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A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press. After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard Hammack said. Although the results are preliminary — the study is still ongoing — they are a boost to a natural gas industry that...

President of France François Hollande ruled out shale gas exploration under his administration, as the country celebrated Bastille Day. Speaking in a televised broadcast Sunday, Hollande said: "As long as I am president, there will be no shale gas exploration in France." Hollande also joked: "What is shale gas? It is an Eldorado that just needs to be drilled?" Hollande added that there was a risk to groundwater due to the hydraulic fracturing techniques used and that "one sees a number of consequences of this in the United States". France banned exploring for shale gas in 2011 despite the country...

As I’ve now argued many times over, the Obama administration is extravagantly fond of citing statistics about how our oil imports are way down while our domestic oil production is way up, with the implicit suggestion being that their policies somehow deserve the credit for these phenomena. See, they really are about an “all of the above” energy strategy and you can’t say that they’re anti-oil or anti-fossil fuel, because America is currently experiencing an economic and employment boom via domestic oil and gas production! In fact, however, much of the credit for the current oil-and-gas boom and our decreased...

A report has revealed that 2012 saw the largest single-year increase in US oil production ever recorded. US production grew due to an increase in techniques such as fracking, a method for extracting shale oil and gas, the report by oil giant BP said. Overall, global energy consumption grew by 1.8% in 2012, a smaller increase than in 2011. China and India accounted for almost 90% of that growth.

The kicker? He’s a supporter of a state cyberbullying bill. A state lawmaker on Thursday acknowledged making “anonymous” and “fictitious” online posts attacking constituents who support shale-gas drilling in Washington County and apologized to two people for any “offensive or hurtful” actions. Residents and the industry group Energy In Depth accused Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, of using aliases to call his critics “mouth breathers” and to call industry supporters, including senior citizens, “hucksters.” White explained himself by blaming drilling companies and pro-industry groups for targeting him with “misleading and personal attacks.” “These attacks have included anonymous or fictitious posts on...

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Janice Gibbs is a grandmother and was born and raised in Washington County. Although she has no drilling lease on her land, she believes that shale gas drilling is great for the local economy. “I just think it’s a good thing for our community,” Gibbs said. When she started posting her pro-gas views on local websites under the name “Proud American,” she was soon shocked at how nasty things got. First, State Rep. Jesse White allegedly posted Gibbs’ real identity. Then, someone posting under the name “Prouder American” called her an “industry troll.” Another posting under the...

Closer cooperation between European countries and an emphasis on energy efficiency would be more effective at lowering prices in Europe than dreams about an American-style shale gas boom, the EU’s climate chief said on Thursday (16 May). Speaking at the European Business Summit, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard called for “clever regulation” to drive innovation and for a liberalized EU energy market to lower prices, saying re-nationalization would be more costly than European-wide climate policies. “We need efficient and also cost-efficient energy systems. We need to liberalize the energy market, a Europeanized market. It is wrong that re-nationalization will be...

Following up on last week’s piece detailing the reasons why the Shale oil and natural gas boom has taken place in Texas, but not in other states like California and New York, we’ve seen quite a bit of interesting, related news pieces over the last several days. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal published a very informative op/ed in its Review & Outlook section, titled “A Tale of Two Oil States”, which made more detailed comparisons between the economic performance between Texas and California, and the ways in which each state’s policy decisions related to shale development have affected that...

The shale revolution hit America and the world with such speed and suddenness that it surprised almost everyone—investors, businessmen, economists and politicians. Soon the implications of this dramatic development seeped into the national consciousness and spread optimism that the United States could ride it to a wave of prosperity. And the new techniques for extracting "unconventional" oil and gas from shale rock, which America possesses in such abundance, do indeed pose prospects for an economic boom. They also pose prospects for changes in the defense posture of many nations. Anything of value that a nation possesses must be protected, and...

The climate is changing. Coal will one day be used up. We want to live in a clean environment. But the fact is that the imperatives of economic development often pose environmental challenges. Despite this, environmental protection remains important because we need jobs, security, better education and good quality of life. Natural resources are not our property – we took out a loan from future generations – and we should use resources sparingly and think about how our children will heat their houses and cook their food in 20 – 30 years. The rush for cheap, reliable, clean energy resources...

Turns Back To Coal, Abandons Emissions TargetsFrom Dr. Benny Peiser at The GWPFThe Japanese government is moving to speed up the environmental assessment process for new coal-fired power plants. According to Japanese media reports, the government intends to make 12 months the maximum period for assessing and approving new coal-fired power plants as its utilities seek to develop more power stations to stem surging energy supply bills. With the government considering the closure of much of the installed nuclear capacity over the medium term, the spotlight is back on coal as the cheapest energy source, notwithstanding plans to cut carbon...

New technology and a little-known energy source suggest that fossil fuels may not be finite. This would be a miracle—and a nightmare. As the great research ship Chikyu left Shimizu in January to mine the explosive ice beneath the Philippine Sea, chances are good that not one of the scientists aboard realized they might be closing the door on Winston Churchill’s world. Their lack of knowledge is unsurprising; beyond the ranks of petroleum-industry historians, Churchill’s outsize role in the history of energy is insufficiently appreciated. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911. With characteristic...

Cheap natural gas has split the climate debate into two camps. One celebrates the development, emphasizing that natural gas cuts emissions when it replaces coal, and arguing that abundant gas reduces emissions as a result. The other bemoans the news, noting that inexpensive natural gas makes it tougher for zero-carbon energy to compete and arguing that this will ultimately result in higher, not lower, emissions. Which view is right? Exploring a set of simulations just released as part of the Annual Energy Outlook published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) provides some neat insight. For the first time, the EIA...

LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany — The sprawling chemical plant in this city along the Rhine River has been a jewel of Germany’s manufacturing-led economy for more than a century. But the plunging price of natural gas in the United States has European companies setting sail across the Atlantic to stay competitive. German chemicals giant BASF, which operates the plant here, has announced plans for wide-ranging expansion in the United States, where natural gas prices have fallen to a quarter of those in Europe, largely because of American innovations in unlocking shale gas. Among those most affected are energy-intensive industries such as steel...

ALBANY, N.Y. - A formal complaint filed with New York's lobbying board asks it to investigate whether Artists Against Fracking, a group that includes Yoko Ono and other A-List celebrities, is violating the state's lobbying law, according to the document obtained by The Associated Press. The Independent Oil & Gas Association, an industry group that supports gas drilling, filed the complaint Tuesday with the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics. The complaint is based on an AP story that found that Artists Against Fracking and its members, including Ono, her son Sean Lennon, actors Mark Ruffalo and Robert De Niro...

Such is the impact of the shale gas revolution in the United States that it's quite possible that babies born today will no longer play with plastic dolls and cars made in China. It's almost become a fait accompli that China is the world's factory, but the early warning signs that this may be changing are starting to show. The advent of cheap natural gas in the U.S. is threatening to displace expensive naphtha in the production of petrochemicals, the key building blocks for plastics, synthetic fibres and solvents and cleaners. While the shale gas boom is certainly no longer...

North America has become the fastest growing oil and gas region in the world. Production of shale oil and gas and oil sands resources are increasing year after year as new infrastructures are developed, new extraction technologies are used and more resources are found. The surging supply growth could change North America into the new Middle East by 2020 according to a GPS report produced by Citigroup (NYSE: C). If accurate, the energy industry would generate benefits from exploitation of oil and ensure endless economic wealth for the country. As a matter of fact, crude oil is off its all-time...

<p>“THE NATURAL-GAS boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence,” President Obama declared in his State of the Union addressTuesday night. “That’s why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits.”</p>

A new state report shows Utica shale has started bringing good-paying jobs to Ohio. Employment in core shale industries, such as pipeline construction and well drilling, increased 17 percent from the first quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012. Employment in ancillary shale industries such as freight trucking and environmental consulting increased 3 percent over the same period, according the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services report. Overall, the shale industry added nearly 6,000 jobs during that time. The average salary in core shale industries was $73,934 while the average salary in ancillary industries was $58,765...