Big American Land Grab: the Consequences of an Oil and Natural Gas Boom

Chesapeake_Billboard

Special Report: The casualties of Chesapeake’s “land grab” across America By Brian Grow, Joshua Schneyer and Anna Driver for Reuters (Reuters) – Ranjana Bhandari and her husband knew the natural gas beneath their ranch-style home in Arlington, Texas, [...]

Shell Gas Development in Ireland Featured in Documentary “The Pipe”

Protesters with banners and leaflets closing down a Shell petrol station in solidarity with the Rossport community in Ireland, after the Irish government gave Shell permission to build a pipeline through their area. photo: Bruno Figueiredo (Wikimedia Commons)

Behind the Story: ‘The Pipe’ by Jackie Bennion for CIR Irish documentary filmmaker Risteard O’Domhnaill witnessed firsthand the 10-year battle of a small Irish village that stood up to the Shell Oil Co., which was building a pipeline [...]

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 [...]

Gas Companies Ongoing Quest to Keep Fracking Chemicals Confidential

While state regulators and the drilling industry say the rules should help resolve concerns about the safety of drilling, critics and some toxicologists say the requirements fall short of what’s needed to fully understand the risks to public health and the environment. The regulations allow companies to keep proprietary chemicals secret from the public and, in some states, from regulators. Though most of the states require companies to report the volume and concentration of different drilling products, no state asks for the amounts of all the ingredients...

EWG Sponsors California Bill to Disclose Fracking Fluid Solution

The California State Assembly has passed legislation sponsored by Environmental Working Group and Earthworks to require oil and natural gas drillers to make public a complete list of chemicals they use in oil and natural gas hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) operations. The fracking issue has raised alarms in communities nationwide because some chemicals injected into the earth to break up rock formations and free oil and gas are known human carcinogens such as benzene, xylene, toluene and diesel fuel.

A Report on Clean Energy Investment for 2010: China Ranked #1

In less than a decade, clean energy has grown from a small, niche industry to a significant source of trade, investment, manufacturing and job creation. “The clean energy sector is emerging as one of the most dynamic and competitive in the world, witnessing 630 percent growth in finance and investments since 2004,” said Phyllis Cuttino, director, Pew Clean Energy Program. “In 2010, worldwide finance and investment grew 30 percent to a record $243 billion.”