Month: January 2017

Fracking Presents Big Problems That Towns Have Little Authority to Fix

Hydraulic fracturing generates a lot of low-cost energy, but as has been widely reported, it carries with it troubling liabilities. Most of those involve an environmental price paid by the areas where the drilling takes place and oil or natural gas is transported. Localities have limited ability to do anything about them.

http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-fracking-court-local-state.html

Thousands oppose fracking in Derbyshire as area around Derby villages is explored

Permission has been given for companies to check out big swathes of the county for gas reserves, including in areas on the outskirts of Derby, such as the villages of Borrowash, Ockbrook, Elvaston and parts of Spondon.

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/derbyshire-residents-sign-petition-against-fracking-in-eckington/story-30097250-detail/story.html

9942 Citizen-Reported Fracking Complaints Reveal 14-Years of Suppressed Data

Guess what was found in Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) filing cabinets after gas operators drilled 10,027 fracking wells over the last 12 years? Only 9,442 citizen-reported fracking complaints. And 44 percent of those are drinking water-related.

http://www.ecowatch.com/fracking-complaints-pennsylvania-2225509887.html

Editorial: Fracking ban is a good start

Last week, five state senators introduced a measure to ban fracking and other risky oil and gas extraction methods. The backing of both Democrats and Republicans – including Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville – is a welcome development that hopefully leads to lawmakers continuing to work across the aisle on what should really be a nonpartisan issue.

http://www.gainesville.com/opinion/20170129/editorial-fracking-ban-is-good-start

Editorial: Focus on fracking safety, not secrecy

FOR the second year in a row, there is an effort in the Virginia General Assembly to diminish the public’s right to know—specifically, the right of residents, including many in the Fredericksburg region, to know what kind of chemicals will be pumped into their soil by energy companies in search of oil and natural gas.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-focus-on-fracking-safety-not-secrecy/article_fa3544c3-f42a-5fc2-9c25-4354e95d1b57.html

Andrew J. O’Connor: In defense of civil disobedience on fracking

Fracking does not exist to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It exists to make maximum amount of profits for oil and gas companies. Economists and geologists agree that any petroleum that companies get from here on will require drilling wells deeper and fracking. More than 50 percent of fracking wells leak, including those that have been abandoned. Abandoned wells are no good for making money; however, they are still under pressure and often leak into the aquifer.

http://www.dailycamera.com/letters/ci_30757278/andrew-j-oconnor-defense-civil-disobedience-fracking

Conservation groups threaten lawsuit to end auctions, ban fracking in Wayne National Forest

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Four conservation groups on Thursday said they will sue the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in an attempt to ban fracking at the Wayne National Forest in Southeast Ohio.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/01/conservation_groups_threaten_l.html

Increased Fracking and Pipeline Operations in Ohio Threaten Many Animal Species

According to a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the NEXUS and Rover pipeline projects (and the dozens of other energy infrastructure projects laying claim to Ohio) will “impact habitat for at least 16 federally listed threatened and endangered species”

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2017/01/27/increased-fracking-and-pipeline-operations-in-ohio-threaten-many-animal-species