Fracking

With the topic of water conservation moving into the national and international spotlight, the water usage of North America’s oil and gas shale development boom is being scrutinized as experts examine the issue. Some researchers are quick to point out that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is one of the most water-intensive energy activities; others point out that fracking consumes far less water than power plants do.

California’s legislature late Wednesday passed a heavily amended bill (SB 4) aimed at regulating the oil/natural gas practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and Gov. Jerry Brown said he intends to sign the measure. For different reasons, industry, environmental and some major news media expressed displeasure with the version of SB 4 that ultimately passed both houses of state’s legislature.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and 14 other House Democrats have called on Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to strike a balance among oil and natural gas development, the environment, and the public health in the department’s final hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rule.

In a memo sent to Republicans lawmakers Friday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said the House will take up a bill, theProtecting States’ Rights to Promote American Energy Security Act, in the coming weeks that would restrict the Obama administration’s ability to impose duplicative regulations on fracking on federal and tribal lands.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has created a natural gas boom in shale plays in the United States that has lowered prices, creating billions of dollars of retail savings for U.S. energy consumers, particularly among low-income households where energy amounts to a larger portion of monthly budgets, according to an analysis by Colorado-based Mercator Energy.

For the second time in six months, voters in the City of Youngstown, OH, will be asked to pass an amendment to the city’s charter that would ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and several other activities that support shale development.

The only possible land mine for continued robust growth in U.S. natural gas supplies in the next five years would be an outright ban or oppressive national regulation of the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in America’s revitalized oil/gas fields, according to a panel of bullish experts assembled on the opening day of the LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent in Chicago Monday.

In a memo sent to Republicans lawmakers Friday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said the House will take up a bill, theProtecting States’ Rights to Promote American Energy Security Act, in the coming weeks that would restrict the Obama administration’s ability to impose duplicative regulations on fracking on federal and tribal lands.

University of Michigan (U-M) researchers on Thursday issued seven technical reports that together form what they said is the most comprehensive state-focused resource on drilling, and in particular, unconventional drilling using hydraulic fracturing (fracking).