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Levels of radon, an invisible, odorless radioactive gas, have been rising measurably in Pennsylvania since the controversial practice of fracking started there, researchers reported Thursday. The study cannot directly link fracking with the raised radon levels. But whatever is going on, residents need to be aware of the rising levels of the gas and take action to get it out of their homes, the researchers say. Radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S., killing an estimated 21,000 people a year. It occurs naturally in many types of rocks, and many people who have bought or sold...

Many scientists disagree. They say those quakes, and thousands of others before and since, are mainly the work of humans, caused by wells used to bury vast amounts of wastewater from oil and gas exploration deep in the earth near fault zones. And they warn that continuing to entomb such huge quantities risks more dangerous tremors — if not here, then elsewhere in the state’s sprawling well fields.

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM/AP) – Nine earthquakes, three of them greater than a 3.0 in magnitude, rocked the DFW area on Tuesday afternoon and into early Wednesday, knocking items off of walls, causing cracks to appear in ceilings and generally rattling nerves across the region. “Shook my whole house!” said CBS 11 News viewer Aprille Maganda from her home in the Las Colinas area of Irving.

There have been more than 500 magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma this year, up significantly from 109 in 2013 and just 35 in 2012, according to U.S. Geological Survey officials. As of Monday, there were 549 of the higher magnitude quakes in 2014, with 19 being magnitude 4.0 or greater. USGS officials focused on magnitude 3.0 or greater quakes because the smaller the magnitude, the more potential there is for missing an event, USGS Geophysicist Robert Williams said. The USGS is looking into the increase in earthquakes, mostly occurring in central and north-central Oklahoma, he said. “Starting probably...

Oklahoma residents whose homes and nerves have been shaken by an upsurge in earthquakes want to know what’s causing the temblors—and what can be done to stop them.Hundreds of people are expected to turn out in Edmond, Oklahoma, on Thursday night for a town hall meeting on the issue. […] Oklahoma recorded nearly 150 between January and the start of May. Though most have been too weak to cause serious damage or endanger lives, they’ve raised suspicions that the shaking might be connected to the oil and gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, especially the wells in which the...

A survey commissioned by environmental group Greenpeace has spectacularly backfired as it revealed that more people support fracking than oppose it.

Energy: New federal regulations on fracking on public land ignore a study documenting that methane found in well water is unrelated to the location of hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells. When the Obama administration recently released its new regulations on fracking — regulations that it said were needed to keep up with the advance and success of the decades-old technology to meet public safety needs — the Independent Petroleum Association of America and Western Energy Alliance immediately filed suit, saying that the new regs were based on "unsubstantiated concerns" that lacked any scientific basis. "Hydraulic fracturing has been conducted...

A couple years ago, scholars from Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley tried to determine which regions around the country offered higher rates of youth mobility for children born to parents with low-incomes. Interestingly, the greatest areas for mobility are the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions. Many states in this region – North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and Colorado, for example – have long welcomed energy development within their borders and have embraced the recent advances in mining and drilling technologies that led to the mid-2010s nationwide energy boom. When the above map is compared to one showing the...

This afternoon, Fact Check.org produced a fact-check that ostensibly criticizes U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) for his contention that there has never been an instance of ground water contamination caused by hydraulic fracturing. Of course, this piece isn’t really about Inhofe at all; but before we get into that, we can’t help but wonder why they are fact-checking Inhofe and not former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson … or Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz … or Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell — all of whom have said exactly the same thing. Rather than a “fact-check,” it reads more like an advocacy...

At least 2,000 jobs will likely be lost in New Mexico’s oil and gas industry in the coming months because of sharp declines in the price of crude oil, according to estimates by the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

A Senate committee gave unanimous approval Tuesday to a bill that would limit local control over oil and gas activities across Texas — a measure being referred to as the "Denton fracking bill." The proposal is among nearly a dozen filed in the aftermath of the North Texas town's vote in November to ban hydraulic fracturing within city limits, and it's among those most likely to pass. The legislation, Senate Bill 1165, now heads to the full Senate, where advocates for municipalities will push for changes to address their biggest concern – that the proposal would jeopardize long-held city police...

Hydraulic fracking, the technique that extracts oil and natural gas from shale formations, has caused a plunge in energy prices and is a bright spot in an otherwise moribund American economy. Naturally, President Obama wants to clamp down federal regulations on the process, at least on Federal lands, according to Politico. But Breitbart reported on Thursday that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas and Rep. Joe Bridenstine, R-Oklahoma, are proposing a different approach in the form of the American Energy Renaissance Act. The Obama administration’s new anti-fracking measures have two purposes. First, they are mean to cater to the environmental lobby, which...

Gasoline prices in the U.S. are still lower than they have been in years but nonetheless are higher than they were a month ago. And in a handful of Midwestern states, sharply higher. According to the AAA Fuel Gauge survey, the average price of self-serve regular in Indiana jumped 10 cents a gallon in 24 hours, from $2.16 a gallon to $2.26. In Michigan, the average price also jumped a dime a gallon, from $2.25 to $2.35 a gallon. In Illinois, the increase is much less dramatic, rising from $2.35 a gallon to $2.38. But the average price of gasoline...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday unveiled the nation’s first major federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial technique for oil and gas drilling that has led to a dramatic increase in American energy production but has also raised concerns about health and safety risks. The Interior Department began drafting the rules in Mr. Obama’s first term after breakthroughs in the technology, also known as fracking, led to a surge in the production of oil and gas. The fracking boom has put the United States on track to soon become the world’s largest oil and gas producer. But environmentalists...

The Obama administration said Friday it is requiring companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations. A rule to take effect in June also updates requirements for well construction and disposal of water and other fluids used in fracking, a drilling method that has prompted an ongoing boom in natural gas production. The rule has been under consideration for more than three years, drawing criticism from the oil and gas industry and environmental groups. The industry fears the regulation could hinder the drilling boom, while some environmental groups worry...

The Obama administration is set to unveil the first major nationwide safety restrictions on fracking, touching off a fresh political confrontation between the president and his critics in Congress and the energy industry. The Interior Department’s rules — expected to be released Friday morning — are the federal government’s most comprehensive foray to date toward regulating the technology at the heart of the U.S. oil and gas boom, addressing worries such as potential dangers to drinking water. They will also offer oil and gas supporters new room to accuse President Barack Obama of seeking to throttle fossil-fuel production, despite his...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is set to issue the first major federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing on Friday, with new mandates targeting oil and gas wells on public land. The Interior Department rule reflects years of work by regulators seeking to balance environmental interests and economic imperatives in setting baseline standards for the way wells are constructed and stimulated for oil and gas production. But the final version, set to be unveiled Friday by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, according to stakeholders familiar with the timeline, is unlikely to appease environmentalists who have argued for strong protections or oil...

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-OK-1, today introduced the American Energy Renaissance Act to empower the private sector to create good-paying American jobs, spur economic growth and expand opportunity. The companion legislation, introduced in the U.S Senate as S. 791 and in the House of Representatives, will harness our nation’s energy resources and remove federal impediments to energy exploration, development and trade. The legislation will also reduce American dependence on unfriendly nations for our energy needs, and ensure the United States will be able to exert its influence and support its allies around the world. “Today...

The E.U. Experiment Has Failedby Bruce ThorntonThursday, March 5, 2015 The slow-motion crisis of the European Union is the big story that rarely gets the attention it deserves. Even an event like the recent terrorist attack in France that left 17 dead is often isolated from the larger political, economic, and social problems that have long plagued the project of unifying the countries of Europe in order to harness its collective economic power, and to avoid the bloody internecine strife that stains its history. On the economic front, the E.U.’s dismal economic performance over the last six years was summed...

MADISON (WKOW) -- Two executives who run a Texas-based sand mining company - which paid $52,500 in fines to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in 2014 - are major backers of Gov. Scott Walker's political action committee Our American Revival (OAR), according to CNN. In an article detailing several big money donors published on Monday, CNN lists Bob Rasmus and James Whipkey - who run Hi-Crush Partners - as two of OAR's major supporters in Texas. In August of 2014, 27 News reported the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered Hi-Crush Partners to pay $52,500 in July for...