Research and Reports

Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Marcellus Shale - report from Carnegie Mellon contradicts a March 2011 report from Cornell which concluded that emissions from shale gas extraction had a greater greenhouse gas impact than coal.

Carnegie Mellon Report in Error - Wes Wilson, EPA whistleblower, contrasts the research assumptions of the Cornell report with those used in the Carnegie Mellon report.  (from WTFrack.org website)

Greenhouse gases may be underestimated

Boom and Busts, The Impact of West Virginia’s Energy Economy, by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy

Gassed: Citizen Investigation of Toxic Air Pollution from Natural Gas Development, July 2011. Citizen sampling of air quality near natural gas production facilities has identified highly unsafe levels of toxic chemicals near homes, playgrounds, schools and community centers in Colorado and New Mexico.

EPA Document- Reduced Emissions Completion.  How green completions reduce emissions of methane, hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) AND makes money for the gas producer.

Methane Contamination of Drinking Water Accompanying Gas Well Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing, Duke University, April 2011.   The study documented that water samples from drinking                  wells taken closest to the gas wells had on average 17 times the levels detected in wells further from active drilling.

Health Impact Assessment for Battlement Mesa, Garfield County Colorado, Sept. 2010.  This Health Impact Assessment (HIA) was conducted by members of the faculty and staff of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH) at the request of the Garfield County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), to help address community concerns regarding future land use decisions.

Town of Dish, Texas; Ambient Air Monitoring Analysis, Sept. 15, 2009.  Laboratory results confirmed the presence of multiple Recognized and Suspected Human Carcinogens in fugitive air emissions present on several locations tested in the Town of DISH. The compounds identified are commonly known to emanate from industrial processes directly related to the natural gas industrial processes of exploration, drilling, flaring and compression.

EPA confirms high Natural Gas leakage rates, The Energy Collective, Dec. 2010

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry, Background Technical Support Document, EPA, Climate Change Division

Fractured Communities is a September 2010 report prepared by Riverkeeper, a NY  clean water advocacy group.  The report details more than 100 instances of environmental contamination linked to the gas drilling operations around the country.