The New ‘Golden Age of Oil’ That Wasn’t

By Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch Oct 5, 2012 Last winter, fossil-fuel enthusiasts began trumpeting the dawn of a new “golden age of oil” that would kick-start the American economy, generate millions of new jobs, and free this country from its dependence on imported petroleum. But the future may prove far more recalcitrant than these prophets of an American energy cornucopia imagine. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Shale-Shocked Citizens Fight Back

Amy Goodman / Truthdig Sep 20, 2012 Western Pennsylvania is considered the birthplace of commercial oil drilling. On Aug. 27, 1859, Edwin Drake struck oil in Titusville, Pa., and changed the course of history. Now, people there are busy trying to stop wells, and the increasingly pervasive drilling practice known as fracking. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Texting Instead of Driving?

Staff / Truthdig Aug 11, 2012 It seems young people are more interested in buying iPhones than automobiles these days; Central American families with links to death squads helped Mitt Romney fund Bain Capital; and Jill Stein, the presidential nominee for the Green Party, went to jail for protesting home foreclosures. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Postgrad Elites Control Political Debates

Staff / Truthdig Jul 4, 2012 Trying to sort out the status of Obamacare can be tricky thanks to our dysfunctional leadership class; Republican state Sen. Marty Golden wants to teach Brooklyn's women "the art of feminine presence"; meanwhile, a group of Mormons quits the church in a mass ceremony in Utah. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Vermont Outlaws Fracking

Staff / Truthdig May 18, 2012 Vermont became the first state to ban the controversial gas-drilling technique that pumps huge volumes of toxic fluid deep into the ground and that has been shown to contaminate drinking water supplies. Dig deeper ( 1 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 )

Fracking Chemical Disclosure Hides Behind ‘Trade Secrets’

By Cora Currier, ProPublica Apr 25, 2012 Requirements to disclose the chemical makeup of fluids used in fracking are often limited by a "trade secrets" provision under which companies can claim that a proprietary chemical doesn't have to be disclosed to regulators or the public. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Fracking-Induced Earthquakes? Not Quite

Staff / Truthdig Apr 18, 2012 The number of significant earthquakes in the Midwest has increased almost fivefold in the last four years. Researchers with the United States Geological Survey set out to discover why. Dig deeper ( 2 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 )

A Tough-Oil World

By Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch Mar 14, 2012 The world still harbors large reserves of petroleum, but they are of the hard-to-reach, hard-to-refine, “tough oil” variety that will be more costly to extract, refine and buy at the pump. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Pennsylvania: The ‘State of Independence’ Becomes the ‘Oil State’

Staff / Truthdig Feb 24, 2012 Susquehanna County has already been thoroughly fracked by gas mining operations. Dallas Township, one hour's drive south, appears to be next. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Lowdown on Fracking

By Lena Groeger, ProPublica Feb 18, 2012 Proposed new rules would require oil and gas companies to divulge the kinds and amounts of chemicals used in their underground hydraulic fracturing operations. But environmental and health advocates say drillers could exploit some loopholes. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )