Take it from the man who knows, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz: Fracking for natural gas is climate-friendly, environmentally safe and economically stimulating. Which is just what America and New York need. Moniz speaks not just as the nation’s top energy official, but as a nuclear physicist, a former MIT professor and the coauthor of an exhaustive 2011 report on the future of natural gas production in the U.S. 
Ask a green what he or she thinks about fracking, and you’re likely to get an earful of criticism about methane leaks, poisoned groundwater, and climate change disaster. But a new report from the ecologically minded Breakthrough Institute (BI) makes the case that shale gas actually has a net environmental benefit. Nevermind the boosts to our energy security, and economy that fracking provides; the controversial drilling process is worth embracing on green merits alone. Natural gas’s biggest green qualification is the extent to which it displaces coal as an energy source.
At a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing yesterday, President Barack Obama’s EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, admitted the environmental risk of hydraulic fracturing is practically nonexistent.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Narrative, Oops, Energy
A report by a Texas-based research organization found hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has not led to widespread water contamination in the Lone Star state, further contradicting claims from environmentalists.
The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) released its study Monday, concluding that contamination of drinking water from fracking “has not been observed in Texas.” The report noted that fracking is “highly unlikely” to contaminate drinking water aquifers, which are often far away from where the oil or natural gas is extracted.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Government, Narrative, Oops, Energy
A government agency has contradicted claims made by environmentalists for the seventh time and found hydraulic fracturing doesn’t pose a grave threat to drinking water.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) published a study Wednesday that examined 116 water wells across the energy-rich regions of Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana. The study found nine examples of water contamination in the wells, but every case was either naturally occurring or not linked to fracking.
Liberal, Science, Narrative, Oops, Energy
Colorado’s top medical official Dr. Larry Wolk told a local newspaper that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, doesn’t have any adverse health effects, as it doesn’t expose people to enough toxins to be harmful... Wolk, a practicing physician once voted Colorado’s pediatrician of the year, cited state health data to The Tribune that found the areas of Colorado with the most fracking don’t have higher rates of health conditions.
Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Science, Narrative, Oops, Energy
Hydraulic fracturing, a process more commonly referred to as fracking, is actually good for the environment, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said at a field hearing in Seattle last week, according to the Washington Examiner... “The natural gas boom, in particular, has led to the displacement of high-carbon coal with low-carbon natural gas producing fewer emissions,” Moniz reportedly said during the Seattle field hearing.
America’s carbon dioxide emissions are actually falling. In fact, they have not been this low since 1992. And while no single factor can account for the entire shift, much of the credit goes to something environmentalists often detest: hydraulic fracturing, or fracking... All of that was achieved without government direction — and in the face of considerable environmental resistance. -Bart Hinkle
Environmentalist, Liberal, Government, Science, Narrative, Oops, Energy
Hydraulic fracturing has not caused any major harm to drinking water supplies, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded Thursday. In what the EPA is calling the most comprehensive examination of existing data and science on the impact the controversial oil and natural gas drilling technique has on drinking water, it largely debunked concerns about extensive contamination of well water or other sources.... Green groups have long complained that fracking pollutes groundwater, drinking water and the air, among other problems.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Science, Narrative, Energy
Earlier this year a study by a group of universities found that fracking doesn’t cause groundwater contamination (it can happen due to faulty casings, but that a) has nothing to do with fracking and b) has been an issue for about as long as we’ve been drilling for oil). Now another study looking at random samplings from groundwater in the Northern Plains region (basically, the Bakken) has found no indication of groundwater contamination from fracking. “Random testing of shallow groundwater in the Northern Plains oil patch found no early evidence of contamination from an energy boom that’s already seen more than 8,500 wells drilled, federal scientists said Monday,” reports the Associated Press. The study was conducted by the United States Geological Service.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Narrative, Oops, Energy
Washington, D.C.-Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, today welcomed a statement given by Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, in which she testified, "I'm not aware of any proven case where the fracking process itself has affected water..."
Environmentalist, Liberal, Science, Narrative, Energy
Research claiming that hydraulic fracturing -- fracking -- causes increased cancer risks and birth defects have been discredited by Colorado state public health officials. The researchers with the Colorado School of Public Health cited "minuscule" statistical differences and ignored other factors in producing a report on the negative side effects of fracking, according to a statement released by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Thursday.
“Promised Land,” the anti-fracking film written and produced by Hollywood stars Matt Damon and John Krasinski, was made in part by a production company owned by the government of Arab oil emirate Abu Dhabi – a state in direct competition with American oil and gas producers.
Environmentalist, Incompetence, Funny, Brilliance, Oops, Energy, Waste
ANTI-FRACKING protesters who glued and chained themselves to petrol pumps in Great Lever over the weekend were at the wrong garage, it has emerged... However, it emerged later that the petrol station was no longer owned by Total - but the new owners had not got around to taking the signs down yet. Four people were arrested on Saturday after anti-fracking protesters used glue and bike locks to attach themselves to fuel pumps at the petrol station in Rishton Lane.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Narrative, Oops
A newly released report by the US Geological Survey found no groundwater contamination as a result of fracking in an area of Arkansas. This comes just a week after a leaked report showed that NY had determined the process was safe for drinking water. The USGS sampled 127 wells in the area of the Fayetteville Shale, a rich deposit of natural gas that runs below Arkansas. They found no increase in chloride or trace metals at wells within the study area. In fact, the water sampled from wells was clearer than historical samples to which they were compared.
Environmentalist, Science, Narrative, Oops, Energy
The New York Times reported Thursday that a leaked report produced by the state concluded nearly a year ago that fracking is safe technology. While the Times does not appear to have published the 8-page analysis, it offers quotes which sound conclusive on the issue: "By implementing the proposed mitigation measures the Department expects that human chemical exposures during normal HVHF [fracking] operations will be prevented or reduced below levels of significant health concern."
Environmentalist, Narrative, Energy, Regulation
Hydraulic fracturing (often termed "fracking") can be managed effectively in the UK as long as operational best practices are implemented and robustly enforced through regulation. That is the conclusion of a review by UK's Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Funny, Brilliance, Oops, Energy, Economy
A veteran state lawmaker in North Carolina says she pushed the wrong button late Monday night in a marathon legislative session and accidentally opened up the state to fracking. Rep. Becky Carney, a five-term Democrat from Charlotte, burst into tears after mistakenly voting with Republicans to override Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of the contentious legislation. The measure lifts the ban on hydraulic fracturing as a means for mining for natural gas, according to The Wall Street Journal.
A new federal study failed to find evidence that oil and gas production in northern Pennsylvania has contaminated the commonwealth’s forest rivers and streams, providing a timely counterweight to the vows to ban fracking being made by some Democratic presidential candidates.
The study, which was published Feb. 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), one of the world’s most prestigious scientific journals, concluded that there were no signs that chemicals or wastewater from fracking wells had entered more than two dozen streams running through the gas fields of the Marcellus Shale formation. There was also no evidence found that fracking had significantly altered the volume and makeup of the microscopic creatures in the water or had changed the chemical composition of the water itself.
-Hil Anderson