Fracking

Hydraulic fracturing uses a host of highly toxic chemicals — the impacts of which are for the most part unknown — that could be contaminating drinking water supplies, wildlife and crops, according to a report released Thursday by a California science panel

The long-awaited final assessment from the California Council on Science and Technology said that because of data gaps and inadequate state testing, overwhelmed regulatory agencies do not have a complete picture of what oil companies are doing.

The volumes of water used in the United States to crack open underground shale layers that hold oil and gas are as varied as the American landscape on which the energy development takes place, according to a study from the U.S. Geological Survey

Study: Water Use Skyrockets as Fracking Expands

Oil and natural gas fracking, on average, uses more than 28 times the water it did 15 years ago, gulping up to 9.6 million gallons of water per well and putting farming and drinking sources at risk in arid states, especially during drought.

Those are the results of a U.S. Geological Survey study published by the American Geophysical Union, the first national-scale analysis and map of water use from hydraulic fracturing operations.

The report is now presented showing the reasons behind the incident, when 42,800 gallons of fracking fluid — boiling up from thousands of feet underground — spewed into the streets and into Arlington storm sewers and streams

Two months ago, 100 homes in Arlington had to be evacuated as fracking fluid spilled out of a drilling site onto the city streets.

Now we know officially what happened, why it happened, and why Arlington officials are blaming the drilling company for "unacceptable behavior."

EPA finds only limited water pollution from fracking 

Hydraulic fracturing has contaminated some drinking water sources but the damage is not widespread, according to a landmark U.S. study of water pollution risks that has supporters of the drilling method declaring victory and foes saying it revealed reason for concern.

European laws restricting fracking have come under attack from the chief executives of two of the world’s largest oil and gas companies who are calling on policy makers to re-examine the contentious drilling process

ExxonMobil's chief Rex Tillerson, according to the newspaper, stressed that Europe "could see a natural gas renaissance," similar to that in the United States, provided that the governments of such EU states as France and Germany legalize the use of fracking.

The first of two Royal Dutch Shell drilling rigs slated for Arctic oil exploration arrived in Seattle as environmental activists geared up for days of protests over plans to store the equipment at the city’s port

Shell is planning to use Seattle as a base to store and maintain the rigs and other equipment as it resumes exploration and drilling this summer in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, where it has not drilled since a mishap-filled 2012 season.

The new water depth record of 2,923 metres (9,589 feet) was set while completing a combined sampling and piezocone penetration testing (PCPT) borehole to 62 metres (203 feet) below the seafloor