Natural Gas Production requires gas to be pumped long distances from the well head through pipelines. The gas must first be cleaned of water, sulfur and other gas contaminants at compressor stations; the "sweetened" gas is then pushed down the pipeline by fossil fuel fired compressor engines. The chemist Wilma Subra calls these compressor stations "mini-refineries"; residents complain of constant headaches and strong nauseating smells. Dr. Subra's work has included studying the air quality around compressor stations in Dish Texas where extremely high levels of benzene, toluene, and other carcinogenic and neurotoxic compounds were found hanging in the air, breathed in by residents for the past few years of the natural gas boom. Keep compressor stations out of your community, and advocate for those families who are forced to have these toxic facilities in their backyards: the environmental protection agencies will not help us, their business is to coordinate industry interests.

Inside the Doge’s Palace in a city that is in the frontline of global warming a group of crime busters, lawyers and experts tried to kick-start this weekend the idea of an International Environmental Criminal Court that would bring to justice those culprits deliberately polluting our planet.