In a new study, researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health have shown that air pollution caused by hydraulic fracturing or fracking may contribute to acute and chronic health problems for those living near natural gas drilling sites.
Wait. What? Hydraulic fracturing of shale formations to extract natural gas has no direct connection to reports of groundwater contamination, based on evidence reviewed in a study released by the Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin.
In an effort to discern fracking fact from fracking sensationalism, oil and natural gas leaders must band together for the future of energy and apply environmentally friendly chemicals to the hydraulic fracturing process.
- By Jet Parker
- Jan 31, 2012
The nonprofit Clean Air Council (CAC) recently asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to intervene as a result of the failure of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's (PA DEP) to properly regulate fracking and gas processing pollution that contributes to climate change.
Despite having an eight-year head start on Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction, Pennsylvania residents are just as uncertain about the effects of horizontal hydraulic drilling as New Yorkers, researchers at Cornell and Penn State have found.
A new report by Duke University researchers offers several health and environmental measures for North Carolina lawmakers to consider as they debate legalizing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.
Preliminary findings from a study on the use of hydraulic fracturing in shale gas development suggest no direct link to reports of groundwater contamination, according to the project leader at The University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute.
A new joint partnership provides a solution to the environmental issues surrounding the treatment of mineral-laden brackish water from Marcellus Shale drilling, a problem that has threatened to severely limit natural gas drilling in several northeastern states.
A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy finds that helicopters that service the drilling platforms and vessels in the Gulf of Mexico crash on average more than six times per year resulting in an average of five deaths per year.
Operated at the well head by service providers, turnkey water treatment systems reduce the cost of cleaning frack water by as much as 50 percent
- By David Rizzo
- Aug 29, 2011
Experts at The University of Texas at Austin and the Cockrell School of Engineering are helping to improve the safety and efficiency of hydraulic fracturing, identify issues that need to be corrected and untangle the knowns and unknowns of a process that is expected to constitute perhaps half of the nation's total natural gas supplies in coming years.
Gabriel Henson, a supervisor for Integrated Production Services Inc., a Houston-based natural gas and oil drilling contractor, pleaded guilty to a negligent violation of the Clean Water Act in federal court in Muskogee, Okla.
Texas' new hydraulic fracturing disclosure law – recently signed by Gov. Rick Perry – demonstrates that states and oil and gas producers can work together to increase public confidence in the industry as it develops abundant, cleaner-burning natural gas resources, said G. Steven Farris, chairman and chief executive officer of Apache Corporation, an oil and gas exploration and production company .
A professor at The University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering said the risks incurred during hydraulic fracturing are low when compared to the risks of energy production from any other energy source and that some commonly believed notions about the gas extraction process are incorrect.
EPA, in keeping with the administration’s focus to ensure that the agency leverages domestic resources safely and responsibly, announced the next steps in its congressionally mandated hydraulic fracturing study.
A new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) establishes a common process for the agencies to follow in analyzing the potential air quality impacts of proposed oil and gas activities on federally managed public lands.
Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke and friends release ad that calls for lawmakers to protect the state’s world-class drinking water from a risky method of natural gas drilling called fracking.
. The new report, part of the World Energy Outlook 2011 series, examines the key factors that could result in a more prominent role for natural gas in the global energy mix, and the implications for other fuels, energy security, and climate change.
Last night, Texas lawmakers passed passed its version of House Bill 3328, which requires natural gas drillers to disclose the chemicals used during the fracking process.
An air quality study near Marcellus Shale natural gas operations in Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan and Tioga counties in Pennsylvania found no emission levels that would pose a public health concern, according to a report released by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.