EcoChat: Gasland Part II: Courting Controversy, Driving a Movement
Gasland Part II, the highly anticipated anti-fracking documentary sequel, premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 21st.
Fracking
Canada’s ‘Northern Amazon’ on the Brink
The Mackenzie River Basin, which occupies and protects one-fifth of Canada’s fresh water, could be severely destabilized by climate change as well as unbridled resource extraction, including hydraulic fracturing, hydro dams and oil sands mining.
Pro-Fracking Greens Called Out in Ecologist’s New Manifesto
A new salvo has been fired in the national battle against fracking.
Fracking Creates Water Scarcity Issues in Michigan
Concerns about the impact to local groundwater by massive water use—on a scale never before seen in Michigan fracking operations—are coming to a head, as the plan for Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. to use 8.4 million gallons of water to fracture a single well has been stymied by a lack of water on site.
Fracking – June 4
•Fracking could ruin German beer industry, brewers tell Angela Merkel •Amerikas Schiefergas-Boom droht jähes Ende •Fracking Tests Ties Between California ‘Oil and Ag’ Interests •Most Americans don’t give a frack about fracking •UK shale gas reserves may be ‘bigger than first thought’ •OPEC, at its Vienna meeting, grapples with shale oil
Will the Eagle Ford Shale Bankrupt Local Communities?
The oil and gas industry has shouted from the roof tops for quite some time about the “shale revolution” and its supposed long term economic benefits…There is just one problem. It doesn’t happen to be true.
Water – June 3
•Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust •How to Save Water-Starved Cities •Water may reshape energy industry •Analysis: China: High and dry •Stressed Ecosystems Leaving Humanity High and Dry
Shale gas, tight oil, and fracking – May 21
•At margins of shale oil boom, a tempered euphoria •Fracking envy •Radioactive fracking debris triggers worries at dump sites •Poland’s shale gas hopes suffer blow •Poland Shale Boom Falters as State Targets Higher Taxes •The fight for North Dakota’s fracking-water market
New report raises concerns about expansion of frac sand mines in Minnesota and Wisconsin
The true economic impact of frac sand mining may fall short of industry claims promising sustained prosperity and economic opportunity, says a first-of-its-kind expert report to be released Wednesday, May 15. By using currently available economic data, The Economic Benefits and Costs of Frac-Sand Mining in West Central Wisconsin offers a full, unbiased analysis of costs and benefits for communities affected by frac sand mining. The report concludes by offering a list of questions to be considered that can help rural towns in Wisconsin and Minnesota effectively evaluate benefits and costs of frac sand mining for their community. As frac-sand mining legislation is being considered in Minnesota, including taxes to benefit the state and conservation measures to protect the environment, the report offers data to supplement the often overly optimistic economic projections from mining companies that often ignore costs and minimize environmental risks.
Will the International Energy Agency’s oil forecast be wrong again?
The famous Danish physicist Niels Bohr once humorously observed, "Predictions are very difficult, especially about the future." And so, as the world considers yet another rosy oil supply forecast, this time from the Paris-based International Energy Agency, it is worth reviewing the agency’s record.
South African Anti-Fracking Activist Calls for Global Alliance
With no prior experience in grassroots organizing, Deal orchestrated a campaign against fracking in South Africa to protect the Karoo, a semi-desert region of the eastern Cape that he had come to know and love.
The Obama Administration’s Natural Gas Policy Is Tragically Misguided
The Obama administration has come out in support of the idea of exporting U.S. natural gas. This stance is counterproductive and shortsighted, and if followed, it will prove harmful to domestic manufacturing (i.e., value generation) and to future generations of Americans.
