In the midst of the second-worst drought in Texas history, towns across the state are going to extreme measures to cope, capping residential water use, and limiting the number of days households can water their lawns. Earlier this week, the West Texas town of Kemp ran out of water. In Big Spring, the local water district is building a plant to recycle treated wastewater back into the drinking supply. But oil and gas producers are injecting millions of gallons of freshwater into the ground at a time, with hydraulic fracturing jobs in every corner of the state, from once-abandoned oil fields in West Texas to the South Texas boom towns of the Eagle Ford Shale. Even while downplaying risks of water contamination, industry officials have said the state’s water shortage could choke Texas’ growing natural gas industry, and some operators have begun preparing for tighter regulation of their water usage. But with a patchwork of state agencies and local water conservation districts responsible for Texas’ water use — and state laws that exempt much of the oil and gas industry — it’s a mystery just how much water is being pumped into the ground for hydrofracking, or how the state could limit industry’s water use.
But oil and gas producers are injecting millions of gallons of freshwater into the ground at a time, with hydraulic fracturing jobs in every corner of the state, from once-abandoned oil fields in West Texas to the South Texas boom towns of the Eagle Ford Shale.
Even while downplaying risks of water contamination, industry officials have said the state’s water shortage could choke Texas’ growing natural gas industry, and some operators have begun preparing for tighter regulation of their water usage.
But with a patchwork of state agencies and local water conservation districts responsible for Texas’ water use — and state laws that exempt much of the oil and gas industry — it’s a mystery just how much water is being pumped into the ground for hydrofracking, or how the state could limit industry’s water use.
[Bob] McDonnell is already drawing attention as a possible GOP vice-presidential prospect in 2012. And in an extended interview in his office here, the Virginia governor expressed interest in the number two spot on the national ticket. “I’d be very interested. It is a swing state. I’m not asking for the call. I’m not looking for the call. As I’ve said many times, I’ve got the best job in America,” he told POLITICO. “But I think anybody who is in public life, if a presidential nominee called him and said ‘I need your help to win,’ it would be a tremendous honor…We’ll see. It’s going to be seven, eight, nine months before any of these decisions are made.” McDonnell, who was elected in 2009, also left the door open to a 2016 run for president.
“I’d be very interested. It is a swing state. I’m not asking for the call. I’m not looking for the call. As I’ve said many times, I’ve got the best job in America,” he told POLITICO. “But I think anybody who is in public life, if a presidential nominee called him and said ‘I need your help to win,’ it would be a tremendous honor…We’ll see. It’s going to be seven, eight, nine months before any of these decisions are made.”
McDonnell, who was elected in 2009, also left the door open to a 2016 run for president.
Police Chief Jim McDonnell has confirmed that detaining photographers for taking pictures "with no apparent esthetic value" is within Long Beach Police Department policy. [...] "If an officer sees someone taking pictures of something like a refinery," says McDonnell, "it is incumbent upon the officer to make contact with the individual." McDonnell went on to say that whether said contact becomes detainment depends on the circumstances the officer encounters. McDonnell says that while there is no police training specific to determining whether a photographer's subject has "apparent esthetic value," officers make such judgments "based on their overall training and experience" and will generally approach photographers not engaging in "regular tourist behavior."
"If an officer sees someone taking pictures of something like a refinery," says McDonnell, "it is incumbent upon the officer to make contact with the individual." McDonnell went on to say that whether said contact becomes detainment depends on the circumstances the officer encounters.
McDonnell says that while there is no police training specific to determining whether a photographer's subject has "apparent esthetic value," officers make such judgments "based on their overall training and experience" and will generally approach photographers not engaging in "regular tourist behavior."
For the past year, we've talked a lot about how police and some courts have been abusing wiretapping laws to go after people who film the police in public. Thankfully, more recently, it appears that more and more courts have been smacking down such lawsuits, and those who are bringing them are regularly being scolded. Not everyone has received the message however. For example, there's police officer Michael Sedergren, who was disciplined for an incident in November of 2009, in which police were caught on video beating a guy named Melvin Jones III. The video was made by a woman named Tyrisha Greene. Jones had bones all over his face broken and became partially blind in one eye. You would think that Sedergren, who was suspended for 45 days for his actions in the video, would know better and just get on with his life. Instead, he's "filed an application for a criminal complaint" against Greene, saying she violated wiretapping laws in filming him without his permission. Everyone involved knows the law is not intended for situations like this, where an officer of the law is out in public. If this officer's response to being filmed involved in questionable activities is to push for criminal charges against the person who caught him doing it, it seems like he does not deserve to be an officer of the law at all any more. What a massive abuse of the law.
You would think that Sedergren, who was suspended for 45 days for his actions in the video, would know better and just get on with his life. Instead, he's "filed an application for a criminal complaint" against Greene, saying she violated wiretapping laws in filming him without his permission. Everyone involved knows the law is not intended for situations like this, where an officer of the law is out in public. If this officer's response to being filmed involved in questionable activities is to push for criminal charges against the person who caught him doing it, it seems like he does not deserve to be an officer of the law at all any more. What a massive abuse of the law.
A man who spent five decades cataloging important White House documents for 10 different presidents died alone in squalor in his Northwest DC home this month, the Washington Post reported. Theodoric H. “Sonny” James Jr., 71, who retired in 2009, was found dead in his home Aug. 1 by D.C. firefighters after his neighbors, concerned for his safety during the summer’s heat wave, repeatedly phoned authorities for help. James, who had worked for every president since John F. Kennedy, served in the White House in the Office of Records Management’s classification section, reading and processing virtually all of the most important documents a president sees, the office’s director, Phil Droege, told the Post.
Theodoric H. “Sonny” James Jr., 71, who retired in 2009, was found dead in his home Aug. 1 by D.C. firefighters after his neighbors, concerned for his safety during the summer’s heat wave, repeatedly phoned authorities for help.
James, who had worked for every president since John F. Kennedy, served in the White House in the Office of Records Management’s classification section, reading and processing virtually all of the most important documents a president sees, the office’s director, Phil Droege, told the Post.
If "tar sands are thrown into the mix, it is essentially game over," says Dr. James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.