By Kristina Marusic Living among fracking wells is linked to higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths due to heart attacks, according to a new study. The study, published in the Journal of Environmental Research, compared heart attack rates in Pennsylvania counties with fracking to demographically similar counties in New York where fracking is banned. “There’s […]
Environmental groups are suing to stop the Trump administration from fracking in California. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Tuesday, comes in response to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) decision to open more than a million acres of public lands to oil and gas leasing, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The decision was finalized […]
By Justin Mikulka In over their heads with debt, U.S. shale oil and gas firms are now moving from a boom in fracking to a boom in bankruptcies. This trend of failing finances has the potential for the U.S. public, both at the state and federal levels, to be left on the hook for paying […]
By Justin Mikulka Increasingly, U.S. shale firms appear unable to pay back investors for the money borrowed to fuel the last decade of the fracking boom. In a similar vein, those companies also seem poised to stiff the public on cleanup costs for abandoned oil and gas wells once the producers have moved on. “It’s […]
A new multiyear study found that people living or working within 2,000 feet, or nearly half a mile, of a hydraulic fracturing (fracking) drill site may be at a heightened risk of exposure to benzene and other toxic chemicals, according to research released Thursday by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) The […]
By Sharon Kelly On Monday, The Wall Street Journal featured a profile of Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, whose company is known among investors for its emphasis on drawing oil and gas from the Permian Basin in Texas using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Back in 2014, Sheffield told Forbes that […]
By Jake Johnson A comprehensive analysis of nearly 1,500 scientific studies, government reports, and media stories on the consequences of fracking released Wednesday found that the evidence overwhelmingly shows the drilling method poses a profound threat to public health and the climate. The sixth edition of the Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating […]
By Russell Scott and Zach Boren The British government’s recently-departed shale gas commissioner admitted to routinely deleting correspondence and throwing away notes from meetings with fracking companies in a move that may have violated transparency requirements. In response to an Unearthed freedom of information request sent earlier this year, Natascha Engel — who resigned this […]
England’s High Court ruled Wednesday that the government’s planning policy on fracking was unlawful, in a major victory for anti-fracking group Talk Fracking. In part of his ruling, Mr. Justice Dove found that the government had not taken up-to-date information on climate change into account when drafting its policy. This could make it easier for […]