Fracking

Making Visible The Globe-Warming Gases Of The Permian Fracking Boom

December 5, 2018 By Julie Dermansky, Desmogblog.com Educate! Climate Change, Fracking, Global Warming

There is an LED sign at a Chase Bank in downtown Midland, Texas, the heart of the Permian Basin, which quantifies the current oil boom. It alternates between current rig count, the price of oil, and the price of gasoline. On October 30, the day I arrived, the sign informed me there were 1,068 drilling rigs across the United States, of which 489 — nearly half — are in the Permian Basin. Though the flashing sign is meant to celebrate the fracking boom, Sharon Wilson, Texas coordinator of Earthworks, sees it as a warning sign of the urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Judge Halts Further Fracking Off Coast Of Southern California Until A Full Review Is Complete

November 14, 2018 Ashley Curtin, Nationofchange.org Resist! California, Courts, Fracking

"A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop issuing permits for offshore fracking in federal waters off the California coast." A federal judge puts a halt to the Trump administration’s push to expand oil off the cost of Southern California until a full review is completed. U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez of Los Angeles ruled that a review assessing the impact of fracking on endangered species and coastal resources must be done first. “We just won a crucial victory in our lawsuit to stop offshore fracking!” the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) said in a tweet. “A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop issuing permits for offshore fracking in federal waters off the California coast.”

Dutch Stop Fracking Over Potential Earthquakes

November 14, 2018 By Alex Thomson, Channel4.com Resist! Earthquakes, Fracking, Holland

While fracking has only just begun in this country, the Dutch are waving goodbye to years of riches from gas extraction. Why? Because they can no longer stand the social and economic cost of hundreds of small earthquakes and thousands of properties damaged by the tremors gas extraction causes. The Dutch were told extraction was safe and well regulated, until their houses began cracking and falling down. We report from northern Holland.

Why Was Climate Change Omitted From Colorado’s Debate Over Fracking?

November 9, 2018 By David Sirota and Chase Woodruff, Capitalandmain.com Educate! Climate Change, Colorado, Fracking

Oil and gas corporations spent roughly $40 million to oppose 112, which would have mandated larger distances between fossil fuel extraction sites and schools, hospitals and residential neighborhoods, and likely restricted some fossil fuel development. Some of that money also went into promoting 74, which would have empowered those same oil and gas companies to sue towns that try to restrict drilling and fracking. While the industry offered a smorgasbord of arguments in its campaign — it would defund schools, it would kill jobs, etc. — those criticisms were all based on one central premise: that the setbacks measure would allegedly ban all new oil and gas exploration.

Where Water Goes After Fracking Is Tied To Earthquake Risk

November 5, 2018 Staff, News.utexas.edu Educate! Earthquakes, Fracking, Water

In addition to producing oil and gas, the energy industry produces a lot of water, about 10 barrels of water per barrel of oil on average. New research led by The University of Texas at Austin has found that where the produced water is stored underground influences the risk of induced earthquakes. Beyond supporting the link between water disposal and induced seismicity, the research also describes factors that can help reduce earthquake risk. “If we want to manage seismicity, we really need to understand the controls,” said lead author Bridget Scanlon, a senior research scientist at UT’s Bureau of Economic Geology.

UK Fracking Protesters Freed After Convictions Are Overturned

October 28, 2018 By Charlotte Dingle, Occupy.com Resist! Blockades, Fracking, United Kingdom (UK)

Four UK protesters went to court last week to contest what may be Britain's most draconian sentences handed down for peaceful environmental protest since 1932. Widely referred to as the “Frack Free Four,” all four men were initially convicted, with three – Simon Blevins, Richard Roberts and Richard Loizou – sentenced to prison stays of up to 16 months for non-violently obstructing the transfer of fracking materials.

Community Victorious; Dominion Won’t Build Proposed Compressor Station

October 16, 2018 Staff, Bluevirginia.us Resist! Dominion, Fracking, Maryland

The AMP Creeks Council and greater Southern Maryland Community are Celebrating a Victory in a two-year fight against Dominion Energy Cove Point’s (DECP) efforts to build a giant fracked gas compressor station on 14 clear cut acres surrounded by fragile wetlands that often flood in the Accokeek/Bryans Road area. Emily Architzel, an AMP Creeks Board member who recently moved from Bryans Road to Accokeek and is disabled said, “Holy cow! I’m breathing a giant fracked gas-free sigh of relief. The pollution from this compressor station would have driven my family out of the area because of the potential impacts to my health.”

Fracking Wastewater Spikes 1,440% In Half Decade, Adding To Dry Regions’ Water Woes

September 12, 2018 By Sharon Kelly, Desmogblog.com Educate! Fracking, Toxic Chemicals, Waste

Between 2011 and 2016, fracked oil and gas wells in the U.S. pumped out record-breaking amounts of wastewater, which is laced with toxic and radioactive materials, a new Duke University study concludes. The amount of wastewater from fracking rose 1,440 percent during that period. Over the same time, the total amount of water used for fracking rose roughly half as much, 770 percent, according to the paper published today in the journal Science Advances. “Previous studies suggested hydraulic fracturing does not use significantly more water than other energy sources, but those findings were based only on aggregated data from the early years of fracking,” Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, said in a statement.

Teaching My Sons That Water Is Life: A Father/Son Road Trip.

August 31, 2018 Clayton Thomas-Müller, Indigenousclimateaction.com Organize! Climate Change, Fracking, Pipelines, Water

This was a special summer for me as a dad. For the first time I took my sons, Felix and Jaxson, on that classic TransCanada road trip so many of us did when we were young. We traveled across two provinces, from Manitoba to Alberta. It was a journey across our Treaty 6 territory. We drove across many bodies of water, with much of it flowing north. Water—both our Cree and Dene relatives, along with every other Canadian, depend on for life. As I drove with my sons, I wondered what would be their takeaways, what would they remember? Our destination was the Grassroots Grow Deep (GGD) - An Indigenous Climate Justice Training, a gathering I was supporting through my job as a campaigner with the global climate organization, 350.org.

NY Denies Air Permit Renewal For Fracked Gas Power Plant

August 5, 2018 By Pramilla Malick, Protect Orange County, NY SCRAM Resist! Clean Water, Fracking, Oil and Gas

One day after the air permit expired for the Competitive Power Ventures fracked gas power plant in Wawayanda New York, the State Department of Environmental Conservation denied the company’s Air Facility Permit renewal application, citing failure to submit federal Title V air permit application, usually required for plants of this size. Protect Orange County submitted a letter to DEC on Tuesday, July 31 requesting denial of the permit based on several facts including the lack of an accurate greenhouse gas emissions analysis, documented health impacts, and invalid emissions reduction credits. However, central to all those issues was the corruption involved. Evidence presented during the trial of former Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco, along with CPV executive Peter Braith Kelly revealed a lengthy quid-pro-quo bribery scheme to facilitate the project’s approvals along with other benefits.

Colombians Determined Not To Be Conned By ConocoPhillips’ Fracking Spin

July 21, 2018 Sian Cowman, Towardfreedom.org Resist! Colombia, Fracking, Protests

ConocoPhillips didn’t become the 13th largest oil and gas company in the world with annual profits in the billions by carefully adhering to social and environmental regulations. According to their website, they are “the world’s largest independent exploration and production company based on production and proved reserves,” with operations in 17 countries and $73 billion of total assets. There are a series of externalized costs to their size and profits – aside from human-induced climate change. They don’t have a good safety record for their workers or the environment, with over $266 million in payouts through the courts due to environmental and safety infractions since 2000 – and those are just the ones that were reported and won in prosecution.

Fracking Boom Takes Toll On Pennsylvania’s Communities Of Color And Lower-Income Areas

June 23, 2018 Mark Hand, Thinkprogress.org Educate! Fracking, Pennsylvania, Racism, Segregation, Working Class

The construction of new natural gas-fired power plants in Pennsylvania is disproportionately harming lower-income populations in rural parts of the state, while communities of color are substantially more likely to live near existing gas-powered plants in the state, according to a new report. Released Wednesday by Food & Water Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental advocacy group, the report paints an alarming picture of what the dramatic growth in natural gas production in Pennsylvania means for disadvantaged communities, both urban and rural, that are more likely than ever to host the industry’s rapid expansion of drilling and power plants in the state. People of color make up 30 percent or more of the population in nearly 25 percent of Pennsylvania census tracts but make up nearly half of the census tracts within a three-mile footprint of an existing fossil fuel power plant.

From Barricades To Courtrooms: The Fight Against A Fracked Gas Future In New York State

June 19, 2018 By Katherine O’Donnell, Truthout.org Resist! Courts, Fracking, New York (NY)

Today, the Stop Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) campaign, the long-standing fight against fracked gas in New York State, is generating a lot of heat, from weekly local vigils and arrests at the state capitol, to political races for attorney general, state senate and governor. In November, Stop CPV defense attorney Michael Sussman will run for New York State attorney general on the Green Party ticket; defendant and key Stop CPV organizer Pramilla Malick is running as a Democrat for state senate in the 42nd district, and Cynthia Nixon, who has joined the CPV protest, will challenge the Governor, Andrew Cuomo, all contesting his administration and its greenwashed fracked gas energy plan. A critical part of STOP CPV’s movement against the expansion of the state’s fracked gas infrastructure is a 2017 trial in which the defense argued a new project would not only be detrimental to the residents of New York, but the world at large.

Fracking/Drilling Protesters Greet Ca Gov Jerry Brown At National Press Club

April 20, 2018 By Luke on Tue, Dcindymedia.org Resist! California, Drilling, Fracking, Protests

On the 17th of April, California's governor Jerry Brown appeared at the National Press Club. To get in, he had to pass protesters demanding he cut his ties to California's oil and gas industy and ban fracking in his state. The oil industry has CA in their sights for the next big North Dakota style oil fracking boom. The demand of the protest was simple: that Jerry Brown Halt New Oil & Gas Projects and especially fracking in his state. His big, gas-guzzling SUV had to drive right past protesters and their banners to get into the National Press Club, where no doubt the stench of oil industry corruption lingered long after he left. A speaker at the rally reported that in 13 CA residents lives within a mile of an oil or gas well, and that communities of color are disproportionately effected by this. That too fits the timeworn pattern from North Dakota, where oil fracking and associated "man camps" have done great harm to Indigenous communities.

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