In January 2013, Pennsylvania’s auditor general announced that he would conduct an investigation into whether state regulators were effectively overseeing the impacts from the shale gas drilling rush. A year and a half later, the results are in: the state’s environmental regulators are failing badly in at least eight major areas,
Continue readingAuthor: Sharon Kelly
DeSmogBlog: Oklahoma Earthquake Swarm Spurs Fracking Wastewater Disposal Debate
Last weekend, a swarm of seven earthquakes in just 14 hours between Saturday evening and Sunday morning in Oklahoma made national headlines. Those seven quakes were immediately preceded by another earthquake that measured 4.3 on the Richter scale in Langston, OK, which struck at noon on Saturday. And on Monday,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: In Blow to Oil Industry, New York’s Top Court Upholds Local Fracking Bans
New York’s highest state court ruled today that local governments have the legal authority to use zoning to bar oil and gas drilling, fracking and other heavy industrial sites within their borders. In a 5-2 decision, affirming the rulings of three lower courts, the justices dismissed challenges to fracking bans
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Over $48 Trillion Energy Investment Needed by 2035, IEA Report Concludes
It will cost $48 trillion to keep up with rising energy demand worldwide over the next two decades, a newly released report by the International Energy Agency concludes. That’s a massive jump from the $16 trillion predicted the last time the report was fully updated in 2003. “The headline numbers revealed
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: "Fracking Pennsylvania": New Book Recounts History of the Northeast’s Shale Rush
Walter Brasch begins his new book, Fracking Pennsylvania: Flirting with Disaster, by explaining in the introduction that he never intended to write an anti-fracking book. “But,” he writes “as I accumulated mounds of evidence, I realized that fracking, even under the best of conditions, is a problem.” There is no question
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Loopholes Enable Industry to Evade Rules on Dumping Radioactive Fracking Waste
As the drilling rush proceeds at a fast pace in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale, nearby states have confronted a steady flow of toxic waste produced by the industry. One of Pennsylvania’s most active drilling companies, Range Resources, attempted on Tuesday to quietly ship tons of radioactive sludge, rejected by a local
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Shale Rush Hits Argentina as Oil Majors Spend Billions on Fracking in Andes Region
While many countries, including France, Germany and South Africa, have banned or delayed their embrace of fracking, one country is taking a full-steam-ahead approach to the unconventional drilling technology: Argentina. The country is welcoming foreign shale companies with open arms in the hope that oil and gas drilling will help combat
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Exclusive: Leaked EPA Draft Fracking Wastewater Guidance Suggests Closer Scrutiny for Treatment Plants
One of the most intractable problems related to fracking is that each well drilled creates millions of gallons of radioactive and toxic wastewater. For the past several years, the Environmental Protection Agency has faced enormous public pressure to ensure this dangerous waste stops ending up dumped in rivers or causing contamination
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: “All of the Above” or “Action now?”: Obama’s Natural Gas Contradiction
At a talk in Vermont last week, the nation’s top energy official offered up his thoughts on a problem the White House has said calls for “urgent action”: climate change. “We need to mitigate the effects of climate change and need to adapt at the same time,” said Dr. Ernest Moniz,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Pressure Grows on EPA to Regulate Toxic Air Pollution from Oil and Gas Industry
On Tuesday, 64 environmental groups, representing over 1 million members and supporters, submitted a legal petition to the Environmental Protection Agency, calling on the federal government to more closely regulate toxic air pollution from oil and gas drilling sites. “Continued, uncontrolled toxic pollution from oil and gas production creates serious health
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Fine Print on Baker Hughes New Fracking Fluid Disclosure Policy Draws Skepticism
Back in 2008, Cathy Behr, a nurse who worked at a Durango, Colorado hospital was hospitalized after suffering a cascade of organ failures. Days earlier, Ms. Behr had treated an oil and gas field worker who arrived in the emergency room doused in a fracking chemical mix called Zeta-Flow, the fumes
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Very Little Cheap Natural Gas in New York Marcellus Shale, New Report Concludes
For years, the shale industry has touted the economic benefits it can provide. An overflowing supply of domestic natural gas will help keep heating and electric bills low for American consumers, they argue, while drilling jobs and astounding royalty windfalls for landowners will reinvigorate local economies. These tantalizing promises have
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: After Over a Decade of Fracking, Oversight of Industry’s Radioactive Waste Still Lacking
It has been roughly twelve years since fracking launched the great shale rush in the U.S. and the biggest problem with the technology — how to safely dispose of the enormous quantities of toxic waste generated — remains unsolved. In particular, regulators have struggled to fully understand or police the hazards
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Study Finds Methane Leaks 1,000 Times EPA Estimates During Marcellus Drilling
This week, a United Nations panel on climate change issued one of its most urgent warnings to date, explaining that unless major changes to greenhouse gas emissions are made within the next few years, it will become extraordinarily difficult to ward off the worst impacts of climate change. “We cannot afford
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Responding to Investor Pressure, ExxonMobil Agrees to Disclose Fracking Risks
ExxonMobil, the nation’s largest oil and gas company, will begin disclosing risks associated with shale drilling and fracking to investors, in response to a long-running campaign by a coalition of shareholders. In February, the groups of investors in a handful of major oil and gas companies including Exxon, Chevron and EOG
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Research Shows Some Test Methods Miss 99 Percent of Radium in Fracking Waste
Every year, fracking generates hundreds of billions of gallons of wastewater laced with corrosive salts, radioactive materials and many other chemicals. Because some of that wastewater winds up in rivers after it’s treated to remove dangerous contaminants, regulators across the U.S. have begun to develop testing regimens to gauge how
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: A Record Year of Oil Train Accidents Leaves Insurers Wary
Spurred by the shale drilling rush that has progressed at breakneck speed, the railroad industry has moved fast to help drillers transport petroleum and its byproducts to consumers. Last year, trains hauled over 400,000 carloads of crude oil, up from just 9,500 carloads in 2008, according to railroad industry estimates.
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Fracking in Public Forests Leaves Long Trail of Damages, Struggling State Regulators
Last Wednesday, the Washington D.C. city council passed a resolution opposing fracking in the George Washington National Forest, making the nation’s capitol the third major U.S. city, after Los Angeles and Dallas, to decry the hazards of shale drilling in recent days. The D.C. council’s resolution called on the U.S.
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The View from Europe: America’s Shale Boom Looks More Like a Blip
The fracking boom has progressed at breakneck speed across the U.S., with roughly one in 20 Americans now living within a mile of a well drilled since 2000. So, how much has the economy benefitted from this drilling surge? Not much, according to a report presented to the European Union
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Cold Weather Brings Wild Swings in Natural Gas Prices Despite Shale Gas Rush
Last year, natural gas prices hit record lows and shale gas promoters confidently predicted a bright future of stable low prices, making the fuel the best choice for home heating and electrical generation alike. But last year was also marked by an unusually mild winter amid a still-sluggish economy. This
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