Category:Fracking
"Fracking" is short for hydraulic fracturing, a means of obtaining natural gas by pumping fluid through explosive-generated cracks in rock. It's good news in that it has dropped the cost of natural gas, so it may reduce the amount of coal we burn and alleviate CO2 emissions. However, some of the fluids used in fracking are known or suspected carcinogens, and the drilling companies are unwilling to discuss the chemicals they use (this secrecy goes back to the energy bill that came out of Dick Cheney's secret energy task force). Even more worrisome in some respects is the intimidation and surveillance by police and private contractors of activists and reporters who ask questions.
See also Energy, Air, as well as Global Warming and Chemicals, as well as Water.
Contents
Overviews
Pros and cons 11/17.
The players: You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more.
Fracking 101 short video 12/14.
Overview 2/13.
Short video by Gasland documentary maker Josh Fox (arrested for videotaping a public hearing in DC, see below).
Short animated intro, Frakalypse Now: DeSmogBlog partnered with Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mark Fiore to produce this spoof video in the vein of Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now." Making its debut in honor of Josh Fox's Gasland 2, which features the details of the gas industry's psychological warfare scandal.
3D animated video on technique.
News/Reports
News Sources
Stories
Fracking California Threatens Water Supplies see new EPA report ; full report 12/16.
Monterey bans fracking 11/16.
CALIFORNIA MOVES FORWARD WITH DRILLING IN PROTECTED AQUIFIERS 2/16.
CA irrigating our crops with benzene and arsenic laden wastewater left over from fracking 1/16 11/16 update see Environmental Justice.
“California’s Toxic Fracking Fluids: The Chemical Recipe.” 8/15.
California's Fool-Proof Plan to Grow Crops with Fracking Water by AlterNet Comics' Jen Sorensen.
Halliburton Loophole 8/15.
California Finds Several Negative Impacts of Fracking, Approves Offshore Frack Jobs Anyway. 7/15
Fracking Chemicals Found in Drinking Water, New Study Says 5/15. 8/15 update.
New science shows earthquakes from injection wells and bad air (infographic of Texas) 5/15.
Fracking Flowback From California Oil Wells Contains High Levels Of Carcinogenic Chemicals 2/15.
California's New Fracking Rules: Too Little, Too Early? 1/15. See CA
Groundbreaking Report Calculates Damage Done by Fracking includes 280 billion gallons of toxic wastewater generated by fracking in 2012—enough to flood all of Washington, DC, in a 22-foot deep toxic lagoon. 1/15.
Fracking Threatens Millions of Californians A new report shows that 5.4 million Californians—more than 14 percent of its 38.3 million population—live within a mile of an oil or gas well, and almost four million of those, or nearly 70 percent, are Hispanic, Asian or African-American, according to a new Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report Drilling in California: Who’s at Risk? Non-whites make up slightly more than 40 percent of California’s total population. more 10/14. see Environmental Justice.
Huge U.S. Methane ‘Hot Spot’ Detected From Space 10/14.
On World Water Day, the World Resources Institute (WRI) has released a study that maps for the first time the water resources available to support fracking in the world’s largest shale exploration areas.
Fracking is Making California's Drought Worse 8/14.
Rupture of Aging Tar Sands Pipeline Beneath Great Lakes Would Devastate People, Planet and Economy 7/14.
Governor Jerry Brown thinks fracking has "zero impact," but we know a few towns in the Central Valley that beg to differ. Kern County is California's most-fracked county. It also has the worst air quality in the nation, as well as highly elevated rates of cancer and respiratory illness. See also Environmental Justice. 5/14.
New Monterey Shale oil estimate rocks California's expectations
Illegal Dumping of Texas Frack Waste Caught on Video
Los Angeles Moves Closer To City Fracking Moratorium 2/14. see CA
America’s natural gas system is super-leaky, and that’s bad news for the climate 2/14, offsets a lot of claims vs coal.
Fracking Hell: What It's Really Like to Live Next to a Shale Gas Well 12/13.
Plan Proposed to Allow Fracking Wastewater to Be Shipped by Barge on Rivers and Lakes 11/13.
More Than 15 Million Americans Now Live Within One Mile of a Fracking Well 10/13.
Canada Fracking Protests Turn Violent; 40 Arrested After Police Cars Set On Fire 10/13
Frackers are flushing radioactive waste into rivers 10/13.
Famed Chef Alice Waters Leads the Foodie Fight Against Fracking 10/13.
Environmental Groups Bail On California Fracking Bill 9/13.
California, Illinois lawmakers welcome frackers 6/13 9/13 update.
Fracking accident leaks benzene into Colorado stream 6/13.
What the frack do we know? Not much, it turns out 5/13.
Fracking threatens to escalate the West’s water wars 5/13. See also Category:Water
You Have to See It to Believe It: What It's Like to Have Fracking in Your Backyard 4/13.
Sandra Steingraber Issues Statement Before Being Led to Jail: "Act of Civil Disobedience Is a Last Resort for Me" 4/13.
Goldman "Green Nobel prize" winner Jonathan Deal, interviewed, fighting fracking, in South Africa (audio).
California including Monterey. 2/13.
3 reasons to stop 3/13.
Beer makers oppose 2/13.
State Oil and Gas Regulators Still Spread Thin 2/13.
Mark Ruffalo goes all Hulk on NY rules. See Activism.
The Fracking of Rachel Carson: Silent Spring’s lost legacy, told in fifty parts Sandra Steingraber. Published in the September/October 2012 issue of Orion magazine.Sandra Steingraber is internationally recognized authority on the environment links to cancer and human health. Steingraber’s highly acclaimed book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment presents cancer as a human rights issue.Pledge to Resist Fracking.
California Fracking Rules Slammed By Environmentalists As Shale Oil Boom Threatens To Remake State 12/12.Calif. Releases Initial Fracking Regulations 12/12. (audio panel discussion)
Fracking has been getting a lot of attention lately, but a long-standing problem has been injection wells. 6.12 12.12 UPDATE.
Fracking and shale water, as well as earthquakes in CA. (text and audio).
Fracking Gives Hydrogen Fuel Cells New Life (text and audio).
Fracking's Toxic Secrets: Lack Of Transparency Over Natural Gas Drilling Endangers Public Health, Advocates Say 11/12.
University gives ‘frackademics’ the boot 11/12
Maryland Students' Water Quality Monitoring Comes In Anticipation Of Gas Drilling. 10/12.
International protests 9/12.
Extreme Energy Means an Extreme Planet (editorial) 10/12.
New Fracking study on water contamination. 7.12
Eco-Heroes who give a frack
Tim DeChristopher, a student, bid up BLM oil lease auction, monkey-wrenching to protect our land from our companies, for which he will probably face charges. His statement on why he did it, with a link to his legal defense fund. Facebook page. Powershift 2011 talk (video excepts). UPDATE: he's been put under harsh conditions 3/12. Indepth interview by author Terry Tempest Williams 4/12. New video documentary 6.12. Tim DeChristopher,(profiled in the recent documentary, Bidder 70), famously bid on public lands in Utah to prevent their sale to gas and oil companies, and served two years in federal prison for his actions. His civil disobedience, though spontaneous, ultimately caused the cancellation of the auction sales.
Groundbreaking filmmaker Josh Fox takes a closer look at natural gas drilling and fracking and their effects on communities in his award-winning documentary Gasland a documentary about drilling for natural gas. official site. After Fox was offered $100,000 to lease his land to a drilling company, he set off on a cross-country journey to investigate the environmental risks of fracking. During his 24-state trek, he uncovers alarming facts about the natural gas industry, health problems as a result from this contamination and (not surprisingly) loopholes in federal environmental regulation. HBO trailer
New short film on fracking by Gasland director. 7.12 He was arrested by capitol police for filming a public meeting. Actor Mark Ruffalo has been supporting the issue, Pete Seeger too.Josh Fox got arrested for videotaping a public Congressional hearing. evil-doers tried to trap him for telling the truth.
Naomi Klein’s new book, This Changes Everything, excerpt, reviewed by Sandra Steingraber. Colbert interview; extensive interview(2 parts) 9/14.
Sandra Steingraber is internationally recognized authority on the environment links to cancer and human health. Steingraber’s highly acclaimed book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment presents cancer as a human rights issue.Pledge to Resist Fracking.Steingraber, Sandra Living Downstream explores the role of chemicals in cancer Time Pt 1 (C8 login required)Time Pt 2. She also traces their military origins of petrochemical industry in "War". A film is being made based on the book. Here's an interview with her about that (audio 5/10). Video documentary. Sandra Steingraber Issues Statement Before Being Led to Jail: "Act of Civil Disobedience Is a Last Resort for Me" 4/13. Writing From Jail on Earth Day Extended interview with Bill Moyers (video) 4/13. Fracking talk at Bioneers(2012).
Actor Mark Ruffalo does not get huge and green, but he does get a bit PO'd and has been supporting the issue, (video); Pete Seeger too (a follower of Woody Guthrie, blacklisted in McCarthy era for folksongs, PBUH).
Video
Fracking 101 short video overview 12/14.
Promised Land, with Matt Damon, is about fracking.
Panel Discussion at Democracy Now 1/13.
PBS NewsHour on health effects 6/12. See also
Groundbreaking filmmaker Josh Fox takes a closer look at natural gas drilling and fracking and their effects on communities in his award-winning documentary Gasland a documentary about drilling for natural gas. official site. After Fox was offered $100,000 to lease his land to a drilling company, he set off on a cross-country journey to investigate the environmental risks of fracking. During his 24-state trek, he uncovers alarming facts about the natural gas industry, health problems as a result from this contamination and (not surprisingly) loopholes in federal environmental regulation. HBO trailer
New short film on fracking by Gasland director. 7.12 He was arrested by capitol police for filming a public meeting. Actor Mark Ruffalo has been supporting the issue, Pete Seeger too.
New documentary, The Price of Sand on the sand hills in Wisconsin. 12/12
60 Minutes segment on Fracking, injecting chemicals under high pressure to extract natural gas. 11/10.
T Boone Pickens TEDtalk on energy policy 3/12.
Vanity Fair article and video on water affected.
Natural gas' (mostly methane) role in Gulf oil spill. from Mojo
Drilling Down on Fracking loe.org 7/10
Michael Levy Power Surge author 7/13.
Audio
Goldman "Green Nobel prize" winner Jonathan Deal, interviewed, fighting fracking, wetlands degradation, and powerplants near poor neighborhoods in Chicago (audio).
Calif. Releases Initial Fracking Regulations 12/12. (audio panel discussion)
With Large Oil Reserve, California Faces Fracking Debate (also text) 12/12.
Maps
Surreal Aerial Photos Show Impact From Fracking includes Kern County CA 12/14
On World Water Day, the World Resources Institute (WRI) has released a study that maps for the first time the water resources available to support fracking in the world’s largest shale exploration areas. 9/14.
Mysterious patch of light in North Dakota.
Organizations/Websites
Center for Biological Diversity: Rose Braz at rbraz AT biologicaldiversity.org or Food and Water Watch Los Angeles: 3000 S. Robertson Blvd, Suite 255 Los Angeles, CA 90034 P 323-843-8450 F 323-843-8456
A neat website with an animation detailing the hazards of fracking.
Books
Bill McKibben reviews several books, including...
Under the Surface: Fracking, Fortunes, and the Fate of the Marcellus Shale by Tom Wilber.
Music
A great fracking video rap: What the frack is going on? My water's on fire tonight
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