TAG: oil and gas

Water Industry Admits Fracking Compromises UK’s Water Supply

Kaye Spector, EcoWatch Waking Times Today, two industry groups signed a Memorandum of Understanding stating that their members will minimize the impact of onshore oil and gas development in the UK on the country’s water resources.The memorandum accompanies a report released by Water UK. The report concludes that ”where water is in short supply there may not be enough available from

Photos Reveal Ecuador Building Secret Oil Roads Deeper Into Richest Rainforest on Earth, the Yasuní National Park

Massimo De Marchi, Mongabay Waking Times In August 2012, professional photographers Ivan Kashinsky and Karla Gachet were on assignment for National Geographic in Yasuní National Park, home to arguably the most biodiverse rainforest in the world. While there, they happened to take an aerial shoot above an area known as Block 31 (see Map), a controversial oil concession located

Word Games are Misleading the American Public About Fracking

Sky Truth Waking Times “Half the truth is often a great lie.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac – 1758 Hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, and other drilling practices have unlocked previously inaccessible reserves of oil and gas across the United States and the world. However, some of the debate over fracking is distorting public

Could California’s Shale Oil Boom Be Just a Mirage?

Sharon Kelly, DeSmogBlog Waking Times Since the shale rush took off starting in 2005 in Texas, drillers have sprinted from one state to the next, chasing the promise of cheaper, easier, more productive wells. This land rush was fueled by a wild spike in natural gas prices that helped make shale gas drilling attractive even though the

Worldwide Protests Challenge Fracking Industry

Farron Cousins, De Smog Blog Waking Times On Saturday, October 19th, from Romania to Canada and beyond, protests of varying size took place all over the globe to bring attention to the dangers of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The events, part of a worldwide effort by Global Frackdown, are designed to raise public awareness about the environmental and health

Whether By Train Or By Pipeline, Oil and Gas Transport Is Unsafe

Don Lieber, DeSmogBlog Waking Times The deadly oil train disaster in Lac Megantic, Quebec on July 5, which (as of this writing) has left 33 people dead, with 17 still missing, and contaminated over 60 miles of local drinking water sources, has initiated a curious response across the media spectrum. Some observers cite this accident as reason

Hydro-Fracking – Boom or Bust?

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

Is Houston, Texas a Tar Sands “Sacrifice Zone”?

Caroline Selle, DeSmogBlog Waking Times Much of the debate around the Keystone XL pipeline has focused on the dangers of extracting and transporting the tar sands. Left out, however, are those in the United States who are guaranteed to feel the impacts of increased tar sands usage. Spill or no spill, anyone living near a tar

10 Reasons Canada Needs to Rethink the Tar Sands

Kevin Grandia, DeSmogBlog Waking Times As a Canadian it blows my mind that we can have the second largest deposits of oil in the world, but our government remains billions in debt and one in seven Canadian children live in poverty. I feel like we are being played for fools here in Canada, because foreign owned

Faster Drilling, Diminishing Returns in Shale Fracking Plays Nationwide?

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

Fracking Up The Future of Pennsylvania

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

Why Is the Media Ignoring the Mass Sinkholes Popping Up Around the Country?

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.

Toxic Tar Sands: Scientists Document Spread of Pollution, Water Contamination, Effects on Fish

Carol Linnitt, DeSmogBlog Waking Times  Today federal scientists from Environment Canada presented research at an international toxicology conference in the U.S. that indicates contaminants from the Alberta tar sands are polluting the landscape on a scale much larger than previously thought. A team lead by federal scientist Jane Kirk discovered contaminants in lakes as far as 100 kilometers

Deepening Doubts About Fracked Shale Gas Wells’ Long Term Prospects

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

Fighting Fracking in South Africa and Beyond

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

Will Fracking Affect My Family?

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

Ecuadorian Court Orders Chevron to Pay $19 Billion for Environmental Damages

Lisa Garber Waking Times An Ecuadorian court recently demanded Chevron to pay $19 billion in environmental damages. This includes $900 million for the Amazon Defense Front—a coalition of plaintiffs in this decade-long legal battle—and an additional $8.6 billion because Chevron refused to apologize. Ouch! The Amazon’s Chernobyl Instead of paying up, Chevron is putting up


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