Fracking may be causing protests from America to Europe, but in South Africa, the latest country to lift a ban on the activity, many of the locals don’t even know what the practice entails. Earlier this month, South Africa lifted a 2011 ban on shale gas exploration and fracking in its semi-arid ecologically-sensitive Karoo region, … Read More
Fracking
Shale Gas Revolution Goes Global
Despite overwhelming community resistance and evidence of groundwater pollution, the shale gas revolution continues apace. “In the middle of the last decade”, writes Ed Crooks in today’s special report on energy in the Financial Times, “it looked as if the end of the Oil Age was in sight in the Americas. Not imminently, perhaps, but … Read More
Fracking: EU Warns of “High Risk” to Environment
The European Union is the latest organisation to raise serious concerns about the environmental impact of fracking. The EU has released three detailed reports to assess the risk to the environment and human health from shale gas extraction. In a devastating and highly detailed critique, the first report on the environmental impact of fracking, identifies … Read More
NY Mayor Bloomberg Backs Fracking
The people have spoken, but they are being ignored. Yesterday, over one thousand people marched to New York’s state Capitol to demonstrate their opposition to fracking. They delivered a pledge of resistance which has now been signed by thousands of people. The march was intended to intensify pressure on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as … Read More
The Price of Fracking – Report Back from Stop the Frack Attack
“I haven’t seen an issue that’s affected so many people in so many places,” Doug Shields, former member of the Pittsburgh City Council, remarked at Stop the Frack Attack rally last Saturday. And indeed, the thousands assembled on the lawn of the US Capitol Building reflected this truth. From as far as California and even … Read More
Dirty Energy Money Seeps into Academia
Just as the oil and gas industry buys influence on Capitol Hill and in state capitals across the country, so too can it buy friends at major universities who support its agenda. A recent Bloomberg article highlights just how close, and influential, these ties can actually be. The article details how the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a consortium … Read More
Fracking Can Pollute, Confirms Study
Slowly but surely the evidence is growing against fracking, as the authorities struggle to protect public health and drinking water. A report published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Duke University professors found that there could be natural paths in the rock that connects the frack zone with drinking water. … Read More
How Fracking Boosts the Tar Sands
The energy revolution sweeping the United States is now taking up serious column inches in the nation’s papers. Last week, the Wall Street Journal ran with with the headline: “Expanded Oil Drilling Helps U.S. Wean Itself From Mideast.” The next day it was “U.S. Wakes Up to North American Oil Abundance.” There is no doubt … Read More
Fracking the Dead
In the rush to frack America nothing, it seems, is sacred. Not content with fracking in forests, farmland, backyards, playgrounds and parks, energy companies are looking to frack in cemeteries. Now it is not just going to be your water supply that is going to be disturbed. Fracking has already raised huge questions about its … Read More
Bye, Bye Peak Oil
Contrary to what most people believe, oil supply capacity is growing at such an unprecedented level that it might soon outpace consumption. This could lead to overproduction and a steep dip in oil prices. That is the startling conclusion from Leonardo Maugeri, a former senior executive with Italian oil giant ENI, who is currently a … Read More