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Thursday, March 03, 2011

Oil could be next arena for fracking coverage

Hydraulic fracturing in natural-gas drilling has received much attention lately, and oil drilling can present many of the same issues. "As fracking for gas has proven successful from an industry perspective, companies extracting oil are jumping on the fracking bandwagon," the Society of Environmental Journalists reports in its Tip Sheet. "Their method is very similar to that used for natural gas, and therefore may pose some of the same health and environmental risks." Oil fracking is already occurring in California, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming.

Oil fracking "likely will continue to expand considerably in volume and location in the near future," SEJ reports. "Some experts are saying it could reduce U.S. oil imports by half within a decade." Initial results from the Environmental Protection Agency's ongoing study of oil and gas fracking is to be completed in 2014. SEJ has provided a number of resources for reporting on fracking, including EPA's website about the method, an industry perspective from the American Petroleum Institute and several examples of existing media coverage about the issue. (Read more)

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