Posts

Obama administration unveils new fracking rules.

by David Jackson, March 20, 2015

The Obama administration said Friday it is tightening rules on fracking with regulations that it says will preserve the oil and gas extraction method while protecting water supplies and the environment.

The new rules, which take effect in June, require oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing and to build large barriers to shield nearby water sources.

Environmental groups complimented the new rules on fracking, though some said the administration should simply ban the practice.

Members and supporters of the oil and gas industries denounced the new regulations and said they will damage a booming energy industry. Some immediately filed suit against the administration.

In announcing the new rules, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said current well-drilling regulations are more than 30 years old, “and they simply have not kept pace with the technical complexities of today’s hydraulic fracturing operations.”  Read more at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/20/obama-interior-department-fracking-rules-sally-jewell/25101133/

Overwhelming proof that fracking contaminates water

We’ve seen it before (like in Gasland Part II), scientific evidence proves that drilling and fracking contaminated ground water, but then the industry swoops in with their misinformation campaigns and pressure on regulatory agencies, and suddenly there’s a new set of “facts” to debate.

Our video of the week shows that the Lispky family is still living deep in Gasland, where fracking science denial déjà vu has unfortunately become the way of life.

Watch our Video – Scientists: Tests prove fracking to blame for flaming Parker County wells by News 8’s Brett Shipp

We reported on Steve and Shyla Lipsky’s case in Gasland Part II, and the industry responded with vicious and personal attacks against the facts and the Lipsky family.

In our Video, Brett Shipp reports that the science proves not only do the Lipsky’s have dangerous levels of methane in their water, but also that an isotopic analysis proves the gas in Lipsky’s well is an almost identical match to the gas being drilled for in the area.

The scientists interviewed say these tests prove that fracking is to blame for the contamination of the Lipsky’s water.

But the Texas Railroad Commission is refusing to look at the scientific evidence, rather claiming that it is inconclusive as to where the gas is coming from.

The industry is also desperately trying to deny the facts, claiming the Lipsky case is a fraud.

But as Julie Dermansky reports in this great piece on DeSmog Blog, the industry doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

Help us share the science that proves fracking contaminates ground water

P.S. If you haven’t seen the Lipsky’s story yet, get your copy of Gasland Part II.

And if you haven’t seen Gasland Part I yet, click here

Former Mobil Exec Warns of Fracking and Climate Change

Few people can explain gas and oil drilling with as much authority as Louis W. Allstadt. As an executive vice president of Mobil oil, he ran the company’s exploration and production operations in the western hemisphere before he retired in 2000. In 31 years with the company he also was in charge of its marketing and refining in Japan, and managed its worldwide supply, trading and transportation operations. Just before retiring, he oversaw Mobil’s side of its merger with Exxon, creating the world’s largest corporation.

Read the full interview where Louis talks about how unsafe fracking is

Colorado Fracking Boom Photo Essay

Third Report in Three Days Shows Scale of Fracking Perils

‘We can conclude that this process has not been shown to be safe’

– Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer

March 2013 Annapolis, Maryland rally against fracking (Flickr / Maryland Sierra Club / Creative Commons license)The fracking industry is having a bad week.

In the third asssessment in as many days focused on the pollution created by the booming industry, a group of researchers said Wednesday that the controversial oil and gas drilling practice known as fracking likely produces public health risks and “elevated levels of toxic compounds in the environment” in nearly all stages of the process.

The latest research, conducted by the Physicians Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy, compiled “the first systematic literature review” of peer-reviewed studies on the effects of fracking on public health and found the majority of research points to dangerous risks to public health, with many opportunities for toxic exposure.

“It’s clear that the closer you are [to a fracking site], the more elevated your risk,” said lead author Seth Shonkoff, from the University of California-Berkeley. “We can conclude that this process has not been shown to be safe.”

According to the “near exhaustive review” of fracking research, environmental pollution is found “in a number of places and through multiple processes in the lifecycle of shale gas development,” the report states. “These sources include the shale gas production and processing activities (i.e., drilling, hydraulic fracturing, hydrocarbon processing and production, wastewater disposal phases of development); the transmission and distribution of the gas to market (i.e., in transmission lines and distribution pipes); and the transportation of water, sand, chemicals, and wastewater before, during, and after hydraulic fracturing.”

Citing the recent research, the report continues:

Shale gas development uses organic and inorganic chemicals known to be health damaging in fracturing fluids (Aminto and Olson 2012; US HOR 2011). These fluids can move through the environment and come into contact with humans in a number of ways, including surface leaks, spills, releases from holding tanks, poor well construction, leaks and accidents during transportation of fluids, flowback and produced water to and from the well pad, and in the form of run-off during blowouts, storms, and flooding events (Rozell and Reaven 2012). Further, the mixing of these compounds under conditions of high pressure, and often, high heat, may synergistically create additional, potentially toxic compounds (Kortenkamp et al. 2007; Teuschler and Hertzberg 1995; Wilkinson 2000). Compounds found in these mixtures may pose risks to the environment and to public health through numerous environmental pathways, including water, air, and soil (Leenheer et al. 1982). […]

At certain concentrations or doses, more than 75% of the chemicals identified are known to negatively impact the skin, eyes, and other sensory organs, the respiratory system, the gastrointestinal system, and the liver; 52% have the potential to negatively affect the nervous system; and 37% of the chemicals are candidate endocrine disrupting chemicals.

The group also warns that while numerous studies have proven the alarming and destructive nature of fracking, there is still not nearly enough research on the issue, particularly on the long-term effects of fracking on public health, such as future cancer rates.

“Most importantly,” say the authors, “there is a need for more epidemiological studies to assess associations between risk factors, such as air and water pollution and health outcomes among populations living in close proximity to shale gas operations.”

The review follows on the heels of two other reviews on the dangers of fracking released earlier this week.

The first report, a scientific study released Monday, found that methane emissions from fracking could be up to 1000 times greater than what the EPA has estimated. Methane is up to 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.

The second report, a review conducted by Bloomberg News on Wednesday, detailed how industrial waste from fracking sites is leaving a “legacy of radioactivity” and other toxic problems across the country and spawning a “surge” in illegal dumping at hundreds of sites in the U.S.

Click here to read the original article

 

Coal seam gas industry’s solution to underground pollution is to bury the proof

Coal seam gas industry’s solution to underground pollution is to bury the proof – article in the Sydney Morning Herald 28th Feb 2014.

A to-the-point quote “In Wyoming, we have a saying: don’t piss on my head and tell me it’s raining.”

EBL-art720-coal-seam-gas-20121118202037636365-620x349