Approving New Fracking Projects in the Middle of a Pandemic? Bad Idea.

Amidst the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM), whose stated mission is to “prioritize protecting public health, safety, and the environment in its oversight of the oil, natural gas, and geothermal industries” paradoxically issued 24 new fracking permits on April 3rd, authorizing the first new oil wells using hydraulic fracking in California since July of last year.

Fracking Waste Injection Wells Put Millions of Californians at Risk of Increased Earthquakes

Oil companies are increasing California’s earthquake risk by injecting billions of gallons of oil and gas wastewater a year into hundreds of disposal wells near active faults around Los Angeles, Bakersfield and other major cities, according to a new report from Earthworks, the Center for Biological Diversity and Clean Water Action.

A blow to the NIMBY rhetoric

The recent news about Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson’s participation in a lawsuit against the construction of a large water tower near his home and ranch in Texas was extraordinarily symbolic, and could help combat the rhetoric being thrown at opponents of fracking, who are often cast away by industry as being unreasonable “NIMBY’s”: Not In My Back Yard.

Getting real about regulation – why it won’t make fracking safe

The British government has acknowledged the potential harms of fracking for unconventional gas – yet claimed that regulation in Britain is more stringent than in other countries and that it is therefore possible to prevent negative impacts. In this article I will show that over a century of health and safety regulation in the UK gives no ground for confidence.