Weekly News Roundup – August 12, 2011

Want to know what National Wildlife Federation was up to this week? Here is a recap of the week’s National Wildlife Federation news:

DOE Panel Calls for Action to Address Natural Gas Drilling Impacts

August 11 – The Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Natural Gas Subcommittee recently called for better enforcement, oversight and transparency for the natural gas industry, including full disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking.’

The chemicals used to extract natural gas through fracking are often a mystery for local communities and state and federal regulators, so we applaud the panel for recommending the public disclosure of fracking chemicals,” said Kate Zimmerman, senior policy advisor on public lands for the National Wildlife Federation.

First-Ever Heavy Duty Rules Deliver Truckload of Savings

August 9 – President Obama unveiled the first-ever fuel efficiency standards for medium and heavy duty pickup trucks, vocational trucks, and combination tractors/semis. The proposed National Heavy Duty Program will save Americans $35 billion in fuel costs, cut 98 million barrels of oil consumption annually by 2030, and clear 246 million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution from our skies.

“These standards will provide welcome fuel savings, budget relief, and pollution reduction to those who rely on heavy trucks to move America’s goods and people, haul equipment on the job, or tow a boat to the lake,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation.

Gulf “Dead Zone” Projected to be One of the Largest on Record

August 8 – As of mid-July, researchers from Texas A&M University had measured the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico to be more than 3,300 square miles. Fertilizer runoff from farms combined with the historically higher waters in the Mississippi River could make it grow to more than 9,400 square miles, making it the largest on record.

Nancy Rabalais, Ph. D., executive director and professor at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, said the “dead zone” in the Gulf is caused by nutrients from agricultural runoff.

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

For more, visit www.nwf.org/News