An intense anti-hydraulic fracturing protest is underway in a remote tiny Romanian village, Pungesti, where the Jandarmeria (military style police from the central government) were deployed to brutally put down protesters, and ensure that Chevron can go ahead with plans to begin fracking and drilling for natural gas. As I…
The other day I wrote about Romanians in a tiny village fighting off Chevron’s plan to tap Shale Gas reserves, deploy hydraulic fracturing, while facing police violence because the Government is doing Chevron’s bidding. The story is an encapsulation of the whole globalized search for fossil fuel resources, and the…
In the largely unknown village of Pungesti, Romania, a battle is being waged between locals fighting off an illegal encroachment by Chevron seeking to deploy hydraulic fracturing for drilling in shale reserves. According to reports I’ve found, the local council voted to deny Chevron access to the site, but the…
Even if the Keystone XL pipeline is blocked, that might not block the shipment of Alberta Tar Sands Oil to refineries. The “Carbon Bomb” that Bill McKibbon wants us to be afraid of is set of with every shipment of Tar Sands oil to a refinery, so that the oil…
With oil companies racking up record profits it may seem absurd to suggest their days are numbered, and that investors should sell their oil company stocks by 2020. But that’s a suggestion in an article posted today on the MarketWatch website. That article in turn references no less an institution…
Opening the door to transportation fuels other than gasoline or diesel means considering not just electricity, but other fuels, like natural gas. I personally want to see electric vehicles because that’s the best long-term solution. However there’s an aspect to this where the companies that supply other energy sources, like…
Hydraulic Fracturing is what’s allowing us to keep the game of modern civilization going for a while longer without fearing the effects of Peak Oil. Fracing (a.k.a. Fracking) has made it possible to tap otherwise uneconomical oil and natural gas supplies and get fossil fuels out of them. Without Fracing…
It’s not often that we get a direct clear example of the externalities of oil consumption. An “externality” is when someone, say a big oil company like Exxon, makes other people pay some of the costs associated with their business. Most of the externalities related to the Oil business are…
Crude oil coming from hydraulic fracturing dependent oil operations in the Bakken Shale region are more dangerous, more explosive, than crude oil from other sources. Crude oil isn’t normally seen as a high explosion risk hazmat material. The train derailment in Quebec in July that resulted in a huge explosion…
The hydraulic fracturing boom is causing water shortages and drying up towns in West Texas, and elsewhere. Water is the source of life, and clean water means clean healthy life. The fracking process, as it’s popularly known, consumes massive amounts of water. This is water that the oil well operator…
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced on Thursday that operators of unconventional gas wells will no longer be unconditionally exempt from seeking an air quality plan approval for well sites. Instead, guidance issued by the DEP explains the agency may grant unconventional gas well operators permit exceptions if they…
The potential new oil production boom from hydraulic fracturing in California’s Monterey Shale region will require a little-known technique using powerful acids to dissolve underground rock. The first of a series of articles by Next Generation research analyst Robert Collier focuses on the technical reality of what will be required…
The natural gas drilling rig off the Louisiana coast that blew up on Tuesday appears stable now, thanks to the fire snuffing itself out. While the fire is out, the owner of the rig is still eyeing whether a relief well is required, how to permanently cap the well, how…
The U.S. Government is supporting research into developing Methane Hydrate “resources”. A month ago I reported on a joint project between the Dept. of Energy and the State of Alaska to develop methane hydrate resources in Alaska’s North Slope, as well as tar sands deposits in that area. Today there…
Air pollution has been linked to heart attacks, strokes and atherosclerosis (“hardening of the arteries”), thanks to research published on Tuesday in PLOS Medicine. The study found that high concentrations of fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) were linked with faster thickening of artery walls. The thickening was found in the…
