We hope lawmakers and regulators will use this de-facto moratorium to review the fracking-safety rules that have been developed and make sure the public and the environment are protected. Fayetteville Observer, North Carolina. 29 May 2015.
Month: May 2015
Fracking battle in Texas not over
Anti-fracking activists are searching for a legal strategy to challenge the constitutionality of a new state law that appears to overturn the frack ban that Denton voters passed last November. Denton Record-Chronicle, Texas. 28 May 2015.
OSHA fines Halliburton $7K in fracking site blast
Federal regulators have fined Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. $7,000 for safety violations in a deadly 2014 explosion at a hydraulic fracturing site in Weld County. Denver ABC7 TV, Colorado. 27 May 2015.
One year after baseline water testing was put in place, questions remain
Consultants knocked on Wayne Brautigam’s door back in October. The man told them EOG Resources, an oil company, hired him to test their water well. EOG planned on drilling wells near his home 15 miles east of Cheyenne. Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming. 27 May 2015.
Universities study effects of fracking
Corky DeMarco contends that methane found in drinking water wells close to Marcellus Shale operations may have nothing to do with nearby fracking, despite the findings of a study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Wheeling Intelligencer, West Virginia. 27 May 2015.
http://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2015/05/universities-study-effects-of-fracking/
Inside the War on Coal
The war on coal is not just political rhetoric, or a paranoid fantasy concocted by rapacious polluters. It’s real and it’s relentless. Over the past five years, it has killed a coal-fired power plant every 10 days. It has quietly transformed the U.S. electric grid and the global climate debate.
Review panel stacked with pro-frackers, says Greg Malone
Some environmental and citizen groups are voicing concerns that none of the five panelists selected by government are women, or represent First Nations or people from the west coast of the province. CBC Canada. 26 May 2015.
Too little, not too late, say N.L. fracking opponents
Disband the Newfoundland and Labrador fracking review panel and reject the idea of hydraulic fracturing, representatives of 12 environmental and social justice groups said Monday at a joint news conference in St. John’s. St. John’s Telegram, Newfoundland. 26 May 2015.
Frack monitor site refused
County planning chiefs have rubber-stamped their decision to refuse plans to use a dormant shale gas bore hole for monitoring. Blackpool Gazette, United Kingdom. 25 May 2015.
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/environment/frack-monitor-site-refused-1-7277254
Anti-city legislation inconsistent with Texas history
Texas has long touted “local control” as a defense in the courts and public policy debates, and as an offense in actions against the federal government. Now that powerful Texas interests are threatened by cities that seek to protect their residents, Texas leaders have been attacking local control. San Antonio Express-News, Texas. 24 May 2015.