Water Contaminated With Explosive Methane from Natural Gas “Fracking”

In the quest to lower energy costs, natural gas has done quite well for itself thanks in no small part to a controversial extraction method called “fracking.” Bearing no relation to the BSG phrase, it refers to the practice of fracturing layers of rock using high-pressure water. Fracking has come under fire in the past because the fluid used in the extraction can contaminate the surrounding areas with dangerous dissolved metals and radioactive material. But a new study reveals that fracking may also be contaminating ground water with explosive methane gas.

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Dirty business: Fracking natural gas

CORNELL (US) — Methane-rich natural gas extracted from Marcellus shale has 105 times more global warming impact, pound for pound, than carbon dioxide.

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Debate Over Fracking Rages Across the U.S.: Gas Drilling Deal Cancelled in Upstate New York, Drinking Water Undrinkable in Wyoming

As the EPA gears up to study the impact of fracking on the environment, both industry and concerned citizens speak out.

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Pittsburgh Takes a Stance Against Fracking; Who's Next?

As the debate over fracking intensifies across the U.S., opponents are finding different ways to fight the expansion of the natural gas drilling method that so many people feel is unsafe for the environment and human health.

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A Toxic Spew?

Officials worry about impact of 'fracking' of oil and gas.

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NATURAL GAS HYDRO-FRACKING IN SHALE

What is Hydro-Fracking? To recover natural gas deposits in shale formations, including the Marcellus and Utica, the industry uses a process termed high volume hydraulic fracturing, which uses millions of gallons of water, laced with a cocktail of chemicals, to fracture shale and release gas.

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No Fracking Way: Gasland vs. Shale Gas

Is hydraulic fracturing of the Marcellus Shale an energy transition strategy, or an environmental disaster in the making?

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Natural gas from fracking could be 'dirtier' than coal, Cornell professors find

Extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale could do more to aggravate global warming than mining coal, according to a Cornell study published in the May issue of Climatic Change Letters (105:5).

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Increasingly Fractious Questions about Gas Fracking

The U.S. natural gas industry has been advertising itself as a bridge to an energy future belonging to wind, and that may be an understatement or even be the opposite of the truth: It may turn out--when we look back on the present day from mid century or later--that wind will have been a bridge to what's called in the industry "unconventional" gas. That refers in theory both to methane obtained as a byproduct of coal mining and to gas extracted by means of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking." But for all practical purposes--so dramatic has been the revolution in shale gas--it refers just to fracking.

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U.S. Investigates Safety of Natural Gas "Fracking"

When audiences saw dramatic scenes of people setting their tap water on fire in the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland, hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," was thrown into the spotlight. The technique, in which high-pressure fluids are pumped into shale formations to fracture the rock and force out natural gas, has been accused of releasing methane into well water (hence the flammable water), polluting groundwater with toxic chemicals and even causing earthquakes.

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