As the oil and gas industry has turned increasingly to hydraulic fracturing to extract reserves, fears about groundwater contamination from the toxic chemicals used in ‘fracking’ have intensified. And that’s prompted a $747 million spending spree by major industry players in an effort to allay those fears and influence key energy committee members in Congress, according to a new report released by Common Cause.

The report, ‘Deep Drilling, Deep Pockets,’ suggests that the industry is pumping cash into the pockets of lawmakers in much the same way it pumps chemicals into tight shale formations to extract oil and gas. Only what it’s extracting from Congress is loopholes in environmental controls, such as legislation in 2005 that exempted fracking from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Common Cause calculates that gas industry leaders have spent $20 million on the campaigns of current members of Congress and another $726 million on lobbying efforts related to fracking over the past ten years. The campaign contributions have increased substantially in recent years, the report found.

Current members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have been recipients of much of this largesse, with Representative Joe Barton of Texas, the former committee chairman, topping the list with […]

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While the long-term outlook for grape-growers in the Finger Lakes region is favorable, it is less than optimal for skiers and other winter sports enthusiasts in the Adirondacks. Fir and spruce trees are expected to die out in the Catskills, and New York City’s backup drinking water supply may well be contaminated as a result of seawater making its way farther up the Hudson River.

These possibilities – modeled deep into this century – are detailed in a new assessment of the impact that climate change will have in New York State. The 600-page report, published on Wednesday, was commissioned by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, a public-benefit corporation, and is a result of three years of work by scientists at state academic institutions, including Columbia and Cornell Universities and the City University of New York.

Its authors say it is the most detailed study that looks at how changes brought about by a warming Earth – from rising temperatures to more precipitation and global sea level rise – will affect the economy, the ecology and even the social fabric of the state.

Cynthia Rosenzweig, a senior research scientist at Columbia’s Earth Institute, said the report was much broader […]

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A Florida prison inmate is filing a lawsuit against the state’s prison system for what he says is cruel and unusual punishment. According to CBS 10 News in Tampa, 32-year-old convicted pedophile Eric Harris says the soy fillers that have replaced real meat and other foods in prison meals is causing him and others to suffer serious health problems.

Back in 2009, Lake Correctional Institution (LCI) in Clermont, Fla., began substituting soy for meat in many of its meals. Up to 70 percent of so-called ‘meat’ items became soy. This list includes cheese, bread and protein, gravy, dressing, and even milk, according to reports.

The transition cut the prison’s food budget in half, but it also led to a multitude of reported health problems including chronic constipation, severe diarrhea, vomiting, blackouts, heart palpitations, and rashes. There have also been a number of complaints about sharp stomach pains, depression, hypothyroidism, low body temperature, brain fog, fatigue, weight maintenance problems, and thyroid disease.

Following the initial filing, the prison reportedly quickly eliminated many of the obvious forms of soy — things like visible soy or ‘textured vegetable protein’ chunks — from the meals. But it continues to hide high amounts of soy in meat, bread, […]

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Think of the Texas drought, floods in Thailand and Russia’s devastating heat waves as coming attractions in a warming world. That is the warning from top international climate scientists and disaster experts after meeting in Africa.

The panel said the world needs to get ready for more dangerous and ‘unprecedented extreme weather’ caused by global warming. These experts fear that without preparedness, crazy weather extremes may overwhelm some locations, making some places unlivable.

The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a special report on global warming and extreme weather Friday after meeting in Kampala, Uganda. This is the first time the group of scientists has focused on the dangers of extreme weather events such as heat waves, floods, droughts and storms. Those are more dangerous than gradual increases in the world’s average temperature.

For example, the report predicts that heat waves that are now once-in-a-generation events will become hotter and happen once every five years by mid-century and every other year by the end of the century. And in some places, such as most of Latin America, Africa and a good chunk of Asia, they will likely become yearly bakings.

And the very heavy rainstorms that usually happen once […]

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WASHINGTON — They drive cars, but seldom new ones. They earn paychecks, but not big ones. Many own homes. Most pay taxes. Half are married, and nearly half live in the suburbs. None are poor, but many describe themselves as barely scraping by.

Down but not quite out, these Americans form a diverse group sometimes called ‘near poor

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