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Fracking

Exxon, Qatar Petroleum Get OK To Export U.S. Fracked Gas

December 27, 2016 Steve Horn, www.desmogblog.com , , ,
By Steve Horn for Desmog Blog - Just days before Christmas, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave ExxonMobil a gift: a permit to export natural gas from its Golden Pass LNG (liquefied natural gas) facility located in Sabine Pass, Texas. Dubbed Golden Pass Products, the expansion of this LNG facility to export gas is a joint venture between Exxon (30 percent stake) and Qatar Petroleum (70 percent stake), the state-owned oil company. Golden Pass LNG is now the fourth LNG export facility, and third situated along the Gulf of Mexico, approved under the Obama administration.

UK Fracking Giant Fails To Imprison Grandmother

December 17, 2016 Steve Rushton, www.occupy.com ,
By Steve Rushton for Occupy - “Public support was paramount and I believe it made the judge acutely aware that this was not a simple case that I had wronged [U.K. fracking firm] Cuadrilla and owed them money," Tina Rothery explains. "This was greater: it was about communities coming together. The huge public support showed the weight of my legal argument, and I think the judge could see that.” Rothery, a grandmother and resident of Blackpool in North England, was met by a jubilant crowd of hundreds outside Preston Court on Friday, December 9, when the verdict of her freedom was announced.

EPA Reversal Acknowledges Fracking Causes Water Pollution

December 15, 2016 Neela Banerjee, www.insideclimatenews.org , ,
By Neela Banerjee for Inside Climate News - In a significant reversal, the Environmental Protection Agency struck from a major 2015 report its conclusion that fracking has not caused "widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water" in the United States. The agency cited the lack of data and evidence to support the finding. The change was made after an EPA panel of independent scientists recommended in August that the agency revise the statement, which had minimized the potential hazards posed to drinking water. The panel, known as the Science Advisory Board (SAB), spent a year analyzing the draft version of the study. In a call with reporters, Thomas A. Burke, the EPA's deputy assistant administrator and science adviser, said the SAB's analysis was central to the change.

EPA’s Fracking Study Edited At Last Minute, Downplaying Risks

December 7, 2016 Sharon Kelly, www.desmogblog.com ,
By Sharon Kelly for Desmog - Just before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its high profile study on fracking, the agency planned to announce that the draft “study shows potential vulnerabilities to drinking water from hydraulic fracturing process.” But that wasn't the message the public heard the next day. Instead, the EPA's press release highlighted a statement that the $29 million “[a]ssessment shows hydraulic fracturing activities have not led to widespread, systemic impacts to drinking water resources…” That reassuring phrase was widely repeated in news headlines online, in print and on television, and touted by the drilling industry as evidence that despite spending millions of dollars

Conviction Of Local Grape Grower Reveals Inconsistent Standards

November 22, 2016 We Are Seneca Lake, www.popularresistance.org , , ,
By Stephanie Redmond of We Are Seneca Lake. Reading, NY - Phil Davis received a guilty verdict on Friday, Nov. 18, and was sentenced to ten hours of community service and a $125 NYS surcharge. Davis was arrested during a peaceful protest outside the gates of the Crestwood gas storage facility in Reading with nine other individuals on December 21, 2014. They were part of the We Are Seneca Lake movement, which has been utilizing non-violent direct action since October 2014 to block the expansion of gas storage in the crumbling salt mines on the western shore of Seneca Lake. Defense counsel Sujata Gibson, an attorney with Schlather, Stumbar, Parks and Salk, stated after the trial that she planned to make an expedited appeal of Davis’ case, and that she believes the verdict was fundamentally wrong.

Colorado Initiative Makes It Nearly Impossible To Ban Fracking

November 6, 2016 John Light, www.billmoyers.com , ,
By John Light for Bill Moyers Journal. The Colorado oil and gas industry is poised to strike a devastating blow against anti-fracking activists Tuesday. Enactment of Amendment 71, a statewide ballot initiative campaign that’s backed by the industry, will make it, in the words of the Denver Post’s editorial board, “nearly impossible” for Colorado voters to amend their state constitution to allow for local fracking bans — or, for that matter, anything else. It’s a story worth telling in some detail, because it vividly illustrates the many obstacles well-connected and well-funded special interests can put in the way of citizens trying to oppose them. The latest battle in a multi-year campaign by a network of pro-fossil fuel groups to defend the fracking industry against local opponents, Amendment 71 would require 2 percent of registered voters in each of Colorado’s 35 state Senate districts to sign petitions for any future initiative before it could be put on the ballot.

Local Bans On Fracking Hang In The Balance In Colorado Ballot Fight

October 21, 2016 Marrianne Lavelle, www.insideclimatenews.org , ,
By Marrianne Lavelle for Inside Climate News - In the wake of helping defeat two recent ballot measures that could have reined in fracking in Colorado, the state's oil and gas industry is leading a campaign to sharply limit future citizen initiatives. A so-called Raise the Bar question will be asked on the Colorado ballot on Nov. 8. It is being promoted as a way to make the controversial process of amending the state constitution more fair. But as the proponents' motto implies

Injection of Fracking Wastewater Caused Kansas’ Biggest Earthquake

October 19, 2016 Lorraine Chow, www.nationofchange.org ,
By Lorraine Chow for Nation of Change - The Wichita Eagle noted from the study that this man-made quake, which hit 40 miles southwest of Wichita and felt as far away as Memphis, likely came from just one or two nearby wells. The publication ominously noted that, “one of those two wells, operated by SandRidge Energy, is still injecting water at the same level as when the earthquake occurred two years ago.”

‘Get A Life’: Clinton Bashed Anti-Fracking Activists During Private Labor Meeting

October 18, 2016 Kevin Gosztola, www.shadowproof.com , ,
By Kevin Gosztola for Shadow Proof - At a private meeting with the Building Trades Council, Hillary Clinton bashed environmentalists who oppose natural gas fracking and insist the United States must keep all fossil fuels in the ground. She said these environmentalists need to “get a life.” A transcript of a part of the meeting, which took place on September 9, 2015, was published by WikiLeaks. It was attached to an email from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s account, which he claims was hacked.

Trespassing Charges Dropped For 6 We Are Seneca Lake Protesters

October 4, 2016 We Are Seneca Lake, www.popularresistance.org , , ,
By We Are Seneca Lake. READING, NEW YORK — In a decision likely to have broad implications for hundreds of We Are Seneca Lake defenders, Judge David Brockway dismissed trespassing charges against six local business owners due to insufficient evidence. The 12-hour trial took place in the Town of Reading Court on September 30. In addition, four of the business owners were found guilty of disorderly conduct for preventing a vehicle from passing through the gates of Crestwood’s gas storage complex on Route 14 in Reading, NY. Attorney Gibson will appeal that decision. “We saw in the testimony that the officers arrested these people without any direct knowledge that they actually were on private property,” said Sujata Gibson, defense attorney. “We are considering a federal lawsuit to ensure that this type of apparently politically motivated mass arrest and prosecution cannot continue to take place."

A Plea From Pennsylvania: Don’t Accept Our Fracked Gas

September 29, 2016 Staff, www.broad-alliance.org , ,
By Staff of Broad Alliance - As one of the so-called "dragon ships" arrives in Grangemouth (September 27, 2016) carrying fracked gas from the United States, the great and the good of Scotland have been invited to a ritzy celebration at INEOS’ shiny new HQ. But the Broad Alliance sees nothing to celebrate. Instead we share this plea from a community affected by this dirty business

EPA Plan For Unlimited Dumping of Fracking Wastewater In The Gulf

September 25, 2016 Mike Ludwig, www.truth-out.org , ,
By Mike Ludwig for Truthout. Environmentalists are warning the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that its draft plan to continue allowing oil and gas companies to dump unlimited amounts of fracking chemicals and wastewater directly into the Gulf of Mexico is in violation of federal law. In a letter sent to EPA officials on Monday, attorneys for the Center for Biological Diversity warned that the agency's draft permit for water pollution discharges in the Gulf fails to properly consider how dumping wastewater containing chemicals from fracking and acidizing operations would impact water quality and marine wildlife. The attorneys claim that regulators do not fully understand how the chemicals used in offshore fracking and other well treatments -- some of which are toxic and dangerous to human and marine life -- can impact marine environments, and crucial parts of the draft permit are based on severely outdated data. Finalizing the draft permit as it stands would be a violation of the Clean Water Act, they argue.

Industry Blames ‘Mob Politics’ For Roadblocks To Pipeline Success

September 23, 2016 Mark Hand, www.dcmediagroup.us ,
By Mark Hand for DC Media Group - Former Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon may no longer be with us, but his old message about anti-fracking activists continues to echo in the meeting rooms of industry conferences. Five years ago, McClendon, who died in a car crash in March, told the audience at the Shale Gas Insight conference in Philadelphia that life would be cold, dark and hungry if the protesters outside the Philadelphia Convention Center succeeded in stopping shale gas drilling.

Enbridge Spreads Tentacles To Acquire Spectra, Creating ‘Pipeline Enemy #1’

September 8, 2016 Deirdre Fulton, www.commondreams.org , ,
By Deirdre Fulton for Common Dreams - Two pipeline corporations have announced plans to merge, raising the hackles of climate activists who say the deal "would be bad news for energy consumers and terrible news for the clean energy revolution on which the future of our planet depends." Canadian pipeline behemoth Enbridge said Tuesday that it plans to buy Houston-based Spectra Energy Corp. for stock worth $28 billion, creating what CBC News calls "a North American energy infrastructure giant."

Frack, Rattle And Roll: Drilling Into Oklahoma’s Earthquake Epidemic

September 7, 2016 Joshua Frank, www.counterpunch.org , ,
By Joshua Frank for Counter Punch - When one thinks of earthquakes, what comes to mind is usually the vast fault line straddled lands of southern California or the great subduction zones off the coasts of Chile and Japan. Surely, it isn’t the cattle fields of Texas or the rolling plains of Ohio and Oklahoma. Natural disasters in the central and southern United States typically blow in with the winds in the form of deadly tornadoes and storms. Yet, thanks to the insatiable rush to tap every last drop of oil and gas from the depths of the earth’s crust, earthquakes are fast becoming the new norm in “fly-over country”.
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