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Josh Fox on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
John Stewart, The Daily Show
Interview with Gasland Part II director, Josh Fox.
Video link for US viewers
Also appears on YouTube here
(26 June 2013)
Natural gas found in drinking water near fracked wells
John Roach, NBC News
Elevated levels of methane and other stray gases have been found in drinking water near natural gas wells in Pennsylvania’s gas-rich Marcellus shale region, according to new research. In the case of methane, concentrations were six times higher in some drinking water found within one kilometer of drilling operations.
"The bottom line is strong evidence for gas leaking into drinking water in some cases," Robert Jackson, an environmental scientist at Duke University in Durham, N.C., told NBC News. "We think the likeliest explanation is leaky wells," he added…
(24 June 2013)
Get fracking: MPs back the dash for UK’s shale gas
Oliver Wright, The Independent
Britain is to “get serious” and embark upon a dash for shale gas, ministers announced, as a new report warned that the risk of future energy blackouts had tripled in the past year.
Unveiling Britain’s energy strategy for the next decade, the Climate Change Secretary, Ed Davey, outlined new incentives for investors to replace Britain’s ageing coal, oil and nuclear power stations with new renewable and gas generators…
(27 June 2013)
Polish town says ‘no’ to shale gas
Paul Rimple, Deutsche Welle
Fracking is big business, especially in Poland. Estimates did suggest the country may be sitting on a gas supply that could cover domestic needs for the next 300 years and end the country’s dependence on Russian imports.
The countryside around Zurawlow in the east of Poland is an endless panorama of rolling green fields – and residents in this sleepy village want to keep it that way.
Two years ago, the US Energy Information Administration estimated there could be as much as 5.3 trillion cubic meters – or 300 years worth- of gas waiting to be fracked in the area around Zurawlow.
Zurawlow locals supported shale gas mining until they learned how dangerous fracking could be to the environment. They now fear the exploitation of gas by fracking will ruin the ecosystem, pollute their water and destroy their livelihoods. Pani Stopa has monitored her well water since it turned black, just after multinational corporation Chevron performed seismic tests nearby.
"It used to be good water, but now it’s black and looks like oil," says Stopa of the state of the well’s water. "It’s been like this for three years, since the first seismic tests."..
(27 June 2013)
Electricity prices soar in West Texas as shale drilling expands
Emily Pickrell, fuelfix
The Texas shale boom has led to record growth in the demand for electricity in West Texas, experts said in at the Gulf coast Power Association panel on Wednesday afternoon.
Oil and gas worker camps and drilling activity have dramatically increased demand for electricity in previously unpopulated parts of Texas, including the Eagle Ford and the Permian Basin regions.
The growth has left transmission and utilities scrambling to keep up…
(26 June 2013)
Methane Scrutiny in Obama Climate Plan May Cost Drillers
Mark Drajem, BloombergB
Riding shotgun in a Toyota 4Runner rigged up with a carbon-fiber pipe and a spectrometer, Duke University researcher Rob Jackson trolled through Washington searching for evidence that natural gas is not quite the climate champion President Barack Obama claimed this week.
He was replicating a study he did in Boston, measuring leaks from creaky natural gas pipes. In addition to being a possible safety risk, methane, the key component of natural gas, is 25 times as potent a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide. And leaks may undercut much of the climate benefits of gas…
Included in the fine print of the White House climate plan, however, are measures that could complicate the industry’s growth, such as a closer look at the scope of leaks from gas wells, pipelines and compressor plants. Depending on what it finds, new regulations could be imposed…
(28 June 2013)
Gas drilling image via Skytruth/flickr
