All FracTracker Articles

Explore our most recent articles below. You can also explore by category by clicking here.

East Palestine Train Derailment Waste: Community Impacts

/
As of March 10, 2023, 152,796 tons of liquid waste and 2,980 tons of solid waste have been removed from the site of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, to three injection wells and four hazardous waste disposal sites in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Texas.
Photo by Kirsi Jansa

Worth Protecting: A photo album by Better Path Coalition and FracTracker Alliance

/
Explore an album of photos shared by Pennsylvania residents of the treasured communities, animals, plants, and ecosystems that they feel are worth protecting from the impacts of the climate crisis.
Getty Images

The Truth About Blue Hydrogen: Green Fuel or Greenwash?

/
Blue hydrogen is marketed as a clean and sustainable alternative to traditional fossil fuels, but is blue hydrogen really as environmentally friendly as it claims to be?
Tennessee Pipeline Incident by Ted Auch, 2022, with support from LightHawk.Ted Auch, FracTracker Alliance, 2022

2022 Pipeline Incidents Update: Is Pipeline Safety Achievable?

/
This analysis provides a top-level summary of pipeline incidents reported to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and examines whether or not safe oversight of the industry is possible.
Oil refinery in Toledo, OH. Photo by Ted Auch.

Testimony On EPA’s Proposed Methane Pollution Standards for the Oil and Gas Industry

/
FracTracker Alliance supports strong federal methane rules and urges further improvements that are needed to curb dangerous methane emissions.

Assessment of Rework Permits on Oil Production from Operational Wells Within the 3,200-Foot Public Health Protection Zone

/
This analysis shows that the policy proposed in SB 1137 of denying rework permits within the health protection zones is a commonsense public health intervention that would have minimal effects on production within the protection zone.

CalGEM Permit Review Q4 2022: Oil Permit Approvals Show Steep Rise Within Protective Buffer Zones

/
During the fourth quarter of 2022, California regulator CalGEM issued oil and gas operators 222 new drilling permits, an increase of over 750% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. Of those, nearly half (100; 47%) were for wells located within the 3,200’ public health setback zone.

Book Review Part II: ‘Public Responses to Fossil Fuel Export: Exporting Energy and Emissions in a Time of Transition’

/
In second installment of this book review, Ted Auch, PhD, reviews chapters 4-8 of Public Responses to Fossil Fuel Export. Published in January 2022, this work explores the social dimensions of the global fossil fuel export system, with a focus on public perceptions and responses to new infrastructures.
Ted Auch, FracTracker Alliance, 2019. Aerial support provided by LightHawk.

Book Review Part I: ‘Public Responses to Fossil Fuel Export: Exporting Energy and Emissions in a Time of Transition’

/
In this book review, Ted Auch, PhD, reviews the first three chapters of Public Responses to Fossil Fuel Export. Published in January 2022, this work explores the social dimensions of the global fossil fuel export system, with a focus on public perceptions and responses to new infrastructures.

Proof-of-Work Cryptocurrency Mining: Environmental BOMB, Not Balm, for the Planet

/
Since late 2021, FracTracker has been collecting information on cryptomining operations around the United States, and has partnered with Global Energy Monitor to further research, document, and map many more of these cryptocurrency mining operations.
Stacked pipes used in constructing oil and gas pipelines

A Contentious Landscape of Pipeline Build-outs in the Eastern US

/
In this article, we’ll feature four contentious pipeline build-outs in the Eastern United States, show ways in which those pipelines impact natural and human communities, and provide examples of how environmental advocates have challenged these projects, with varying degrees of success.

Major Gas Leak Reveals Risks of Aging Gas Storage Wells in Pennsylvania

/
Following an enormous gas leak in Jackson Township, Cambria County Pennsylvania, we mapped oil and gas storage wells and fields throughout the state and found that the majority of Pennsylvania’s storage wells were drilled prior to 1979, making them most vulnerable to well failures.