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hydrofracking

What scientific information or data does the Department of Interior intend to rely upon in fracking policy actions?

December 8, 2010 by Michael Giberson
with 496 views
0

U.S. House Republicans sent a short note over to the U.S. Department of the Interior, inquiring as to Interior’s plans for regulatory or policy changes with respect to hydraulic fracturing on public lands.  My favorites from among the questions asked: What scientific information or data does DOI intend to rely upon to form the... [read more]

Halliburton Uncooperative on Fracking Fluid Disclosure

November 10, 2010 by Jonathan Smith
with 806 views
0

The Environmental Protection Agency had to subpoena Halliburton for information on the chemicals it uses for hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing of the shale beds underground is high-pressure injection of water, sand and chemicals deep. Breaking up the rock formations releases the natural gas. Obviously, Halliburton is... [read more]

Industry, environmental group working on shale gas drilling rules

November 3, 2010 by Michael Giberson
with 1,186 views
0

The Environmental Defense Fund’s Scott Anderson and Southwestern Energy EVP Mark Boling have been working together on proposed environmental rules to govern the use of hydraulic fracturing, a key technique in the development of shale gas resources. The Houston Chronicle reports: Energy companies and environmental groups have more often... [read more]

Shale Gas: Not Clean, Either?

April 5, 2010 by Tom Konrad
with 579 views
7

Not only are there serious questions about just how abundant natural gas from shale plays is, it now turns out that this “Cheap, Clean, Abundant, and Domestic” resource may turn out to only be domestic. In a draft paper, Cornell researcher Robert Howarth calculates that, when methane leakage from hydraulic fracturing is included, along... [read more]

EPA’s Plan to Spend $1.9 Million to Study Health, Environmental Impacts of Fracking

March 19, 2010 by Tim Hurst
with 330 views
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Hydraulic fracturing trucks in western Colorado pumping fluid into wells at pressures of up to 35,000 PSI (Photo: Tim Hurst) The United States has an estimated 2,074 trillion cubic feet of natural gas locked away in the geologic formations below our feet. And until fairly recently, we didn’t really have a good way of unlocking the gas... [read more]

Shareholders: Tell the truth about fracking

March 7, 2010 by Marc Gunther
with 401 views
3

No form of energy–not solar, wind, hydropower, obviously not coal or oil–comes without environmental tradeoffs. One promising new energy source–a vast supplies of natural gas, trapped in shale deep beneath the earth’s surface–is getting renewed scrutiny these days, and for good reason. While natural gas is often called a “bridge” to a... [read more]

Getting to the bottom of natural gas fracking

March 3, 2010 by Joseph Romm
with 956 views
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There appears to be a lot more natural gas than previously thought.  And that could have huge implications for low-cost CO2 emissions reductions in the near term, if we pass a climate and clean energy bill with a shrinking emissions cap and rising price, as I discuss here. But can the gas be developed in an environmentally... [read more]

Shale Gas and Drinking Water

February 23, 2010 by Geoffrey Styles
with 615 views
17

Life is full of unintended consequences, and the energy industry is currently dealing with a significant one related to the step-change in US natural gas reserves and production made possible by exploiting gas resources locked up in deposits of a sedimentary rock called shale. The very success of these efforts has placed a decades-old,... [read more]

Does ExxonMobil-XTO Merger Mean More Hydrofracking?

January 21, 2010 by Tim Hurst
with 777 views
0

A drill rig in the Marcellus Shale area. Company CEOs testify on Capitol Hill, stand by hydraulic fracturing The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing Wednesday morning on the merger between oil giant ExxonMobil and unconventional natural gas specialists XTO. The $41 billion deal, agreed on in mid-December, could indicate... [read more]

My moral dilemma regarding hydrofracking

December 25, 2009 by John Blair
with 263 views
1

Natural Gas markets have been volatile but low for the last year and a half. Just four months ago, gas bottomed out at $1.88/mmbtu and closed yesterday at just about 300% of that figure at $5.55 after nearing $6 last week. Of course that comes after prices peaking in July 08 at about $14 Issues concerning hydro fracking are beginning... [read more]