Pa. allows dumping of tainted waters from gas boom

The natural gas boom gripping parts of the U.S. has a nasty byproduct: wastewater so salty, and so polluted with metals like barium and strontium, that most states require drillers to get rid of the stuff by injecting it down shafts thousands of feet deep.

Not in Pennsylvania, one of the states at the center of the gas rush.

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with this kind of accountability, no wonder they weren't ready for katrina...

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Ex-EPA Head Christine Todd Whitman Denies Misleading Public Over Environmental Dangers After 9/11; Admits White House Removed EPA Call for NYC Apartments to be Professionally Cleaned of Dust

Nearly six years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Whitman appeared on Capitol Hill Monday for the first time to answer questions about the EPA's statements after the collapse of the World Trade Center. Since Whitman assured New Yorkers that the air was "safe to breathe," thousands of downtown residents and workers have become sick. [includes rush transcript]

With Thousands of New Yorkers Sick, NYC Residents and Workers Accuse Whitman and Bush Administration of Covering Up Dangers of Toxic Air After 9/11

On Monday, two busloads of Ground Zero workers and residents traveled to Washington to hear Christine Todd Whitman's testimony. We hear from two members of the group Beyond Ground Zero, environmental attorney Joel Kupferman and Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez, who attended Monday's hearing. [includes rush transcript]