Posts Tagged 'hydraulic fracturing'

Government Announces First Ever Federal Fracking Rules

the US government has released fracking regulationsThe U.S. government recently unveiled its first ever nationwide fracking safety rules, TIME reports. The new rules require companies drilling on federal and tribal lands to reveal what chemicals they are using to drill within at least 30 days from the start of operations. The new safety measures also lay out stricter guidelines for collecting wastewater and protecting groundwater while drilling.

Hydraulic fracturing—better known as “fracking”—is a process by ...

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Researchers Find Fracking Caused Ohio Earthquake in 2014

New research published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America found that fracking was responsible for a 3.0 magnitude earthquake felt in Ohio nearly a year ago. The study found that the mode of natural gas extraction known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, activated a fault in the earth that led to a total of 77 earthquakes from March 4-12, 2014. The largest of these registered at a 3.0 magnitude. The drilling was ...

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Study Reveals Fracking May Increase Arsenic in Groundwater

Researchers have been analyzing the health and environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) as a method of obtaining natural gas. A story on News Inferno reports heightened levels of arsenic found in groundwater in the Barnett Shale in Texas, an area that spans about 5,000 square miles.

With fracking, silica sand, water, and a mix of over 500 chemicals are injected through a concrete well to break up shale rock up to a mile under the surface. The broken ...

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Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) Produces Silica Dust That May Cause Serious Lung Disease

The evidence that the process of hydraulic fracturing is causing health issues continues to mount. After recent reports that fracking may contaminate groundwater with arsenic, a new study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that fracking activities are exposing workers to silica dust, which can cause fatal lung disease. A story on News Inferno reports that eleven fracking sites in five states have exposed workers and possibly area residents to harmful silica.

Hydraulic fracturing ...

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The Public Dangers of Private Confidentiality Provisions and Gag Orders

It is common to find confidentiality provisions in settlement agreements, where a wrongdoer seeks to keep all harmful information from getting out to the public. Confidentiality provisions are often accepted because the risks of passing up a settlement (the proverbial bird in the hand) are too great to warrant being left without any compensation for one’s injuries.

Confidentiality provisions are especially common where a wrongdoer is alleged to have injured multiple victims, because if one person settles, any information they have ...

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Families pursue nuisance complaints in fracking suits

According to a story in Bloomberg, some families who have filed lawsuits over the natural gas extraction method called “hydraulic fracturing,” or “fracking,” have changed their tactics.

The families in question live in Pennsylvania along the Marcellus Shale — a gas-rich underground rock formation that also extends into New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia.

Fracking involves pumping millions of gallons of water underground to break up underlying rock formations and ...

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