As of 2012, 2.5 million oil and gas wells have been drilled worldwide using the hydraulic fracturing method, and more than 1 million of them are located in the United States. The result of this trend has been devastating to human health and the environment. With natural gas companies pouring millions of dollars into political and PR campaigns, slowing it down has been difficult. But as one tiny town in New York demonstrated, it’s not impossible. Dryden, New York, recently won a court case to prevent the fracking industry from destroying its air and water, an encouraging development for cities and states fighting similar battles.

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Post tags: activism, dryden, fossil fuels, fracking, hydraulic fracturing, natural gas industry, New York., progressive communities, rural communities, rural town, upstate New York

After studying parcels of land at risk for sale for hydrofracking, Sarah McCoubrey began envisioning a future in which we would need to escape an earth that is beyond repair. In her newest series of paintings, Fate and Transport, she sees potatoes and other earthly beings whisking us away from a dystopian future. Poignant and timely, McCoubrey’s work will be on display at Locks Gallery in Philadelphia from December 7, 2012-January 11, 2013.

+ Locks Gallery

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Post tags: eco paintings, eco-art, environmental destruction, hydrofracking, Locks Gallery, Sarah McCoubrey, Whimsical Vehicles

When hydraulic fracturing (or fracking – the technique of extracting natural gas from rocks) was thrust into the public consciousness with the release of the 2010 film Gasland, most of the conversation centered around water contamination. Since then, questions have been raised about some of the other byproducts of fracking, including earthquakes, waste disposal, and now, air emissions. A new study from the Colorado School of Public Health reveals that emissions from fracking sites contain known carcinogens and other harmful chemicals.

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Post tags: air pollution, Air quality, benzene, carcinogens, emissions, environmental protection agency, epa, fracking, gas drilling, hydraulic fracturing, hydrocarbons, hydrofracking, natural gas

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has decided to join the drill, baby, drill chorus this week by attempting to slam President Barack Obama and his current energy policies. In an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal Jindal says the President’s current environmental policies are “radical” and will wreak havoc on the country’s energy system. This, coming from the man who wanted to stop the gulf oil spill from reaching his state by dredging up delicate ecosystems and building barrier islands out of sand? That seems a whole lot more radical than the President’s vision of a future where we explore all of the energy options currently on the table in order to create a stable energy economy and reduce prices. We’d say the Obama administration’s energy policy is pretty forward-thinking and Jindal, by contrast, can’t even seem to think far enough into the future to realize that building castles out of sand is never a good idea.

Read the rest of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal Warns President Obama About ‘Radical Environmental Policies’

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Post tags: bobby jindal, clean energy policy, governor bobby jindal, governor jindal, green energy policy, jindal energy policy, louisiana governor, obama energy policy, republican energy policy

Thanks to efforts by environmentalists and opponents of the natural gas industry, the process of fracking has come under the limelight recently – and the federal government is considering new, tougher regulations for the hydraulic fracturing industry. Although at one point some environmental groups saw natural gas as a less environmentally damaging alternative to coal, they are now rethinking their stance – and the Sierra Club has revealed they turned down a $30 million gift from natural gas company Chesapeake Energy because of their concerns about the process. That’s a huge hunk of cash for a non-profit environmental group to turn down on principle, and thanks to their honesty they’re now able to fight the good fight against this energy source, which we now know has a dirtier life-cycle than coal.

Read the rest of Sierra Club Turned Down $30 Million Gift From Natural Gas Fracking Company

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Post tags: chesapeake, fracking, fracking dangers, fracking issues, fracking problems, natural gas, natural gas consequences, natural gas industry, natural gas issues, natural gas problems, Sierra Club, sierra club fracking, sierra club natural gas

President Obama stepped to the stage at The University of Miami yesterday to deliver an impressive speech on energy policy. Though the President made mention of his efforts to expand oil and gas drilling in the United States, he also made clear that those were not the long-term answer to our energy woes. He outlined the fact that the United States uses 20% of the world’s oil but only has 2% of the world’s reserves and that even if we tried, we couldn’t drill ourselves out of this mess. After setting this clear line of attack the President then went on to talk to the engineering students in the audience about the Energy Department’s energy assessment program which is saving businesses $5.6 billion dollars in energy costs. He then rolled smoothly through our green energy prospects, leaving no stone unturned – from American manufacturing of wind and solar panels to the development of algae fuels. It’s nice to see that at least one politician out there gets the idea that there is more than one way to solve our energy problems – and that most of those ways are green.

Read the rest of President Obama Shuns Oil and Notes $5.6 Billion Saved by American Businesses Through Energy Efficiency

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Post tags: energy innovation, energy saving, energy technology, obama, oil reserves, president, president obama, renewable energy, us energy, us energy innovation, us energy technology, us oil reserves, us oil use

Listening to President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night we cheered for his green ambitions as he laid out a plan to energize the American economy with the manufacturing of clean technology. We were hoping he’d keep up that steam but today, during a speech in Nevada, he let down our hopes slightly by focusing almost exclusively on oil and natural gas drilling. This was a surprise coming from the President – especially in a state that has such promise for truly renewable energy. With geothermal and solar power available in such abundance in the Silver State, it is a bit curious why the President didn’t seek to point out their merits while speaking in Las Vegas.

Read the rest of President Obama’s Latest Speech Touts American-Made Energy but Gets Stuck on Oil and Gas

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Post tags: "clean energy", "sustainable energy", american made energy, energy policy, energy technology, green energy, green energy policy, nevada clean energy, nevada renewable energy, obama energy policy, obama las vegas speech, obama nevada speech, renewable energy, the energy future

The US Department of Energy took a chunk out of the natural gas industry’s high hopes for the future yesterday by slashing the amount of gas estimated to be held in the Marcellus Shale — a huge swath of shale rock under the east coast of the United States thought by gas mongers to be the holy grail of energy. The Annual Energy Outlook states with a 90% certainty that the amount of gas locked under the east coast is actually 66% less than they previously imagined. They knocked the Marcellus shale estimate from 482 trillion cubic feet in last year’s outlook to 141 trillion cubic feet, and the entire United States reserves didn’t fare much better – they were slashed almost in half from 827 trillion cubic feet in last year’s outlook to 482 trillion this year. Here’s to hoping that gash in the future of natural gas will calm the frenzy of energy companies itching to use hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to obtain the stuff.

Read the rest of US Department of Energy Decreases Estimate of East Coast Natural Gas Reserves by 66%

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Post tags: "clean energy", "sustainable energy", annual energy outlook, Department of Energy, DOE, fracking, fracking ban, fracking debate, gas company, hydraulic fracturing, hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, marcellus, marcellus shale, marcellus shale reserves, natural gas, natural gas extraction, natural gas reserves, us gas reserves

Thanks to a petition put together by CREDO Action, a grassroots political advocacy group, the ban on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas (usually referred to as fracking) in the Delaware River Basin is still in place. 40,000 people from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware rallied behind the petition, which cancelled a meeting that was to be held by the Delaware River Basin Commission, saving the drinking water of 15 million people that live in the area.

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Post tags: "clean energy", "sustainable energy", delaware river basin, fracking, fracking ban, fracking consequences, fracking in delaware, green energy, hydraulic fracturing, marcellus shale, natural gas, natural gas carbon footprint, natural gas extraction, natural gas well, what is fracking, why is fracking bad

A report by UK energy company Cuadrilla Resources, which has investments in hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) for natural gas, found that pumping fluid into the ground at two of their hydraulic fracturing sites was the cause of two minor earthquakes and 48 other small seismic events. It is sometimes mentioned that earthquakes can result from fracking, but not often is a conclusive report put on the line to verify it. In Cuadrilla’s case, the report has halted operations in the UK and has gone to public officials who are expected to release a new ruling on the safety and procedures surrounding hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in the UK.

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Post tags: earthquakes, fracking, fracking arguments, fracking causes earthquakes, fracking concerns, fracking problems, fracking quakes, hydraulic fracturing, quakes

A new study shows that the United States has a geothermal power capacity that is ten times greater than the amount of energy produced by our current working coal-fired power plants. The study was funded by Google and conducted by Southern Methodist University’s Geothermal Laboratory where students and professors completed an in-depth map of the nation’s geothermal resources and found they aren’t just relegated to the areas in the west known for tectonic activity. The report revealed that even under the state of West Virginia, there is enough geothermal energy to immediately replace all of their coal-fired power plants.

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Post tags: "sustainable energy", coal power supply, geothermal capacity, geothermal electricity, geothermal energy, Geothermal power, geothermal power plant, green energy, renewable energy

A miracle chemical sponge could be the answer to cleaning up contaminated water and eliminating harmful toxins from the environment. A team led by chemist Paul Edmiston discovered the Osorb material, which removes toxins from water without bonding to H2O molecules, yielding clean water. The glass substance has been proven to act like a nanomechanical sponge that drinks up petroleum, solvents and other toxins. Osorb sponges can swell up to 8 times in volume as they scoop up contaminants, and the material can lift 20,000 times its own weight!

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Post tags: ABS Materials, chemical sponge, nanomechanical sponge, Osorb, Paul Edmiston, University of Wooster, wastewater management

On their latest weekly episode, Public Radio International’s popular show, This American Life, digs deep into the issue of hydraulic fracturing — or fracking as it is commonly referred to. Fracking is a process that removes natural gas from the earth by fracturing rock layers deep underground with high pressure mixtures of water and dangerous chemicals. Opponents say the process irreparably damages drinking water and has a life cycle that is more damaging than that of coal — even though natural gas burns cleaner when used. The issue is surely heating up in the presses these days with New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo reportedly toying with lifting his state’s moratorium on fracking and environmental organizations around the country furiously fighting the spread of fracking from California to New Jersey — where they recently banned fracking. This week’s episode of This American Life lifts the shroud of confusion around the issue of fracking by interviewing those on both sides as well as scientists who helped engineer the process who are now touring the country speaking out against it. Listen to the story after the jump.

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Post tags: "clean energy", fracking, hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracking, natural energy, natural gas, natural gas extraction, new jersey fracking, new york fracking, pennsylvania fracking, petroleum supplies, renewable energy, this american life, what is fracking