Rural Community Assistance Partnership

Practical solutions for improving rural communities
front-page-banner-img

fracking

New York Times: As gas drilling spreads, towns stand ground over control

Posted Fri, 2011/12/16 - 4:06pm by RCAP

A Dec. 14 article in the New York Times begins:

SOUTH FAYETTE, Pa. — As energy companies move to drill in densely populated areas from Pennsylvania to Texas, battles are breaking out over who will have the final say in managing the shale gas boom.

The fight, which pits towns and cities against energy companies and states eager for growth, has raised a fundamental question about the role of local government: How much authority should communities have over the use of their land?

Environmental Working Group: Gas-drilling doublespeak

Posted Wed, 2011/12/14 - 5:23pm by RCAP

Landowners say companies kept them in the dark on risks

Washington D.C. (EWG) – Gas drilling companies routinely warn their investors of a litany of possible disasters – such as leaks, spills, explosions, bodily injury and even death – but regularly fail to mention these risks when persuading landowners to sign leases for drilling rights, an Environmental Working Group investigation found.

ProPublica: Feds link water contamination to fracking for the first time

Posted Mon, 2011/12/12 - 4:09pm by RCAP

by Abrahm Lustgarten and Nicholas Kusnetz ProPublica, Dec. 8, 2011, 8:18 p.m.

In a first, federal environment officials today scientifically linked underground water pollution with hydraulic fracturing, concluding that contaminants found in central Wyoming were likely caused by the gas drilling process.

The findings by the Environmental Protection Agency come partway through a separate national study by the agency to determine whether fracking presents a risk to water resources.