Background

Articles providing background on hydraulic fracturing and its relationship to climate change. These documents help explain the origins of the technology, how it is used, and why it became a subject of environmental and policy debate. Explore related scholarly research below ↓

Topic: Order: 58 documents

2024

December (2024)

World of Shale

FracTracker Alliance is a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit that maps, analyzes, and communicates data on oil, gas, and petrochemical development. Founded in 2010, the organization provides state-by-state drilling maps, pipeline tracking tools, and thematic analyses to advance public understanding of hydraulic fracturing and its impacts. FracTracker connects environmental data with policy, public health, and climate concerns, offering interactive maps and research resources that situate shale development within both national and international contexts.

Source: Fractracker Alliance (2010) Read More

2023

December (2023)

What broke the Safe Drinking Water Act?

Annie Snider wrote in Politico: “There’s perchlorate in this reservoir. Here’s why Washington isn’t doing anything about it.” The story revisits the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), enacted in 1974 as the nation’s primary law to ensure safe public drinking water. Under the statute, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets standards and oversees state implementation — yet regulatory gaps and political hesitation can leave contaminants in place, testing how far the law’s protections actually reach.

Source: Politico (2017) Read More

U.S. EPA Water Enforcement

The Environmental Protection Agency’s water enforcement division pursues violations related to discharges, contamination, and compliance under federal water statutes. Under the Clean Water Act, the law’s objective is to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters,” while recognizing state responsibilities and providing federal assistance — including funding for publicly owned treatment works. Enforcement records form the regulatory ledger that reveals how that mandate is implemented, tested, or challenged in drilling regions.

Source: U.S. EPA (2023) Read More

2013

January (2013)

Hubbert Clip

1976 video clip of M King Hubbert speaking about world oil depletion and explaining the concept of peak oil.

Source: YouTube (2007) Read More

SkyTruth: Upper Green River Valley – A View From Above

Using the latest in satellite imagery, aerial photography, and Google Earth technology, this ten minute SkyTruth video explores the environmental impacts of gas and oil drilling in the Upper Green River Valley, an ecologically sensitve area of western Wyoming.

Source: YouTube (2007) Read More

Before/After Drilling

A slow, simulated time-lapse portrays the transformation of the pristine Delaware watershed before and after gas drilling. The visual meditation underscores what communities fear losing: clean water, scenic beauty, and ecological balance.

Source: YouTube (2008) Read More

Changing a Water Filter in Prenter Hollow, WV

This video shows a Grandfather changing the water filter on his well water in Prenter, WV. Coal Waste has been injected into abandoned underground mines near his house.

Source: YouTube (2008) Read More

Flow – The War Between Public Health and Private Interests

FLOW: For Love of Water, directed by Irena Salina, investigates the global water crisis and the privatization of freshwater resources. Featuring interviews with scientists, activists, and policy experts, the documentary explores water scarcity, pollution, and corporate control of municipal water systems. The film raises questions about water as a public trust versus a market commodity, while highlighting grassroots movements and policy efforts advocating for equitable access.

Source: Environment and Society (2008) Read More

PA Gas Rush

Learn how new drilling technology and rising fuel prices are driving the natural gas rush in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale—a 6,000 foot deep rock formation which has the potential to fuel the entire country for two full years.

Source: YouTube (2008) Read More

Poison Fire

If you plan to stop by these woods on a snowy evening bring some marshmallows and expect an evening sunburn. There’s a chance your treats will be toxic.

Source: YouTube (2008) Read More

Barnett Shale: An Aerial View

A drilling rig operating for 3 months has the same impact as a city of 4,000 people—water use, solid waste generation, air emissions and traffic.

Source: YouTube (2009) Read More

Earth Day: Give Earth a Hand

Tides Foundation is proud to present The Story of Stuff — a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns that calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world.

Source: YouTube | Greenpeace (2010) Read More

U.S. Shale Gas

Potential Gas Committee reports unprecedented increase in magnitude of U.S. natural gas resource base.

Source: YouTube (2010) Read More

US natural gas drilling boom linked to pollution and social strife

The gas stored in the Marcellus Shale formation is the subject of desperate drilling to secure US domestic energy supplies. But the process involved – hydraulic fracturing – is the focus of a bitter dispute over environmental damage and community rights.

Source: The Ecologist (2010) Read More

2012

October (2012)

Under the surface: fracking, fortunes and the fate of the Marcellus Shale

$Under the surface: fracking$

Hydrofracking’s proposed a massive industrial transformation on a huge swath of rural Northeastern U.S. It has divided communities and sparked an intense public debate about science, economics, law making and enforcement. Under the Surface tells the story of the Marcellus Gas Rush and is written by Tom Wilber, a newspaper reporter who covered the environmental beat for Binghamton, N.Y.’s Press & Sun Bulletin. Recommended!

Source: Cornell University Press (2012) Read More

September (2012)

Oil & Gas Accountability Project (OGAP)

OGAP tracks drilling impacts with a watchdog’s eye: complaints, enforcement gaps, industry claims, and the fine print of regulation. The hook is accountability — who reports what, who inspects, who pays, who fixes. In boom country, the technical work happens fast and the paperwork trails behind. OGAP exists to pull that trail forward into view, turning scattered incidents into patterns that regulators and communities can’t easily ignore.

Source: Earthworks (2009) Read More

The Tragedy of the Commons

Another example of a typical commons is groundwater. Nobody really owns the groundwater; it is technically up for grabs. Eventually, depletion by a few means depletion for all.

Source: Science (1968) Read More

May (2012)

This Website is a Crash Course In Fracking

Can we benefit from this new source of natural gas without it affecting our water and our way of life? This curated collection of bibliographic resources, government documents, letters, and video investigations serves as a crash course in fracking — from geology and leases to groundwater findings, federal exemptions, and congressional scrutiny. The record is assembled so readers can follow the paper trail themselves.

Source: Neil Zusman (2010) Read More

2011

May (2011)

Mira’s Movement

Do you know that pediatric cancer is the leading disease killer of children in the United States ? That 35 children are diagnosed with cancer in the US every day? Do you know that, according to the National Cancer Institute, pediatric cancer as a whole received only $200 million for research in 2009?

Source: Mira's Movement (2009) Read More

The risks of oil and gas production acknowledged around the world

Government officials from around the world have recently declared that the risks of natural gas drilling are too great to allow it to proceed without additional analysis.

Source: Amy Mall's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC (2011) Read More

April (2011)

Worlds Collide at Cancun Climate Talks

Foreign Policy In Focus publishes commentaries, briefs, and reports on its website and organizes briefings for the public, media, lawmakers, and legislative staff.

Source: Foreign Policy In Focus (2010) Read More

March (2011)

Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?–A Scientific Detective Story

A broad exposé of how chemicals disrupt the endocrine systems of living organisms.

Source: Plume (1997) Read More

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Fossil Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory: Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer.

The DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy promotes research and development aimed at enhancing domestic energy production and technological efficiency. During the shale boom, federal research initiatives supported improved extraction techniques even as environmental and regulatory questions intensified.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy (2009) Read More

Natural Gas: Not as clean as you think

The Wilderness Society released the science and policy brief Doing It Right: Ensuring Responsible Natural Gas Development on Our Public Lands, challenging claims that natural gas is a clean energy solution. Citing data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Congressional Research Service, the brief notes that natural gas still accounts for roughly 20 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and that methane released during production and transport is significantly more potent than carbon dioxide. The report also highlights smog increases in drilling regions such as Sublette County, Wyoming, underscoring that expanded gas development on public lands carries measurable climate and public health consequences.

Source: The Wilderness Society (2010) Read More

WATER | FRONTLINE: Poisoned Waters

More than three decades after the Clean Water Act, iconic American waterways like the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound are in perilous condition and facing new sources of contamination. PBS FRONTLINE’s Poisoned Waters investigated industrial pollution and regulatory breakdowns, tracing how enforcement gaps and political compromises left communities with compromised drinking water. The documentary elevated local complaints into a national reckoning over whether oversight has kept pace with modern extraction and discharge practices.

Source: Public Broadcasting Service Frontline (2009) Read More

The Marcellus Shale Formation Information Site

This site focuses on one thing: what the Marcellus is, where it sits, and why it matters. It frames shale as geology first — thickness, depth, extent — the underground reality that launched a surface boom. Before the leases and lawsuits, there’s the formation itself: rock you can map, drill, fracture, and monetize. The tension comes when the geological footprint collides with watersheds, towns, and state lines.

Source: The Marcellus Shale Formation Information Site (2009) Read More

WATER | Fracking and the Environment: Natural Gas Drilling, Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Contamination

ProPublica journalist Abrahm Lustgarten reported that federal officials in Wyoming found at least three water wells containing chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. The investigation brought the groundwater question into sharp focus, linking drilling activity to documented contamination findings. As shale development expanded, water moved to the center of the debate: how much is used, what returns to the surface, and how safely it is managed.

Source: Democracy Now (2010) Read More

Natural Gas – Energy Explained, Your Guide To Understanding Energy

The U.S. Energy Information Administration lays out natural gas in plain terms: where it comes from, how it’s produced, where it goes, and what shapes prices. It’s a clean baseline — the institutional map beneath the noise. When public debate turns into slogans, the EIA pages remind you what’s measurable: reserves, production curves, consumption sectors, imports/exports, and the infrastructure that turns gas into power, heat, and revenue.

Source: Energy Information Administration (2010) Read More

Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining

The Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining argues that the 1872 General Mining Law is outdated and fails to protect taxpayers and public lands. The law allows companies to extract billions in hardrock minerals without paying royalties, while cleanup costs from abandoned mines burden the public. Pew calls for reforms to ensure fair compensation, environmental safeguards, and protection of water sources, wildlife habitats, tribal lands, and national parks amid a renewed mining rush in the American West.

Source: pewminingreform.org (2011) Read More

Natural Gas Drillers Protest Nomination of Fracking Critics for EPA Review Panel

The Independent Petroleum Association of America challenged the nomination of two prominent fracking critics—Theo Colborn and Robert Howarth—to an EPA review panel studying hydraulic fracturing. Industry leaders accused them of bias, citing Colborn’s work on health impacts and Howarth’s draft report suggesting shale gas emissions may rival coal. The dispute highlighted tensions between environmental scientists and industry advocates as the EPA began evaluating the risks of hydraulic fracturing and its implications for climate and public health.

Source: New York Times: Greenwire (2010) Read More

Bushwhacked : Life in George W. Bush’s America

Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose take a brisk, sharp tour through the George W. Bush years — from the campaign machine to the policy aftermath. The book treats politics less like abstract ideology and more like a lived system: money, messaging, crony networks, and consequences that land on ordinary people. It reads like a field guide to power — funny, furious, and specific — with names attached and receipts implied.

Source: Random House (2003) Read More

Natural gas: Fueling the Future

“Fueling the Future” sells natural gas as the clean, modern answer — abundant, domestic, practical. It’s the kind of framing that helped shale leap from regional drilling play to national storyline. But beneath the optimism sit the mechanics that matter: wells, pipelines, compressors, flaring, methane leakage, and water. The hook here isn’t the promise — it’s how fast a “bridge fuel” becomes a full-scale infrastructure decision.

Source: Greenhaven Press (2006) Read More

Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining

Mountaintop removal and slickwater drilling for natural gas both have been challenged by experts for the environmental damages that occur. The pollution has been well documented in public testimony and observation and has proceeded without input from peer-reviewed scientific studies, making the people who live near these extraction processes human experiments in methods unproven to be safe in the long term. (Neil Zusman, 2010-11-10.)

Source: Yale Environment 360 (2009) Read More

Hydro-Fracking Resource and Action Center

Editor’s Note. 9 Aug 2023. Citizens Campaign Re-organized their website in 2015 I and archive.org does not have a good record of their earlier publications. They continue to be

Source: Citizens Campaign for the Environment (2011) Read More

Global Warming

The Pew Environment Group and affiliated climate initiatives focus on scientific research, public education, and policy advocacy addressing global warming. Drawing on findings from bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Pew emphasizes the risks posed by fossil fuel emissions, Arctic melt, and extreme weather. Its campaigns have promoted clean energy standards, fuel efficiency, and national emissions reductions while supporting policy frameworks that balance economic development with environmental protection.

Source: Pew Charitable Trusts (2009) Read More

Fracking Disaster in the Making: A Report

Earlier this year at Two Island Lake north of Fort Nelson, two corporations, Encana and Apache, blasted an estimated 5.6 million barrels worth of water along with 111 million pounds of sand and unknown chemicals to fracture apart dense formations of shale over a 100 day period, or what Parfitt calls “the world’s largest natural gas extraction effort of its kind.”

Source: The Tyee (2010) Read More

Marcellus Shale Gas: New Research Results Surprise Geologists!

New research results land like a jolt: updated estimates, revised risk, new measurements, better models. In the shale era, “new findings” often shift the argument overnight — especially when they touch methane leakage, groundwater pathways, or production forecasts. This entry is about the churn of evidence: studies that surprise, methods that get challenged, and the constant pressure to translate uncertain science into permits, policy, and public reassurance.

Source: Geology.com (2010) Read More

Hydraulic Fracturing: History of an Enduring Technology

In 1947, Stanolind Oil conducted the first experimental fracturing in the Hugoton field located in southwestern Kansas. The treatment utilized napalm (gelled gasoline) and sand from the Arkansas River.

Source: Journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT) Online (2010) Read More

February (2011)

Hydraulic Fracturing Applicability of the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act Science Advisory Board Discussion.

Debate over whether hydraulic fracturing falls under the Safe Drinking Water Act remains central to the regulatory framework governing shale. The statute’s exemptions — often referred to as the “Halliburton loophole” — limited federal oversight of underground injection practices, leaving primary authority to states.

Source: U.S. EPA (2010) Read More

January (2011)

The Great Shale Gas Rush

This is an excellent background on the Marcellus Shale Gas Rush. Website is sponsored by Shell which may signify a pro-industry editorialization. Nevertheless, the photographs and production are impressive.

Source: National Geographic (2010) Read More

Congress Launches Investigation Into Gas Drilling Practices

Members of Congress initiated investigations into gas drilling practices, requesting documents and testimony related to environmental impacts and regulatory compliance. When congressional oversight activates, the technical mechanics of fracking move into public record.

Source: ProPublica (2010) Read More

Barnett Shale

Before the Marcellus became a household term in drilling regions, the Barnett was the proving ground — the early large-scale demonstration that shale could produce at commercial volume. The Barnett story is where techniques hardened into routine: horizontal drilling, multi-stage fracking, pipeline buildout, and flaring. It’s the prequel basin — the place where the modern shale template was refined before it spread across the country.

Source: Wikipedia (2010) Read More

Industrial Scars

Bear witness to the environmental destruction that is currently plaguing our planet; from a forest in West Virginia devastated by mountaintop removal mining, to a region in Florida left in ruins by the phosphate mining industry, J. Henry Fair presents hard evidence that our unchecked consumerism is leading the way in the destruction of our planet, one natural resource at a time.

Source: Industrial Scars (2011) Read More

2010

December (2010)

Gas Drilling Trucks

Our look at Canadian Sand and Proppant or cement for gas well casings. Whatever the name or use of these various trucks, they usually catch your attention when they are parked roadside or travelling down the highway as oversize loads.

Source: Marcellus-Shale.us (2009) Read More

DamascusCitizens.org

A local citizen site rooted in place: Damascus Township, Pennsylvania — a community that became nationally visible after drilling-related conflict and contamination allegations. The hook is the ground truth of a boom: residents organizing, documenting, and refusing to be treated as a footnote. When state reports and corporate statements clash, citizen archives like this become an alternate ledger — names, dates, meetings, photos, and lived consequence.

Source: DamascusCitizens.org (2010) Read More

U.S. Energy Information Administration. EIA Energy Kids – Natural Gas

Another institutional baseline from EIA, focused on definitions, data series, and the measurable backbone of the energy system. It’s the opposite of a press release: less persuasion, more structure. The hook is how quietly powerful standardized data can be — the charts that underpin policy arguments, investment claims, and forecasts. When someone says “energy independence,” EIA is where you check what that phrase actually means.

Source: Energy Information Administration (2010) Read More

Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI)

Our mission is to explore life beneath the seafloor and make transformative discoveries that advance science, benefit society, and inspire people of all ages and origins.

Source: Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI) (2009) Read More

November (2010)

Drilling Wastewater Disposal Options in N.Y. Report Have Problems of Their Own – ProPublica

New York faced a practical question with massive implications: what do you do with the wastewater? Truck it? Treat it? Inject it? Store it? The choices sound technical until you scale them — volumes, routes, facilities, permits — and realize disposal is the hidden engine of the boom. This entry centers the downstream reality of fracking: what comes back up, where it goes, and which communities inherit the burden.

Source: ProPublica (2009) Read More

Natural Gas Drilling Threatens Communities in Northeastern United States

In a 2009 report for the Philadelphia Independent Media Center, Nastassja Noell documented escalating tensions in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia over natural gas drilling. Residents described spills, road accidents, and regulatory failures involving Cabot Oil & Gas and Chesapeake Energy, while activist Joanne Fiorito criticized the Pennsylvania DEP for failing to monitor sites. As federal and state oversight faltered, some citizens turned to civil disobedience to defend land, air, and water.

Source: Philadelphia Independent Media Center (2009) Read More

September (2010)

Stripping the West

A portrait of extraction culture with wide-angle scope — land, minerals, money, and the conflicts that follow. The West is often sold as open space; this kind of work shows it as contested space. Leases, roads, rigs, and rights-of-way transform landscapes that once looked permanent. The hook is scale: not one well, but a pattern — and the social tension that arrives when an economy is built on removal.

Source: NOW with Bill Moyers (2002) Read More

August (2010)

Blackout in the Gas Patch: Blackout Case Study 4 – Angel and Wayne Smith

(Editor’s Note, 15 Dec 2024. The original item is no longer available on the web. The former title of this piece was: Natassaja Noell. Gas drilling and toxic terrorists: New York City Mayor says risks of gas drilling “unacceptable”. 23 Mar 2010.

Source: Earthworks(2014) Read More

Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE): Landowner Information

Cornell Cooperative Extension provided educational resources to landowners navigating gas lease offers, surface-use agreements, and royalty terms. In shale regions, access to clear, research-based guidance became essential as contracts multiplied.

Source: Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) (2010) Read More

Pit Pollution

Reports of pollution from open waste pits highlighted risks associated with storing drilling byproducts on-site. Wildlife mortality, groundwater concerns, and surface runoff raised questions about containment practices. Waste management remains one of the less visible — yet consequential — aspects of shale development.

Source: Earthworks (2004) Read More

Shale gas in the United States – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A high-level snapshot of how shale gas moved from experimental technique to dominant source of U.S. natural gas production. It traces the arc: horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, major basins (Barnett, Marcellus, Haynesville), and the policy fights that followed. Useful as a fast orientation tool — a place to collect names, dates, and terms — before you dive into the messier record of spills, exemptions, and enforcement.

Source: Wikipedia (2010) Read More

Marcellus Shale – Subject Guides at Binghamton University Libraries

A curated academic gateway: reports, agencies, research centers, and key organizations tied to Marcellus development. Instead of one narrative, it offers a controlled door into many — science, policy, public health, law, economics. The hook is the curation itself: a university quietly assembling the documents that everyone argues about. When the public conversation gets heated, a subject guide can function like a calm shelf of evidence.

Source: Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling Research Guide (2010) Read More

Hydraulic Fracturing of Oil and Gas Wells

A nuts-and-bolts explainer of the process: drilling, casing, perforation, high-pressure fluid, sand, and chemical additives — engineered force applied underground to release gas. It’s operational clarity in a debate that often floats above the mechanics. The hook here is not ideology — it’s process: how a well becomes productive, where failures can occur, and why “how it’s done” matters when water, cement, and pressure are the core ingredients.

Source: Earthworks (2010) Read More

Longtime landowner advocate reflects on decades of activism

A landowner advocate looks back over years of leasing battles, negotiations, and the slow lessons of contract language. The drama isn’t abstract — it’s clauses, deductions, surface rights, and the moment someone realizes what they signed. Retrospective voices like this become a record of learning under pressure: what worked, what backfired, and how communities adapted as the boom rolled in faster than most legal advice could travel.

Source: Wyofile (2020) Read More

Drilling Around the Law: Drinking Water Threatened by Toxic Natural Gas and Oil Drilling Chemicals

This is where policy turns sharp: how legal carve-outs, jurisdictional gaps, and regulatory limits shape what companies must disclose and what agencies can enforce. The title itself signals the tension — not just drilling into rock, but drilling through legal frameworks. The hook is governance: who has authority, what gets exempted, what gets hidden, and how drinking water protection becomes a fight over statutes rather than only chemistry.

Source: Environmental Working Group (2009) Read More

$Background research explaining hydraulic fracturing and its relationship to climate change$

Interested in exploring the research behind these topics? The link below searches scholarly publications discussing hydraulic fracturing and climate change. These results include academic papers, books, and reports along with citation information and connections to related research.