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Pennsylvania to Become First State to Use “Precrime” Statistics in Criminal Sentencing
Pennsylvania to Become First State to Use “Precrime” Statistics in Criminal Sentencing
Criminal sentencing has long been based on the present crime and, sometimes, the defendant’s past criminal record. In Pennsylvania, judges could soon consider a new dimension: the future.
Pennsylvania is on the verge of becoming one of the first states in the country to base criminal sentences not only on what crimes people have been convicted of, but also on whether they are deemed likely to commit additional crimes. As early as next year, judges there could receive statistically derived tools known as risk assessments to help them decide how much prison time — if any — to assign.
– From the Five Thirty Eight article: Should Prison Sentences Be Based On Crimes That Haven’t Been Committed Yet?
As technology generally continues to advance, one thing you can be sure of is the criminal justice system’s use of innovative new “tools” will grow exponentially. This can be a good thing, but it can also be a very dangerous thing. Pennsylvania’s new law that permits the use of data showing whether people are “deemed likely to commit additional crimes” in criminal sentencing, is a perfect example of how an over reliance on technology can be a threat to liberty and due process.
Rather than explaining my position on the matter right here, I think it best to make my points within excerpts from the article itself. FromFive Thirty Eight:
Criminal sentencing has long been based on the present crime and, sometimes, the defendant’s past criminal record. In Pennsylvania, judges could soon consider a new dimension: the future.
Pennsylvania is on the verge of becoming one of the first states in the country to base criminal sentences not only on what crimes people have been convicted of, but also on whether they are deemed likely to commit additional crimes. As early as next year, judges there could receive statistically derived tools known as risk assessments to help them decide how much prison time — if any — to assign.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Fracking Increases Radon Gas Hazard, US Study Finds
Fracking Increases Radon Gas Hazard, US Study Finds
Levels of the carcinogenic gas rising in Pennsylvanian homes near industry sites.
Another major U.S. health study has found that the hydraulic fracking of unconventional rock formations can liberate and accelerate the release of radon, a highly carcinogenic gas.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that radon levels in U.S. homes in Pennsylvania have been on the rise ever since fracking of the Marcellus shale began in 2004.
The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that buildings in areas of the most active shale gas mining had significantly higher readings of radon compared to buildings located in areas of low well density and fracking activity.
The study looked at radon levels in more than 700,000 structures between 2004 and 2013. Buildings using well water had 21 per cent higher indoor radon concentrations than homes using municipal water, the study reported. “The release of waterborne radon during showering or washing can contribute to concentrations in buildings,” it said.
Radon can be found in well water, natural gas and the atmosphere wherever rock formations or soils contain lots of decaying uranium. Lung cancer caused by radon kills about 3,000 Canadians a year.
The U.S. findings collaborate and strengthen earlier studies by Australian researchers at Southern Cross University as well as recent shale gas research in Colorado. All suggest that the industrial activity of fracking can speed up the release of the odourless and tasteless gas in geologies already rich in uranium.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Fracking Failure: Frackers In Pennsylvania Violate Health And Environmental Regulations On A Daily Basis
Fracking Failure: Frackers In Pennsylvania Violate Health And Environmental Regulations On A Daily Basis
From the American Petroleum Institute’sclaim that fracking is “safely unlocking vast U.S. reserves of oil and natural gas” to Chris “Frack Master” Faulkner himselfinsisting “fracking isn’t contaminating anything,” the oil and gas industry constantly tells us that fracking can be done safely, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.
But just to be sure the public understands how seriously they considered public health, a group of oil and gas companies fracking in Pennsylvania formed the Center for Sustainable Shale Development in 2013. According to its website, CSSD is dedicated to “the development of rigorous performance standards for sustainable shale development and a commitment to continuous improvement to ensure safe and environmentally responsible development of our abundant shale resources.”
“Rigorous performance standards for sustainable shale development” certainly sounds great. The only problem is, none of the four companies that founded CSSD— Chevron Appalachia, Consol Energy, EQT Production and Shell — seems to have actually adhered to those standards.
According to a new report by Environment America titled “Fracking Failures: Oil and Gas Industry Environmental Violations in Pennsylvania and What They Mean for theU.S.,” ever since those four companies “told the public they would adhere to higher standards” in 2013, they have collectively committed as many as 100 violations of Pennsylvania’s existing oil and gas regulations.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Chevron Slashes 23% Of PA Workforce As US Rig Count Collapses To June 2010 Lows
Chevron Slashes 23% Of PA Workforce As US Rig Count Collapses To June 2010 Lows
For the 8th week in a row (something that hasn’t happened since June 2009), US total rig count plunged. This week’s 90 rig drop to 1543 is the largest so far (with oil rigs down 94 to 1223 – lowest since Jan 2013). The total rig count is now down 20% in the last 8 weeks to the lowest since June 2010 as it tracks the 4-month lagged oil price perfectly. This is the 2nd biggest 8-week drop in 22 years. This – rather unsurprisingly – has led Chevron to decide to cut 23% of its Pennsylvania workforce “due to activity levels.” Not ‘unambiguously positive’ as so many in the central planning bureaus would have everyone believe.
The Rig Count continues to plunge along with lagged oil prices…
Obviously for oil prices to eventutally stabilize, production will have to slow and rig counts plunge further.. and so will jobs…
- *CHEVRON TO CUT 23% OF PENNSYLVANIA WORKFORCE AMID CRUDE SLUMP
- *CHEVRON JOB CUTS STEM FROM LOWER-THAN-EXPECTED ACTIVITY LEVELS
Charts: Bloomberg
As New York Bans Fracking, Calls for Moratorium in Pennsylvania Grow Stronger | DeSmogBlog
As New York Bans Fracking, Calls for Moratorium in Pennsylvania Grow Stronger | DeSmogBlog.
This week, New York Governor Cuomo announced that his state would ban fracking, due in large part to concerns about impacts on public health. But right across the border in Pennsylvania, one of the fastest-moving shale booms in the country still proceeds at breakneck speed.
While Governor-elect Tom Wolfcampaigned on promises to tax shale gas extraction, evidence continued to grow that Pennsylvania has struggled to police the drilling industry or even keep tabs on its activities. A scathing report issued in July by State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale found that record-keeping was “egregiously poor,” and environmental regulators do “not have the infrastructure in place to meet the continuing demands placed upon the agency by expanded shale gas development.”
For the past several years, Pennsylvania has had a history of lax regulation of the shale rush and its impacts on drinking water. For example, in 2011, the state madenational headlines for allowing shale wastewater laced with toxic and radioactive materials to be discharged after incomplete treatment into rivers and streams that were not capable of fully diluting the waste, according to internal EPA documents. Even now, toxic waste from the fracking industry is only tracked via industry self-reporting, which a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette investigation found has led to major gaps in tracking and reporting.
Frack Waste Investigation Launched by Pennsylvania Congressman » EcoWatch
Frack Waste Investigation Launched by Pennsylvania Congressman » EcoWatch.
In light of an increasing number of studies showing that fracking produces toxic emissions that have serious human health impacts throughout the entire process, Pennsylvania CongressmanMatt Cartwright, a first-term Democrat, has opened an investigation into how toxic wastes from fracking are regulated.
“Preliminary reports indicate there are big gaps in protections and oversight that the federal government might have to fill,” Cartwright told Inside Climate News.
Fracking is big business in Pennsylvania. As a result of its exponential growth in the last decade, the state is now the third largest producer of natural gas in the U.S. after Texas and Louisiana. But among the many questions surrounding such operations is how the wastewater—the mix of water, chemicals and sand used to blast open the shale—is disposed of. The waste has become something of a hot potato, with many states banning its disposal within their borders. Pennsylvania was among the states which tightened up its regulations so much of its waste is trucked to Ohio.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
