Q & A

A letter to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram asks a great question. A comment left provides the answer. Even sums it up in one word.  Good work, people....

I have seen many commercials from energy companies promoting the Barnett Shale region and saying how they are protecting the water tables.

How many millions of gallons of water does it take to fracture said shale at each well, and how are they protecting the water table where they are pumping the polluted water back into the ground?

-- Charlie Barnes, Arlington 

There is nothing good that can come from pumping millions upon millions of gallons of chemicals into the ground under our feet. Nothing.

-- Nell Stebbins

Read More

Bazinga

WHAT happens when reporters start asking questions? 

Read it in the Rolling Stone.  Fracker Aubrey McClendon Booted From Chesapeake Board

The facts of the loan itself were bad enough, but the way the Chesapeake’s PR dweebs handled it – at first they said the board was "fully aware" of the loan and approved it, then the next day reversed themselves – just made the whole deal more rancid. Chesapeake is a publicly-held company, with a market cap of about $12 billion.
 
The company’s stock tanked by 10 percent or so, vaporizing more than a billion dollars of shareholder value. The Internal Revenue Service is investigating the loan, as is the Security and Exchange Commission. No less than three shareholders filed lawsuits. You just know Chesapeake’s lawyers are going to be dealing with fallout from this for years. And who knows what other sweet nuggets of impropriety investigators might unearth along the way?

As I learned a few months ago while reporting for Rolling Stone, the Chesapeake is really a land-acquisition company disguised as a natural gas producer, and one that is leveraged up the wazoo.

If I were a Chesapeake shareholder, I’d have lots of questions – like, if the company is playing games with financial disclosure, what kind of foolery are they up to with disclosure about, say, the chemicals they are pumping underground during fracking operations, or what they are doing with the hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic flowback water they dispose of every year?

Enron with drilling rigs.

Read More

Let the shakedown begin.

Taking bets on if the USGS stands up for itself.  Hopefully they stand their ground, for YOU.

Read about it on Yahoo.

According to the Associated Press, a study from the U.S. Geological Survey has found a link between oil and natural gas production and a recent spike in small earthquakes in the country. The study looked at an increase in tectonic activity in the U.S. just west of Ohio and east of Utah. It found that starting in 2001 between the state lines of Colorado and New Mexico, an increase that occurred as methane production in the area occurred. Earthquake frequency spiked again since 2009, which was around the same time and in the same area as natural gas production increased.

Read More