Posts Tagged 'Benzene'

Researcher on fracking study has industry ties

According to a Scientific American story, the lead researcher on a study that found no connection between the hydraulic fracturing method of natural gas extraction and groundwater contamination turned out to have significant financial ties to the natural gas industry.

The article says that the study out of the University of Texas last February had drawn criticism for being too easy on the natural gas industry.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as ...

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Study will look at impact of fracking on drinking water

According to an article in the Wilkes Barre Times Leader, a new study aims to answer the question of whether the toxic fluids used in natural gas drilling can pose a threat to drinking water.

Researchers will examine a hydraulic fracturing site in southwestern Pennsylvania, located over Marcellus Shale — a gas-rich rock formation thousands of feet under large parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly ...

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Critics worry about fracking’s impact on cemeteries

The process of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has given rise to a new controversy – its impact on cemeteries.

A New York Times article on the issue says cemetery owners lease their mineral rights to oil and gas companies to allow fracking under the burial grounds. The report includes interviews with family members of people buried in those cemeteries, who express concerns that the practice might disturb the graves.

The report ...

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Newspaper says ban fracking waste in NJ

An editorial in the Newark Star-Ledger calls for Gov. Chris Christie to sign into law a bill that passed in the New Jersey legislature, banning the state from treating and disposing of the toxic waste produced by the natural gas extraction process called “hydraulic fracturing,” or “fracking.”

Christie signed a one-year ban on fracking in New Jersey last summer, buying time until the federal Environmental Protection Agency completes two studies.

The editorial points out that the ban is largely symbolic, since no ...

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Fracking a hazard for workers, scientists say

The natural gas extraction method called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is controversial primarily because of its potential impact on the environment.

But on a science blog for The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, four scientists with NIOSH point out another potential hazard from fracking – lung ailments for workers exposed to the process.

Fracking, used in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania, involves injecting a mixture of water and chemicals ...

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Fracking brings risk of earthquakes

There’s a higher risk of earthquakes when wastewater from the hydraulic fracturing process is injected back into the ground, according to a report by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

But a CNN story says it’s a small risk. Out of about 30,000 disposal wells nationwide, only a handful of noticeable tremors have been reported, with the strongest equivalent to a magnitude-4.8 earthquake, the panel of engineers and scientists concluded.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking,” ...

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