North Dakota Has Way, Way, Way More Oil Than We Thought
The United States government drastically underestimated the amount of oil and natural gas in North Dakota and Montana. And its new estimates may still be too low.
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Voters in Ohio and New York made their own decisions on fracking. Expect more; one of the biggest environmental fights in America is increasingly happening at the country's lowest political level.
The United States government drastically underestimated the amount of oil and natural gas in North Dakota and Montana. And its new estimates may still be too low.
New estimates from the EPA indicate that methane leakage from natural gas production is substantially lower than previously believed. Or, translated to English: Natural gas may be a better solution to rampant global warming than anyone believed.
Debra Saunders on the White House press corps, Maureen Dowd on President Standoffish, Simon Jenkins on EU membership, Karin Klein on the right to die, and Mark Mills on California's fracking goldmine.
After almost four years of guiding controversial decisions on fracking, the Keystone XL pipeline, and coal, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is stepping down. Now, the hunt is on for a new director who won't be able to please anyone.
InsideClimate News on fleeing climate experts up North, The Guardian on British vegetable shortages, The New York Times on cities, Scentific American on a coming Dust Bowl, and Mother Jones on Chinese fracking.
The Associated Press on the UN climate meeting, The Boston Globe on plastic bags, The New York Times on a fracking ban, Grist on undercover work, The Guardian on the Kyoto Protocol.
Mother Jones on fracking-related deaths, The New York Times on a fracking institute, Co.Exist on business' role in climate change, Grist on farmers, The Los Angeles Times on lessons from the Dust Bowl and Ken Burns.
Mother Jones on Romney's energy adviser is a fracking booster, National Geographic on a fast new supercomputer, The Daily Beast on China's green protest, California Watch on textbooks and plastics, and Grist on green shopping.
Los Angeles Times on Australia's fracking protests, The Guardian on damaged reefs, Reuters on BP's biofuel plant, Associated Press on the Navy's mattresses, and Grist on the complications of farming.
Los Angeles Times on other countries fracking, Frontline on climate skeptics, The Guardian on the oil spill's damage to whales. McClatchy Newspapers on climate scientist suing conservatives, and Grist on a California state senate race.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
A State Representative in North Carolina accidentally cast the deciding vote on key fracking bill, handing her opponents a victory because she pushed the wrong button.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has been the subject of numerous pieces investigative journalism, a popular and Oscar-nominate documentary, a slew of YouTube videos of flaming faucets, and even a Mark Ruffalo-led awareness campaign... and still, most of us don't even know what the hell it is.
Although widely understood as "national" guidelines, the draft rules would in fact only apply to a sliver of the nation's natural gas supply.
One of the key controversies around fracking is the chemical makeup of the fluid that is pumped deep into the ground to break apart rock and release natural gas. Some companies have been reluctant to disclose what's in their fracking fluid.
First proposed in July 2011, the final rules have been welcomed by environmental groups as a much-needed initial move in reducing pollution and protecting public health from the toxic chemicals involved in the oil and natural gas drilling process. But many cautioned it was just a first step.
Natural gas companies can keep drilling per usual, say the Environmental Protection Agency's new rules for hydraulic fracturing or, as everybody who's not a government employee refers to it, "fracking."
Even when he's creating oversight bodies specifically to manage fracking, President Obama still apparently hates using that word.
The New York Times on the U.S.'s energy boom and the fate of nuclear energy, The Guardian on bees, AccuWeather on icebergs, and the Associated Press on seals
Despite cries about high gas prices, the fight over Keystone, and attacks on the administration's energy policies, The New York Times says the United States is actually much closer to energy independence than it has been in decades.
Pennsylvania's state senate has passed a law allowing the state to tax shale gas drilling, so long as local zoning laws don't get in the way of drillers.
As part of a broader strategy to take advantage of our nation's natural gas reserves, President Obama announced plans to offer a tax credit for natural gas-burning trucks at a speech in Las Vegas on Thursday.
The Environmental Protection Agency has weighed in on the fracking debate to say, for the first time, that the controversial practice may contribute to groundwater pollution.
By many measures, North Dakota is one of America's less extraordinary states. Petroleum production is not one of those measures.
An EPA study found cancerous compounds, including one used in hydraulic fracturing to harvest natural gas, in an aquifer in Wyoming, ProPublica reports.
Well assessments may have been incorrect
The new regulations aim to cut down soot and smog emissions at natural gas drilling sites
Confusion around Andrew Cuomo's policies show environmentalists do good viral media
Groundwater contamination isn't usually the stuff of pop hits, but it is now
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