To Frack or Not to Frack?

The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity to stop the environmental destruction of a practice employed for gas drilling known as 'fracking' or hydraulic fracturing.

Below are just a small sampling of recent articles and it would seem we need to consider the consequences of our energy source and its environmental implications, just as with the environmental destruction caused by mountaintop removal.


As Robert Kennedy, Jr. said of Mountaintop Removal: The Fight over Coal Mining is a “Fight About Democracy.”

Do Big Corporations have a right to destroy environments, sicken communities and contaminate drinking water?


To Frack or Not to Frack?
— By Kate Sheppard

It's been a busy week for anyone following the national debates over hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," the controversial method used to cut into shale rock to extract natural gas. In New Jersey, a strong bipartisan majority in both chambers of the legislature approved a bill banning fracking in the state as its neighbor to the north, New York, appeared ready to end its moratorium on the practice.



Geothermal: The Safe Way to Use the Energy Beneath Our Feet
By Jordann Kaye
As the debate about hydro-fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing) continues to rage in states like New York and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, it may be time to shine the spotlight on a less controversial way to harvest a natural resource from the ground -- geothermal heat pumps.

Insiders Warn “Shale Plays are Just Giant Ponzi Schemes” in Bombshell-Laden NY Times Piece on Natural Gas, Fracking
By Joe Romm

Tell T. Boone the Pickens Plan Must Put People Over Profits

The Fracking Fuss
What it's about—and why you should care

From The Progress Report:
The natural gas industry has developed the coloring book “Talisman Terry’s Energy Adventure,” starring the “friendly fracosaurus,” a smiling dinosaur who glosses over environmental concerns and promotes the message that fracking is smart.


Mark Ruffalo wants you to stand up to hydrofracking

NY fracking ban continues for at least another year

Pro-fracking ad accidentally reveals dangers of fracking
by Christopher Mims

Fracking Disclosure Pursued on Different Fronts

Fracking with our food: how gas drilling affects farming

Oil Company Investors Seeking the Big Two to Come Clean About Hydraulic Fracturing
Posted by FREDERICA CADE

The most danceable fracking explainer you’ll see today
by Jess Zimmerman



Tell President Obama: Keep Our Drinking Water Safe

Drinking water in thousands of homes 'contaminated with harmful levels of methane'
By Daily Mail Reporter



Pennsylvania Fracking Spill: Natural Gas Well Blowout Spills Thousands Of Gallons Of Drilling Fluid (VIDEO)

Major fracking spill happening now in Pennsylvania

Fracking Gone Wrong: Finding a Better Way

The Dark Side of the Boom

Study: Dangerous Chemicals Used in Natural Gas Fracking
A congressional probe has found oil and gas corporations involved in the drilling practice of hydrofracking injected hundreds of millions of gallons of dangerous chemicals into wells in more than a dozen states from 2005 to 2009. The chemicals were used in the fluids used to open up deposits of natural gas deep below ground. The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee also found that companies used at least 650 products that are known or possible human carcinogens, or are hazardous air pollutants.

Democratic Report: Carcinogens Injected Into Wells During Fracking

Study: Gas from ‘fracking’ worse than coal on climate
By Ben Geman

Fracking concern in South Africa?
From: Ruona Agbroko, Reuters, JOHANNESBURG

Blowout at natural gas well releases drilling fluids to environment

Fracking Ground Water
From: Andy Soos, ENN

Pennsylvania Limits Authority of Oil and Gas Inspectors
by Abrahm Lustgarten

Leaked EPA Documents Expose Decades-Old Effort to Hide Dangers of Natural Gas Extraction