One of the arguments against fracking, and the natural gas industry in general, is that burning gas releases carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming.i What if burning natural gas resulted in no CO2 emissions? In the next three to five years that may be true. MIT Technology Review has identified “zero carbon natural gas” as […]
It was an interesting week for BLM’s hydraulic fracturing rule first finalized and then immediately challenged on March 26, 2015. On Monday (June 20, 2016), the BLM filed its final brief in the Tenth Circuit arguing that the Wyoming Federal District Court erred when it issued a nationwide injunction of the rule on September 30, […]
In companion decisions issued May 2, 2016, the Colorado Supreme Court (Gabriel, J.) affirmed district court summary judgment orders invalidating home-rule oil and gas regulations concerned with hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). The Court relied on the intent and scope of state-wide oil and gas legislation as reflected in the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Act, §§ […]
On January 27, 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey, the science arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior, published a scientific investigative report, supported by a separate data series, consisting of hydraulic fracturing and fracturing treatment records from 1947-2010. Over 1 million fracked wells and 1.8 million fracking treatment records were reviewed by the agency. […]
On January 19, 2015, in a 199-page summary judgment opinion in SWEPI, LP v. Mora County, New Mexico (CIV 14-0035 JB/SCY), New Mexico U.S. District Court Judge James Browning declared that a 2013 Mora County ordinance banning corporate oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing unconstitutional and in violation of the corporate-plaintiff developer’s property rights […]