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Environmentalists, unions seek to fix gas leaks
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Begos on December 9th, 2013
Associated Press: Unions and environmentalists have found one point of agreement in the bitter debate over the natural gas drilling boom: fixing leaky old pipelines that threaten public health and the environment. It's a huge national effort that could cost $82 billion.
The leaks are a problem because methane, the primary component of natural gas, is explosive in high concentrations and is also a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.
The Department of Transportation estimates that more than...
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Pa. releases climate change report 18 months late
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Begos on October 11th, 2013
Associated Press: Pennsylvania this week quietly released an updated report on what impact future climate change may have on the state, about 18 months after it was due.
The Pennsylvania Climate Impacts Assessment Update was posted to an open database, but state officials issued no news release.
The report paints a mixed picture of possible impacts, with many uncertainties for after 2050.
Penn State University forestry expert Marc McDill, who worked on the report, said the evidence is "very, very strong"...
Fracking Chemicals Didn’t Contaminate Water, Study Finds
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Begos on July 22nd, 2013
Associated Press: A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press.
After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard...
EPA methane report further divides fracking camps
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Begos on April 28th, 2013
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency has dramatically lowered its estimate of how much of a potent heat-trapping gas leaks during natural gas production, in a shift with major implications for a debate that has divided environmentalists: Does the recent boom in fracking help or hurt the fight against climate change?
Oil and gas drilling companies had pushed for the change, but there have been differing scientific estimates of the amount of methane that leaks from wells, pipelines and other facilities...
Both sides agree on tough new fracking standards
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Begos on March 20th, 2013
Associated Press: Some of the nation's biggest oil and gas companies have made peace with environmentalists, agreeing to a voluntary set of tough new standards for fracking in the Northeast that could lead to a major expansion of drilling.
The program announced Wednesday will work a lot like Underwriters Laboratories, which puts its familiar UL seal of approval on electrical appliances that meet its standards.
In this case, drilling and pipeline companies will be encouraged to submit to an independent review...
Celebrity ‘fractivists’: True advocates or NIMBYs?
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Begos on March 6th, 2013
Associated Press: The scene: a Manhattan art-house theater. The cause: a campaign against the gas drilling process known as fracking that's being led by more than 100 celebrities, including Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Robert Redford, Mark Ruffalo and Mario Batali.
Outside, demonstrators in hazmat suits circle the theater. Inside, actress Scarlett Johansson attends a benefit screening of "Gasland," the documentary film that has become the movement's manifesto. Johansson tells The Associated Press that her "Avengers"...
Marcellus natural gas production expanded in 2012
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Begos on December 25th, 2012
Associated Press: This year was one of new records and new questions for the boom in Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling.
Previous doubts about the size of the vast resource were mostly put to rest, as data showed that the Marcellus became the most productive natural gas field in the nation, even though well drilling slowed substantially.
According to the federal energy reports Marcellus wells in Pennsylvania and West Virginia now produce 7 billion cubic feet of gas per day. That's about 25 percent of all shale...
Gas drilling presents Obama with historic choices
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Begos on November 17th, 2012
Associated Press: Energy companies, environmental groups, and even Hollywood stars are watching to see what decisions President Barack Obama makes about regulating or promoting natural gas drilling.
The stakes are huge. Business leaders don't want government regulations to slow the flow of hundreds of billions of dollars of clean, cheap domestic energy over the next few decades. Environmental groups see that same tide as a potential threat, not just to air and water, but to renewable energy. And on a strategic...
14 eco groups ask Pa. to change drill/water policy
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Begos on October 23rd, 2012
Associated Press: Fourteen environmental groups have asked Republican Gov. Tom Corbett to reverse a recent change in how official notifications of possible water pollution related to Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling are handled. But state officials say the public still gets the information it needs.
The 14 groups claim the new policy would delay warning the public about pollution related to oil and gas drilling from a procedure known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves blasting chemical-laden...
Decades of federal dollars helped fuel gas boom
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Begos on September 24th, 2012
Associated Press: It sounds like a free-market success story: a natural gas boom created by drilling company innovation, delivering a vast new source of cheap energy without the government subsidies that solar and wind power demand.
"The free market has worked its magic," the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council, an industry group, claimed over the summer.
The boom happened "away from the greedy grasp of Washington," the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank, wrote in an essay this year.
If bureaucrats...