Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog Waking Times Over 20,600 barrels of oil fracked from the Bakken Shale has spilled from aTesoro Logistics pipeline in Tioga, North Dakota in one of the biggest onshore oil spills in recent U.S. history. Though the spill occurred on September 29, the U.S. National Response Center– tasked with responding to chemical and oil spills – did not make …
Sharon Kelly, DeSmogBlog Waking Times What’s it like living in a small town that’s gone from rust belt farmland to fracking boomtown? First, residents often say, there’s the traffic. Communities have been unexpectedly flooded with heavy tractor trailers that locals say turn 10 minute commutes into hour-long ordeals, choke back roads and decimate pavement so …
Alex Pietrowski, Staff Writer Waking Times “Nature doesn’t give us a clean environment.” Recently on Fox News, Alex Epstein, the founder of the Center for Industrial Progress, and author of the book, Fossil Fuels Improve the Planet, argues in favor of hydraulic gas fracturing, or fracking, as it has become known. This is the technique …
Farron Cousins, DeSmogBlog Waking Times As many areas of the country experience severe droughts, the fight for clean, fresh water is becoming vital to survival for many American citizens. The problem has been made worse by the expansion of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which gobbles up hundreds of millions (billions, according to some estimates) of gallonsof potable water …
Laurel Whitney, DeSmogBlog Waking Times A new study out in Science by US Geological Survey scientist William Ellsworth links earthquakes to wastewater injection sites. These earthquakes, thought to be caused by pressure changes due to excess fluid injected deep below the surface, are being dubbed “man-made” earthquakes. It’s not the first time scientists have used that moniker, as earthquakes …
Jill Richardson, Guest Waking Times Jacki Schilke was suffering from symptoms ranging from rashes, pain, and lightheadedness to dental problems and urinating blood. The formerly healthy, 53-year-old cattle rancher’s body was under assault from a list of toxic chemicals as long as your arm. But Schilke’s lucky — so far — compared to five of her …
Elizabeth Hand, De Smog Blog Waking Times Early scientific analysis predicted that the risks associated with hazardous waste injection wells would be negligible. Unfortunately, experience has indicated that disposing of hazardous waste deep underground has been linked to water contamination, destroyed ecosystems, toxic leaks and earthquakes. Now we are learning that there is a difference between scientific …
Stefanie Spear, Guest Waking Times It’s virtually impossible these days to read, listen to or watch a news program that doesn’t mention hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Nearly every day, EcoWatch posts at least one article on fracking and last week was no different. Big news last week was the announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that …
James Hall, Contributor Waking Times The economics of oil or natural gas hydrofracking are seldom analyzed from the perspective of the American consumer. Most discussions focus upon the investment opportunities of specific companies, royalties to leaseholders, windfall tax revenues that state governments will benefit from and the bonanza that local communities will enjoy from the …
Sharon Kelly, Desmog Blog Waking Times Amid all the pushback to fracking, most of the attention has focused on what drillers put into the ground. The amount of water used. The chemicals that make up energy companies’ secret mix. Whether these dangerous chemicals will contaminate our drinking water. But one of the biggest problems of …
Steve Horn & Trisha Marczak, De Smog Blog Waking Times Within immediate vicinity of a central battleground of the Black Hawk War of 1832, land rife with a resource necessary for hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is in the crosshairs of an industry prepared to turn the area into a battle zone once again. The resource? Frac sand — officially known by …
Sharon Kelly, DeSmogBlog Waking Times Today’s shale gas boom has brought a surge of drilling across the US, driving natural gas prices to historic lows over the past couple of years. But, according to David Hughes, geoscientist and fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, in the future, we can expect at least the same frenzied rate of drilling …
Lisa Garber, Natural Society Waking Times We know fracking isn’t exactly the safest of practices. We’ve heard of its propensity to pollute our air and drinking water and thereby raise human health concerns. The media, however, isn’t talking about the massive sinkholes pockmarking the nation, the radiation leaks, and other lesser known but no less earth-shattering effects …
Alex Pietrowski, Staff Writer Waking Times Fracking, or hydraulic gas fracturing, is the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock layers deep within the earth. The process pumps pressurized hazardous chemicals down into the ground which then forces a soup of hazardous chemicals mixed with oil and gas to be extracted from the rock …
Dr. Mercola Waking Times Polluted drinking water is a significant health threat that is sorely under-reported and oft-ignored. A recent article in the Star Tribune1 highlights the very real struggle to access clean drinking water right here in the United States. “Debbie Carlson can laugh at the irony: She’s the wife of a well digger who can’t …
Laura Whitney, DeSmogBlog Waking Times This week, the group Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE) declared they would submit a petition to the White House signed by 107 experts to urge the administration to slow down and consider the health effects of natural gas fracking before allowing any new permits. They want the government to …
Anthony Gucciardi, Natural Society Waking Times Have you heard of the massive sinkholes popping up around the nation? Flammable craters spanning acres wide and leaking radiation, monster sinkholes described as ‘apocalyptic’ have forced residents out of homes, expelled radiation into the environment, and are now ushering in concerns about serious Earth changes in the near future. …
Brendan Demelle, Desmog Blog Waking Times This month, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection released its bi-annual report on how much natural gas has been produced in the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation which stretches underneath much of Appalachia. Investors were shocked because the production numbers seemed far lower than expected. Watched closely by market …
Eileen Flanagan, Waging Nonviolence Contributor Waking Times South Africa announced Friday that it would lift its moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial natural gas extraction technique known as “fracking.” In response, Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG) is launching a legal battle to protect the ecologically-sensitive, arid area in the Karoo region of the Eastern …
Laura Grace Weldon, Guest Writer Waking Times Have you heard about fracking? It may seem like it will have no impact on your or your family. But take a look at the facts. A dairy farm not far from us is the first in our area to begin hydraulic fracturing. This process was developed to …
