Earth Talk: Greener ways to frack for natural gas?

Roddy Scheer

Hydraulic fracturing (known as “fracking”) is a method of causing fissures in underground shale rock formations to facilitate the extraction of otherwise inaccessible natural gas and oil. In a typical fracking operation, drillers inject a mixture of pressurized water and chemicals underground to fracture the rock and free up the gas and oil.

Democrats: Cuccinelli’s conflict of interest costs Virginians

Contributors

Today is the deadline for pre-trial motions in former Governor’s Mansion chef Todd Schneider’s criminal trial. Republican gubernatorial nominee and sitting Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli recused himself and his office from this case as questions mounted about his ethics scandal with Star Scientific and CEO Jonnie Williams, who paid Schneider for $15,000 in catering for Gov. Bob McDonnell’s daughter’s wedding.

president obama

Earth Talk: Barack Obama’s climate change initiative

Roddy Scheer

In what’s being billed as the greatest environmental initiative of his presidency, Barack Obama announced on June 25, 2013 that his administration is instituting stringent mandatory restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions by power plants, factories and other industrial sources. These sources combined account for roughly 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions across the U.S. The goal is to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions nationally by four percent below 1990 levels within the next seven years.