From rural Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, more than 17 million Americans live within a mile of at least one oil or gas well. Since 2014, most new oil and gas wells have been fracked. Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, is a process in which workers inject fluids underground under high pressure. The fluids fracture coal […]
A major new report authored by the Physicians for Social Responsibility and Concerned Health Professionals of New York reveals that recent national and global efforts to increase oil and gas production and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports “have dire impacts on public health and the climate.” By Dan Bacher Authored by doctors and scientists, the report provides a critical accounting of […]
The FracTracker Alliance has released a new report on water use by the oil and gas industry in California: www.fractracker.org/… By Dan Bacher “We found that the oil and gas industry consumed over 4.6 billion gallons of freshwater for extraction operations in California during the 3 year period from 2018-2020,” said Kyle Ferrar, author of the report. […]
The EPA approved dangerous chemicals that break down into PFAS for use in fracking in 2011, according to records obtained by Physicians for Social Responsibility and reported by the New York Times. Despite EPA scientists having identified preliminary evidence that the toxic, carcinogenic, and birth-defect-linked substances could degrade into those ‘forever chemicals’ and persist in […]
The California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM), the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency, today announced it has denied all 21 of Aera Energy’s applications for fracking operations in California, citing risks to public health and safety and environmental quality and climate change under regulatory statutes. By Dan Bacher “This is the first permit denial of this scale for reasons related […]
The California Chapter of Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA California), a coalition of 315 elected officials from across the state, say it’s time to stop the drilling and production of oil and gas to save our water for needed use as a heat wave is expected to hit on the July Fourth weekend. By […]
President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan proposes to spend US$16 billion plugging old oil and gas wells and cleaning up abandoned mines. But there’s no authoritative measure of how many of these sites exist across the nation. By Matthew D. Moran, Hendrix College The Conversation In a recent study, my colleagues and I sought to account […]
On Friday, CalGEM, the oil and gas regulatory agency for California, released the first draft of its rulemaking regulations intended to ban fracking by January 1, 2024. The draft includes broad language that allows for the phase out of all “well stimulation” techniques including fracking, acidizing, gravel packing, steam flooding and steam injection, according to Food and […]
In this week’s episode we bring you information about Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs), a technology that frankly I knew very little about before conducting this interview. (I choose guests not just for you but for my own benefit.) By Chelsea Henderson EcoRight News/ RepublicEN This week’s guest, Daniel Gage, is the president of the NGV America, a […]
In late February, the fracked gas industry had yet another one of its increasingly frequent bad days. After years of advocacy from thousands of residents, Sierra Club organizers, and numerous partners, the governors of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware unanimously voted to permanently ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin. Nearly half of the basin […]
A recent report by Kyle Ferrar of the Fractracker Alliance confirms my extensive reporting on how the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative in Southern California, chaired by Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) President, did little or nothing to protect the marine environment from oil and gas drilling. By Dan Bacher The report also reveals the […]
An ordinance being considered by the Kern County Board of Supervisors would fast track almost 70,000 new oil and gas wells without any meaningful environmental oversight—nearly doubling the number of wells that already exist there, according to an action alert from the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment (CRPE) and the Sunflower Alliance. By Dan […]
How did CalGEM, the state agency overseeing oil and gas regulations, celebrate New Year’s Eve? They issued 14 more fracking permits to Aera Energy in the South Belridge field and delayed to spring 2021 the release of public health regulations for oil & gas wells. By Dan Bacher CalGEM published this announcement on the last […]
The Fractracker Alliance has just published a new study on the potential impacts of health and safety setbacks and environmental justice in California revealing that over 2 million people, mostly low income and people of color, live within 2,500′ of oil and gas infrastructure. By Dan Bacher The report, People and Production: Reducing Risk in California Extraction, makes a number of conclusions, including recommending […]
The way companies drill for oil and gas and dispose of wastewater can trigger earthquakes, at times in unexpected places. In West Texas, earthquake rates are now 30 times higher than they were in 2013. Studies have also linked earthquakes to oil field operations in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Ohio. By Thomas H. Goebel, University […]