Entries by FracTracker Alliance

Texas Drought Conditions and Water Availability

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”

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

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

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

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 […]

European Drilling Perspectives

By Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH – Manager of Science and Communications In August I spent a little over two weeks in Europe, the first of which was for work in Berlin, Germany and Basel, Switzerland. Now that I have had some time to process my travels and am back on a proper sleep schedule, I thought I’d […]

Ethane Cracker Discussion in Regional Air Pollution Report

Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threats Analysis (PRETA) Air: Hazardous Air Pollutants Although now we are an independent non-profit, FracTracker.org actually started as a project of CHEC at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. At that time, Matt, Kyle, and I worked with researchers such as Drew Michanowicz and Jim Fabisiak of Pitt, as […]

FracTracker Presenting at Duquesne Shale Gas Conference

Research on Shale Gas Extraction Symposium On November 25 and 26, 2013 the FracTracker Alliance will be taking part in a regional shale gas symposium at Duquesne University designed to share the recent research that has been conducted regarding the impacts of unconventional natural gas extraction. FracTracker’s Manager of Science and Communications, Samantha Malone, will […]

FracTracker Touring a Bit of Europe

By Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH – Manager of Science and Communications, FracTracker Alliance I stare into my computer during an early morning Skype call with my hosts in Germany. As my cat stubbornly tries to join the conversation, we intently discuss international energy policies, travel plans, and audience demographics. This awkward setup is all in […]

FracTracker Expands Westward

By Brook Lenker, Executive Director, FracTracker Alliance The FracTracker Alliance is coming to California. The generous support of the Palo Alto-based 11th Hour Project, a working program of the Schmidt Family Foundation, has enabled us to hire Kyle Ferrar, MPH to be our first program coordinator in the state. Kyle – an accomplished researcher who […]