Free Republic

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. (AP) — The rolling hills and scenic bluffs of western Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota hide a valuable resource that has sparked what's been called a modern-day gold rush. The object of desire is not gold but a soft sandstone needed by drilling companies to unlock underground natural gas and oil supplies in a controversial practice called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Largely overlooked in the national debate over fracking is the emerging fight in the U.S. heartland over mining "frac sand," which has grains of ideal size, shape, strength and purity. Mining companies say the work provides good...

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said that land it has leased in the Wattenberg oil field in northern Colorado may hold more than a billion barrels of recoverable oil and natural gas, in the latest sign that energy production in the U.S. is set to surge. The disclosure could vault the Wattenberg onto a growing list of major new oil discoveries in the United States, joining the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in South Texas. These new sources of oil are reversing four decades of declining domestic energy production. What is making them possible are new technologies, including...

WASHINGTON — Drilling companies violated federal law by injecting 16 million gallons of diesel fuel underground in Texas to extract natural gas, senior House Democrats said Monday. In a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, the lawmakers said the companies failed to obtain necessary permits when they used diesel fuel in their hydraulic fracturing mixtures. The fracturing process, which is widely used in North Texas’ Barnett Shale, has come under scrutiny as environmental groups and some residents allege it has contaminated drinking water supplies. The congressional inquiry, which began in early 2010 when Democrats controlled the House, did not conclude...