Tag: natural gas drilling

Congressman Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., a co-sponsor of the FRAC Act with Colorado Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette and Jared Polis, on Sunday called for a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe of the natural gas industry after a New York Times article brought up allegations of an “Enron-style Ponzi scheme.”

Colorado’s rules governing the controversial natural gas drilling process of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” will be on the hot seat Thursday during an independent review that includes a public meeting in Denver.

As Colorado oil and gas officials continue to resist attempts by some members of the state’s congressional delegation to pass federal law compelling the disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, Texas, of all places, could soon establish a national model for fracking transparency.

Colorado’s top oil and gas regulator and the head of one of the state’s leading industry lobbying groups both say federal legislation compelling disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing would not have prevented the state’s worst cases of groundwater contamination.

A new music video called “My Water's On Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song)” by David Holmes and journalism students at New York University’s Studio 20 is making the rounds after being posted on the Pulitzer Prize-winning website ProPublica this morning.

A new scientific study conducted by researchers at Duke University for the first time shows drinking water wells closer to natural gas drilling activity contain higher levels of flammable methane gas that the federal government says could require “hazard mitigation” action.

Community activists battling to mitigate the potential environmental impacts of a proposed 200-well natural gas drilling project in Battlement Mesa reacted sharply Tuesday to the news that Garfield County has dropped an ongoing Health Impact Assessment (HIA) to weigh those risks.

Echoing sentiments expressed to the Colorado Independent by U.S. House Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., more than 49 percent of the shareholders of an oil and gas company in the Permian Basin of West Texas recently asked for more transparency in hydraulic fracturing operations.

In a sit-down interview with the Colorado Independent in Denver this week, U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette said the natural gas industry should support full public disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing as a “protection” from potential litigation.

A New York City law firm today will hold a press conference on the West Steps of the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver to announce a lawsuit against a Denver-based natural gas drilling company for the alleged contamination of a Silt family’s property “leading to their forced exile from their home and serious health effects.”