ICYMI: Important fracking news

This could be a huge blow to industry. Imagine admitting you used acrylonitrile in your fracking concoction then acrylonitrile turns up in the landowner’s water. Oops!

Wyoming Supreme Court Rejects Fracking Industry Argument to Withhold Chemicals As Trade Secrets “It is important for public health and safety that citizens have timely access to what chemicals are used in fracking operations on and near our land,” stated Kristi Mogen, Resource Council Board Member who lives near fracking operations in Converse County, Wyoming. “We applaud Powder River Basin Resource Council for their hard work in bringing this case and for their dedication to empowering the residents of Wyoming.”

‘Full Disclosure’ of Frack Chemicals Urged by Energy Department Advisors

The “Task Force Report on FracFocus 2.0” from the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) said state and federal regulators should adopt standards for companies making trade secret claims for fracking fluid ingredients and establish a compliance process and challenge mechanism.

International Energy Agency says only a decade left of U.S. shale boom

A surge in US oil and natural gas production has lifted hopes about North American energy security, but that growth will plateau and will be difficult to replicate elsewhere, says Maria van der Hoeven, chief executive of the International Energy Agency, in an interview with the Monitor.

Natural gas prices could rise 54% severely damaging the American economy if we export American natural gas.

“Natural Gas as a Diplomatic Tool” (editorial, March 7), supporting calls to export American natural gas overseas in response to the crisis in Ukraine, doesn’t mention the effect that exports would have on the American economy. The editorial concedes that the United States cannot tell companies where to sell exports. The free market would likely send gas to higher priced markets in Asia or South America. Approving exports is an ineffective way to assist Ukraine. Yet the editorial doesn’t mention the devastating economic impact from exporting American gas. We have already approved five export terminals. The Energy Department has warned that if we approve one more, United States prices could increase by 54 percent, potentially translating into a de facto tax of $62 billion a year. That export tax would cripple America’s manufacturing renaissance, crush consumers and destroy millions of potential jobs. We should resist the calls to rush more exports as an ineffective foreign policy tool that would severely damage the American economy. EDWARD J. MARKEY Malden, Mass., March 10, 2014

America’s dirtiest secret How billions of barrels of toxic oil and gas waste are falling through regulatory cracks

the oil and gas industry’s other contamination problems are so large, they have literally been deemed impossible to prevent or even clean up by both industry and government. As a result, an unimaginable tonnage of contamination is being placed into our environment every year thanks to the near total lack of regulations over oil and gas exploration and production wastes. The story behind this unregulated onslaught of contamination is so bizarre as to seem impossible, but it isn’t.