Environmentalists

Producers, oil service companies, states, Native Americans and even some environmentalists agree on one point: that the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should scrap its proposed rule regulating hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations on public and Indian lands and start all over again. But their reasons for requesting the do-over are entirely different.

Producers, oil service companies, Native Americans and even some environmentalists agree on one point: that the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should scrap its proposed rule overseeing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations on public and Indian lands and start all over again. But their reasons for requesting the do-over are entirely different.

A Los Angeles-based husband-wife independent filmmaking team said Tuesday they have exceeded their fundraising goal and will continue with production of a pro-hydraulic fracturing (fracking) documentary film, FrackNation, to combat an upcoming sequel to the Oscar-nominated anti-fracking film Gasland by activist Josh Fox. The couple, however, will continue to fundraise for their project, they said.

Irish ex patriot journalist/filmmakers Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer call their project “the film that will tell the truth about fracking,” on their website, which includes the slogan, “There are two sides to every story, and then there is the truth.”

Environmentalists say Delaware Gov. Jack Markell will be in a key position to oppose hydraulic fracturing (fracking) when the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) meets on Monday, but they admit they are unsure of where he stands on Marcellus Shale development within the basin.

While environmentalists and some citizens are opposed to the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to develop shale natural gas, experts — one of whom has studied fracking for more than 41 years — told a Senate committee the practice does not negatively impact drinking water or the environment.

Government officials, environmentalists and industry representatives carried the debate on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to California’s south-central coast last Thursday in Santa Barbara County, and while there was no across-the-board agreement, local elected officials did voice surprise that fracking is a potential issue in their county where offshore oil/gas development has had a long-standing love-hate relationship with residents.

Shale producers should take seriously the questions and issues being raised by environmentalists and others with concerns about hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and be “open and transparent” about the composition of their fracking fluids, FERC Commissioner John Norris said Tuesday.

The trouble with the argument raging between the gas industry and environmentalists over the impacts of shale gas drilling and production is that neither side has the data it needs to back up its position, the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) Dan Soeder told NGI. That’s about to change, but probably not as quickly as either side would like.