One UT professor is finding new connections between drilling activity and quakes. Should Texans be concerned?

Drilling is creating a gusher of jobs in South Texas, but trucks are ripping up roads and large amounts of water are being used. A look at the ups and downs of the fracking boom.

Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is extending the period for public comment on its investigation of water contamination linked to fracking in Wyoming. The report was released in draft form in December and drew attention across the country, especially in Texas. It was the first time the EPA had linked fracking […]

Fracking has suffered some particularly bad PR over the past few months. First, the EPA linked the hydraulic fracturing drilling process (where a mix of water, sand and chemicals are blasted deep underground through horizontal wells to release oil and gas deposits) to contamination of water in Wyoming. Then, on New Year’s Eve an intense […]

After a 4.0 earthquake struck Youngstown, Ohio Saturday, some people were scratching their heads and asking, did hydraulic fracturing (aka “fracking”) cause this? After all, it was the eleventh quake since March, and the most intense. On top of that, all of the quakes have been centered around a deep well used to dispose of […]

What happened with the earthquake in Ohio over the weekend, and how is it linked to fracking? Here’s what we know: The earthquake measured 4.0, the largest in Ohio this year. The New York Times is reporting that Ohio officials say the earthquake wasn’t caused by fracking, but rather by injection wells disposing of used […]

The company behind a fracking well in Wyoming that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says may have contaminated water sources held a conference call today. Encana, the company that owns the drilling operation, faulted the EPA’s methodology and objectives. The call provided a good indication of how the company, and perhaps the fracking industry at […]

A few weeks after the Environmental Protection Agency released a draft report that found a link between hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and water contamination in Wyoming, the Texas governor is weighing in on the topic. Not that he necessarily intended to do so. As KUT’s Ben Philpott reports, at the final stop of the day on […]

Our partners at StateImpact Pennsylvania have developed a new app that allows you to explore the rapidly growing world of drilling there. The interactive map shows who’s drilling where and allows you to see if drillers have been cited for violations of state environmental laws and regulations. The data from the app shows that there are 52 […]

A report on fracking and water contamination from the Environmental Protection Agency sent shockwaves through the industry this week. What does it mean for drilling in Texas?