Hydraulic fracturing may be controversial in California, but it’s not at all new. Fracking, has been happening for more than 40 years in Kern County, north of Los Angeles. There are parts of Kern County that are covered, as far as the eye can see, with oil wells. The town of Taft is at the […]
Comment: You Thought California’s Drought Couldn’t Get Any Worse? Enter Fracking.
I have a great idea. Let’s take one of the globe’s most important agricultural regions, one with severe water constraints and a fast-dropping water table. And let’s set up shop there with a highly water-intensive form of fossil fuel extraction, one that throws off copious amounts of toxic wastewater. Nothing could possibly go wrong … […]
Comment: Debunking the Myths of Hydrofracking
By now, you’ve probably heard of the term “fracking” and have a foggy understanding it has something to do with extracting natural gas from the ground. Unfortunately, the term has been spun to mean something new, unnatural, and rife with bad consequences. Greater independence from foreign oil, job creation, a cleaner environment and a much-needed […]
Comment: Fracking and water don’t mix
The recent “facts” on the dangers of fracking cannot be allowed to be glossed over by those with a financial interest in the production of LNG. Anyone who believes there is no risk to the water table and our drinking water must be living in la la land. The chemicals used contain volatile compounds such […]
Comment: Fracking has never contaminated drinking water
Claims that hydraulic fracturing has contaminated drinking water are not supported by the facts. In truth, provincial regulations and industry operating practices work to protect drinking water aquifers and surface water. Data collected by the BC Oil and Gas Commission, the provincial regulator, shows none of the approximately 9,000 wells hydraulically fractured in the province […]
Fracking fluid versus aquifers
California officials have ordered an emergency shut-down of 11 oil and gas waste injection sites and a review more than 100 others in the state’s drought-wracked Central Valley out of fear that companies may have been pumping fracking fluids and other toxic waste into drinking water aquifers there. The orders were first reported by the […]
Earthquakes spur more fears about fracking
A jump in the number of earthquakes in Oklahoma, and across the north central U.S. from Colorado to Ohio. Is it just a coincidence the increase in seismic activity if happening along with oil activity? That’s what scientists and regulators are trying to determine. Some seismologists believe waste water injected back into the ground is […]
Fracking standards in U.S. may be too little too late
The American Petroleum Institute now has a set of standards for how companies operate in communities that are home to shale drilling sites. The goal is to ease fears regarding fracking around the U.S. The plan includes using what the industry refers to as “best practices” gleaned from over six decades of fracking experience. API […]
Making a splash by conserving water
One of the concerns critics of the oil industry have is water usage in Alberta and B.C. That is particularly true in shale gas plays where fracking is used to get at the resource. Shell Canada is looking at ways to alleviate that. The company has a natural gas site called Groundbirch in northeastern B.C. […]
Oil wells may be linked to earthquakes
A study by researchers from Cornell University, University of Colorado, Columbia University, and the U.S. Geological Survey believe four waste water wells could be at fault for starting one in five earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. from 2008 to 2013. The results are published in the journal Science. The wells were used to […]