Tag: hydrofracking

Oil drilling has sparked a frenzied prosperity in Jeff Keller's formerly quiet corner of western North Dakota in recent years, bringing an infusion of jobs and reviving moribund local businesses.

New York's emerging plan to regulate natural gas drilling in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale needs to go further to safeguard drinking water, environmentally sensitive areas and gas industry workers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has informed state officials.

A Department of Energy advisory panel that was criticized by environmentalists for having too many members connected to the oil and gas industry has issued a second report calling for stronger regulation of hydrofracking by state and federal agencies.

Another swarm of earthquakes in an unusual part of the country has generated aftershocks of debate about whether the oil and gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is to blame.

Officials for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced plans to draft national standards for the treatment and disposal of tainted wastewater generated during the common oil and gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Montana recently joined an increasing number of states in regulating the practice of hydrofracking by requiring disclosure of the chemical used the process, but environmentalists say the rules don’t provide enough protection.

Monday’s 5.3-magnitude earthquake southwest of Trinidad in southern Colorado is being called rare but “consistent with the region and historic activity in the area,” and so far no official connection is being made to gas drilling -- or hydraulic fracturing -- of relatively shallow coal-bed methane gas reserves in the area.

A group of doctors and scientists from 24 different universities and non-profit research organizations – including Colorado School of Mines and the University of Colorado – recently sent a letter (pdf) to Energy Secretary Steven Chu blasting his picks for a Department of Energy panel studying the controversial natural gas drilling process of hydraulic fracturing.

Proposals by state and industry officials in Colorado to step up transparency about the impact of hydrofracking operations on water are welcomed, but they still fall short, says Western Resource Advocates.

Two years ago, former Colorado Sen. Tim Wirth delivered stern words to members of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association at their annual conference: You blew it. The natural gas industry could have been part of the climate bill called Waxman-Markey, he said, but in fact it was mentioned just twice in more than 900 pages of legislation.