Rural Community Assistance Partnership

Practical solutions for improving rural communities
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RCAP's blog

Bloomberg: Tougher fracking regulations backed by 66%, poll shows

Posted Mon, 2012/12/17 - 3:59pm by RCAP

"Support for regulation of hydraulic fracturing has increased in the past three months, a sign that the gas-drilling practice is facing greater public scrutiny.

"A Bloomberg National Poll found that 66 percent of Americans want more government oversight of the process, known as fracking, in which water, chemicals and sand are shot underground to free gas trapped in rock. That’s an increase from 56 percent in a September poll. The poll found 18 percent favored less regulation, down from 29 percent three months ago."

ProPublica: Poisoning the well: How the Feds let industry pollute the nation's underground water supply

Posted Wed, 2012/12/12 - 3:09pm by RCAP

by Abrahm Lustgarten ProPublica, Dec. 11, 2012

Federal officials have given energy and mining companies permission to pollute aquifers in more than 1,500 places across the country, releasing toxic material into underground reservoirs that help supply more than half of the nation's drinking water.

In many cases, the Environmental Protection Agency has granted these so-called aquifer exemptions in Western states now stricken by drought and increasingly desperate for water.

Poverty and housing needs persist in rural America as population changes

Posted Wed, 2012/12/12 - 12:30pm by RCAP

WASHINGTON (HAC) – For decades before the current recession, rural Americans struggled with poverty and housing problems. In fact, a new Housing Assistance Council study reports, rural America encompasses 86 percent of the U.S. counties where poverty rates have remained at 20 percent or higher since at least 1990.