EARTHblog

This true story is filled with enough hubris, greed, unchecked power, a plague, and questionable relationships to fill a Greek tragedy. French energy giant TEP Barnett (Total) cannot drill in France where fracking is banned due to the harmful effects… More »

Last week EDF released a new aspect to its astounding Permian methane map (go visit it!) addressing unlit and malfunctioning flares. This is important because, as bad as flares are, unlit flares are worse. Flares are permitted by regulators to… More »

On any given day in the Texas oil fields, operators are legally permitted to let natural gas go up in flames. As Earthworks’ field investigations have found, they also let it go up in smoke. Recent studies indicate that flaring… More »

The Texas state legislature doesn’t always give me a lot of hope. From outlawing local control to the two new ALEC bills restricting our freedom to protest, there is a lot not to like in Austin. But this legislative session… More »

Climate Change: the complex issue that we just can’t seem to figure out. Confusion around the causes and effects of climate change make it easy for the oil and gas industry, its scientists for hire, and scheming politicians to muddy… More »

Since HB40 took away our right to ban fracking at the local level Texans need new ways to protect our homes and families. Now more than ever, Texans need our regulators, the Texas Railroad Commission, to rein in the oil and gas industry and protect our basic rights. 

For the past year I have been travelling the country exposing otherwise invisible air pollution from fracking and fracking-related development. In 2014, Earthworks was able to buy a FLIR (Forward Looking InfraRed) Gasfinder 320 camera thanks to the generous support of our members and donors. This camera is the gold-standard of oil and gas pollution detection. Industry and government alike use the same model camera and have the same certification I do to operate it. The camera detects methane and about 20 different volatile organic compounds that are health-harming and climate polluting.

I spent eight hours in Denton on Tuesday night at a city council hearing to consider a ban on fracking in city limits, and during that time, I saw the oil and gas industry do what they do best. And that’s not drilling and fracking, folks. It’s bullying, lying, spreading propaganda and fear mongering. Their behavior and dirty tricks were abysmal and fooled no one who mattered; even the Council called them out on it.

The good news is that I also saw the people of Denton, nearly 100 of them, stand up and speak for their rights to clean air, and to quiet neighborhoods, and healthy kids. The bad news is that the city council listened to the industry suits, wearing nice shoes and representing oil and gas companies and mineral rights owners intent on profiting from other people’s misery. At 3AM, the city council voted against a ban, sending the question to the ballot measure in the fall.