Tag: North Dakota

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Wins a Victory in Dakota Access Pipeline Case

The NY Times discusses how the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe won a court case against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

 In a significant victory for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, a federal judge on Wednesday ordered a sweeping new environmental review of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The pipeline, which runs from North Dakota to Illinois, has been carrying oil for nearly three years and has been contested by environmental groups and Native American tribes who live near it. President Trump sought to keep the project alive.

The ruling by United States District Judge James E. Boasberg found that the pipeline’s “effects on the quality of the human environment are likely to be highly controversial” and that the federal government had not done an adequate job of studying the risks of a major spill or whether the pipeline’s leak detection system was adequate.

Interior Department repeals regulations on hydraulic fracturing

The Obama administration’s 2015 fracking rule was never actually implemented, thanks to an ongoing court battle, and it apparently never will be. The Interior Department published a final rule Friday in the Federal Register repealing immediately the hydraulic-fracturing regulation on federal lands, saying that “we believe it imposes administrative burdens and compliance costs that are not justified.”

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/31/trump-administration-kills-obama-era-fracking-rule/

All that new shale oil may not be enough as big discoveries wane

CALGARY (Bloomberg) — Three years after causing an oil-price crash, the shale boom may not be enough to meet rising global demand because the industry has cut back so sharply on higher-risk mega-projects.

http://www.worldoil.com/news/2017/12/27/all-that-new-shale-oil-may-not-be-enough-as-big-discoveries-wane

Letter: Quality, quantity of water still an issue

Research recently released by the North Dakota State University (Grand Forks Herald, Nov. 15) spelled out the obvious on fracking and water. Water use for the Bakken oil boom consumed water at unprecedented levels, it said, and key western North Dakota aquifers declined.

https://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/letters/4369446-letter-quality-quantity-water-still-issue

Another Loss for Anti-Fracking Activists in Olympia, Wash.

For the second year in a row, anti-fracking activists in Olympia, Wash., gathered to protest the Port of Olympia’s shipping of ceramic proppants—otherwise known as fracking sand, used in the controversial extraction process—to oil fields in North Dakota. After having faced off with dozens of police in a predawn raid at their camp last year, the group, which had grown in diversity, nervously awaited a similar incident after gathering on Nov. 17.

Another Loss for Anti-Fracking Activists in Olympia, Wash.

Study: U.S. Vastly Overstates Oil Output Forecasts, MIT

Turns out, America’s decade-long shale boom might just end up being a little too good to be true. There’s no denying that fracking has turned the U.S. into a force in the global oil and gas markets, which has more than a few people abuzz about the prospect of energy independence.

But now, researchers at MIT have uncovered one potentially game-changing detail: a flaw in the Energy Department’s official forecast, which may vastly overstate oil and gas production in the years to come.

The culprit, they say, lies in the Energy Information Administration’s premise that better technology has been behind nearly all the recent output gains, and will continue to boost production for the foreseeable future. That’s not quite right. Instead, the research suggests increases have been largely due to something more mundane: low energy prices, which led drillers to focus on sweet spots where oil and gas are easiest to extract.

Anti-fracking activists and anarchists are blocking rail tracks in Olympia. They don’t plan on leaving.

There was little sleep the first night. Everyone was too wired with nerves and excitement. They expected the police to barrel in at any moment.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/11/29/anti-fracking-activists-and-anarchists-are-blocking-rail-tracks-in-olympia-they-dont-plan-on-leaving/?utm_term=.5aec6af7ebba

UB Foundation invests in fracking

The University at Buffalo Foundation quietly invested in an offshore fund that finances fracking and oil companies, even as the university declares itself a leader on combating climate change, leaked documents reveal.

UB Foundation invests in fracking

Bakken Learning Curve Said Driving Well Productivity Gains

Drilling productivity in the Bakken Shale, which is producing more than 1 million b/d of light sweet crude oil, is a byproduct of geology and the fact that North Dakota operators are further along the learning curve than in other U.S. onshore plays, according to the state’s top oil and gas regulator.

http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/112489-bakken-learning-curve-said-driving-well-productivity-gains