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fracking

The New York Times: Industry boos Oscar nod for ‘Gasland’

By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF

“Gasland,” a film that turns a harshly critical eye on the perils of natural gas drilling, has earned an Academy Award nomination for best documentary.

The Oscar nod guarantees even wider exposure for the controversial film, which uses images of flames leaping from kitchen faucets and polluted streams to make an argument for the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a drilling technique where water and chemicals are injected at high pressure deep underground to free up previously inaccessible natural gas deposits.

The Rural Blog: As states seek disclosure, drilling companies try more environmentally friendly fracking fluids

Much of the controversy around hydraulic fracturing has centered on whether chemicals used in the process can contaminate drinking water supplies, "but despite an increase in the number of such reports nationally, environmentalists’ claims have been undermined by the fact that no scientific links have been established between fracturing — which involves blasting a solution of water, sand and chemicals deep underground to free natural gas — and reports of contaminated water," John Gramlich of Stateline writes in a good

AP Texas News: Driller denies that it contaminated Texas aquifer

This article was originally posted Dec. 8 here

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
Associated Press © 2010 The Associated Press

HOUSTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency order against a Texas gas driller Tuesday, accusing the company of contaminating an aquifer and giving it 48 hours to provide clean drinking water to affected residents and begin taking steps to resolve the problem.