Last year's grant winners have efforts under way, so reporting can focus on progress that is being made, or not. Reporting on the new winners, announced in mid-April 2011, can inform the community about what is in the works, who is in charge, and what future benchmarks can be used to see if the money is being well spent.
Public meetings in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming from April 26 to May 5, 2011 will likely be newsy events, with advocates and critics representing industry, environmentalists, local governments, and other interested groups and individuals voicing their opinions.
New tools provide limited information on substances used in specific wells during the oil and natural gas extraction process called hydraulic fracturing. From 2005-2009, 780 million gallons of 750 substances were injected underground — a starting point for your coverage of this angle.
The Dept. of Interior's Bureau of Reclamation released a report
Topics to be discussed April 20-25, 2011, in Bismarck, Denver, and Little Rock include "best management practices, disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids, well construction and integrity, production wastewater management, and other techniques for protecting drinking water resources."
According to a Dept. of Interior report requested by Obama and released March 29, 2011, 70% of existing federal oil and gas offshore lease acres and 57% of all federal onshore leased acres are inactive, with no production, exploration or development.
Every U.S. resident is at elevated risk of cancer from certain toxic substances in outdoor air, and about one-quarter of all residents are possibly at risk for noncancer health effects, according to EPA's update of the National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) released March 11, 2011.
Get your flood resources here, from the National Weather Service's National Hydrologic Assessment, FEMA's "Flood Hazard" webpage and Flood Insurance Rate Maps, to the National Flood Insurance Program's "Media Resources" site, NOAA's "Floods Monitor", USGS' "WaterWatch," advice from the CDC, and more.
The first national report on renewable energy generation on farms and ranches indicates that the number of solar, wind, and methane digestion energy sources is increasing substantially. The US Dept. of Agriculture report, based on 2009 data, provides information on multiple factors.
If this happens, the agricultural community could suffer much as many people did after the recent housing-market implosion. It could significantly damage farmers, food production, certain banks, and bond holders who are the sole source of capital for some banks.
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