Oklahoma Had Nearly 2,000 Earthquakes Last Year From Fracking

Fracking, which will likely increase under Trump, produces large amounts of pollutants that directly affect local populations.

teleSUR
By teleSUR
Maintenance workers inspect the damage to one of the spires on Benedictine Hall at St. Gregory's University following an earthquake in Shawnee, Okla, Nov. 6, 2011. (AP/Sue Ogrocki)

(REPORT) --- Oklahoma has registered about 1,829 earthquakes in the past year, attributable to wastewater injection from deep underground drilling wells — wells that will likely multiply under an incoming Donald Trump administration. The state saw a record-breaking year, with a 5.8-magnitude earthquake in September and 4.5-magnitude and

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Abandoned Texas Oil Wells Seen As “Ticking Time Bombs” Of Contamination

Texas is among several states grappling with a surge of abandoned drilling sites and dwindling funds to clean them up.

Jim Malewitz
By Jim Malewitz
Ty Edwards, assistant general manager of the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District, points to brackish water flowing from one of several flowing abandoned wells— originally drilled for oil, but later used for irrigation — that no state agency plans to plug. Rafael Aguilera for The Texas Tribune

IMPERIAL (REPORT) — Peculiar things can happen after folks drill deep into the earth — looking for oil, water or whatever — and leave a bunch of holes in the ground. Fluids can gurgle and leak, migrating where they don’t belong. In rare instances, land could even sink or collapse. The oddest unintended consequences tend to bubble up in this

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Obama Bans Drilling Indefinitely In Most Of Arctic, Atlantic Waters

In issuing a permanent ban, Obama appears to be trying to tie the hands of his successor.

Associated Press
By Associated Press
In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard the conical drilling unit Kulluk sits grounded near a beach 40 miles southwest of Kodiak City, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Zachary Painter)

HONOLULU (REPORT) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday designated the bulk of U.S.-owned waters in the Arctic Ocean and certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean as indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing. The move helps put some finishing touches on Obama's environmental legacy while also testing President-elect Donald Trump's promise to

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Exxon Heading Back To The Arctic Once Russia Sanctions Are Lifted

The move comes as Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson has emerged as President-elect Donald Trump’s likely nominee for Secretary of State.

Zachary Davies Boren
By Zachary Davies Boren
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson shake hands at a signing ceremony of an agreement between state-controlled Russian oil company Rosneft and Exxon Mobil corporation at the Black Sea port of Tuapse, southern Russia, Friday, June 15, 2012. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service)

ExxonMobil will return to its Arctic partnership with Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft once the US government lifts sanctions against Moscow, a top executive said earlier this year. According to a Reuters report from April, Glenn Waller – who heads up Exxon’s operations in Russia – announced that the US oil giant had not given up on its

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North Dakota Fracking Company Fined $2.1 Million For Pollution Of Native American Reservation

Slawson Exploration Company, the largest oil producer in the Midwest, was fined over $2 million for contaminating the air of the Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
A derrick pumps oil on a hill above Alexander, in the Bakken region of N.D. AP Photo/Martha Irvine)

During the past few centuries, the US federal government has consistently abused North American indigenous groups through the seizure of land and resources as well as through social and political discrimination. These practices were born out of a widespread belief known as “Manifest Destiny,” which held that European settlers were meant to expand

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What’s Behind BP’s Decision To Abandon Drilling In The Great Australian Bight?

Taken at face value, one could applaud BP’s decision to finally pull the plug on the project rather than stubbornly struggle on.

Energydesk
By Energydesk
The Great Australian Bight is a large open bay off the southern coastline of mainland Australia.

While BP’s decision to cancel its plans to drill in the pristine Great Australian Bight ends a public relations nightmare for the company, questions remain about BP’s and its peers’ growth-led and frontier-dependent business model. BP’s announcement binning its Bight ambitions suggests that the project is no longer competitive or aligned with

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