UK shale explorer iGas Limited has submitted an application seeking planning permission to install monitoring boreholes on land close to the Nottinghamshire, Doncaster and North Lincolnshire local government boundary. The proposed development would involve drilling of up to 12 boreholes across four locations, to monitor groundwater. The drilling would be undertaken over a period of…
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The amount of water required to hydraulically fracture oil and gas wells varies widely across the country, according to the first national-scale analysis and map of hydraulic fracturing water usage detailed in a new USGS study accepted for publication in Water Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. The research found that water…
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Researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington have found elevated levels of numerous metals and chemical compounds associated with the hydraulic fracturing process in public and private water wells throughout the Barnett Shale. A peer-reviewed study published in the scientific journal Environmental Science & Technology is careful not to identify drilling as the source…
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West Virginia University experts say that the newly published findings from the Environmental Protection Agency’s report on hydraulic fracturing’s effect on drinking water confirm that proper well management is essential to the safety of the water supply. Brian Anderson, director of WVU’s Energy Institute and the GE Plastics Material Engineering Professor of Chemical Engineering, said…
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While water pollution associated with hydraulic fracturing operations has occurred, the revolutionary oil extraction technique has not led to widespread, systematic pollution of drinking water in the U.S., according to a long-awaited study from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA has worked on the study for nearly five years. Now with some assurance, the…
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While the oil and gas industry was excited about the idea of waterless fracking and the environmental and health benefits that it would bring, a test well in Ohio well has not yet demonstrated commercial potential. The $22 million test well operated by EV Energy Partners, along with eight other companies, in Tuscarawas County, Ohio,…
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Toxic fluids used in drilling and hydraulic fracturing likely escaped an unlined borehole and migrated thousands of feet into a residential drinking-water supply in Pennsylvania, according to a study just published. At least three water wells in Bradford County, located in the heart of the Marcellus Shale drilling boom, were found to be contaminated with…
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Advancements in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques are quickly driving the development of the world’s shale resources, which are located in vast quantities everywhere from China to Mexico, and could increase the planet’s supply of clean-burning natural gas by an incredible 47% if they were all developed. But there’s one big problem facing the…
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Drillers in Pennsylvania used about 11 billion gallons of water to tap shale formations in the Appalachian Basin between 2011 and 2013, according to an analysis by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA examined more than 39,000 disclosures submitted across the country between January 2011 and February 2013 to the website FracFocus, an industry-backed…
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Oil and gas drilling companies using hydraulic fracturing in Texas say they are recycling more water thanks to a change in state rules, Texas’ three railroad commissioners told two House committees. But exactly how much water is being conserved or reused during production is unknown, according to the regulators who oversee the oil and gas…
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