Natural Gas production is causing a huge sore to form in northeastern Ohio. Folks are decimated as the nation continues to intensify local production of fossil fuels from unconventional sources, such as literally squeezing gas out of rock with the new technique Hydraulic Fracturing, or fracking for short. Groundwater has been contaminated by natural gas drilling activities, examples include Sublette County, Wyoming and Dimock, Pennsylvania. The oil and gas industry is exempt from federal hazardous waste regulations, as well as parts of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, and others, as given by an in depth "report on oil and gas exemptions" by the Environmental Working Group.

In the South Dakota Plains, surrounded by snow and temperatures hovering around 0 degrees, Crow Creek Tribal Chairman Brandon Sazue is fasting to protest the recent IRS auction which stole 7,100 acres of his people's territory; supporters are bringing additional supplies and helping to occupying the vast plains acreage. 

The federal government has auctioned off 11 square miles of the Crow Creek Reservation without consent from the tribe which owns the land.  The land has been selected for use as an industrial wind power generating center and stands to make lots of money.

The conversion of the Riverside coal-burning power plant, operated by Xcel Energy, from coal to natural gas will be commemorated tomorrow at a public ceremony on site in Northeast Minneapolis. Riverside is located on the Mississippi River between North and Northeast Minneapolis. The coal plant has been operating since 1911 and was the largest single source of air pollution in Minneapolis.

Changes made to the way the plant operates and the switch from dirty coal to more clean burning natural gas will cut dangerous air pollution substantially:

The Elk River Municipal Utility is considering buying into the Big Stone II coal-fired power plant proposed to be built near Milbank, South Dakota. While other utilities and other states across the Midwest and the nation are abandoning plans for building new coal plants, the Big Stone II proposers continue down this path, which critics call "uneconomic and environmentally irresponsible."

CHRISTIANITY AND VEGETARIANISM: PURSUING THE NONVIOLENCE OF JESUS

by Fr. John Dear, S.J.