Topic Page: Natural Gas

The Debate on Fracking and Climate Change

  Unconventional gas extraction (UGE) or hydraulic fracturing is booming in many States across the US and indeed may be expanding worldwide.  Generally, UGE entails injecting 3-5 millions gallons of water, a million pounds of sand and a several hundred gallons of chemicals through a horizontal well to fracture the shale rock which will then yields natural gas …Read More…

What’s in Store for Energy

Nobody wants to be a hoarder, but when it comes to storing renewable energy, we need all the ideas we can get!  We know how to produce a lot of different types of renewable energy, so now we just need to figure out what to do with it before we use it.  This week we …Read More…

SUNY Buffalo’s Fracking Report Erodes Industry Credibility

Timothy Considine and Robert Watson: Do those names ring a bell? If you follow the natural gas drilling industry in Pennsylvania, the answer is probably yes. Both academicians are well known within drilling circles as industry consultants, proponents and, when the occasion requires, PR front men. Considine, formerly of Penn State and now with the …Read More…

Fracking battle rages as NY legislative session ends

The influences that distinguish New York’s approach to Shale Gas from Pennsylvania’s were again on full display this week in Albany. I visited the Capitol on Tuesday, the day that New Yorker’s Against Fracking held a rally on the Million Dollar Stair Case, the structure rising through the soaring arches, pillars, and buttresses of the Capitol building. …Read More…

Industry expects public to mistake rhetoric for science

Hydraulic fracturing is problem free. The science says so. Those who ignore this science are hysterical fear mongers. So say the mouth pieces of the gas industry. In New York, where shale gas is on hold pending the state’s scientific review, Brad Gill frequently expresses this industry line in public talks and interviews. Gill, executive …Read More…

Anticipating the future of shale gas development in NY: Dispatches from the field where science meets politics

I’ve been reporting on shale gas for four years now. A trip through upstate New York this week reinforced the notion we are still in the early stages of a story that is gaining steam nationally, even as low natural gas prices have, for now, damped the industry push to open New York for shale …Read More…

Anti-fracking movement gains ground in New York state: Both politics, demand for gas will influence drilling outcome

The drilling industry’s efforts to open New York state to shale gas development, stymied from the get go, is meeting even more resistance over time. Contrary to public statements earlier this year by New York state governor Andrew Cuomo that suggested permitting for shale gas wells is imminent, there are compelling reasons to believe that it will continue to be on hold for the foreseeable future. Most visible among these is an anti-fracking movement that is growing louder and more organized each year. Read more

Who Cut the Cheese? Cause This Methane Is Out of Control

For an upcoming segment on Bloomberg, Planet Forward will be getting a bit gassy.  FlexEnergy is a company that says it has found a new way to turn lots of new methane sources into renewable energy.  Methane is one of the most destructive greenhouse gas, and according to the FlexEnergy video, it is more than …Read More…

Setting record straight on factors in Dunkard Creek fish kill: Mine discharge, H2O withdrawals, dumping, foreign algae

In the summer of 2009, the debate over the merits of shale gas development was briefly cast in the context of an ecological disaster at Dunkard Creek, a pristine and thriving freshwater fishery winding across Pennsylvania’s border with West Virginia. The headwaters of Dunkard Creek come together upstream of Brave, Pennsylvania, a hamlet of 412 …Read More…

EPA: No need for action after latest Dimock water tests Resident declines replacement for water with high arsenic

The EPA found water quality from 16 homes in Dimock to require “no further action” after the latest round of sampling to assess the impact of shale gas development on water supplies in the area.After finding elevated levels of arsenic in one well, the agency offered an alternate water supply to a resident who declined …Read More…

Natural gas: The ‘atomic bomb’ of the energy debate

The growing role of natural gas in the U.S. energy mix continues to confound and divide renewable energy experts and investors. Is America’s abundant supply of shale gas a boon for the renewable industry, or undercutting it?

Home Rule cases are weighty factors in fracking’s future

A ruling Thursday by a Pennsylvania court is the latest in a series of events strengthening the influence of local communities on the outcome of the national debate over hydraulic fracturing and onshore drilling. Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Keith Quigley issued an injunction on a law passed by the legislature in February that limits the power of …Read More…

No Quick Resolution on Shale Gas Moratorium in New York

Andrew Cuomo has promised the public that the Department of Environmental Conservation would release a final version of the permitting guidelines – in a document called the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement — within months. Legislative leaders I spoke with this week have a much different outlook. This week, Assembly Robert Sweeney told me he would be …Read More…

Industry to appeal both Middlefield, Dryden drilling bans in decisive Home Rule case

The drilling industry is appealing two watershed cases that will decide whether local municipalities in New York state can ban drilling. Industry supporters will challenge rulings issued last month by the state Supreme Court that upheld local drilling bans in both the Town of Dryden and the Town of Middlefield, Tom West, an attorney from …Read More…

Propane Fracking Ambitions to Test New York’s Policy

A plan announced this week to use propane to begin developing shale formations in New York state will test technology, law, politics, and policy with the latest twist to the controversial fracking issue. It begins with leaders of a coalition of landowners in Tioga County who have reached a deal, in principle, with gas companies …Read More…

Status of Home Rule appeals uncertain in fracking test cases

Appeals of two high-profile cases that will influence the future of shale gas development in New York State remain uncertain. Lawyers working on an appeal challenging a fracking ban by the Town of Middlefield board face a costly legal battle with uncertain sources of funding, according to several lawyers close to the case. Likewise, a …Read More…

EPA Water Tests in Dimock Show Incomplete Picture

The quality of well water in Dimock, Pa. is the center of national attention for activists, journalists, regulators, lawyers, policy makers, and industry officials – all looking for the latest evidence from government studies that will support their cases for or against fracking.

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President Obama calls for Electric Vehicles and Clean Energy in his State of the Union Address

During his State of the Union address, President Obama set a new goal: by 2035, 80 percent of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources.

Watch

Amy Harder on Natural Gas Vehicles

Recently, our expert, Amy Harder was asked, “Do you think that Natural Gas is a good option as an intermediary fuel source for vehicles, or should we skip it and go directly to EVs?”

See her response