EARTHblog
Let s raise a glass of Drano to Chesapeake Energy s Aubrey McClendon!
This past Sunday, Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, was interviewed on CBS 60 Minutes.
Although he defended natural gas extraction, he also acknowledged that hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) a process that facilities the extraction of natural gas from over 90% of wells drilled in the United States injects the equivalent of Drano through the water table groundwater that provides drinking water for much of America.
Finally, a major energy industry CEO is admitting the truth that fracking chemicals are toxic, like Drano.
Tagged with: fracking, natural gas, chesapeake, fracturing, gas, drano
Back to the status quo: post-election party could leave communities with a raging headache
It didn t take long after the mid-term election last week for winners, pundits, and the media to attribute the results to a rejection of a new reform agenda in Washington. Unfortunately, when it comes to energy policy, the elections did deliver a solid victory for the status quo.
Politicians of all stripes and at all levels of government are loudly calling for more extraction of fossil fuels, including natural gas. But when it comes to the need for stronger government regulation and oversight to protect public health and the environment, political voices remain a mere whisper.
Drillers certainly liked what they heard the day after the elections, when former White House aide Karl Rove prognosticated that legislation to stem climate change and regulate the gas industry will simply be "gone" with the new Congress. (Rove s political group Crossroads Ventures spent $300,000 in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat U.S. Congressman Maurice Hinchey, a lead proponent of the FRAC Act to require companies to disclose the toxic chemicals they pump into the ground.)
Tagged with: regulation, marcellus shale, gas development, mid-term elections
Pennsylvania and the Gulf: victims of irresponsible drilling
Clearfield County, Pennsylvania and the Gulf of Mexico don t seem to have much in common. Different landscapes, environments, communities. But now these far-flung locations are linked by accidents that the oil and gas industry insists are unlikely to happen, and the failure of blowout preventers it considers an adequate safeguard.
Tagged with: marcellus shale, pennsylvania, spill, offshore, gulf oil spill, onshore
Halliburton to PA govt: "trust us". PA govt to Halliburton: "ok". PA citizens: "What!?!"
Whether you believe Pennsylvania's shale gas is a curse, or an opportunity, one thing is certain: the energy industry will be extracting it.
Here's another certainty regarding the energy industry: without adequate oversight, well-funded enforcement, and elimination of cozy relationships, it will successfully push the true cost of energy extraction's environmental risk onto communities who will pay the price of polluted land, property, drinking water, and health.
Tagged with: fracking, hydraulic fracturing, regulation, pennsylvania, halliburton
EARTHWORKS participates in STRONGER: a sadly necessary attempt to strengthen drilling regs
EARTHWORKS' Oil & Gas Accountability Project is taking part in STRONGER a worthwhile, but Rube Goldbergian attempt to patch holes in regulations governing hazardous waste produced by the oil and gas industry.
Tagged with: epa, regulation, drilling, iogcc, stronger
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