Energy

npr.org - wwno.org - by Bob Marshall - April 20, 2014

. . . more than 54,000 wells were planted in and off this coast — part of the 300,000 wells in the state. They're connected by thousands of miles of pipelines, all vulnerable to leaks.

And leak they do.

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Image: Fracking site. (Credit: Jim Parkin/Shutterstock)

salon.com - April 16th, 2014 - Lindsay Abrams

Fracking sites at Pennsylvania’s natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale are releasing way more methane than we thought — somewhere on the order of 100 to 1,000 times EPA estimates, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences. Flying about seven well pads in a plane equipped to measure greenhouse gas emissions, researchers found that, on average, the sites emitted 34 grams of methane per second. The EPA’s estimate: between 0.04 and 0.30 grams of methane per second.

The problem, the researchers were surprised to discover, begins before the controversial process of fracking even gets started.

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reuters.com - April 11th, 2014 - Edward McAllister

Recent small earthquakes in Ohio were likely triggered by fracking, state regulators said on Friday, a new link that could have implications for oil and gas drilling in the Buckeye State and beyond.

In the strongest wording yet from the state linking energy drilling and quakes, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) said that injecting sand, water and chemicals deep underground to help release oil and gas may have produced tremors in Poland Township last month.

The statement, in which the department announced stricter rules for oil and gas exploration in areas where seismic activity has occurred, comes after a steep rise in earthquakes in Ohio and other areas where intense drilling has taken place.

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Image: Crews manage the pipeline spill. CREDIT: Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

thinkprogress.org - March 25th, 2014 - Kiley Kroh

20,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a damaged pipeline into a nature reserve in southwest Ohio — double the initial estimates — according to officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The leak was discovered by Gary Broughton as he was driving on March 17 and smelled a “fuel, oily smell,” the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

“It’s absolutely terrible,” Broughton told the 911 dispatcher. “It made me sick when I saw it.”

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