Air Quality Concerns Threaten Natural Gas's Image

Still, Robinson worries that in the rush to produce the gas the country isn't giving enough attention to the health risks.

"They're lots of examples of this through human history where we go, 'Hum, maybe we didn't really want to do that,'" Robinson says.

Robinson points to mounting evidence of cumulative damage to air quality from natural gas production elsewhere in the country.

Wyoming's Sublette County is home to a booming gas development — and not much else besides antelopes and sage grouse. For 13 days this winter, ozone levels there were unhealthy.

Utah's Uintah Basin also started having spikes of unhealthy air. Some studies show that new gas production could be on the way to causing air pollution problems in portions of Colorado, Texas and Louisiana as well.

But gas industry officials downplay the threat of air pollution from production operations, saying it pales compared with the pollution eliminated when electric companies retire old coal-fired power plants and replace them with natural gas power plants.

"I reject the notion of widespread or serious pollution," says Kathryn Klaber, executive director of the producers' trade group, Marcellus Shale Coalition.

Klaber acknowledges that now that Marcellus is growing so large, it does create some air pollution.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/06/21/137197991/air-quality-concerns-threaten-natural-gas-image?ft=1&f=1003

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Huntsman the Next Reagan, or the Next Pete Wilson?

Sean Trende, RCPFormer Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is declaring his candidacy for the Presidency today, at Liberty State Park. The obvious intent is to draw parallels to Ronald Reagan's 1980 candidacy, announced with great fanfare at the same place. But there's another Reagan parallel here, one that focuses on the Gipper's middle name, rather than his last name.In 1995, California Governor Pete Wilson sought to invoke the Reagan ethos by announcing his candidacy from Liberty State Park. As a governor of the same state that Reagan had presided over, many thought Wilson was well-positioned to...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/06/21/jon_huntsman_election_2012_republican_nomination_ronald_reagan_pete_wilson_110301.html

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Amid Sudan's Unrest, Ambassador Sees Chance For New Nation

Ethnic killings and mass displacement of people are threatening to break the fragile peace agreement between the North and South in Sudan. Just three weeks before the South formally secedes from the North, violence in two border regions have raised fears about the outbreak of another bloody conflict in Sudan. Host Michel Martin speaks with Ambassador Princeton Lyman, U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, about the recent outbreak of violence in the regions of Abyei and Kordofan and America's role in resolving the conflicts.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/06/21/137319953/amid-sudans-unrest-ambassador-sees-chance-for-new-nation?ft=1&f=1004

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White House: Legal opinions on war powers decision varied

GOP legislators return Tuesday from a long weekend in their districts and might vote this week on measures to restrict funding for the Libya mission to protest what some say is President Barack Obama's violation of the war powers law.

Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_allpolitics/~3/uH-vHjXAQ_k/index.html

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The Nation: Time For A Self Checkout From Wal-Mart

After 10 years, Wal-Mart has won its contentious lawsuit on a technicality and women, workers and shoppers are outraged. Liz Featherstone of The Nation believes the legal system has its limits and the real power lies in the hands of the worker and the consumer.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/06/21/137314613/the-nation-time-for-a-self-checkout-from-wal-mart?ft=1&f=1057

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Voyager 1 Probing Solar System's Distant Edge

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is now 11 billion miles from Earth, speeding along at 38,000 miles per hour towards the edge of the heliosphere, the bubble that surrounds the solar system. Voyager chief scientist Ed Stone discusses the craft's discoveries about the environment at the edge of the solar bubble.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/06/17/137250831/voyager-1-probing-solar-systems-distant-edge?ft=1&f=1007

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