EPA’s Abandoned Fracking Study One Retreat of Many

By Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica Jul 7, 2013 In 2011, the agency issued a draft report saying that the controversial practice of fracking was to blame for the pollution of an aquifer deep below the town of Pavillion, Wyo., the first time such a claim had been based on a scientific analysis. Now the EPA will hand the study over to Wyoming, whose research will be funded by EnCana--the very drilling company whose wells may have caused the contamination. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Fracking

Kap, Cagle Cartoons, Spain Jan 13, 2013 Dig deeper

The Natural Gas Bubble

By Thomas Hedges, Center for Study of Responsive Law Jan 5, 2013 The natural gas industry is waging an aggressive public relations campaign to bolster investor confidence, despite evidence showing that shale gas is an unreliable resource and that the production process releases large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. The natural gas industry is waging an aggressive PR campaign to bolster investor confidence, despite evidence that the production process releases large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

The Trillion-Gallon Loophole: Lax Rules for Drillers That Inject Pollutants Into the Earth

By Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica Sep 24, 2012 Injection wells have proliferated over the past 60 years, in large part because they are the cheapest, most expedient way to manage hundreds of billions of gallons of industrial waste generated in the U.S. each year. Yet the dangers of injection are well known: In accidents dating to the 1960s, toxic materials have bubbled up to the surface or escaped, contaminating aquifers that store supplies of drinking water. Dig deeper ( 18 Min. Read )

Study Raises New Concerns About Fracking

By Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica May 3, 2012 A study into the safety of gas drilling in New York state's Marcellus Shale concludes that natural faults and fractures, exacerbated by the effects of fracking, could allow chemicals to reach the surface and contaminate drinking water supplies much sooner than experts previously predicted. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

The Layer Ploy

David Sirota / Truthdig Mar 16, 2012 Of all the political tactics used to protect business interests, none is as powerful as the one in which an ugly corporate giveaway is hidden one layer beneath something popular. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Link Between Natural Gas Fields and Health Issues Remains Largely Undocumented

Staff / Truthdig Oct 2, 2011 Last month, the investigative journalism nonprofit ProPublica published a report that highlights how dangerously little scientists and government officials know about the health consequences of living near a natural gas drilling site. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

The Policy Bracket

Nate Beeler, Cagle Cartoons, The Washington Examiner Mar 19, 2011 Dig deeper

Follow Wyoming on Fracking Regs

David Sirota / Truthdig Oct 8, 2010 Frank Sinatra once said that if he could make it in New York, he could make it anywhere. Thanks to new drilling rules, environmentalists can now say the same about Wyoming. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Cost of Not Drilling

Staff / Truthdig Aug 22, 2010 Previously undisclosed documents have measured the economic impact of the U.S. federal moratorium on deep-water oil drilling at 23,000 jobs lost and billions of dollars in frozen investment. Federal officials went ahead with the ban, now tied up in court, because they distrusted industry safety equipment and standards. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Oil Spill ‘Threatens Our Way of Life’

Staff / Truthdig May 2, 2010 In a rhetorical move that indirectly, and probably unintentionally, compares the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to terrorism, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has said the growing slick "threatens our way of life" as it encroaches upon the state's coastline. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Obama Proposes Offshore Drilling Plan

Staff / Truthdig Apr 1, 2010 If you thought "drill, baby, drill!" was only a right-wing slogan, think again. On Wednesday, President Barack Obama outlined a plan for doing a little drilling for oil and gas off a few sections of our nation's coastline, including the East Coast, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )