Channeling Our Energy…Where? Fracking Companies Look Overseas for Profit

Gasfield entrance. photo: William Avery Hudson

Export push reframes debate over fracking By Alexandra Duszak for The Center for Public Integrity When Pennsylvanians agreed to a massive increase in natural gas drilling in the state, they were told that the economic benefit would outweigh any potential [...]

Drilling Risks: Research Suggests Natural Gas Leases Violate SEC Rules of Fraud

A natural gas well drilled on private property in Tioga County, PA. photo: Melissa A. Troutman

Gas Drilling Doublespeak Landowners Say Companies Kept Them in the Dark on Risks by Environmental Working Group (EWG) Gas drilling companies routinely warn their investors of a litany of possible disasters – such as leaks, spills, explosions, bodily [...]

EPA Study Finds Hydraulic Fracturing Contaminates Drinking Water Aquifer

Natural gas well site in Tioga County Pennsylvania. photo: Joshua B. Pribanic

Feds Link Water Contamination to Fracking for the First Time by Abrahm Lustgarten and Nick Kusnetz for ProPublica In a first, federal environment officials today scientifically linked underground water pollution with hydraulic fracturing, concluding that contaminants found in central Wyoming were likely [...]

Drinking Dimock: A Glass Full of Gas Water

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If the case of groundwater contamination by natural gas drilling in Dimock, Pennsylvania sets precedent for how the state deals with damaged private water wells, they may not require that the party responsible for the contamination restore your water permanently, [...]

Natural Gas Industry Claims Lack of Baseline Data Disproves Duke Study on Water Quality

Ever since high-profile water contamination cases were linked to drilling in Dimock, Pa., in late 2008, drilling companies themselves have been diligently collecting water samples from private wells before they drill, according to several industry consultants who have been working with the data. While Pennsylvania regulations now suggest pre-testing water wells within 1,000 feet of a planned gas well, companies including Chesapeake Energy, Shell and Atlas have been compiling samples from a much larger radius—up to 4,000 feet from every well.

EPA Finds a Way to Regulate Hydraulic Fracturing

Lisa P. Jackson, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announced Tuesday that new regulations are coming for hydraulic fracturing companies who use diesel fuel as part of the injection solution to fracture rock and recover natural gas. The EPA has regulated the injection of fluids underground, but current law exempts fracturing fluids from EPA regulations.