Amazon.com, Give Your Employees Good Working Conditions or We’ll Go Elsewhere
September 21, 2011 No Comment
enlarge Credit: (APRIL BARTHOLOMEW, THE MORNING CALL) Karen Salasky at the Amazon warehouse near Allentown. I’m an Amazon junkie and a longtime Prime member. So yesterday’s lengthy expose by the Allentown Morning Call really rocked my world. Gawker sums it up: Amazon.com and the managers it hired have come up with all sorts of ridiculous excuses for running a sweatshop that even hardened longtime warehouse workers described as the worst job they’d ever had : Medical breakdowns in our warehouse had nothing to do with our warehouse :Amazon and its contracted managers routinely shifted blame to other people. In a report to OSHA about a single particularly bad day in June, Amazon site safety manager Allen Forney said people were rushed from the warehouse to the hospital with… personal problems: “Fifteen out of 1,600 employees experienced heat-related symptoms. Six of these employees were treated at a local hospital ER for non-work related medical conditions triggered by the heat.” But it turns out workers were, go figure, pressured into calling work problems personal problems. “One temporary worker” with hypertension, the Morning Call wrote, “said her vision got blurry, she had trouble standing and couldn’t concentrate one shift when heat in some parts of the warehouse exceeded 110 degrees. She went to a nurse station in the warehouse because she was feeling dizzy. Within minutes of her arrival at the nurse station, an ISS manager asked her to sign a paper saying her symptoms were not related to work, she said… ‘I think it was work-related, but I just signed the paper,” said the wemployee… ‘I knew if I left through the nurse’s station I’d get half a [demerit] point. If you get six points within three months you get fired.’” Whoops, your job doesn’t exist any more : “Sharon Faust said she took a temporary job with[the warehouse temp agency] ISS, hoping it would lead to a permanent position with Amazon. Then in June, the 57-year-old Breinigsville resident was diagnosed with breast cancer. She notified ISS that she needed surgery. They told her she would need a note from her doctor saying when she could return. Faust had surgery July 20 and reported to the Amazon warehouse with a doctor’s note saying she could return to work Aug. 17. When she arrived to deliver the note within a week of her surgery, she found out the doctor’s note wasn’t necessary. ‘They said my assignment with them is terminated. I was just flabbergasted,’ Faust said.” But we give them delicious cold treats : In a July call to OSHA, Amazon’s Forney disclosed that the warehouse was ranging from 108-112 degrees but noted “Amazon initiated voluntary time off, allowing employees to go home if they wished and ice cream was available .” A warehouse security guard later complained to OSHA that he’d seen two pregnant women at the warehouse taken to nurses due to the heat. Amazon refused to open the garage doors, he said, but ” they do have ice pops going around and water everywhere.” Delicious ice pops solve everything, really. Not our problem : By shifting management of the warehouse to its temp agency, “Amazon limits its liability for workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance.” That sounds cheap enough to make this warehouse misery a mere cost of doing business. Bandannas for everyone! Amazon never did open those big doors, and the fans it installed after OSHA started poking around were compared by one worker to “working in a convection oven.” But there are consolation prizes: “Amazon purchased 2,000 cooling bandannas, which were given to every employee, and those in the dock/trailer yard received cooling vests, Forney said.” You’re not sick, you’re foulmouthed : One 44 year old former waitress worked 11 hour days during the holiday rush, but found her rates dropping in the summer hear. One day her fingers tingled and her body felt numb. “She was taken by wheelchair to an air-conditioned room, where paramedics examined her while managers asked questions and took notes. ‘I was really upset and I said, “All you people care about is the rates, not the well-being of the people,”‘ she said…Supervisors told Salasky to go home and rest. She reported to an ISS office the next day to drop off medical paperwork, and she was asked to sign papers acknowledging she got irate and used a curse word on the day she suffered from the heat. She refused to sign the papers because she said she didn’t curse. A few days later, she called ISS and found out her assignment had been terminated.” We’re doing everything we can (except not really) : One former Amazon employee, who had worked himself out of the temp agency and into a permanent position in the warehouse, explained to the Morning Call that other warehouses where he worked woud routinely open loading dock doors to help circulate air when it got hot. He was told by managers that Amazon did not do this because it was worried about theft. And yet Amazon’s Michele Glisson forwarded a statement to the newspaper claiming “”The safety and welfare of our employees is our No. 1 priority at Amazon…. We go to great lengths to ensure a safe work environment, with activities that include free water, snacks, extra fans and cooled air during the summer.” And yet somehow the temperatures in this worker’s paradise climbed to 114 degrees. Somehow we don’t think that’s ever happened in the den of dissembling and greed that is Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. I already sent them a letter saying I was more than happy to pay extra if it meant their workers would have good jobs with decent working conditions. I urge you to do the same.
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Tripoli University was used to bolster Gaddafi regime but now it is preparing for a chance to be normal No one seems to mind that term is starting late at Tripoli University this year. It’s not every summer vacation, after all, that records the triumph of a revolution, and there are problems to sort out – not least the huge number of young men toting machine guns on campus – before the students start streaming in past the “down with Gaddafi” and “Free Libya” slogans. Staff and new intake alike are preparing for a freshers’ week with a difference. “In the circumstances I think we can be forgiven if this term is a bit delayed,” says administrator Khalifa Shakreen. “Things are changing so fast.” For the first time in 42 years the university has the chance to be a normal academic institution. “Until now we had the form of a university but not the function,” says Sami Khaskusha, a political scientist. “We fed young people garbage. [Muammar] Gaddafi just used this place to boost his cult of personality and bolster the regime. It did nothing for Libyan society.” Omar Tajouri, doing a master’s degree in international law, wants better teaching, cleaner administration and, above all, freedom. His ambition – unthinkable just months ago – is to specialise in human rights. “Gaddafi’s regime was founded on ignorance,” he says. “They were the enemies of education and of students.” Signs of change are everywhere. Last term the university was still named al-Fateh (“The Conqueror”) after Gaddafi’s 1969 revolution. Now billboards advertising the rules of the sinister revolutionary committees have been defaced. Maps of Libya have been altered to remove the word “Jamahiriya” – the unlamented “state of the masses” presided over by the now fugitive “brother leader”. The ubiquitous green flags have gone. Faisal Krekshi, a Belfast-trained gynaecologist who helped co-ordinate clandestine preparations for the Tripoli uprising, has been appointed acting president instead of the old regime placeman awaiting investigation. “There is a new spirit in the university and in Libyan society,” he says, “but I fear expectations are too high.” Anxious to quickly demonstrate some tangible benefits, he plans to provide free transport to and from the campus. And the new independent student union has been given computers and other equipment confiscated from the revolutionary committees, whose members are lying low or are in detention. If the sense of freedom is intoxicating, painful memories have not faded. In the 1970s and 1980s students were forced to watch public hangings next to the medical faculty to punish dissent and inspire fear. Purges and book bannings were common. Executions stopped years ago but other abuses continued: two weeks ago a secret underground chamber was discovered under a lecture hall. It contained a bedroom, a Jacuzzi, and a fully-equipped gynaecological operating theatre that was used for officially sanctioned but illegal abortions. Repression was routine under Gaddafi. But many say the corruption and cronyism were as bad. The highly qualified Krekshi only got his teaching job because he had treated the wife of a revolutionary committee member. Huda Shadi, preparing a thesis on linguistics, was told she could not study English because she had good marks in sciences and was only able to switch through the intervention of a friend in the university administration. “The whole system was corrupt,” she muses. “You had to do what the people with the files told you to do. It wasn’t about what the student wanted. It was dictatorial – like everything else in Libya.” Khaskusha describes being questioned by the revolutionary committee after telling an international relations class on the global north-south divide about the issue of corruption in southern (developing) countries. He was ordered to clarify to his students that he had not been referring to Libya. “It was terrible,” he says. “You had to act like a robot and simply repeat what they said. If you spoke your mind you would be classified as a counter-revolutionary.” The sprawling campus is pleasant enough but badly dilapidated. It is also strikingly relaxed: couples – many women wearing headscarves – walk hand-in-hand through leafy passageways that offer shelter from the baking heat. But facilities and academic standards, staff say, urgently need improving. Curriculum reform is a big issue though the interim government – the National Transitional Council – has scrapped previously compulsory nonsense such as Gaddafi’s “universal theory” and “Green Book studies” – a speciality of the University of Tarhouna, south of Tripoli. Improving language teaching is expected to be an early focus: many young and middle-aged Libyans speak nothing but Arabic because of abysmal standards and a formal ban on “imperialist” tongues in one of Gaddafi’s zanier periods in the 1980s. Financial resources were never the problem – true generally of a country blessed with vast oil wealth and a relatively small population. “The priorities were always providing funds for the student union so they could jump up and down and declare their allegiance to the Gaddafi regime,” says Hussein al-Ageli, who runs the university language centre. “Proposals for spending on the library or other improvements were just brushed aside.” Now, in a world without Gaddafi, exciting possibilities beckon. “If Libya is going to move forward and people can understand the new liberties and build a civil society, the universities are where it has to happen,” Ageli says. “We must raise standards and play a role in scientific research. We are supposed to be the backbone of the intelligentsia.” Law student Tajouri expects things will improve. “But it will take time,” he admits. “This is a country which has to be built from scratch.” Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi International education news Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Liberal Democrat leader promises in end-of-conference speech to build growth and a balanced economy The Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, ended a surprisingly placid party conference by offering himself as the anchor that will keep the coalition government on the centre ground and on a liberal path. Ending a conference dominated by the gathering gloom on the economy, and by whether the Liberal Democrat Keynesians in the government should challenge the Treasury orthodoxy, Clegg promised the coalition “can and will do more” to help a worsening economy. But he said the government would not veer from its commitment to eliminate the structural deficit by the end of the parliament, and admitted this meant a “long, hard road ahead”. Quoting JS Mill, he added: “the only struggles worth having are the uphill ones” and urged his party to lift their spirits, saying: “Never apologise for the difficult things we are having to do.” The party had grown up by going through the door of government, he said, repeatedly claiming his party was “doing the right thing and not the easy thing in the national interest”. He set out what he saw as his party’s role in the next three years: “In a coalition, we have two kinds of power – the power to hold our coalition partners back and the power to move the government forwards, so we can keep the government to a liberal path, anchor the government in the centre ground.” Clegg also promised to protect civil liberties, reform party funding, give the young and dispossessed a chance to prosper, build a new balanced economy and “fight for greater fairness, even in the headwinds of an economic slowdown”. He drew most applause when he told the Tory right the Human Rights Act was here to stay. “These are British rights, drafted by British lawyers,” he said. Unlike the speeches of many of his cabinet colleagues this week, his remarks were devoid of explicit attacks on the Conservatives or their values. Instead he highlighted their differences by referring to Lib Dem policies such as higher personal allowances and the pupil premium. In a lengthy passage on the state of the economy, he said the outlook for the global economy has got worse, adding: “We need to do more, we can do more, and we will do more for growth and jobs.” But his aides insisted the speech should not be seen as a call to increase capital spending or bring forward planned spending. The goal remained to eliminate the structural deficit by 2015, they said. Faced with private pressure from some of his cabinet colleagues to loosen controls on capital spending, Clegg said deficit reduction laid the foundations for growth and no shortcuts existed. He went on to claim the government was right “to pull the economy back from the brink” and said the recovery was fragile. “In the last few days alone, we have seen a financial storm in the eurozone, rising unemployment, falling stock markets,” he said. “It is clearer now than ever that deficit reduction was essential to protect the economy, to protect homes and jobs. Deficit reduction lays the foundations for growth. Handing control of the economy to the bond traders: that’s not progressive. Burying your head in the sand: that’s not liberal. Saddling our children with the nation’s debt: that’s not fair.” The speech was designed to map a route for the Lib Dems in government, with Clegg claiming that the party – still floundering at 10% in the polls – would eventually gain respect from centrist voters for acting in the national interest. The Lib Dems had “moved from the easy promises of opposition to the invidious choices of government”. Uniquely, he said, the party stood up against a trinity of vested interests: media moguls, union barons and greedy bankers. Clegg also bluntly admitted how hard choices in government had been for him: “None of us could have predicted how tough government would be. We’ve lost support, lost councillors, and we lost a referendum. I know how painful it has been to face anger and frustration on the doorstep. Some of you may have even wondered: will it all be worth it in the end?” He also addressed the anger still felt in the country and among Lib Dems over the party’s “heart-wrenching” decision to treble tuition fees in breach of its manifesto promise. “Like all of you, I saw the anger. I understand it. I felt it. I have learned from it. And I know how much damage this has done to us as a party,” he said. “Probably the most important lesson I have learned is this: no matter how hard you work on the details of a policy, it’s no good if the perception is wrong. We failed to properly explain the dilemmas. We failed to explain that there were no other easy options. And we have failed so far to show that the new system will be much, much better than people fear.” He claimed, nevertheless, that the party “had proved something about ourselves last year, when we faced a historic choice – whether or not to enter government in coalition with the Conservatives. “The easy thing would have been to sit on the opposition benches throwing rocks at the government as it tried to get control of the public finances. It might even, in the short run, have been more popular, but it would not have been right. At that moment, Britain needed a strong government.” In a reference to the political rows disabling the US, Clegg said: “While other countries have been riven by political bickering, we have shown that a coalition forged in a time of emergency could be a different kind of government, governing differently.” In a series of attacks on Labour, he described Ed Balls and Ed Miliband as “the backroom boys at the time when Labour was failing to balance the books, failing to regulate the financial markets, and failing to take on the banks”. “The two Eds, behind the scenes, lurking in the shadows, always plotting, always scheming, never taking responsibility. At this time of crisis what Britain needs is real leadership. This is no time for the backroom boys,” he said, adding that people should “never, ever trust Labour with our economy again”. His aides said this did not mean he was ruling out working with Labour for ever in the future. Clegg called Ed Miliband’s claim to be the enemy of vested interest risible when the unions had been able to “buy themselves” a party. He challenged Miliband to back proposed reforms to the party funding system due to be published shortly by Sir Christopher Kelly, the chairman of standards in public life. “We are all stuck in a system that we know is wrong,” he said. “We’ve all been damaged by it. But if we learned anything from the expenses scandal, it is surely that, if the system’s broken, we should not wait for the next scandal. We should fix it, and fix it fast.” He ended by telling delegates: “Hold your heads up and look our critics squarely in the eye. “Never apologise for the difficult things we are having to do. We are serving a great country at a time of great need. There are no shortcuts, but we won’t flinch.” Nick Clegg Liberal Democrat conference 2011 Liberal-Conservative coalition Liberal Democrat conference Liberal Democrats Economic policy Economic growth (GDP) Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Troy Davis execution set to go ahead as judge rejects last-minute appeal
September 21, 2011 No Comment
Georgia supreme court refuses to halt lethal injection despite overwhelming evidence that murder conviction is unreliable • Ten reasons why Troy Davis should not be executed • Ed Pilkington tweets from the prison in Jackson Death row inmate Troy Davis’s hopes of a last-minute reprieve were fading after Georgia courts refused to halt the execution scheduled for 7pm local time on Wednesday. The state’s supreme court rejected a last-ditch appeal by Davis’s lawyers over the 1989 murder of off-duty policeman Mark MacPhail, despite overwhelming evidence that the conviction is unreliable. Earlier, a Butts County superior court judge also declined to stop the execution. His attorneys had filed an appeal challenging ballistics evidence linking Davis to the crime, and eyewitness testimony identifying Davis as the killer. With less than an hour to go until the lethal injection is administered, Davis’s lawyers filed an appeal to the US supreme court, but few observers believe an intervention is likely. At the maximum security prison in Jackson where the execution is scheduled to take place, busloads of Troy Davis supporters from his home town of Savannah came in to register their anger and despair at what they all agree is the planned judicial killing of an innocent man. Edward Dubose, a leader of the Georgia branch of the NAACP, said it was not an execution, but a “murder”. The protest heard from Martina Correia, Davis’s eldest sister, who delivered a statement from about 20 family members gathered around her. She was heavily critical of what she described as the defiance of the state of Georgia and its inability to admit that it had made a mistake. She pointed out that the state’s parole board had vowed in 2007 that no execution would take place if there was any doubt. “Every year there is more and more doubt yet still the state pushes for an execution,” she said. Correia, who has cancer, struggled to her feet in honour of her brother, just a few hours from his probable death. But she exhorted people not to give up. “if you can get millions of people to stand up against this you can end the death penalty. We shouldn’t have to live in a state that executes people when there’s doubt.” Dubose gave an account of a 30-minute conversation he had with Davis on death row on Tuesday night. “Troy wanted me to let you know – keep the faith. The fight is bigger than him.” Dubose said that whether the execution went ahead or not, the fight would continue. He said Davis wants his case to set an example “that the death penalty in this country needs to end. They call it execution; we call it murder.” Hundreds of people gathered outside the prison many wearing t-shirts that said: “I am Troy Davis”. The activist Al Sharpton said: “What is facing execution tonight is not just the body of Troy Davis, but the spirit of due justice in the state of Georgia.” Larry Coz, the executive director of Amnesty in the US, that has led the international campaign for clemency, said demonstrations were happening outside US embassies in France, Mali, Hong Kong, Peru, Germany and the UK. “We will not stop fighting until we live in a world where no state thinks it can kill innocent people.” After winning three delays since 2007, Davis lost his most realistic chance at last-minute clemency this week when the Georgia pardons board denied his request despite serious doubts about his guilt. Some witnesses who testified against Davis at trial later recanted, and others who did not testify came forward to say another man did it. But a federal judge dismissed those accounts as “largely smoke and mirrors” after a hearing Davis was granted last year to argue for a new trial, which he did not win. Davis refused a last meal. He planned to spend his final hours meeting with friends, family and supporters. Davis has received support from hundreds of thousands of people, including a former FBI director, former president Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI. Some of his backers resorted to urging prison workers to strike or call in sick, and they considered a desperate appeal for White House intervention. And some of Davis’s supporters were considering whether to ask President Barack Obama to intervene, a move that legal experts said was unlikely. In Europe, where the planned execution has drawn widespread criticism, politicians and activists were making a last-minute appeal to the state of Georgia to refrain from executing Davis. Amnesty International and other groups planned a protest outside the US embassy in Paris later on Wednesday and Amnesty also called a vigil outside the embassy in London. Parliamentarians and government ministers from the Council of Europe, the EU’s human rights watchdog, called for Davis’s sentence to be commuted. Renate Wohlwend of the council’s parliamentary assembly said that “to carry out this irrevocable act now would be a terrible mistake which could lead to a tragic injustice”. The US supreme court gave him an unusual opportunity to prove his innocence last year, but his attorneys failed to convince a judge he didn’t do it. State and federal courts have repeatedly upheld his conviction. Prosecutors have no doubt they charged the right person, and MacPhail’s family lobbied the pardons board Monday to reject Davis’s clemency appeal. The board refused to stop the execution a day later. “He has had ample time to prove his innocence,” said MacPhail’s widow, Joan MacPhail-Harris. “And he is not innocent.” Spencer Lawton, the district attorney who secured Davis’s conviction in 1991, said he was embarrassed for the judicial system that the execution has taken so long. “What we have had is a manufactured appearance of doubt which has taken on the quality of legitimate doubt itself. And all of it is exquisitely unfair,” said Lawton, who retired as Chatham County’s head prosecutor in 2008. “The good news is we live in a civilized society where questions like this are decided based on fact in open and transparent courts of law, and not on street corners.” Davis supporters said they will push the pardons board to reconsider his case. They also asked Savannah prosecutors to block the execution, although Chatham County district attorney Larry Chisolm said in a statement he was powerless to withdraw an execution order for Davis issued by a state superior court judge. “We appreciate the outpouring of interest in this case; however, this matter is beyond our control,” Chisolm said. Troy Davis Georgia Capital punishment United States Human rights US supreme court Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Chris Matthews Trashes Perry, Says TX Governor Is Accusing Obama of Being ‘Pro-Nazi’
September 21, 2011 No Comment
On Wednesday's Hardball, MSNBC host Chris Matthews trashed Rick Perry, accusing him of calling Barack Obama ” pro-Nazi .” Matthews attacked the Republican presidential candidate for claiming that the President's policy towards Israel is ” appeasement .” The anchor shrieked that Perry had pulled “the rug out from under [Obama] and accuse[d] him of, basically, pro-Nazi behavior.” Matthews added, “We know what appeasement means. It means Neville Chamberlain.” Liberal guest Joan Walsh piled on, theorizing, “He's pulling Hitler into this, which is a very horrible thing to do. It's ignorant, Chris.” [See video below. MP3 audio here .]
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Click here to view this media Some may think it’s already too late, but Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says there will be no pandering from his campaign. “I wrote a book two years ago,” Romney said at a town hall event in Florida Wednesday. “I laid out my positions: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, federal spending, productivity growth, international trade, my military policy.” “I know that may make it more difficult in both the primary — because I can’t run to the right and then run to the left — and in the general. But that’s where I am. I think the American people recognize we’re at a point of crisis and they want to hear the truth. And they can tell when people are being phony and are pandering to an audience. You’ll see that in politics. You’re not going to see it in my campaign.” He continued: “I can tell you this: President Obama is doing a great job rallying our base… I’m convinced that anyone on that stage at the Republican debate — we’ll have a debate on Thursday in Orlando. We’ll probably have eight or nine people on the stage. Any one of them would be a better president than President Obama.” In the last few months alone, Romney has been accused of pandering on the START treaty , an anti-gay marriage pledge , right-to-work legislation , American exceptionalism , ethanol , and the tea party . Washington Monthly ‘s Steve Benen has even called the candidate a “pandering robot.”
Continue reading …There’s Nobody in This Country Who Got Rich on His Own, Says Elizabeth Warren
September 21, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media This short clip is from part of Warren’s speaking tour in Andover, Massachusetts. Impressed, Greg Sargent at the Washington Post had this to say about it: Republicans are planning to paint Warren as a liberal Harvard elitist — they’re already referring to her as “Professor Warren” — because they believe that she will have trouble winning over the kind of blue collar whites from places like South Boston that helped power Scott Brown’s upset victory. But as this video shows, Warren is very good at making the case for progressive economics in simple, down-to-earth terms. Despite her professorial background, she sounds like she’s telling a story. She came across as unapologetic and authorative, without a hint of the sort of defensiveness you hear so often from other Democrats when they talk about issues involving taxation and economic fairness. This is exactly what national Dems like about Warren. Transcript via rumproast . I hear all this, you know, “Well, this is class warfare, this is whatever.”—No! There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there—good for you! But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that maurauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea—God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along. Little wonder then that Scott Brown doesn’t want to talk about the polls in Massachusetts which now show Warren with a slight lead. Brown also showed no interest in talking politics on the day a new Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling survey showed him behind Warren for the first time in a general election match-up. “There’s going to be plenty of polls. I don’t think about polls. Never been a big poll guy,” he said. Asked about a Talking Points Memo report that documented the senator outside his office on his cellphone expressing disbelief about the polling, Brown replied sternly at the door, “Excuse me, I’m all set.”
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Huge scale of natural gas field in north-west England revealed, but environmentalists concerned about safety issues The huge scale of a natural gas field discovered under the north-west of England has been revealed, potentially revolutionising the UK’s energy outlook and creating thousands of jobs, but environmental groups are alarmed at the controversial method by which the gas is extracted. Preliminary wells drilled around Blackpool have uncovered 200 trillion cubic feet of gas – equal to the kind of recoverable reserves of big energy exporting countries such as Venezuela, according to Cuadrilla Resources, a small energy company which has the former BP boss Lord Browne on its board. It said up to 800 more wells might be drilled in the region, creating 5,600 jobs and promising a repeat of the “shale gas revolution” that swept the US, sending local energy prices spinning downwards. Even if only a relatively small fraction of gas could be exploited, it could trigger an explosion of drilling in other parts of the UK at a time when Britain is running out of North Sea reserves. But Cuadrilla’s extravagant claims have alarmed environmentalists and unnerved supporters of wind power. Green groups are opposed to the hydraulic fracturing – “fracking” – process by which the gas is unlocked from shale rock, pointing out it remains banned in parts of the US and France over fears that water aquifers could be contaminated. The process involves drilling a well then pumping in millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure. The pressure fractures underground shale deposits and opens fissures that enable natural gas to flow more freely out of the well. For each frack, 80-300 tonnes of chemicals may be used, critics claim. The natural gas industry does not have to disclose the chemicals used, but scientists have identified volatile organic compounds such as toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and benzene, the latter of which is a strong carcinogen. A 2010 US documentary film, Gasland, showed homeowners setting fire to the water coming out of their taps, such was the volume of methane contained in the water. The flames were said to be the result of nearby fracking operations contaminating the water supply, but the oil industry has denied this. Mark Miller, chief executive of Cuadrilla, said he was enormously encouraged by the potential of the Lancashire region, which appeared to have the same potential as the best shale gas producing areas in Texas. He said it was not possible to say what the exact amount of recoverable reserves would be without further drilling and he admitted 200 trillion cubic feet was a very large number “Typical extraction rates in the US on a well by well basis would be between 10% and 30% [of the reserves in place] but it all depends on the number of wells we drill,” he added. Around 400 wells could be expected as a conservative estimate, he said, with up to 800 in the licence area between Blackpool and Southport over the next 15 years. Cuadrilla, which used the fracking process five times on the first well but has since stopped, said it was drawing up a plan to be handed over to Department of Energy and Climate Change shortly. “We won’t carry forward [any further fracking] till DECC has seen the report and is happy about public safety,” said Miller. The shale gas finds are largely due to new technology being used to produce the wells, and oil companies are busy looking for new discoveries in places as far afield as Poland and China. Shale gas represents a potential problem for governments trying to reduce CO 2 emissions, as there are significant emissions when it is burned. However, it is also a potentially much cheaper alternative to wind and solar power, which both currently require public subsidies. The environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth said it remained totally opposed to any more fracking until the safety and environmental impact was fully understood. “We are also worried that a new shale gas goldmine would take money away from renewables,” said a spokeswoman. The Co-operative, which is championing renewables in its new retail energy business, also expressed concerns about the upbeat statements coming out of Cuadrilla, which is partly owned by the Australian oil services group AJ Lucas. “On the face of it new natural gas finds appear to be good news, but the government must not be seduced by this without considering all the impacts of shale gas extraction,” said Paul Monaghan, head of social goals at the Co-operative group. “That is why we are calling for a moratorium on any further exploitation of shale gas, which will allow the wider environmental concerns to be fully exposed and addressed.” Oil Oil Commodities Energy Fossil fuels Friends of the Earth Oil and gas companies Energy industry Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Huge scale of natural gas field in north-west England revealed, but environmentalists concerned about safety issues The huge scale of a natural gas field discovered under the north-west of England has been revealed, potentially revolutionising the UK’s energy outlook and creating thousands of jobs, but environmental groups are alarmed at the controversial method by which the gas is extracted. Preliminary wells drilled around Blackpool have uncovered 200 trillion cubic feet of gas – equal to the kind of recoverable reserves of big energy exporting countries such as Venezuela, according to Cuadrilla Resources, a small energy company which has the former BP boss Lord Browne on its board. It said up to 800 more wells might be drilled in the region, creating 5,600 jobs and promising a repeat of the “shale gas revolution” that swept the US, sending local energy prices spinning downwards. Even if only a relatively small fraction of gas could be exploited, it could trigger an explosion of drilling in other parts of the UK at a time when Britain is running out of North Sea reserves. But Cuadrilla’s extravagant claims have alarmed environmentalists and unnerved supporters of wind power. Green groups are opposed to the hydraulic fracturing – “fracking” – process by which the gas is unlocked from shale rock, pointing out it remains banned in parts of the US and France over fears that water aquifers could be contaminated. The process involves drilling a well then pumping in millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure. The pressure fractures underground shale deposits and opens fissures that enable natural gas to flow more freely out of the well. For each frack, 80-300 tonnes of chemicals may be used, critics claim. The natural gas industry does not have to disclose the chemicals used, but scientists have identified volatile organic compounds such as toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and benzene, the latter of which is a strong carcinogen. A 2010 US documentary film, Gasland, showed homeowners setting fire to the water coming out of their taps, such was the volume of methane contained in the water. The flames were said to be the result of nearby fracking operations contaminating the water supply, but the oil industry has denied this. Mark Miller, chief executive of Cuadrilla, said he was enormously encouraged by the potential of the Lancashire region, which appeared to have the same potential as the best shale gas producing areas in Texas. He said it was not possible to say what the exact amount of recoverable reserves would be without further drilling and he admitted 200 trillion cubic feet was a very large number “Typical extraction rates in the US on a well by well basis would be between 10% and 30% [of the reserves in place] but it all depends on the number of wells we drill,” he added. Around 400 wells could be expected as a conservative estimate, he said, with up to 800 in the licence area between Blackpool and Southport over the next 15 years. Cuadrilla, which used the fracking process five times on the first well but has since stopped, said it was drawing up a plan to be handed over to Department of Energy and Climate Change shortly. “We won’t carry forward [any further fracking] till DECC has seen the report and is happy about public safety,” said Miller. The shale gas finds are largely due to new technology being used to produce the wells, and oil companies are busy looking for new discoveries in places as far afield as Poland and China. Shale gas represents a potential problem for governments trying to reduce CO 2 emissions, as there are significant emissions when it is burned. However, it is also a potentially much cheaper alternative to wind and solar power, which both currently require public subsidies. The environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth said it remained totally opposed to any more fracking until the safety and environmental impact was fully understood. “We are also worried that a new shale gas goldmine would take money away from renewables,” said a spokeswoman. The Co-operative, which is championing renewables in its new retail energy business, also expressed concerns about the upbeat statements coming out of Cuadrilla, which is partly owned by the Australian oil services group AJ Lucas. “On the face of it new natural gas finds appear to be good news, but the government must not be seduced by this without considering all the impacts of shale gas extraction,” said Paul Monaghan, head of social goals at the Co-operative group. “That is why we are calling for a moratorium on any further exploitation of shale gas, which will allow the wider environmental concerns to be fully exposed and addressed.” Oil Oil Commodities Energy Fossil fuels Friends of the Earth Oil and gas companies Energy industry Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Huge scale of natural gas field in north-west England revealed, but environmentalists concerned about safety issues The huge scale of a natural gas field discovered under the north-west of England has been revealed, potentially revolutionising the UK’s energy outlook and creating thousands of jobs, but environmental groups are alarmed at the controversial method by which the gas is extracted. Preliminary wells drilled around Blackpool have uncovered 200 trillion cubic feet of gas – equal to the kind of recoverable reserves of big energy exporting countries such as Venezuela, according to Cuadrilla Resources, a small energy company which has the former BP boss Lord Browne on its board. It said up to 800 more wells might be drilled in the region, creating 5,600 jobs and promising a repeat of the “shale gas revolution” that swept the US, sending local energy prices spinning downwards. Even if only a relatively small fraction of gas could be exploited, it could trigger an explosion of drilling in other parts of the UK at a time when Britain is running out of North Sea reserves. But Cuadrilla’s extravagant claims have alarmed environmentalists and unnerved supporters of wind power. Green groups are opposed to the hydraulic fracturing – “fracking” – process by which the gas is unlocked from shale rock, pointing out it remains banned in parts of the US and France over fears that water aquifers could be contaminated. The process involves drilling a well then pumping in millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure. The pressure fractures underground shale deposits and opens fissures that enable natural gas to flow more freely out of the well. For each frack, 80-300 tonnes of chemicals may be used, critics claim. The natural gas industry does not have to disclose the chemicals used, but scientists have identified volatile organic compounds such as toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and benzene, the latter of which is a strong carcinogen. A 2010 US documentary film, Gasland, showed homeowners setting fire to the water coming out of their taps, such was the volume of methane contained in the water. The flames were said to be the result of nearby fracking operations contaminating the water supply, but the oil industry has denied this. Mark Miller, chief executive of Cuadrilla, said he was enormously encouraged by the potential of the Lancashire region, which appeared to have the same potential as the best shale gas producing areas in Texas. He said it was not possible to say what the exact amount of recoverable reserves would be without further drilling and he admitted 200 trillion cubic feet was a very large number “Typical extraction rates in the US on a well by well basis would be between 10% and 30% [of the reserves in place] but it all depends on the number of wells we drill,” he added. Around 400 wells could be expected as a conservative estimate, he said, with up to 800 in the licence area between Blackpool and Southport over the next 15 years. Cuadrilla, which used the fracking process five times on the first well but has since stopped, said it was drawing up a plan to be handed over to Department of Energy and Climate Change shortly. “We won’t carry forward [any further fracking] till DECC has seen the report and is happy about public safety,” said Miller. The shale gas finds are largely due to new technology being used to produce the wells, and oil companies are busy looking for new discoveries in places as far afield as Poland and China. Shale gas represents a potential problem for governments trying to reduce CO 2 emissions, as there are significant emissions when it is burned. However, it is also a potentially much cheaper alternative to wind and solar power, which both currently require public subsidies. The environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth said it remained totally opposed to any more fracking until the safety and environmental impact was fully understood. “We are also worried that a new shale gas goldmine would take money away from renewables,” said a spokeswoman. The Co-operative, which is championing renewables in its new retail energy business, also expressed concerns about the upbeat statements coming out of Cuadrilla, which is partly owned by the Australian oil services group AJ Lucas. “On the face of it new natural gas finds appear to be good news, but the government must not be seduced by this without considering all the impacts of shale gas extraction,” said Paul Monaghan, head of social goals at the Co-operative group. “That is why we are calling for a moratorium on any further exploitation of shale gas, which will allow the wider environmental concerns to be fully exposed and addressed.” Oil Oil Commodities Energy Fossil fuels Friends of the Earth Oil and gas companies Energy industry Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk
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