State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Hydraulic Fracturing

  • Could 2020 Determine Fracking’s Future?

    Could 2020 Determine Fracking’s Future?

    With mounting evidence of health and environmental impacts, fracking faces opposition from many of the leading Democratic candidates for president.

  • Study Links Groundwater Changes to Fracking

    Distance and Topography Play Roles in Pennsylvania

  • Assessing Conflict in the Policy Process, Using Fracking as a Lens

    Assessing Conflict in the Policy Process, Using Fracking as a Lens

    Conflict is essential in the policy process, and understanding conflict better has the potential to assist policymakers and improve outcomes.

  • Hospitalizations Increase Near Fracking Sites, Study Shows

    Hospitalizations Increase Near Fracking Sites, Study Shows

    People living in areas of Pennsylvania where hydraulic fracturing is booming are suffering increasing rates of hospitalization, a new study says. The study is one of a small but growing number suggesting that the practice could be affecting human health.

  • Photo Essay: Studying Fracking’s Effects, Up Close and Personal

    Photo Essay: Studying Fracking’s Effects, Up Close and Personal

    Ten years ago, hydraulic fracturing barely existed. Today 45,000 fracked wells produce natural gas, providing energy for millions of homes and businesses, and nearly a quarter of the nation’s electricity. But scientists are far behind in understanding how this boom affects people near wells. Geochemists Beizhan Yan and James Ross of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth…

  • The Fracking Facts

    The Fracking Facts

    Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial method for extracting natural gas, has become a hot button issue across the U.S. But let’s try to look objectively at its benefits and risks.

  • The Boom of Hydraulic Fracturing

    The Boom of Hydraulic Fracturing

    Experts discuss the rise and boom of unconventional hydrocarbon extraction in the final Sustainable Development Seminar Series of the 2012-2013 academic year.

  • Green Films for Earth Day 2013

    Green Films for Earth Day 2013

    Mothers, carbon, trash, vanishing ice and “secret lives”: Watch a movie for Earth Day and learn.

  • Ohio Quakes Probably Triggered by Disposal Well, Say Seismologists

    Ohio Quakes Probably Triggered by Disposal Well, Say Seismologists

    Earthquakes that have shaken an area just outside Youngstown, Ohio, in the last nine months are likely linked to a disposal well for injecting wastewater used in the hydraulic fracturing process, say LDEO seismologists.

  • Could 2020 Determine Fracking’s Future?

    Could 2020 Determine Fracking’s Future?

    With mounting evidence of health and environmental impacts, fracking faces opposition from many of the leading Democratic candidates for president.

  • Study Links Groundwater Changes to Fracking

    Distance and Topography Play Roles in Pennsylvania

  • Assessing Conflict in the Policy Process, Using Fracking as a Lens

    Assessing Conflict in the Policy Process, Using Fracking as a Lens

    Conflict is essential in the policy process, and understanding conflict better has the potential to assist policymakers and improve outcomes.

  • Hospitalizations Increase Near Fracking Sites, Study Shows

    Hospitalizations Increase Near Fracking Sites, Study Shows

    People living in areas of Pennsylvania where hydraulic fracturing is booming are suffering increasing rates of hospitalization, a new study says. The study is one of a small but growing number suggesting that the practice could be affecting human health.

  • Photo Essay: Studying Fracking’s Effects, Up Close and Personal

    Photo Essay: Studying Fracking’s Effects, Up Close and Personal

    Ten years ago, hydraulic fracturing barely existed. Today 45,000 fracked wells produce natural gas, providing energy for millions of homes and businesses, and nearly a quarter of the nation’s electricity. But scientists are far behind in understanding how this boom affects people near wells. Geochemists Beizhan Yan and James Ross of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth…

  • The Fracking Facts

    The Fracking Facts

    Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial method for extracting natural gas, has become a hot button issue across the U.S. But let’s try to look objectively at its benefits and risks.

  • The Boom of Hydraulic Fracturing

    The Boom of Hydraulic Fracturing

    Experts discuss the rise and boom of unconventional hydrocarbon extraction in the final Sustainable Development Seminar Series of the 2012-2013 academic year.

  • Green Films for Earth Day 2013

    Green Films for Earth Day 2013

    Mothers, carbon, trash, vanishing ice and “secret lives”: Watch a movie for Earth Day and learn.

  • Ohio Quakes Probably Triggered by Disposal Well, Say Seismologists

    Ohio Quakes Probably Triggered by Disposal Well, Say Seismologists

    Earthquakes that have shaken an area just outside Youngstown, Ohio, in the last nine months are likely linked to a disposal well for injecting wastewater used in the hydraulic fracturing process, say LDEO seismologists.