Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking,” is a process where shale and other types of impermeable rock are blasted open with water, “fracking fluid” and sand in order to access and extract oil and natural gas. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, fracking fluid contains chemical additives, the identities of which have often been […]
By Jeff Deyette Despite the Trump administration’s ongoing attempts to prop up coal and undermine renewables—at FERC, EPA and through tariffs and the budget process—2018 should instead be remembered for the surge in momentum toward a clean energy economy. Here are nine storylines that caught my attention this past year and help illustrate the unstoppable […]
Four U.S. states generated 30 to 37 percent of their energy from wind power in 2017. That’s just one of the findings of the Department of Energy (DOE)’s annual Wind Technologies Market Report, released August 22. Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota were the leaders in terms of how much wind contributed to their state’s […]
The Kansas government allowed hundreds of residents in two Wichita-area neighborhoods to drink water contaminated by a cleaning chemical called perchloroethylene, also known as PCE or tetrachloroethylene, The Wichita Eagle reported Sunday. The state discovered the tainted groundwater at a Haysville dry cleaner in 2011 but the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) did […]
By Brett Walton State of the State speeches are where governors sketch their legislative priorities and report on the overall health of their dominions. The state of the state is almost always “strong” and water issues are occasionally mentioned. Below are summaries of the governors’ references to water, climate and the environment. This post will […]
By Molly Taft When President Trump signed his executive order targeting Obama-era climate policies in March, he made sure to get the optics right. “You’re going back to work,” he promised the coal miners surrounding him. “We will produce American coal to power American industry.” But for all the show during the signing, power utilities […]
Sunday’s earthquake that damaged dozens of buildings near an oil and gas pipeline hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, is further proof that fracking and wastewater injection are too dangerous to people and property to be allowed to continue, the Center for Biological Diversity said Monday. In May, the organization called on the Bureau of Land Management […]
A little more than nine years ago, an EF-5 tornado ripped through Greensburg, Kansas. The massive, May 4, 2007 twister leveled the small town, and half of the town’s population of 1,500 residents escaped and never came back. Greensburg, Kansas is the second city in the U.S. to convert to 100 percent renewable energy after […]
Greenpeace By Cassady Sharp The same law that contributed to George Zimmerman walking free out of a Florida courtroom last weekend after taking the life of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was primarily written by the same super lobbying group behind legislation protecting natural gas companies from disclosing chemicals used in fracking. The American Legislative Exchange Council, […]