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Post by clone on Jun 7, 2012 11:58:13 GMT -8
7 June 2012 Last updated at 03:23 ET Halliburton blames guar bean shortage for profit warning Guar is a key ingredient in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, fluids, which are used to extract natural gas from rocks. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18350553
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Post by methane on Jul 12, 2012 16:06:46 GMT -8
Fracking Would Emit Large Quantities of Greenhouse Gases "Fugitive methane" released during shale gas drilling could accelerate climate change | January 20, 2012 | Opposition to the hydraulic fracturing of deep shales to release natural gas rose sharply last year over worries that the large volumes of chemical-laden water used in the operations could contaminate drinking water. Then, in early January, earthquakes in Ohio were blamed on the disposal of that water in deep underground structures. Yesterday, two Cornell University professors said at a press conference [ Venting and Leaking of Methane from Shale Gas Development] that fracking releases large amounts of natural gas, which consists mostly of methane, directly into the atmosphere—much more than previously thought. Robert Howarth, an ecologist and evolutionary biologist, and Anthony Ingraffea, a civil and environmental engineer, reported that fracked wells leak 40 to 60 percent more methane than conventional natural gas wells. When water with its chemical load is forced down a well to break the shale, it flows back up and is stored in large ponds or tanks. But volumes of methane also flow back up the well at the same time and are released into the atmosphere before they can be captured for use. This giant belch of "fugitive methane" www.psehealthyenergy.org/resources/view/198782 can be seen in infrared videos taken at well sites. www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fracking-would-emit-methane
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Post by clone on Jul 26, 2012 17:57:06 GMT -8
Fracking Company Paid Texas Professor Behind Water Contamination Study July 23, 2012 | 1:08 PM Earlier this year, a study led by Dr. Charles “Chip” Groat for the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin made headlines for saying there was no link between fracking and groundwater contamination. (When we reported on the study in February, we noted that the study also found some serious issues around the safety and regulation of fracking that weren’t getting much press coverage.) But according to a new report out today by the Public Accountablitiy Initiative (PAI), a nonprofit watchdog group, the conclusions in Groat’s report aren’t as clear cut as initially reported. And Groat himself did not disclose significant financial ties to the fracking industry. Groat, a former Director of the U.S. Geological Survey and professor at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, also sits on the board of Plains Exploration and Production Company, a Houston-based company that conducts drilling and fracking in Texas and other parts of the country. According to the new report (and a review of the company’s financial reports by Bloomberg) Groat received more than $400,000 from the drilling company last year alone, more than double his salary at the University. And one of the shales examined in Groat’s fracking study is currently being drilled by the company, the report says. Since 2007, Groat has received over $1.5 million in cash and stock awards from the company, and he currently holds over $1.6 million in company stock, according to the PAI report. ( Update: we clarified with PAI, and that $1.6 million in stock comes from the stock awards over the years. PAI says Groat’s total compensation from the company is close to $2 million.) more: stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/07/23/fracking-company-paid-texas-professor-behind-water-contamination-study/Reporting on Power, Policy and the Planet
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Post by clone on Aug 9, 2012 9:26:28 GMT -8
Blackpool rocked: how fracking triggers quakes August 7, 2012 Documentary: Fracked off - US experience of fracking Hydraulic fracturing may cause more earthquakes than previously thought, a new study of US gas drilling fields suggests. A panel of seismic experts decided it was "highly probable" that the company's drilling was responsible for two quakes and 28 aftershocks in Blackpool The "fracking" process involves injecting large volumes of water and chemicals underground to bring methane to the surface. It has long been associated with causing small underground tremors and occasionally with earthquakes that are noticed on the surface. But the new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found at least 59 minor quakes in the Barnett shale region in Texas, ranging from 1.4 to 2.5 in magnitude, that had not been reported to the US National Earthquake Information Centre. www.theage.com.au/environment/blackpool-rocked-how-fracking-triggers-quakes-20120807-23rzf.html
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Post by clone on Sept 28, 2012 20:17:44 GMT -8
Blood Nation women blockade fracking Crown decides not to prosecute fracking protestor Lois Frank - June 20, 2012 At her seventh appearance at Cardston Provincial Court on today, counsel for the prosecution informed the Court that the Crown directs a stay of proceedings. Frank had been arrested and charged with “intimidation” under Section 423 (1) (G) of the Criminal Code for standing in front of Murphy Oil and GASFRAC trucks on September 9, 2011 near an oil well site on the Blood Reserve. www.klew.org/press-release/crown-decides-not-prosecute-fracking-protestor-lois-frank********************************************* Cochrane residents meet to discuss fracking concerns - Sep 27, 2012 9:11 AM MT Residents of Cochrane met again Wednesday night to discuss concern over fracking in their neighbourhood. Fracking involves injecting water, sand and chemicals into the ground at high pressure in order to fracture the rock and release oil and gas. Local ranchers say they are noticing tremors in the ground, cancer in their animals and odd health side effects. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2012/09/27/calgary-fracking-meeting.html
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Post by clone on Oct 4, 2012 12:55:00 GMT -8
Special Report: The casualties of Chesapeake's "land grab" across America Tue Oct 2, 2012 8:53am EDT www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/02/us-chesapeake-landgrab-substory-idUSBRE8910E920121002Chesapeake, Encana plotted to suppress land prices, documents show Last Updated: Jun 25, 2012 7:31 PM ET business.financialpost.com/2012/06/25/chesapeake-encana-plotted-to-suppress-land-prices-documents-show/Paul Ryan And His Family To Benefit From The $45 billion In Subsidies For Big Oil In His Budget June 17, 2011 suzieqq.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/paul-ryan-and-his-family-to-benefit-from-the-45-billion-in-subsidies-for-big-oil-in-his-budget/[Ryan's father-in-law, Daniel Little, who runs the companies, told Newsweek and The Daily Beast that the family companies are currently leasing the land for mining and drilling to energy giants such as Chesapeake Energy, Devon, and XTO Energy www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/17/paul-ryan-s-shrewd-budget-payday-congressman-could-benefit-from-tax-breaks-he-proposes.html ]
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Post by clone on Oct 5, 2012 19:42:03 GMT -8
Review of Progress Energy Resources' deal with Petronas extended October 5, 2012 CALGARY - Ottawa is extending a review of the proposed takeover of Progress Energy Resources Corp. by Malaysia's Petronas. The Canadian company says the government and Petronas have agreed to extend the review under the Investment Canada Act to Oct. 19. The deal faces the key "net benefit" test under the act. Petronas has agreed to pay $6 billion for Calgary-based Progress — its partner in B.C. shale natural gas development. www.vancouversun.com/business/Review+Progress+Energy+Resources+deal+with+Petronas+extended/7349510/story.htmlTories cut environment panel China's CNOOC announced plans to buy Nexen on Monday for $15.1 billion. Kuwait Petroleum may invest $4B in Alberta's oilsands Athabasca Oil confirms agreement to form joint venture
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Post by clone on Nov 14, 2012 15:14:11 GMT -8
State representative calls for probe of DEP water testing reports - November 1, 2012 6:17 pm The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has created incomplete lab reports and used them to dismiss complaints that Marcellus Shale gas development operations have contaminated residential water supplies and made people sick, according to court documents and other sources. As a result, state Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, today called on state and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate the DEP for "alleged misconduct and fraud" described in sworn depositions in a civil case currently in Washington County Common Pleas Court. www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/marcellusshale/state-representative-calls-for-probe-of-dep-water-testing-reports-660215/* In her deposition, Ms. Upadhyay said the department's oil and gas division directed the lab to generate water test reports to homeowners that omitted the full menu of findings for heavy metals, including lithium, cobalt, chromium, boron and titanium, some of which are human carcinogens, as well as volatile organic compounds that are associated with hydraulic fracturing fluids. * According to the deposition transcript, Ms. Upadhyay said the DEP's state laboratory tests water samples for a full battery of contaminants, but at the direction of the department's Office of Oil and Gas Management, limits the number of contaminants reported to the oil and gas division and the property owner. * The depositions were filed as supporting documents in the related Washington County Court case. In that case, four homeowners, including Mr. Kiskadden, who live near the Yeager well site, allege their private water supplies were contaminated and they suffered a variety of health problems.
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Post by clone on Nov 29, 2012 18:07:22 GMT -8
Livestock falling ill in fracking regions Nov 29, 2012 In the midst of the domestic energy boom, livestock on farms near oil-and-gas drilling operations nationwide have been quietly falling sick and dying. While scientists have yet to isolate cause and effect, many suspect chemicals used in drilling and hydrofracking, or fracking, operations are poisoning animals through the air, water or soil. Earlier this year, Michelle Bamberger, an Ithaca, N.Y., veterinarian, and Robert Oswald, a professor of molecular medicine at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, published the first and only peer-reviewed report to suggest a link between fracking and illness in food animals. more: cironline.org/reports/livestock-falling-ill-fracking-regions-4041
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Post by clone on Dec 6, 2012 7:25:25 GMT -8
December 05, 2012 Fracturing can cause small quakes, Oklahoma researcher says Hydraulic fracturing, not just wastewater injection wells, has likely caused small earthquakes in Oklahoma, a research scientist with the state said Wednesday. Austin Holland, speaking at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, said his studies suggest that about 2 percent of the oil and gas wells hydraulically fractured in that state in the past 2 1/2 years were followed within 21 days by a quake within eight kilometers, or about five miles, of the well. While some likely were coincidental, not all were, concluded Holland, who is with the Oklahoma Geological Survey. Read more here: blogs.star-telegram.com/barnett_shale/2012/12/fracturing-can-cause-small-quakes-oklahoma-researcher-says.html#storylink=cpy
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Post by clone on Dec 22, 2012 7:13:28 GMT -8
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Post by clone on Dec 22, 2012 7:17:34 GMT -8
Natural Gas Drilling Releases Uranium, Study Reveals A scientific study released this week has added to the evidence that fracking is releasing more than natural gas. Researcher Tracy Bank, PhD, assistant professor of geology at the University of Buffalo in New York, has discovered that the fracking process is also unleashing toxic uranium from the shale formations, creating hazardous waste in the water that comes back to the surface. www.rodale.com/fracking-0
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Post by clone on Feb 7, 2013 18:58:27 GMT -8
WASHINGTON | Wed Feb 6, 2013 9:41pm EST (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is considering naming nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz, one of his science and energy advisers, as the next energy secretary, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. Moniz, who was undersecretary at the Energy Department during the Clinton administration, is a familiar figure on Capitol Hill, where he has often talked to lawmakers about how abundant supplies of U.S. natural gas will gradually replace coal as a source of electricity. www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/07/us-usa-cabinet-energy-idUSBRE91602H20130207
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Post by rosebud on Mar 6, 2013 8:35:01 GMT -8
How Alberta Will Fight Fracking Folk Hero Jessica Ernst | 16 Jan 2013 In famous flaming water case, regulator to argue 'no duty of care' to landowners or groundwater. In a landmark case that has attracted global attention, Jessica Ernst, a 55-year-old scientist and oil patch consultant is suing the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB), the Alberta Environment and Encana for contaminating her water well with methane and other chemicals nearly a decade ago. Alberta's main oil and gas regulator will argue in an Alberta court this Friday that it owes "no duty of care" to protect groundwater from hydraulic fracturing and that a regulator can violate the basic rights of citizens if it regards them as an "eco-terrorist." ** Encana, whose CEO Randy Eresman abruptly resigned last week, is no stranger to controversy. The company, which is struggling with debt and an over-reliance on controversial shale gas production, remains the subject of a major U.S. government groundwater study in Pavillion, Wyoming, that has linked hydraulic fracturing to aquifer contamination. ** Michigan authorities are also investigating the company for allegedly colluding with Chesapeake Energy to keep land prices low. Encana, the target of a mysterious bombing campaign in northern B.C. in 2008, also received record fines from Colorado's Oil and Gas Commission for contaminating water in 2004. thetyee.ca/News/2013/01/16/Ernst-Frack-Update/Paul Ryan conflicts of interest: Chesapeake Energy. bdgrdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/paul-ryan-fracking-baron-with-clear-conflicts-of-interest/
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Post by anon on Oct 31, 2013 9:31:38 GMT -8
It's true that hydraulic fracturing was utilized before the federal government began research on shale gas in the 1970s, but for entirely different applications. Fracking was first applied to limestone deposits in 1947. But drilling in limestone is fundamentally different from drilling in shale. thebreakthrough.org/archive/shale_gas_fracking_history_and
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