Entries by FracTracker Alliance

The Ultimate Price of PA State Forest Drilling

By Ted Auch, Matt Kelso, and Sam Rubright PA DCNR recently released a draft State Forest Resource Management Plan. The draft plan, last revised in 2007, is an important tool that the Bureau of Forestry (BOF) uses to help manage Pennsylvania’s approximately 2.2 million acre state forest system. Approximately 1.5 million acres of state forest lands […]

A Fresh Look at Oil and Gas Drilling from Europe

By Ted Auch, Kyle Ferrar, and Samantha Rubright with Max Gruenig Fourteen days is not nearly enough time to fully understand the complex differences between oil and gas drilling issues and policies in the United States and several European Union countries. The EU’s drilling policies, geography, and the industry’s level of activity are quite distinct […]

Interview with Dorina Hippauf – Sentinel Award Winner

Kirk Jalbert, FracTracker’s Manager of Community Based Research & Engagement, interviews Dorina Hippauf, one of FracTracker’s 2015 Community Sentinels Award Winners. Dorina Hippauf is the Chair of the Research Committee for the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition (GDAC) of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and a contributing member of the Shale Justice Coalition. When a landman came knocking […]

Parked Oil Trains in Berks County, PA

By Matt Kelso, Manager of Data & Technology Kirk Jalbert, Manager of Community Based Research & Engagement The Risks of Crude Oil Trains As new oil fields boomed across North America in recent years, drillers looked for ways to get the product to refineries thousands of miles away. One solution was to use the nation’s […]

Public Herald’s #fileroom Update

Crowdsourcing Digital PA Oil & Gas Data FracTracker Alliance worked with Public Herald this spring to update and map oil and gas complaints filed by citizens to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) as of March 2015. The result is the largest release of oil and gas records on water contamination due to fracking in […]

Oil Train Response 2015

November 13-15, 2015 Wyndham Pittsburgh University Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Coordinated by FracTracker Alliance and ForestEthics Couldn’t make it? Watch Friday’s Presentations Or check out the conversation on Twitter: #oiltrain15 About the Event Over the past few years, oil train traffic across the continent has increased rapidly with more than 500,000 rail cars moving oil in 2014 alone, […]

Landfill Disposal of WV Oil and Gas Waste – A Report Review

By Bill Hughes, WV Community Liaison As oil and gas drilling increases in West Virginia, the resulting waste stream must also be managed. House Bill 107 required the Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to investigate the risks associated with landfill disposal of solid drilling waste. On July 1, 2015, a massive […]

Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling: Risks to the Sea Otter

By Emily Watson, FracTracker Summer Intern Sea otters, an endangered keystone species, are at risk due to offshore oil and gas drilling spills. Along the west coast of the U.S., this marine mammal’s habitat is commonly near offshore drilling sites, specifically in California and Alaska. Sea Otters – a Keystone Species Sea otter numbers used […]

Has radioactivity risk from oil and gas activity been underrated?

Reviewing a Pennsylvania TENORM Study By Juliana Henao, Communications Intern Technologically-enhanced, naturally-occurring radioactive materials, also known as TENORM, are produced when radionuclides deep in the earth are brought to the surface by human activity such as oil and gas drilling. The radioactive materials, which include uranium (U), thorium (th), potassium-40 (K-40) and their decay products, […]