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Fracking the USA: New Map Shows 1 Million Oil, Gas Wells
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on March 27th, 2014
Climate Central: If you're wondering where oil and gas production and hydraulic fracturing are happening near you, FracTracker has a new mapping tool that will help you find out.
Areas where America's 1.1 million oil and gas wells, both conventional and hydraulically fractured, are found are highlighted in orange. Texas, where many of the wells are concentrated, is excluded because FracTracker was unable to publish data from the state.
Researchers at FracTracker, an independent oil and gas research group that...
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Drought fuels rising tide of Texas water conservation
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on March 2nd, 2014
Climate Central: Texans learned three years ago what exceptional drought possibly aggravated by climate change looks like: 4 million charred acres of land, thousands of burned homes and water supply reservoirs dry or draining fast.
As the drought wears on, a culture of water conservation has risen with it, especially in San Antonio and Austin.
The drought forced Austin officials to rethink how water is used. In San Antonio, a desire to save water for endangered species had jump-started its conservation movement,...
Still Uncertain: Climate Change’s Role in Drought
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on December 20th, 2013
Climate Central: It's common for direct connections to be drawn between climate change and the effects of the devastating droughts that have been afflicting the U.S. and other parts of the world over the last decade. A new analysis led by scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research says there are still many uncertainties about how climate change is affecting drought globally, though.
The analysis, authored primarily by NCAR senior scientist Kevin Trenberth, concludes that more global precipitation...
Fracking May Make Texas Power Supply Drought Resistant
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on December 20th, 2013
Climate Central: A new University of Texas-Austin study shows that producing electricity from natural gas saves much more water than producing power from coal, even accounting for water lost in fracking for shale gas.
In other words, fracking for natural gas used to produce electricity may make Texas more drought-resistant as the state shifts from coal power generation to natural gas power generation.
The study, funded by the state of Texas, looks at how Texas' devastating 2011 drought affected electricity...
Is West’s Dry Spell Really a Megadrought?
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on December 13th, 2013
Climate Central: The drought that has been afflicting most of the Western states for the past 13 years may be a "megadrought,' and the likelihood is high that this century could see a multi-decade dry spell like nothing else seen over the past 1,000 years, according to research presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting on Wednesday and Thursday.
Today, drought or abnormally dry conditions are affecting every state west of the Mississippi River and many on the East Coast, with much of the Southwest...
Scientists Call For More Fracking Data Collection & Transparency
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on December 11th, 2013
Climate Central: A group of scientists and other academics investigating the environmental, climate change and social impacts of oil and gas development, particularly hydraulic fracturing, are calling for both state and federal governments and the oil and gas industry to be more transparent and provide more data about the energy drilling and production processes.
The scientists, each presenting at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco, said it is difficult to determine the effects of energy...
Sandy A Warning Rising Seas Threaten Nuclear Plants
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on October 21st, 2013
Climate Central: As Hurricane Sandy barreled ashore a year ago, the storm forced the shutdown of several Northeast coastal nuclear power reactors, including the Oyster Creek plant on the Jersey Shore, which took the brunt of Sandy's huge storm surge. Another reactor at Indian Point Energy Center north of New York City shutdown because of power grid disruptions, and a third reactor in southern New Jersey shutdown when Sandy knocked out four of its circulating water pumps.
No nuclear power plant in Sandy's path...
Scientists: U.S. Climate Credibility Getting Fracked
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on October 10th, 2013
Climate Central: As fracking catapults the United States to the top of the list of the world's largest crude oil and natural gas producers, climate scientists worry that the nation's booming fossil fuels production is growing too quickly with too little concern about its impact on climate change, possibly endangering America's efforts to curb global greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.S. is likely to become the world's top producer of crude oil and natural gas by the end of 2013, producing more hydrocarbons than either...
Fracking May Be Polluting River With Radioactive Waste
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on October 3rd, 2013
Climate Central: Fracking may be contaminating a Pennsylvania river with radioactive waste, a Duke University study to be published this week shows.
Scientists found elevated levels of radioactivity in river water at a site where treated fracking wastewater from oil and gas production sites in western Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale is released into a creek.
The natural gas-rich Marcellus shale is seeing a drilling boom, part of a nationwide rush to use hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, techniques to extract...
Europe Whets Appetite for Coal as U.S. Eschews It
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on September 30th, 2013
Climate Central: Natural gas is proving to be a significant challenger to the dominance of coal in the U.S., but not necessarily overseas, according to two new Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports. The EIA released the reports several days after the Environmental Protection Agency announced proposed regulations heavily capping carbon dioxide emissions on future coal-fired power plants in the U.S. Another set of rules is expected to follow next year, capping carbon emissions at existing coal-fired power...