| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
Koch Co. Clean Air Act Violation; Fracking Class-Action Suit; Agreement to Protect Mountain Gorillas
Koch Brothers-Owned Co. Coats Chicago Homes with Petcoke Dust, Accused of Clean Air Act Violation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that KCBX Terminals Co. violated the Clean Air Act earlier this year, based on dust-wipe samples taken from homes in the neighborhood adjacent to to the Koch Brothers-controlled facility. Wind has long blown dust from mounts of petroleum coke, coating the sides of homes. It’s the exact reason residents expressed anger at Mayor Rahm Emanuel and city council earlier this year when he proposed loophole-ridden regulations regarding petcoke storage.
Fracking: Class Action Lawsuit Filed. Today, residents of Lafayette, CO, filed a first-of-its-kind class action lawsuit against the State of Colorado, Governor John Hickenlooper, and the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. The lawsuit was filed to protect the rights of the people of Lafayette to self-governance, including their right to ban fracking. In November 2013, residents of Lafayette overwhelmingly adopted a Home Rule Charter Amendment banning all new commercial extraction of natural gas and oil within the City limits. The Amendment establishes a Community Bill of Rights – including the right of human and natural communities to water and a healthy environment. The Bill of Rights bans fracking and other extraction as a violation of those rights. In December, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association filed a lawsuit against the City of Lafayette to overturn the Community Bill of Rights.
Agreement Could Prevent Drilling in Park Home to 200 Endangered Gorillas. An agreement announced Wednesday between a London-based oil company and a wildlife protection group could prevent oil drilling in a national park in Africa where 200 endangered mountain gorillas live. A joint statement by SOCO International PLC and Switzerland-based WWF said there will be no exploratory drilling in Congo’s Virunga National Park, which is Africa’s oldest, unless the government and the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO agree it would not threaten the park’s world heritage status.
Source: Eco Watch, Huffington Post, Popular Resistance.
Paul Brown is a retired neuroscience professor whose primary interests are human rights, overpopulation, mass extinction, global warming, and the military-industrial complex. Links to all his Before It’s News postings are at /contributor/pages/189/210/stories.html.
