ENVIRONMENTAL groups have called on the Scottish Government to ban fracking and unconventional oil and gas extraction because of risks to our climate, environment and public health.
Month: May 2017
PA Panel Reduces Fracking Fine
Law360 “A Pennsylvania administrative law panel ordered an EQT Corp. unit to pay $1.1 million in penalties over leaks from a wastewater impoundment at a natural gas drilling site in 2012, a significant step down from the $4.5 million initially sought by state environmental regulators.
The state’s Environmental Hearing Board leveled the fine after agreeing that EQT Production Co. had engaged in a pattern of reckless behavior through improper construction of the pit’s foundation, failure to mitigate damage to the pit’s plastic liner, and the company’s refusal..”
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As Oil Reserves Decline, Colombia Looks To Fracking
This article discusses the depletion of Colombian oil reserves, and how they are looking to fracking to continue providing energy for the country. Colombia has seen a depletion of some 500 million barrels of crude from its national oil reserves, a threat to its energy self-sufficiency.
OPEC Maintains Production Cuts But Fracking Controls Prices Now
This Forbes article discusses the reduced clout that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) now has because of fracked gas. OPEC has agreed to maintain their production cuts for the purpose of supporting the oil price. Which is fine, a cartel operating like a cartel, no one really expects them to do much else but try to exercise their market power. The problem here is that they’ve not got as much market power as they’d like, not got as much market power as they used to have.
Fracking Makes Workers Sick
ALLOWING fracking in Scotland could pose “serious risks” to the health of workers, according to a new analysis. Over 150 studies have linked fracking chemicals to health problems, they say. US experts warn that silica dust from the fracking industry can cause permanent lung damage.
Anadarko Execs Buy up Depressed Stock After Colorado Explosion Kills 2
Buy low, sell high. It’s a maxim taught to stock traders from day one and one which Anadarko Petroleum’s upper-level management seems to have taken to heart in the aftermath of the April gas line explosion that blew up a Colorado home, leaving two dead and one badly injured.
https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/05/26/anadarko-depressed-stock-colorado-explosion
Legal Protest Targets Massive Nevada Fracking Plan
LAS VEGAS— Five conservation groups today challenged a U.S. Bureau of Land Management plan to auction nearly 200,000 acres of public lands next month for fossil fuel development.
The administrative protest asserts that the BLM failed to adequately analyze the impacts of fracking and related industrialization on public lands ecosystems, surface and groundwater, wildlife and the climate.
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/fracking-05-25-2017.php
CA State Ethics Commission – Aides Owned Fracking Company Shares fought Fracking Regulations
Consumer Watchdog today called on the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) to reject staff recommendations for minor fines against the Governor’s top aide Nancy McFadden and the Democratic Party, and to reopen the cases and interview witnesses not contacted.
Ask a Scientist: What is fracking? What about earthquakes?
This article is posted by the University of Tennessee, and mostly discusses fracking and earthquakes. They state that fracking does indeed cause earthquakes, but smaller ones, under 4.0 on the Richter scale. It states that the real culprit in fracking causing earthquakes is injection wells.
Ohio: Vinton County quake probably not related to oil and gas industry
Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials are investigating an earthquake reported Wednesday in southeastern Ohio, but don’t believe it was related to oil and gas production.
The initial analysis shows a 3.4 magnitude, “naturally occurring seismic event” happened at 12:24 p.m. in Elk Township, just south of McArthur in Vinton County, that was likely associated with the Athens fault line, department spokesman Eric Heis said.
http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170524/vinton-county-quake-probably-not-fracking-related-state-says