How the energy boom shaped a small town in rural A...

When a fracking company came to a small community in rural Pennsylvania, many people signed the lease that allowed the company to access the natural gas resources on their land. Among them was Stacey Haney, who at that time owned a small farm. Haney saw the lease as a way to support American energy, and like many other people, a way to get some extra money to support life. But money is not the only thing fracking brought to...

Study: Water near fracked Wyo gas field disrupts h...

A study has found that polluted groundwater near a fracked Wyoming oil and gas field is more disruptive to human cells than tainted groundwater sampled near conventional oil and gas operations. The study by researchers at the University of Missouri and other institutions is believed to be the first to compare the effects of fracking-linked pollution to those of conventional oil and gas development pollution. Research found...

Oil Spill Now Larger Than Paris Ravages Indonesian...

An oil spill in Borneo that began over the past weekend has now spread across an area greater than the city of Paris and is heading out to the open ocean, the Indonesian government said. The spill, first reported on March 31, stems from a pipeline operated by state-owned oil firm Pertamina in the city of Balikpapan, in East Kalimantan province. A report released April 4 by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry said the...

XTO Well in Powhatan Point Capped After 20 Days

POWHATAN POINT — After weeks of work through inclement weather and the evacuation of 30 households following a well pad explosion Feb. 15, XTO Energy announced Wednesday that the well was successfully capped. In order to make the site safe for workers to plug the leak, XTO “flared,” or burned off excess gas, at the site. The mostly methane gas was directed to an excavated containment area and ignited. The gas burned through...

Trump EPA Slammed for Ag Giant’s ‘Absu...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement this week with Syngenta Seeds, LLC over violations of federal pesticide regulations at its farm in Kauai, Hawaii. The company, a subsidiary of Swiss biotech giant Syngenta AG, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $150,000 and spend another $400,000 on worker protection training sessions. “Reducing pesticide exposure for the millions of farmworkers who...

Oil and gas association, environmental group team ...

Ohio has more than 700 oil and gas wells that have never been plugged or were improperly plugged years ago, resulting in safety risks to children and environmental risks to groundwater and area streams. Nearly a third of them are in northwest Ohio, with most of the other problem areas near Cleveland and southeast Ohio. This Aug. 13, 2013, file photo shows a gas drilling rig at the Detweiler well in Salesville, Ohio....

Pipeline explosion in Noble County

According to a press release from the Noble County EMA, at approximately 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, many area residents reported an explosion and fire to the 911 Center. Summerfield Volunteer Fire Department, Belle Valley Volunteer Fire Department, Caldwell Volunteer Fire Company, United Ambulance and the Noble County Sheriff’s Office were all sent to the scene as the Noble County EMA was notified. There are multiple pipelines in...

Psychosocial implications of unconventional natura...

As unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) activities such as “fracking” have proliferated across the U.S., research has begun to examine their impacts on human life. Much scholarship has centered on possible health and environmental impacts. However, a range of plausible psychosocial impacts has begun to emerge. Utilizing grounded theory methods and data from qualitative interviews with residents of two counties in...

Trump Administration, Which Wants More Offshore Dr...

The Trump administration, which is trying to expand offshore oil drilling, has issued a stop-work order on an independent study aimed at making the process safer. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) ordered the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to halt its study on Dec. 7. “The National Academies are grateful to the committee members for...

New, Major Evidence That Fracking Harms Human Heal...

A child born very close to a well is likely to be smaller and less healthy than a child born farther away. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, may pose a significant—but very local—harm to human health, a new study finds. Mothers who live very close to a fracking well are more likely to give birth to a less healthy child with a low birth weight—and low birth weight can lead to poorer health throughout a person’s life. The...

Rover Pipeline drilling causing landslides in Jeff...

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ohio — Families are forced to move out of their houses after landslides in Toronto. They were caused by complications coming as a result of Rover Pipeline drilling. There is significant damage along Hale Road in Knox Township, just west of Toronto. Just days ago, a landslide pushed dirt and debris near houses at the bottom of the hill, forcing families to evacuate. According to township trustees, it’s a...

USGS FINALLY ADMITS THAT FRACKING CAUSES EARTHQUAK...

USGS FINALLY ADMITS THAT FRACKING CAUSES EARTHQUAKES Casey Coates Danson | It has taken years to finally admit it, but the U.S. Geological Survey has just confirmed that three million Americans are at risk from human-induced earthquakes caused by wastewater disposal, a process in fracking, in 2017. The study was focused on the U.S. Central East, primarily on Oklahoma and Kansas, who don’t normally get large earthquakes. Due...

USGS Finally Admits That Fracking Causes Earthquak...

It has taken years to finally admit it, but the U.S. Geological Survey has just confirmed that three million Americans are at risk from human-induced earthquakes caused by wastewater disposal, a process in fracking, in 2017. The study was focused on the U.S. Central East, primarily on Oklahoma and Kansas, who don’t normally get large earthquakes. Due to wastewater disposal however, their risk is now equal to that of...

“To Hell With Us” – Records of Misconduct Found In...

Annual citizen complaints reported to PA DEP compared to the annual number of new unconventional oil and gas wells. © Public Herald “To Hell With Us” – Records of Misconduct Found Inside Pa. Drinking Water Investigations PUBLIC HERALD | Since 2004, when the controversial process known as “fracking” began in Pennsylvania, over 4,100 drinking water complaints related to oil and gas operations have been reported to the...

Texas Pipeline Spills 600,000 Gallons of Oil One W...

On Jan. 30, 600,000 gallons (14,285 barrels) of oil spewed out of Enbridge’s Seaway Pipeline in Blue Ridge, Texas, the second spill since the pipeline opened for business in mid-2016. Seaway is half owned by Enbridge and serves as the final leg of a pipeline system DeSmogBlog has called the “Keystone XLClone,” which carries mostly tar sands extracted from Alberta, Canada, across the U.S. at a rate of...