EARTHblog

It’s been almost 10 years since the death of my father, who, when current events were bleak, would instruct me to “take a historical perspective…many things eventually get better.” His childhood memories were of the Great Depression and his last… More »

Oil and gas companies often claim they limit pollution by using “best practices.” But what happens when those practices actually make things worse? Such is the case with flaring natural gas, which operators and regulators claim is necessary to avoid… More »

All good things come to those who wait, the saying goes. An Arvin, CA neighborhood recently experienced this—though unfortunately the waiting included years of pollution impacts. As the video below shows, from 2017-2019, Earthworks documented a leaking tank at the… More »

In the age of climate change, some governments have set ambitious goals to reduce pollution from fossil fuels. In the US, California leads the way with plans to cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. Getting there… More »

Robert Frost’s famous poem is often quoted in connection to personal choices: “Two paths diverged in a yellow wood…and I took the one less traveled by…and it made all the difference.” Today, elected officials in New York and other states… More »

One of the first lessons everyone has to learn in life is the meaning of “no.” As in, there are some things you just shouldn’t do because of the consequences and harm to others.

By seeking to drill any time, anywhere, the oil and gas industry clearly doesn’t think this concept applies to them. Unfortunately, Earthworks and its partners recently lost a legal battle to show them it does, and to make sure that public agencies put the public interest ahead of corporate interests. 

In late April, a US District Court judge in Florida ruled that the National Park Service (NPS) hadn’t violated federal environmental laws when it decided Burnett Oil could conduct seismic testing for oil in the Big Cypress National Preserve. 

Earlier this year, the natural gas industry declared in an exuberant report that new pipelines will “uncork” the production bottleneck and create a second boom in Utica and Marcellus Shale development. 

This vision is currently on stark display in Pennsylvania and Ohio. On a recent trip for Earthworks’ Community Empowerment Project, a colleague and I were dismayed to see pipeline cuts and compressor station scarring the landscape—including in areas absent of such activity several months ago.   

Residents and advocates gathered at the Pennsylvania State Capitol this week with a clear message to legislators: it’s high time to support measures to prevent gas industry pollution, and folly to try and block them. 

Over a year ago, PA Governor Tom Wolf and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) rolled out a strategy to reduce methane emissions, emphasizing risks to both health and the climate. But industry efforts to stop broader oil and gas regulations from taking effect delayed any progress on new methane control measures.