Widely Read ⭐

Some documents didn’t just attract attention—they traveled. Widely Read works circulated across readers, classrooms, and conversations, reflecting sustained engagement over time. Explore related scholarly research below ↓

Filter by Topic: Order: 105 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

2013

January (2013)

Loud and Clear | Rich Pricks and Poor Schmucks

You saw it on ‘Earth To America!’, now see it here. An Inconvenient Truth? The Blue Man Group really gets the message across loud and clear with this great video. Can you hear?

Source: YouTube | Earth to America (2006) Read More

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

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

Don’t Give Up

A dark, moody animation that children may not like to watch. A monkey, polar bear and kangaroo kill themselves because their world is ruined. TV Spot created by McCann Erickson Portugal.

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

CattleDrinkDrillingWaste

This video shows Texas Black Angus cattle drinking from drilling sludge pits at two different drilling sites in Denton County. I have witnessed cattle drinking from sludge pits regularly over the past few years.

Source: YouTube (2009) Read More

Dimock Natural Gas Drilling

Natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale Formation is threatening our health, and our water quality. Local resident gives her account of drilling in her community.

Source: YouTube (2009) Read More

Atlas Energy, Inc.

Atlas Energy emerged as a key player in Marcellus development, negotiating leases and expanding operations during the boom’s early years. Corporate strategies, capital flows, and partnership structures reveal how shale moved from local experiment to financial enterprise.

Source: Atlas Energy Resources (2010) Read More

American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL)

The American Association of Professional Landmen represents the professionals who negotiate mineral leases and land agreements. In shale regions, landmen served as the first contact between drilling companies and property owners, shaping contract terms that would govern production and royalties for decades.

Source: America's Landmen (2010) Read More

Gasland Trailer 2010

Directed by Josh Fox. Winner of Special Jury Prize – Best US Documentary Feature – Sundance 2010. Screening at Cannes 2010. Nominated for 2011 Academy Award – Best Documentary Feature.

Source: YouTube (2010) Read More

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tells the Colorado Oil and Gas Association that Wind and Solar Plants are Gas Plants

Atomic energy expert. Naval Academy, Naval Postgraduate School and Naval War College graduate. Publisher,

Source: Atomic Insights Blog (2010) Read More

Shell Oil Company

Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States–based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation “oil major” which is among the largest oil companies in the world. It is reported that Royal Dutch Shell Plc agreed to buy closely held East Resources Inc., for about $5 billion.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2010) Read More

Supreme Court Restricts Clean Water Act

Thousands of the largest water polluters in the United States are outside the Clean Water Acts reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law.

Source: YouTube (2010) Read More

Welcome to Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

Kentucky ranks dead last in healthy behavior (archived), and 49th in overall well-being, ..More mountaintop removal will only make these problems with the health of Appalachian people even worse. Its hard to get worse than worst, but Hal Rogers is doing his darndest.

Source: Appalachian Voices (2011) 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)

Bluedaze – Drilling Reform for Texas

Bluedaze pushed for stronger oversight of oil and gas operations in Texas, challenging regulators and exposing gaps in enforcement. Through citizen monitoring and public reporting, the platform argued that reform required transparency — and that reform rarely arrives without pressure.

Source: Bluedaze (2009) Read More

May (2012)

GOP Budget Amendments Would Destroy Health, Economy, Planet

Brad Johnson is a climate researcher-blogger at the Center for American Progress Action Fund . He blogs at the ThinkProgress Wonk Room on the climate crisis, energy policy and building a green economy.

Source: The Wonk Room (2011) Read More

Leaked EPA Documents Expose Decades-Old Effort to Hide Dangers of Natural Gas Extraction

Efforts by lawmakers and regulators to force the federal government to better police the natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” have been thwarted for the past 25 years, according to an exposé in the New York Times .

Source: Democracy Now! (2011) Read More

2011

June (2011)

Clean Water Act Definition of “Waters of the United States”

Americans depend on clean and abundant water. However, over the past decade, interpretations of Supreme Court rulings removed some critical waters from Federal protection, and caused confusion about which waters and wetlands are protected under the Clean Water Act.

Source: US EPA: Wetlands | Clean Water Act (1972) Read More

Natural Gas Firms Cited for “Significant Non-Compliance With Auburn Sewer Use Law”

Email correspondence between William M. Foster, Auburn, NY and Fracking Resource Guide. The letter published in the Auburn Citizen on April 1, 2011 follows at the end of this post.

Source: Auburn Citizen (2011) Read More

May (2011)

Frack Check WV (West Virginia)

FrackCheckWV.net was created as a platform for educating citizens about the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing and providing tools and guidance for effective citizen action and advocacy.

Source: Frack Check WV (2010) Read More

Lawsuit against government, Encana highlights ‘fracking’ environmental issues: Lawyer

The lawyer leading a $33-million lawsuit against Encana, the Alberta government and the province’s energy regulator says the case speaks to broader environmental concerns across North America about fracking.

Source: Calgary Herald (2011) Read More

FracFocus Chemical Disclosure Registry

Of all the lobbyists bringing their issues to Capitol Hill, the Groundwater Protection Council (archived) is one of the smaller players. I have to wonder, reading the rankings on Open Secrets, “Lobbying Spending Database: Environment, 2009”, why this groundwater organization spends less on its annual lobbying than “Fur Wraps the Hill” or the “Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy”? Groundwater is a hot button national issue, affecting both the urban and agricultural sectors.

Source: Frac Focus (2011) Read More

Analysts: Don’t expect ‘fracking’ standards until after 2012 election

$Analysts: Don't expect 'fracking' standards until after 2012 election$

A federal proposal laying out new standards for a controversial natural-gas drilling practice called hydraulic fracturing likely won’t be issued until after the 2012 elections…the timing of the standards would take that hot-button issue off the table.

Source: The Hill | E2Wire - The Hill's Energy & Environment Blog (2011) Read More

BodyBurden – The Pollution in Newborns

Not long ago scientists thought that the placenta shielded cord blood — and the developing baby — from most chemicals and pollutants in the environment. But now we know that at this critical time when organs, vessels, membranes and systems are knit together from single cells to finished form in a span of weeks, the umbilical cord carries not only the building blocks of life, but also a steady stream of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides that cross the placenta as readily as residues from cigarettes and alcohol.

Source: Environmental Working Group (EWG) (2005) Read More

Strong Push Against Fracking

Sens. Tony Avella, D-Whitestone, Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, and Joseph Addabbo, D-Queens, introduced a package of bills April 11 that includes three bills for tighter regulations and transparency for oil and gas drilling and a bill by Avella to ban hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, in New York State.

Source: New York State Senate | Liz Krueger (2011) Read More

New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD)

NYRAD organized statewide resistance to high-volume hydraulic fracturing, rallying residents concerned about water, health, and rural character. Through protests, teach-ins, and policy advocacy, the group turned a regulatory decision into a grassroots movement. As Albany deliberated, public pressure intensified.

Source: New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD) (2010) Read More

Hydrofracking in New York State: Poll Shows No Consensus

$Hydrofracking in New York State: Poll Shows No Consensus$

According to this NY1/YNN-Marist Poll, New Yorkers divide on the issue. 41% oppose hydrofracking while 38% support it. A notable 21% are unsure. Similar proportions of registered voters statewide share these views.

Source: Home of the Marist Poll: Pebbles and Pundits (2011) Read More

Fracking Canada

Stop Fracking Ontario is a web project to inform and promote activism against fracking in Ontario, in the surrounding region, and elsewhere.

Source: Fracking Canada (2011) Read More

Scientific Study Links Flammable Drinking Water to Fracking

For the first time, a scientific study, has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire.

Source: OnEarth Magazine (2011) Read More

Drill, Baby, Drill!: The chant of the political naif

Numerous complainants petitioned the USA government to get the EPA to review the earlier decision on hydraulic fracking. One of them, from Neil Zusman, Ithaca, NY, is particularly poignant: I have read widely on this topic and it is of personal interest to me. I am not a scientist. I observe the events along the historical timeline that includes civil rights, anti-war protest, and the environmental movement….

Source: Magiric (2011) Read More

Frack off, Shell!

On Friday 25 March, environmental activist Lewis Pugh delivered a passionate call to action at a public lecture in Cape Town. He implored South Africans to stand up for our rights – particularly the right to water, and the right to a healthy environment – and take on corporate bullies like Shell. If you care about the Karoo, if you care about our country, keep reading…

Source: The Daily Maverick (2011) 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

The Deep Hot Biosphere : The Myth of Fossil Fuels

This post explores Thomas Gold’s controversial abiogenic theory of petroleum formation, which argues that hydrocarbons originate deep within the Earth rather than from compressed biological matter. While climate policy debates focus on fossil fuel scarcity and carbon removal, the article raises concerns about methane emissions from gas flaring and questions assumptions embedded in mainstream energy narratives. Gold’s “deep hot biosphere” hypothesis challenges conventional geology and reframes discussions about resource limits, earthquakes, and even the origins of life.

Source: Springer | Copernicus (1998) Read More

April (2011)

Coalition to Protect New York | Let’s Live Frack Free!

The term “natural,” like many other carefully chosen terms used by the extraction industry, is intended to give the false impression that shale gas is a benign and “clean, green” fuel.

Source: Coalition to Protect New York (2011) Read More

Fueling Washington

OpenSecrets.org Launches ‘Fueling Washington’ Series Exploring Oil and Gas Industry’s Political Influence

Source: OpenSecrets.org (2010) Read More

E.P.A. Proposes New Emission Standards for Power Plants

The Environmental Protection Agency (archived) on Wednesday (2011-03-16) proposed the first national standard (archived) for emissions of mercury and other pollutants from coal (archived) -burning power plants, a rule that could lead to the early closing of a number of older plants and one that is certain to be challenged by the some utilities and Republicans in Congress.

Source: The New York Times (2011) Read More

March (2011)

Gasland’ Filmmaker Takes on Cuomo and ‘Dot.FlatEarth’

Debates between hydrofracking proponents and critics intensified during the Gasland era, with Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting arguing that existing regulatory frameworks could not ensure safe natural gas extraction. Industry experts and academics countered with calls for improved oversight and technological safeguards, while environmental filmmakers and investigative journalists amplified evidence of methane leakage, cement failure, and groundwater contamination.

Source: Dot Earth | New York Times (2012) Read More

EPA Hydraulic Fracturing Study Plan Review Panel

The Panel will review and provide independent expert advice on EPA’s draft Hydraulic Fracturing Study Plan that will investigate the potential public health and environmental protection research issues that may be associated with hydraulic fracturing.

Source: EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) (2011) Read More

Perryman Group, Texas

The Perryman Group released economic impact studies projecting job growth and billions in revenue from shale development in Texas. Industry advocates cited the reports as evidence of transformative potential. Critics scrutinized assumptions behind the forecasts. In boom regions, dueling spreadsheets became weapons in the public debate.

Source: The Perryman Group (2007) Read More

Lenape Resources, Inc.

Lenape Resources operated in upstate New York, exploring gas prospects amid a regulatory landscape that remained uncertain. Smaller operators often navigated tighter margins and local scrutiny, their ambitions tied closely to state permitting decisions.

Source: Lenape Resources, Inc. (2010) Read More

A Colossal Fracking Mess

To regard its unspoiled beauty on a spring morning, you might be led to believe that the river is safely off limits from the destructive effects of industrialization. Unfortunately, you’d be mistaken. The Delaware is now the most endangered river in the country, according to the conservation group American Rivers.

Source: Vanity Fair | Business (2010) Read More

BP chief hails American breakthrough in gas supplies from shale rocks

BP chief executive Tony Hayward told the World Economic Forum that shale drilling was a “game changer” — a technique he said could help meet the world’s energy needs. The pitch framed the shale boom as innovation and inevitability, even as communities back home were still fighting over the messy details: water risk, emissions, and whether the new abundance came with costs no keynote could wave away.

Source: guardian.co.uk (2010) Read More

Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water

This is an expert’s view of our worldwide water crisis. References to facts are found in the back of the book making for an uncluttered read in language everyone can understand. Follow some of the stories about the

Source: The New Press (2009) Read More

Snubbing Skeptics Threatens to Intensify Climate War, Study Says

Listening to climate change doubters, and not dismissing them, might avert a “logic schism” similar to the political stalemate on abortion, according to a new paper involving research on skeptics.

Source: The New York Times | Climatewire (2011) Read More

Legislating Under the Influence

In the last decade alone, big energy has pumped more than $2.9 billion into electing and lobbying federal officials and candidates, according to campaign finance and lobbying disclosure reports.

Source: Common Cause (2010) Read More

Pittsburgh’s drinking water is radioactive, thanks to fracking. Only question is, how much?

Residents of Pittsburgh — as well as potentially tens of millions of other everyday citizens in the Northeast corridor who rely on their taps to deliver safe water — are consuming unknown and potentially dangerous amounts of radium in every glass of water.

Source: Grist (2011) Read More

The Warriors of Qiugang: 仇岗卫士 A Chinese Village Fights Back

For years, a chemical plant in the Chinese village of Qiugang had polluted the river, poisoned the drinking water, and fouled the air — until residents decided to take a stand. The Warriors of Qiugang, a Yale Environment 360 video co-produced by Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon, tells the story of the villagers’ determined efforts to stop the pollution.

Source: Yale Environment 360 (2011) Read More

Tim DeChristopher | Bidder70

Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher, founder of Peaceful Uprising and later cofounder of the Climate Disobedience Center, became known as “Bidder 70” after disrupting a 2008 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oil and gas lease auction held during the final months of the George W. Bush administration. By posing as a bidder and driving up prices on 22,000 acres of Utah public land slated for fossil fuel development, DeChristopher sought to prevent what environmentalists described as a rushed and undervalued sale. He was later prosecuted and convicted of fraud in March 2011 and sentenced to two years in prison, framing his act as civil disobedience in defense of climate justice and democratic accountability.

Source: Bidder70 (2010) Read More

U.S. Energy Choices and Global Climate Plans

Campaigners who fight natural gas altogether, …had better come up with a real-world game plan for fostering human progress while limiting environmental risks.

Source: Dot Earth | New York Times (2010) Read More

Flare Up

“Sour gas is one of the most dangerous, toxic substances known to man,” he said. “Having a sour gas well 800 metres from your home is like having a child molester an in urban community. You never know when things are going to go wrong.”

Source: National Post Business Magazine (2002) Read More

iLoveMountains

Organization web site features a widget that shows how you are connected to mountaintop removal where you live.

Source: iLoveMountains.org -- End Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining (2011) Read More

Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) Members’ Blogs and Websites

A list of blogs by members of the Society of Environmental Journalists covering the environment.

Source: Society of Environmental Journalists (2011) 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

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

Schlumberger

Meet the oil world’s most secretive operator: Schlumberger. It’s ubiquitous in fossil fuel operations across the world, has more staff than Google, turns over more than Goldman Sachs, and is worth more than McDonald’s — yet you won’t have heard of it. Operating largely behind the public face of oil and gas producers, the company supplies the technical backbone of hydraulic fracturing across shale basins. State regulators have cited the firm for environmental violations in certain jurisdictions, including improper waste handling and permit noncompliance. Even the most expansive service companies accumulate a regulatory record as drilling scales.

Source: Schlumberger (2010) Read More

Climate Co-benefits and Child Mortality Wedges

Climate change issues bring into greater prominence that all the world’s people are linked together and that we all have a stake in creating a sustainable path for the planet and no such path can allow for 10 million avoidable child deaths each year.

Source: Wellcome Trust Frontiers Meeting (2008) Read More

Gasland vs Big Oil and Gas

This works because people that see this movie are touched. They are touched because they have been directly affected by hydraulic fracturing or they want to be a voice for those that have been and don’t want to become a silent statistic as well.

Source: Lovesocial Communications (2011) Read More

Exxon’s Oozing Texas Oil Pits Haunt Residents as XTO Deal Nears – BusinessWeek

This article examines the lawsuit against Exxon filed by Texas rancher Elizabeth Burns.

Source: Bloomberg.com (2010) Read More

Black Warrior Riverkeeper

Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s mission is to protect and restore the Black Warrior River and its tributaries. The Black River Watershed in Alabama provides water to over a million people.

Source: Black Warrior Riverkeeper (2003) Read More

Big Polluters Freed from Environmental Oversight by Stimulus – The Center for Public Integrity

In the name of job creation and clean energy, the Obama administration has doled out billions of dollars in stimulus money to some of the nation’s biggest polluters and granted them sweeping exemptions from the most basic form of environmental oversight.

Source: The Center for Public Integrity (2010) Read More

February (2011)

History of Litigation Concerning Hydraulic Fracturing to Produce Coalbed Methane. LEAF (Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation) and The Hydraulic Fracturing Decisions.

A growing body of litigation traced disputes over groundwater contamination, lease conflicts, and regulatory authority tied to hydraulic fracturing. Lawsuits accumulated across states as plaintiffs sought damages and clarity. The courtroom became an extension of the drilling field — technical arguments, expert testimony, and contested science unfolding under oath.

Source: Interstate Oil and Gas Commission (IOGCC) (2009) Read More

States taking a closer look at controversial natural gas drilling method

Environmentalists have long contended that the natural gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” — poses a danger to drinking water supplies for millions of Americans.

Source: Stateline | Pew Center on the States (2010) Read More

Dark Side of a Natural Gas Boom

As drilling surged across Pennsylvania, economic optimism collided with mounting reports of spills, wastewater mismanagement, and regulatory strain. What was marketed as a clean-energy bridge began to reveal industrial consequences, leaving communities to reckon with the environmental costs of rapid extraction.

Source: The New York Times (2009) Read More

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation

Anadarko Petroleum operated across multiple basins, bringing scale and capital to unconventional resource development. As a multinational firm, its investment decisions tied local drilling to global energy markets. Corporate footprints often extend far beyond the communities where wells are drilled.

Source: Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (2010) Read More

The top five stories of the year for climate hawks

Cap-and-trade is deader than dead. Everyone in Washington officialdom knows that. Virtually no one in Washington officialdom understands how it would work or how much economists think it would cost, but they’re certain it’s bad, bad, bad and had to die.

Source: Grist (2010) Read More

Tales from the Ice: Explaining Rapid Climate Change

Start with the Introduction to the Feature Articles on NASA’s Earth Observatory web site to see how scientists explain rapid climate change. The beauty of Earth’s cities at night affirm our need for energy.

Source: NASA | Earth Observatory (2005) Read More

Halliburton

Halliburton, long associated with hydraulic fracturing technology, became synonymous with the so-called “Halliburton loophole” in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which exempted most fracking from federal Safe Drinking Water Act oversight. As a global oilfield services leader, the company’s influence extends from well design to policy debate.

Source: Solutions for Today's Energy Challenges - Halliburton (2010) Read More

New WVU-Va Tech study links water quality and cancer deaths in West Virginia coalfields

West Virginians who live near streams polluted by coal mining are more likely to die of cancer, according to a first-of-its kind study published by researchers at West Virginia University and Virginia Tech.

Source: The Charleston Gazette | Coal Tattoo (2010) Read More

Lisa P. Jackson, EPA (lisapjackson) on Twitter

Twitter is one of the ways the Environmental Protection Agency communicates with the public. She has 13,000 followers and follows

Source: Lisa P. Jackson, EPA (lisapjackson) on Twitter (2010) Read More

MarcellusGas.Org Home Page

Extensive and thorough source of information on Marcellus Shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania. Non-members have limited access to some of the county and township specific information provided on well data, maps, production reports, violations, and company details. There is an option to become a guest

Source: MarcellusGas.Org (2010) Read More

January (2011)

Environment | Daily Yonder | Keep It Rural

Lively and informative rural American blog based in Austin Texas. This section contains articles on the

Source: Daily Yonder (2007) Read More

GovTrack.us: Tracking the U.S. Congress

Gov Track was the first website to apply the principles of open data and Web 2.0 to the U.S. Congress. It catalyzed the development of a community of like-minded developers and shaped the data-oriented open government movement that we see today.

Source: GovTrack.us (2004) Read More

East Resources

East Resources expanded rapidly in the Marcellus before selling major holdings in a multibillion-dollar transaction. The sale underscored how shale acreage could be aggregated and monetized quickly, turning regional drilling plays into national financial events.

Source: East Resources (2010) Read More

Civil Disobedience

The Thoreau Reader, curated by Richard Lenat in cooperation with the Thoreau Society, presents annotated editions of Henry David Thoreau’s works including Civil Disobedience and Walden. Thoreau’s refusal to pay taxes in protest of slavery and the U.S. war with Mexico later influenced figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., whose philosophy of nonviolent resistance drew upon Thoreau’s assertion that when government becomes destructive of human rights, individuals may have a moral duty to resist unjust law.

Source: Thoreau eServer by Richard Lenat (2002) 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

Fracked: Barnett Shale drilling chemicals found in blood and organs

A Daily Kos report highlighted the case of Texas residents diagnosed with drilling chemicals in their blood and organs, prompting urgent health warnings and relocation. The story drew attention to emissions from oil and gas development and the availability of control technologies that could significantly reduce pollution if mandated. The article connected personal health concerns to broader regulatory debates, including calls to support the FRAC Act and strengthen protections under the Safe Drinking Water Act. It framed shale gas expansion as a public health issue extending beyond any single region.

Source: Daily Kos (2010) Read More

Coal River

(The Killers Within) has crafted an incriminating indictment of the Appalachian King Coal industry in West Virginia, and of the man he defines as its rapacious kingpin, Massey Energy’s CEO, Don Blankenship.

Source: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2008) Read More

Opponents to Fracking Disclosure Take Big Money From Industry

The Interior Department wades into controversy as it mulls whether to require drilling companies to disclose the chemicals they use to frack wells drilled on public lands.

Source: ProPublica (2011) Read More

EPA in the Crosshairs

Politico, a Washington, D.C.–based political news outlet founded by former Washington Post reporters John Harris and Jim VandeHei, reported that Congressional Republicans were preparing to target EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson over the Obama administration’s environmental agenda. GOP lawmakers accused the Environmental Protection Agency of regulatory overreach, particularly in advancing climate rules and emissions limits. Jackson defended the agency’s authority as it moved to curb pollution from industry, automobiles, and coal-fired power plants.

Source: Politico (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)

Criminalising Civil Disobedience

SourceWatch traces the popularization of the term “eco-terrorism” to Ron Arnold of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise. After September 11, the label gained traction through legislation promoted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), blurring the line between peaceful civil disobedience and terrorism. Environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the Rainforest Action Network argue that redefining protest as “terrorism” threatens media visibility, fundraising capacity, and constitutionally protected dissent.

Source: SourceWatch (2017) Read More

Know Your Enemy | John Cole Cartoons

John Cole has been The Times-Tribune’s editorial cartoonist since April 2005. He draws five to seven full-color cartoons weekly.

Source: The Times-Tribune (2010) Read More

Proposed gas drilling ban in city wins friends, foes such as Tom Ridge

Concerned Chippewa Citizens (CCC), founded by Pat Popple, provides information and advocacy resources related to frac sand mining and processing facilities in Wisconsin and beyond. Through publications, community organizing, and public speaking, the group addresses environmental and health concerns linked to sand extraction. The organization also monitors proposed expansion projects, including oil sands development initiatives in the United States.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (2010) Read More

American West at Risk, The: Science, Myths, and Politics of Land Abuse and Recovery

The American West at Risk examines the environmental decline of the arid western United States, documenting how resource extraction, energy development, and nuclear experimentation have reshaped fragile landscapes. From depleted soils and waters to nuclear test sites such as Gasbuggy and Rio Blanco, the book traces the consequences of policies that prioritized short-term gain over long-term stewardship. It calls for renewed conservation of soils, freshwater, forests, and fisheries to prevent further degradation of the region’s remaining natural resources.

Source: Oxford University Press, USA (2008) Read More

Berkeley-BP Deal Only Looks Worse Post-Spill

The potential consequences for the environment and society of BP’s funded research on biofuels at Berkeley are deeply disturbing. Many scientists have long predicted that the large-scale industrial boom in biofuels will be disastrous for farmers, the environment and consumers and now marine ecosystems.

Source: The Daily Californian (2010) Read More

Probe Earth’s Interior with Advanced Radiation Sources

Consortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences is a community-based consortium whose goal is to enable Earth Science researchers to conduct the next generation of high-pressure science on world-class equipment and facilities.

Source: Consortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences (COMPRES) (2011) Read More

Federation of American Scientists (FAS) – SourceWatch

The Federation of American Scientists envisions a world where cutting-edge science, technology, and expertise are embedded in government and public discourse to meet the largest challenges of our time. In the shale debate, FAS compiled technical analyses of energy systems, environmental risks, and policy frameworks. Where campaign rhetoric often dominated headlines, its documentation grounded arguments in research — a reminder that extraction is both industrial process and national strategy.

Source: SourceWatch (2010) Read More

Fracking Mobilizes Uranium in Marcellus Shale, UB Research Finds

UB geologist Tracy Bank and colleagues found that uranium and hydrocarbons in Marcellus shale are not just physically, but also chemically, bound.

Source: UB NewsCenter (2010) 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

Cabot Oil & Gas

Cabot Oil & Gas became one of the most visible operators in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus region, praised for production gains and scrutinized over contamination allegations. The company’s trajectory illustrates the dual narrative of the shale era: rapid growth paired with persistent environmental dispute.

Source: Cabot Oil & Gas (2010) Read More

Oil Watchdog: Natural gas – Not safe, and not all that green

The way natural gas promoters talk about their pet fuel, you’d think it was green as clover and safe as baby oil…after the deadly San Bruno, California.

Source: Consumer Watchdog (2010) Read More

November (2010)

Mobilize to End Mountantop Removal!

Appalachia Rising, a national mobilization held in Washington, D.C., September 25–27, 2010, brought together coalfield residents, grassroots groups, and national organizations to protest mountaintop removal coal mining and its destruction of Appalachian mountains, waterways, and communities. The action ’culminated in arrests at the White House and was covered by outlets including Democracy Now!, framing mountaintop removal as both an environmental and public health crisis affecting America’s water supply.

Source: Appalachia Rising (2010) Read More

Drilling blamed for Java mud leak

January 24, 2007. A mud flow that has displaced thousands of Indonesians was most probably caused by gas drilling, scientists say.

Source: BBC News | Asia-Pacific (2007) Read More

America’s Natural Gas Alliance

The American Natural Gas Alliance responds with a polished PR rebuttal, arguing that Gasland distorts facts and fuels fear. While claiming to champion factual debate, the video restricts comments and disables ratings, intensifying questions about transparency in industry messaging.

Source: America's Natural Gas Alliance (2011) Read More

October (2010)

TckTckTck | I Am Ready

TckTckTck was a global alliance uniting environmental groups, labor organizations, faith communities, and citizens to demand a fair, ambitious, and binding international climate treaty. Formed around the Copenhagen climate summit, the coalition mobilized mass demonstrations and called for strong legal commitments to curb emissions. Although the site is no longer active, its message emphasized climate justice, green jobs, and protection for vulnerable nations, arguing that decisive global action remained urgently necessary.

Source: TckTckTck.org (2009) Read More

Clean Water Restoration Act of 2009 (S 787)

The Clean Water Restoration Act aimed to clarify and restore federal authority over streams and wetlands narrowed by Supreme Court rulings. Supporters argued it would close regulatory gaps affecting small waterways. Opponents warned of expanded federal reach. In drilling regions, the bill’s language carried implications for wastewater oversight and watershed protection.

Source: cleanwateraction.org (2010) Read More

World-Renowned Scientist Dr. Theo Colborn on the Health Effects of Water Contamination from Fracking

Dr. Theo Colborn, founder of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, warned that chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing could interfere with hormonal systems at low concentrations. Her research focused on endocrine disruption — subtle biological effects not always captured by traditional toxicology thresholds. The implications extended beyond spills to long-term exposure science.

Source: Democracy Now! (2010) Read More

Leaking Underground Storage Tanks

Environmental engineer Dr. Joe Ryan of the University of Colorado explained how even small gasoline leaks can contaminate millions of gallons of groundwater, drawing parallels to risks associated with natural gas storage and fracking waste. At a July 9, 2010 EPA meeting in Texas, citizen Tim Ruggiero testified that drilling near his property led to contaminated drinking water resembling MTBE exposure, underscoring growing concerns raised at EPA hearings about benzene, BTEX compounds, and undisclosed fracking chemicals.

Source: Boulder Area Sustainability Network (BASIN) (2010) Read More

Rancho Los Malulos | A satirical view from the McGill Brothers Lease

At Rancho Los Malulos, satire met shale. Through humor and parody, the site skewered industry optimism and political doublespeak. Behind the jokes lay a serious critique: when official narratives grow polished, satire becomes a pressure valve — and sometimes a sharper mirror than straight reporting.

Source: Rancho Los Malulos (2009) Read More

September (2010)

New Lawsuit Filed in Fracking Country

More than a dozen families in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania filed suit against Southwestern Energy Production Company, alleging that releases of combustible gases, hazardous chemicals, and industrial wastes from nearby drilling sites contaminated their drinking water and caused illness. The lawsuit, part of a broader wave of legal and regulatory challenges surrounding hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale, intensified scrutiny at the local, state, and federal levels as energy companies expanded drilling across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York.

Source: Green | NYTimes.com (2010) Read More

Two held on $100,000 bails for non-violent protest; Demand Bail Reduction: Call Magistrate Snodgrass 304-369-7360

On May 17, 2010, Climate Ground Zero activists EmmaKate Martin and Benjamin Bryant blockaded Massey Energy’s headquarters in Boone County, West Virginia, protesting mountaintop removal mining. Magistrate Snodgrass set bail at $100,000 each for misdemeanor charges, marking one of the highest bails imposed on nonviolent environmental protesters in the state. The action, linked to broader campaigns involving James Hansen and Daryl Hannah, spotlighted escalating legal pressure on climate resistance movements.

Source: It’s Getting Hot In Here (2010) Read More

August (2010)

Editorial – The Halliburton Loophole – NYTimes.com

The so-called “Halliburton Loophole” exempted hydraulic fracturing from key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Critics argued the exemption shielded industry from meaningful oversight, while defenders insisted state regulation sufficed. At stake: whether federal law should close the gap between energy development and environmental accountability.

Source: The New York Times (2009) Read More

U.S. Energy Development Corporation

U.S. Energy Development Corporation pursued upstream drilling opportunities across shale basins, aggregating leases and capitalizing on unconventional resource plays. In Meadville, Pennsylvania, the Department of Environmental Protection issued a cease-and-desist order to the Getzville, New York–based firm, citing persistent and repeated violations of environmental laws and regulations.

Source: U.S. Energy Development Corporation | Strive for Excellence (2010) Read More

The link below searches the OpenAlex open scholarly database for works containing the exact phrase “hydraulic fracturing”. Results are sorted by citation count, highlighting the most frequently cited and influential academic research on the topic.