Fracking - Inside Climate News

California Climate and Health Groups Urge Legislators to Pass Polluter Pays Bills

By Liza Gross — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

As the state’s legislative session draws to a close, activists urge their representatives to pass bills they call critical to protecting communities and the planet from fossil fuel extraction.

By Liza Gross

Dozens of activists gathered outside the state Capitol in the scorching Sacramento sun Monday to make a last push against the industry that’s largely responsible for the climate crisis shattering one heat record after another.

In Final Rock Springs Resource Management Plan, BLM Sticks With Conservation Priorities, Renewable Energy Development

By Jake Bolster — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 08:55:00 +0000

The controversial plan would also place new limits on the terrain open to coal mining and oil and gas drilling, mainly due to a lack of resources in the areas, irking many fossil fuel advocates in the state.

By Jake Bolster

The Bureau of Land Management, on Aug. 22, released its final Resource Management Plan for its Rock Springs District in Southwest Wyoming, spurring blowback from the governor and the fossil fuel industry, and drawing mostly praise from conservation groups.

US District Court Throws Out Federal Agency’s Assessment Allowing More Drilling for Fossil Fuels in the Gulf of Mexico

By Aman Azhar — Sun, 25 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

The lawsuit before the court showed the staggering scale of ecological damage a bad federal assessment can cause to endangered and federally protected sea creatures.

By Aman Azhar

The United States District Court for the District of Maryland has tossed a flawed environmental assessment that grossly underestimated harms to endangered and threatened marine species from oil and gas drilling and exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.

This Country Voted to Keep Oil in the Ground. Will It Happen?

By Katie Surma — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 09:05:00 +0000

More than 10 million Ecuadorians voted last year to ban oil operations in part of the Amazon rainforest. But heavy crude has continued to flow from the region, which is home to uncontacted Indigenous families.

By Katie Surma

Update: After this article was published, the Ecuadorian government announced plans to cap and close 246 oil wells in the Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini (ITT) fields beginning on August 30, 2024. That phase-out process will last until December 31, 2029. The government expects that removing other infrastructure, such as well pads, and remediating environmental damage will last through August 31, 2032.

After Partnering With the State to Monitor Itself, a Pennsylvania Gas Company Declares Its Fracking Operations ‘Safe’

By Kiley Bense — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 17:38:18 +0000

Environmentalists say a new report from CNX Resources’ monitoring program, created as part of a collaboration led by Gov. Josh Shapiro, is full of misinformation.

By Kiley Bense

On Wednesday, the natural gas company CNX Resources released the initial results from its environmental monitoring collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, a partnership predicated on “radical transparency” around fracking operations that Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration announced in November.

In Pennsylvania’s Competitive Senate Race, Fracking Takes Center Stage

By Kiley Bense — Sun, 11 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

The contest between Republican Dave McCormick and Democrat Bob Casey reveals the complicated politics of fracking in a battleground state.

By Kiley Bense

Vice President Kamala Harris has been the official Democratic nominee for president for less than a week, but her presence is already changing the dynamic in critical races down the ballot. On July 26, Pennsylvania’s Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Dave McCormick, visited a fracking rig in Warren County. One reason for his trip? To link Harris with his opponent in the race, Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.

An Activist Will Defy a Restraining Order to Play a Cello Protest at Citibank’s NYC Headquarters Thursday

By Keerti Gopal — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 22:41:18 +0000

The action comes after weeks of law enforcement crackdowns on leaders of the summer-long campaign against the bank’s fossil fuel financing.

By Keerti Gopal

Study Links Permian Blowouts With Wastewater Injection

By Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News, and Carlos Nogueras Ramos, Texas Tribune — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Fluids traveled 12 miles underground before reaching an abandoned oil well and shooting to the surface. It’s the first scientific proof of a phenomenon local landowners have long warned was occurring.

By Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News, and Carlos Nogueras Ramos, Texas Tribune

Fracking wastewater, injected underground for permanent disposal, traveled 12 miles through geological faults before bursting to the surface through a previously plugged West Texas oil well in 2022, according to a new study from Southern Methodist University.

A Legal Fight Over Legacy Oil Industry Pollution Heats Up in West Texas

By Martha Pskowski — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

A “first of its kind” lawsuit contends that oil companies including Chevron failed to properly plug and decommission wells on private property, challenging common assumptions about plugged wells.

By Martha Pskowski

Reporting contributed by Mitch Borden, a reporter at Marfa Public Radio. You can listen to an audio version of the story below.

Should Companies Get Paid When Governments Phase Out Fossil Fuels? They Already Are

By Katie Surma, Nicholas Kusnetz — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 09:05:00 +0000

A common part of free trade agreements helps fossil fuel companies force big payouts from governments phasing out oil and gas projects. The United States narrowly avoided a $15 billion claim over the shuttered Keystone XL pipeline.

By Katie Surma, Nicholas Kusnetz

Cashing Out: Fourth in a series on the secretive system disrupting climate action and forcing big payouts to fossil fuel companies.