Part 1 of “Fracking Road Trip” Series: Truthout Documents Fracking Across the States

A frack sand processing plant in Maiden Rock, Wisconsin. photo: Mike Ludwig

The Mines That Fracking Built by Mike Ludwig for Truthout.org This story is the first installment of Truthout’s Fracking Road Trip series on the wide-reaching impacts of the fracking industry.   The bluffs rise up gently from the rolling [...]

Trailblazers: List of the Harmed Gets Mapped

David Headley, appearing in List of the Harmed, stands in front of dumpsters filled with his contaminated land. The soil and rock awaits test results for radioactivity to determine its suitability for deposit in a landfill. Meanwhile, it sits on David's property. © J.B.Pribanic

Fracking can leave an unsightly, uneven, and dangerous trail - altered earth, polluted water, toxic waste, and neighbors with reported health problems ranging from dizziness to death. Jenny Lisak, co-director of the Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air (PACWA), curates reports of people impacted by shale gas extraction and development in the “List of the Harmed.” The list is ever-growing and gives names, locations, and symptoms as reported by those exposed to the shale gas industry’s negative effects. As of March 20th, 2013 there are 1,123 reported incidents on the “List of the Harmed.” FracTracker, a nonprofit that offers shale gas-related data storage, analyses, and mapping, recently visualized the “List of the Harmed” in an interactive map. “Part of the reason the FracTracker Alliance wanted to map the list is because it helps people understand the geographic distribution of incidents. We find that putting data on a map provides people with an intuitive understanding of impacts that are being felt in their communities in ways that columns and rows of raw data sometimes do not convey,” explains Matt Kelso, Manager of Data and Technology at FracTracker.

Pressure of Politics

goliad01. photo: mlhradio

After a Powerful Lobbyist Intervenes, EPA Reverses Stance on Polluting Texas County’s Water by Abrahm Lustgarten for ProPublica When Uranium Energy Corp. sought permission to launch a large-scale mining project in Goliad County, Texas, it seemed as if [...]

Still Watching? EPA’s Pollution Control Methods Get a Look-over

Air pollution smoke stack. photo: EnvironmentBlog

  Inspector General to review EPA’s ‘Watch Lists’ By Jim Morris for The Center for Public Integrity The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general has begun a review of the EPA’s use of internal watch lists to target enforcement of federal [...]

At the Bottom of the Well: America’s Pollution of Water Deep Underground may Mark Mexico’s Future

Mexico City from above. photo: eeliuth

Message from Mexico: U.S. Is Polluting Water It May Someday Need to Drink By Abrahm Lustgarten for ProPublica Mexico City plans to draw drinking water from a mile-deep aquifer, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. The Mexican effort [...]

What’s Underground: Conservation Groups Move to Close or Cleanup Ash Pits Linked to Groundwater Contamination

Your Landscaping Fools  No One. photo: jpmatth

  Conservationist files suit to shut-down or cleanup ash pits By Anne Blythe for The News & Observer, republished by McClatchy RALEIGH, N.C — Conservation groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission, Duke Energy [...]

Grand New Industry: Washington’s Potential Coal Boom Sparks Big Questions and Uncertain Answers

Ford Slope mine shaft. photo: jhf

Debate over coal exports in Pacific Northwest leaves some out, critics charge By Curtis Tate and Kristi Pihl for McClatchy PASCO, Wash. — While proposals to turn green-leaning Washington state into a major exporter of coal to China have [...]

Unguarded Forest: The Palm Oil Industry and Indonesia

RAN's Rainforest Agribusiness Team investigates palm oil controversy in Indonesia. photo: Rainforest Action Network

Paradise for Palm Oil: The Greenwashing of Indonesian Deforestation from The Common Language Project on Vimeo. The (other) oil industry greenwashes de-forestation in Indonesia by Branden Eastwood for The Seattle Globalist, published by the Common Language Project It is a [...]

Wasted Land: the Pitfalls of Brownfield Restoration

Brownfield_MA

EPA’s ‘Brownfields’ program coming up short Thousands of polluted properties remain despite $1.5 billion in federal help By Gwyneth Shaw, Beverly Ford, Evelyn Larrubia for The Center for Public Integrity In Oak Creek, Wis., a fence slashed with holes surrounds a barren [...]

Problems for Ohio’s Waste Injection Wells

In Ohio, citizens opposed to hydraulic fracturing, protest against waste injection wells. photo: Progress Ohio

Podcast: The Poison Beneath Us ProPublica’s podcasts on iTunes Whiff of Phenol Spells Trouble by Abrahm Lustgarten for ProPublica The stench of phenol was overpowering, wafting from mud taken from a layer of rock thousands of feet beneath southern Ohio. It [...]