’s impacts. Storms like this and other extreme weather events will become all the more frequent and intense unless bold action is taken.

Gabbard’s bill—the strongest yet introduced in Congress—will put us on a path towards avoiding increased climate chaos: It will place a moratorium on new fossil fuel projects and move the country to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035, with a focus on a rapid transition in the next ten years. The bill is co-sponsored by Representatives Nanette Barragan (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).

This legislation could not be more needed. While the impacts of Harvey are readily apparent to all, it is not an isolated occurrence. Evidence continues to build of the severity and urgency of the climate crisis. And while Trump flew to Texas and talked about helping communities there, he and fossil fuel-funded members of Congress continue to put the planet on a collision course with climate chaos. They deny climate change and are suppressing our government’s ability to address it; they are moving to increase drilling and fracking on public lands and off our coasts; they are promoting development of more pipelines; and they are exporting more oil and gas abroad while wrecking the environment here at home.

In this dysfunctional political environment, a broad movement has grown to resist Trump’s foolish and dangerous agenda. Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in the streets in DC and across the country. Thousands more have called members of Congress, written letters, and gone to town halls and community meetings opposing this destructive agenda. This is heartening and powerful, but we must do more.

To win on climate—to really move off of fossil fuels and transition our economy to 100 percent renewable energy on a time frame that will actually prevent even greater climate catastrophe—we must continue to resist Trump’s agenda, but we need to do more than that: We need to propel a bold agenda for addressing the crisis—one that will protect our communities while creating hundreds of thousands of good jobs in the renewables and energy efficiency sectors.

This agenda must center racial and economic justice and cannot rely on false market solutions like carbon trading and taxing programs, which are simply corporate pay-to-pollute schemes. What we need is nothing short of a World War II-scale mobilization of our economy around a quick and just transition off fossil fuels and onto 100 percent renewable energy now.

Rep. Gabbard’s OFF Act is a critical step towards that mobilization. It requires 100 percent renewable energy by 2035 (and 80 percent by 2027), places a moratorium on new fossil fuel projects, bans the export of oil and gas, and also moves our automobile and rail systems to 100 percent renewable energy. Additionally, it provides for a truly just transition for environmental justice communities and those working in the fossil fuel industry.

The bill requires that people in impacted communities have a leading role in the development and implementation of clean energy plans and regulations, and establishes an equitable transition fund and workforce development center, paid for by closing an offshore tax loophole and repealing federal tax breaks for the fossil fuel industry.

Now we must mobilize to build support for this bill. Though the prospects of passing anything in Congress right now are grim, moving members of Congress to support the OFF Act and elevating its profile are important for three reasons:

1. Create Political Consensus for Rapid Transition to 100 Percent Renewable Energy

Six years ago, when Food & Water Watch followed the lead of our grassroots partners to become the first national organization to call for a ban on fracking, conventional wisdom dictated that fracked gas was an environmentally friendly “bridge fuel.” There was lots of support for stronger regulations on fracking, but little serious talk about actually banning it. Yet hundreds of organizations and thousands of people all over the country organized around the issue and held their elected officials accountable.

New York and Maryland have since banned fracking. Rep. Mark Pocan introduced legislation to ban fracking on federal lands. Banning fracking became a top issue raised by Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential race, and a majority of Americans now support a ban. It took lots of hard work, but the political consensus has shifted. We must do the same thing with the urgent need to act on climate, by building support for the OFF Act.

2. Make OFF a Top Issue Now

Even though Congress is controlled by pro-fossil fuel ideologues, it is still critical that we work to get members to sponsor this bill now. If we organize to get large numbers of co-sponsors on the OFF Act, it will become a top issue that representatives will need to respond to. Even as it has just been introduced, the OFF Act already enjoys support from more than 100 organizations including a wide range of major national groups like National Nurses United, Progressive Democrats of America, Climate Justice Alliance, Indigenous Environmental Network and People’s Action.

3. Make Space for State and Local Action

At the same time we are working to build support for the OFF Act, there are also campaigns across the country working to move cities, counties and states to 100 percent renewable energy now. Organizing around these local efforts can and should dovetail with efforts to pressure members of Congress to co-sponsor federal legislation. Passing local measures, or getting state and local elected officials to sign the OFF Pledge, will help build the political power needed to push Congress to support the federal legislation. Similarly, getting more co-sponsors on federal legislation to stop fossil fuel projects will open up more space for state and local action. These efforts work together.

Winning the fight to move off fossil fuels will not be easy, as the thousands of people who are working to stop pipelines, ban fracking and build renewable energy projects can tell you. But these are also fights that we can—and must—win if we are to protect people and the planet and avoid the very worst of climate chaos. The OFF Act is a critical first step in what must be a major national mobilization to restructure our energy system now.

Visit OFF Fossil Fuels to get involved in your community and join our grassroots team. Let’s make this happen.

West Virginia Environmental Council

ACTION ALERT for JUNE 10th

CALL TO ACTION:
Fayette County’s Frack Waste Ban is Being Challenged in Court

<<<< UPDATE: The Fayette County injection well ban appeal hearing is now at 2:00 p.m. in the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse on Virginia St. Please adjust your schedules accordingly. >>>

This Friday, June 10th at 10am, the Fayette County Commission’s historic ban on oil and gas waste disposal is being challenged by EQT Corporation.

EQT is seeking a permanent Injunction against the ordinance to make these kind of county-wide bans unenforceable. We will be doing our best to make sure our ordinance stands, to set a precedent in Fayette County that will uphold other county’s rights to enact similar ordinances. But we need your help!

If you are available, please attend the court date! It will be heard in front of John T Copenhaver at 10 am Friday, June 10th at the Southern District Court of West Virginia (300 Virginia St E. Charleston, WV 25301). Note: You will also need a valid state-issued photo ID in order to enter the courthouse.

If you choose to attend, WEAR BLACK. All the attendees will be showing their support and collective mourning of the damage done to our water and health by showing up in all black attire.

For the water, land, and people, we are part of Headwaters Defense.

We hope you’ll consider joining Headwaters Defense this Friday as they fight to uphold their frack waste ban in Fayette County!

>>> Web-Site for the WV Environmental Council is:

>>> http://wvecouncil.org

TITLE: Accelerating extinction risk from climate change

From an Article by Mark C. Urban, Science,  May 1, 2015, Vol. 348 no. 6234 pp. 571-573

By Mark Urban, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 75 North Eagleville Road, Unit 3043, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.

ABSTRACT — Accelerating extinction risk from climate change

Current predictions of extinction risks from climate change vary widely depending on the specific assumptions and geographic and taxonomic focus of each study. I synthesized published studies in order to estimate a global mean extinction rate and determine which factors contribute the greatest uncertainty to climate change–induced extinction risks. Results suggest that extinction risks will accelerate with future global temperatures, threatening up to one in six species under current policies. Extinction risks were highest in South America, Australia, and New Zealand, and risks did not vary by taxonomic group. Realistic assumptions about extinction debt and dispersal capacity substantially increased extinction risks. We urgently need to adopt strategies that limit further climate change if we are to avoid an acceleration of global extinctions.

 SUMMARY — Predicting extinction in a changing world

There is great interest in understanding how species might respond to our changing climate, but predictions have varied greatly. Mark Urban looked at over 130 studies to identify the level of risk that climate change poses to species and the specific traits and characteristics that contribute to risk (see the Perspective by Hille Ris Lambers below). If climate changes proceed as expected, one in six species could face extinction. Several regions, including South America, Australia, and New Zealand, face the greatest risk. Understanding these patterns will help us to prepare for, and hopefully prevent, climate-related loss of biodiversity.

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Ecological Perspective — Extinction risks from climate change

By Janneke Hille Ris Lambers, Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.

Biologists worry that the rapid rates of warming projected for the planet will doom many species to extinction. Species could face extinction with climate change if climatically suitable habitat disappears or is made inaccessible by geographic barriers or species’ inability to disperse (see the figure, panels A to E). Previous studies have provided region- or taxon-specific estimates of biodiversity loss with climate change that range from 0% to 54%, making it difficult to assess the seriousness of this problem. On page 571 of this issue, Urban provides a synthetic and sobering estimate of climate change–induced biodiversity loss by applying a model-averaging approach to 131 of these studies. The result is a projection that up to one-sixth of all species may go extinct if we follow “business as usual” trajectories of carbon emissions.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net