Follow the major events affecting the case against fracking.
Created by FoodandWaterWatch on Jun 7, 2011
Last updated: 07/12/11 at 02:22 PM
Tags: fracking frack energy environment health publichealth hydraulicfracturing naturalgas
Food & Water Watch's report entitled The Case for a Ban on Gas Fracking is released, calling on federal, state and local officials to ban fracking in shale.
The Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Natural Gas Subcommittee will hold a public hearing at Washington & Jefferson College to hear from community members interested in the safety and environmental performance of the hydraulic fracturing process.
NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sues federal government for failure to study fracking before issuing draft regulations for fracking in the Delaware River Basin.
Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission extended the suspension of two wells owned by Chesapeake Energy and Clarita Operating for sixty additional days for continued study of a correlation between drilling operations and earthquake activity.
Chesapeake Energy announced that it resumed drilling in Pennsylvania.
Duke University study published on April 14 in the National Academy of Sciences found that average methane concentrations in shallow drinking water in active drilling areas were 17 times higher than in non-active areas.
Penn Environment releases a report that examined more than 3,000 fracking wells in PA and found them located within two miles of 320 day care centers, 67 school and nine hospitals.
Obama forms a panel to improve fracking safety, comprised of people who have affiliations with the oil and gas industry.
Rally for a statewide ban in New York in Albany.
EPA announces plans to issue guidance for use of diesel fuel in fracking.
PA DEP voluntarily asks oil and gas drillers not to take wastewater to 16 water treatment facilities effective May 19, 2011. This is a voluntary request and the companies are under no obligation to comply.
Chesapeake Energy suspends hydraulic fracturing in the state of Pennsylvania until it determines the cause of the spill.
South Africa places moratorium on fracking in Karoo region.
Large spill at Chesapeake Energy shale drilling site in Bradford County, Pa. forces the evacuation of seven families and resulted in fracking wastewater spilling onto farmland and into a nearby stream.
Energy and Commerce Committee investigation finds fracking fluid contains 750 chemicals, some of which are very hazardous to human health including benzene and lead.
NY attorney general Eric Schneiderman tells federal government he will sue unless the Delaware River Basin Commission commits to a study of safety impacts of fracking.
Obama endorses “Pickens Plan” for energy that focuses on creating new markets for natural gas (for vehicles such as buses and trucks) and would depend on fracking shale.
China fracked its first horizontal shale gas well.
Over 36,000 public comments delivered to Delaware River Basin Commission opposing fracking.
Cornell University study (printed March 13, 2011) released to media, which finds that fracking could have a greater climate change effect than coal and oil over the lifecycle of its production.
NAT GAS Act introduced in House of Representatives with 76 original co-sponsors.
BREATHE Act introduced in Congress, which would remove two exemptions for gas drilling under the Clean Air Act.
FRAC Act reintroduced in 112th Congress.
Former George W.Bush EPA official Benjamin Grumbles says fracking exemptions from environmental regulations in the 2005 Energy Policy Act went too far.
Partial moratorium on fracking passed in Quebec.
EPA letter called on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to develop a sampling plan for testing for radionuclides in response to the NY Times investigative series.
Arkansas Oil & Gas commission suspends the operation of two wells owned by Chesapeake Energy and Clarita Operating to allow for exploration of a possible correlation between the wells and earthquake activity.
A New York Times investigative series Drilling Down reveals that the wastewater contains radioactive compounds at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle.
EPA releases draft study plan of new investigation into hydraulic fracturing and drinking water.
Energy & Commerce Committee investigative report finds that 32 million gallons of diesel fuel was used in 19 states between 2005 and 2009 and that no oil or gas companies were given permits by state or federal agencies for the use of diesel, a violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Associated Press review of Pa.’s fracking water treatment found that the state could not account for the disposal method of 1.28 million barrels of wastewater (one-fifth of the total annual amount) due to faulty reporting.
NY Governor Paterson signs an executive order placing a six month moratorium on horizontal fracking in the state until the Department of Environmental Conservation completes a comprehensive review.
Delaware River Basin Commission issues draft regulations to allow hydraulic fracturing in the river basin—the drinking water supply for 15.6 million people.
Riverkeeper report presents hundreds of fracking case studies of environmental problems across the country.
Hundreds of protesters in Binghamton, N.Y. turn out to oppose fracking at EPA hearings regarding broad investigation into impacts of fracking.
Endocrine Disruption Exchange Study found that chemicals in fracking fluid could cause cancer, disrupt the endocrine system, affect nervous, immune and endocrine system and affect the skin, eyes and respiratory system.
June 5 2010: Blowout at Clearfield County, Pa. well site leaked gas and wastewater for 16 hours before being contained.
Environmental Working Group investigation of chemical disclosure found fracking fluid contained 93 times more benzene than diesel. The amount of benzene from a single fracked well could contaminate more than 100 billion gallons of drinking water.
Residents of Dimock, Pennsylvania sue Cabot Oil and Gas, claiming that natural gas drilling contaminated their wells and reduced their property values
FRAC Act introduced in Congress; would make hydraulic fracturing subject to the Safe Drinking Water Act and require the disclosure of chemicals used in fracking.
An ongoing investigation of fracking by ProPublica found court and government documentation of more than 1,000 cases of water contamination in Colorado, New Mexico, Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Energy Policy Act passes with “Halliburton loophole,” which exempts hydraulic fracturing from Safe Drinking Water Act.
Weston Wilson wrote a memo to Congress calling the EPA report, “scientifically unsound and contrary to the purposes of the law (Safe Drinking Water Act).” He also reported that five of the seven members of the external review committee had conflict of interest and were positioned to benefit from the oil and gas drilling.
June 2004: EPA study finds the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into coalbed methane wells poses little or no threat to U.S. drinking water supplies.
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