Recent News on Natural Gas Drilling
A list of news articles and editorials on the issue of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale and protecting New York’s water supply.
Featured News Source on Gas Drilling
ProPublica Buried Secrets: Gas Drilling’s Environmental Threat
ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest, offers ongoing and extensive reporting on the threat of natural gas drilling to the environment.
Recent News on Gas Drilling (week of June 14, 2013)
DOZENS DEBATE POSITIVES OF HYDROFRACKING
New York business leaders say hydraulic fracturing will boost the upstate economy by creating more jobs and increasing salaries. "What I hope is that people will educate themselves," said Heather Bricetti, of the Business Council of New York State. "Don't just listen to one side. Use your own brains. Go take a look at the actual numbers. What the actual experience has been. "Dozens came together in Binghamton Wednesday afternoon to discuss the positives of hydrofracking and natural gas development. The discussion was the first event in a new "Women and Energy" series. Speakers said Wednesday engineers from the Greater Binghamton area are heading to different states where gas development is permitted. Bricetti said too many people are focusing on the negatives of hydrofracking rather than looking at the big picture. "When you only listen to possible negatives and you don't think about and listen to the benefits, that you're only getting half of the story," said Bricetti. he compared the issue to a bottle of prescription pills. She said if people only read the warning sign, they would never take the pills. She said she believes the positives outweigh the negatives in hydrofracking.
SENATE UNLIKELY TO VOTE ON FRACKING BILL;QUEENS SENATORS BACK MORATORIUM ON HORIZONTAL GAS DRILLING IN NYS
With the Senate session winding down in Albany, and about a thousand bills left to debate, the hydrofracking moratorium bill may not even hit the floor for a vote. Most Queens lawmakers oppose allowing the drilling process in New York State without conclusive scientific evidence that it can be done safely, without contaminating groundwater. The drilling process known as hydrofracking is used to obtain natural gas from rock formations, such as the Marcellus Shale, which stretches from New York’s Southern Tier to West Virginia. Fracking involves injecting millions of gallons of water along with a slurry of sand and about 600 chemicals into a narrow horizontal pipe at high pressure to induce “mini-earthquakes,” which release the natural gas.“Hydrofracking is a very dangerous process,” Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said. “The damage to the environment would be extreme and we would have to live with the ramifications for a very long time.” Avella said that he is concerned about the chemical-laced water, about 50 percent of which is not recovered from the wells and eventually seeps into the groundwater, where opponents worry it may contaminate drinking water reservoirs. New York City receives 90 percent of its water, unfiltered, from upstate reservoirs.
OIL, GAS FROM SHALE SEEN RISING AS MORE NATIONS BEGIN EXPLORING
Global resources of oil and gas from shale formations are greater than previously estimated as more nations join efforts to explore for deposits following a burst of production in the U.S.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration released a fresh assessment of worldwide resources of oil and gas in shale, which are tapped by hydraulic fracturing, showing tight oil resources could be 345 billion barrels. Shale gas estimates were increased by 10 percent from 2011, to 7,299 trillion cubic feet. “As shale oil and shale gas production has grown in the United States to become 30 percent of oil and 40 percent of natural gas total production, interest in the oil and natural gas resource potential of shale formations outside the United States has grown,” Adam Sieminski, the agency’s administrator, said today a statement. The report shows “a significant potential for international shale oil and shale gas.”
