Entries by FracTracker Alliance

Finding PA Department of Environmental Protection Data

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Data transparency is a major issue in the oil and gas world. Some states in the U.S. do not make the location or other details associated with wells easy to find. If one is looking for Pennsylvania data, however, the basic datasets are quite accessible. The PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) maintains several datasets […]

H 2 O Where Did It Go?

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By Mary Ellen Cassidy, Community Outreach Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance A Water Use Series Many of us do our best to stay current with the latest research related to water impacts from unconventional drilling activities, especially those related to hydraulic fracturing.  However, after attending presentations and reading recent publications, I realized that I knew too little […]

Renewal

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By Brook Lenker, Executive Director, FracTracker Alliance This isn’t a call for membership (we really don’t have members, but we do accept donations through the donate button on our home page), it’s a pause for gratitude, reflection, and sharing of good news and good will as we begin 2014. In our expanding efforts to communicate […]

Researchers “drilling for data” present findings at Shale Gas Symposium

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By Lisa Mikolajek Barton, Center for Environmental Research & Education, Duquesne University Two dozen researchers in a variety of disciplines presented their findings at “Facing the Challenges,” a symposium on unconventional shale gas extraction that drew more than 300 attendees to Duquesne University on Nov. 25 and 26, 2013. The Power Center Ballroom was filled […]

FrackFinders Wanted

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A partner in data-crunching, SkyTruth, is seeking volunteers to find waste impoundments from unconventional oil and gas drilling in Pennsylvania. SkyTruth is our “eye in the sky” when it comes to tracking everything from the plume of the BP Oil Spill to flaring in the Bakken. They use remote sensing and mapping technologies to better […]

Texas Drought Conditions and Water Availability

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By Thomas DiPaolo, GIS Intern, FracTracker Alliance – For the last three years, Texas has been experiencing a drought so severe that it has gained media attention around the world; the recurring theme from each media report is that the water use of the oil and natural gas industry is sucking up so much water from […]

The awkward “k” in “fracking”

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By Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH – Manager of Science and Communications, FracTracker Alliance   We are often asked why there is no “k” after “frac” in our name, FracTracker. This makes for lively conversations at parties, I assure you. Quite frankly, the etymology of the term “fracking” would make for its own interesting study, especially […]

Intentional Omissions? Waterless Fracturing

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By Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH – Manager of Science and Communications We got called on it; we have no articles about waterless fracturing on FracTracker.org – yet. Fracturing deep geologic formations to access oil and gas without the use of water offers some financial benefits; it minimizes the water-in and waste-out costs, even though the […]

Sifting Through Sand Mining

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By Brook Lenker and Ted Auch, FracTracker Alliance Thirty miles northwest of Eau Claire, Wisconsin the land rolls gently. Wooded hills back orderly farms straight from the world of Norman Rockwell but painted red and gold by October’s cool brush.  It seems like agrarian perfection, but the harmony is interrupted by the pits and mounds […]

Almost Heaven

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By Brook Lenker, Executive Director, FracTracker Alliance Touring Doddrige County, West Virginia On September 26th, FracTracker staff and board member, Brian Segee, traveled to Doddridge County, West Virginia for an eye-popping tour. This endeavor was led by Diane Pitcock of West Virginia Host Farms and local activists who are deeply concerned about the fate of […]