scholarly journals A Survey of Typical Claims and Key Defenses Asserted in Recent Hydraulic Fracturing Litigation

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-334
Author(s):  
Michael Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Small Energy ◽  
Horizontal Drilling ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Drinking Water Resources ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas ◽  
Energy Companies

Small energy companies using hydraulic fracturing, along with horizontal drilling, are unlocking vast oil and natural gas deposits trapped in shale all over the United States. Over the past few years, several key technical, economic, and energy policy developments have spurred increased use of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas extraction over a wider diversity of geographic regions and geologic formations.2 However, with the expansion of hydraulic fracturing, there have been increasing concerns voiced by the public about potential impacts on drinking water resources, public health, and the environment.

Shale, Quakes, and High Stakes: Regulating Fracking-Induced Seismicity in Oklahoma, USA and Lancashire, UK

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Miriam R. Aczel ◽  
Karen E. Makuch
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Seismic Activity ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
High Volume ◽  
The United States ◽  
Horizontal Drilling ◽  
Induced Seismic Activity

High-volume hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling has “revolutionized” the United States’ oil and gas industry by allowing extraction of previously inaccessible oil and gas trapped in shale rock [1]. Although the United States has extracted shale gas in different states for several decades, the United Kingdom is in the early stages of developing its domestic shale gas resources, in the hopes of replicating the United States’ commercial success with the technologies [2, 3]. However, the extraction of shale gas using hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling poses potential risks to the environment and natural resources, human health, and communities and local livelihoods. Risks include contamination of water resources, air pollution, and induced seismic activity near shale gas operation sites. This paper examines the regulation of potential induced seismic activity in Oklahoma, USA, and Lancashire, UK, and concludes with recommendations for strengthening these protections.

Shaping State Fracking Policies in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles E. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Horizontal Drilling ◽  
Gas Drilling ◽  
The Past ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
State And Local

This article presents an overview of research focusing on how state and local governments have regulated oil and gas over the past decade following the expanded industry use of new technologies like hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling. A consequence of fracking was a substantial increase in energy production accompanied by the emergence of policy concerns about how resource development and jobs could be balanced with efforts to maintain environmental quality. Researchers have dealt with three key concerns in the following sections: (1) determining whether state and local officials can each play an important role in developing policies affecting oil and gas drilling activities, (2) examining how state regulators deal with environmental and health impacts associated with fracking, and (3) looking at how state policy decisions have been shaped taking into account both state-level political and economic characteristics and agency resources and political will.

On Liability Issues Concerning Induced Seismicity in Hydraulic Fracturing Treatments and at Injection Disposal Wells: What Petroleum Engineers should know

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.. Hall ◽  
A.. Dahi Taleghani ◽  
N.. Dahi Taleghani
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Seismic Activity ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Liability ◽  
Seismic Events ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Horizontal Drilling ◽  
Public Data ◽  
Induced Seismic Activity

Abstract The rates of oil and natural gas production in the United States have increased dramatically during the past decade, largely due to the use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. This has benefitted the U.S. economy and generated hopes that the “shale revolution” could be replicated elsewhere. At the same time, however, public concern has grown regarding potential adverse impacts that fracing or other operations like gas flooding, waterflooding, waste disposal, and other production processes may have. One of the main public concerns relates to induced seismic events – that is, man-made earthquakes. Geologists have concluded that a variety of human activities can induce seismic events. Such operations include the operation of injection disposal wells, though a relatively small fraction of such wells are suspected of inducing seismic activity. Further, available public data shows that, on very rare occasions, hydraulic fracturing itself has caused tangible seismic activity. Although such events have been uncommon, they have attracted significant public attention and strengthened the opponents of oil and gas development. Further, although seismic events induced by oil and gas activity appear to have caused little damage, the potential legal liability could be substantial if such an event ever caused significant damage. Accordingly, industry should give increased attention to minimizing the likelihood of such events. The paper provides context for this issue by briefly reviewing information regarding recent cases of induced seismic activity, current technology for monitoring these events, and the inherent limitations in measurements and interpretation involved in using these techniques. This paper also discusses techniques that operators can use to reduce the likelihood of induced seismic events at hydraulic fracturing sites and at injection disposal wells. These include use of pretreatment geomechanical analyses to assess the likelihood of significant seismic events and, in appropriate circumstances, to guide a modification in perforation clusters design to reduce the likelihood of nearby fault reactivations. Finally, the article provides additional context by discussing relevant laws, including regulatory responses to suspected events of induced seismic activity and the possible legal theories for imposing liability for such events. The new regulations will compel operators to take certain actions and the potential for legal liability may incentivize additional action.

scholarly journals Horizontal Drilling of Crude Oil: A Challenge to the Norms of Property Rights

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
Kato Gogo Kingston ◽  
Charity Olunma Kaniye-Ebeku
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vertical Wells ◽  
Horizontal Drilling ◽  
Joint Development ◽  
Oil Corporations ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas ◽  
Development Agreement

Two altitudinal relationships propel current crude oil exploration jurisprudence and litigation namely: Surface land ownership and sub-surface rights (including mineral ownership). In the United States, the conflicts between the surface and mineral owners has theatrically increased in the last decade. Elsewhere, notably Nigeria, conflicts over land rights and the ownership of sub-surface minerals is yet to be fully resolved. Our goal herein is to explore the interaction between the law of property and the tort of trespass as applicable to the surface and subsurface exploration and extraction of crude oil and natural gas with specific focus on the scientific advances in horizontal drilling techniques widely used by the oil corporations in the various oil reservoirs across the world. Horizontal drilling  is described in this paper, as the exercise of drilling for liquid and gaseous mineral resources by other means other than sinking vertical wells. We argue that, horizontal drilling is one of the easiest means by which governments could lawfully capture  crude oil and gas from reservoirs of neighbouring nations to the extent that joint development agreement becomes unnecessary. Also, we opined that nations such as Nigeria could easily resolve issues of resources allocation by reducing the spread of surface wells. This could be achieved through the establishment of very few centralised drilling sites where slant or horizontal drilling can tap into various reservoirs thereby, eliminating the contestation of local agitators.

scholarly journals United States response to the COVID-19 pandemic, January–November 2020

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Mathew Alexander ◽  
Lynn Unruh ◽  
Andriy Koval ◽  
William Belanger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Health Response ◽  
Physical Infrastructure ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
United States Healthcare

Abstract As of November 2020, the United States leads the world in confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and deaths. Over the past 10 months, the United States has experienced three peaks in new cases, with the most recent spike in November setting new records. Inaction and the lack of a scientifically informed, unified response have contributed to the sustained spread of COVID-19 in the United States. This paper describes major events and findings from the domestic response to COVID-19 from January to November 2020, including on preventing transmission, COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, ensuring sufficient physical infrastructure and healthcare workforce, paying for services, and governance. We further reflect on the public health response to-date and analyse the link between key policy decisions (e.g. closing, reopening) and COVID-19 cases in three states that are representative of the broader regions that have experienced spikes in cases. Finally, as we approach the winter months and undergo a change in national leadership, we highlight some considerations for the ongoing COVID-19 response and the broader United States healthcare system. These findings describe why the United States has failed to contain COVID-19 effectively to-date and can serve as a reference in the continued response to COVID-19 and future pandemics.

Patents for Critical Pharmaceuticals: The AZT Case

1991 ◽  
Vol 17 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 145-180
Author(s):  
Evan Ackiron
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Incentive System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Incentive Programs ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Monopoly Pricing ◽  
Conflicting Interests ◽  
Necessary Evil ◽  
Near Future

Patents and other statutory types of market protections are used in the United States to promote scientific research and innovation. This incentive is especially important in research intensive fields such as the pharmaceutical industry. Unfortunately, these same protections often result in higher monopoly pricing once a successful product is brought to market. Usually this consequence is viewed as the necessary evil of an incentive system that encourages costly research and development by promising large rewards to the successful inventor. However, in the case of the AIDS drug Zidovudine (AZT), the high prices charged by the pharmaceutical company owning the drug have led to public outcry and a re-examination of government incentive systems.This Note traces the evolution of these incentive programs — the patent system, and, to a lesser extent, the orphan drug program — and details the conflicting interests involved in their development. It then demonstrates how the AZT problem brings the interest of providing inventors with incentives for risky innovative efforts into a sharp collision with the ultimate goal of such systems: ensuring that the public has access to the resulting products at a reasonable price. Finally, the Note describes how Congress and the courts have attempted to resolve these problems in the past, and how they might best try to solve the AZT problem in the near future.

scholarly journals Vulnerability due to Nocturnal Tornadoes

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 795-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walker S. Ashley ◽  
Andrew J. Krmenec ◽  
Rick Schwantes
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Building Structures ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mobile Homes ◽  
The Past ◽  
High Fatality Rate ◽  
Potential Break ◽  
Tornado Warning ◽  
Dissemination System

Abstract This study investigates the human vulnerability caused by tornadoes that occurred between sunset and sunrise from 1880 to 2007. Nocturnal tornadoes are theorized to enhance vulnerability because they are difficult to spot and occur when the public tends to be asleep and in weak building structures. Results illustrate that the nocturnal tornado death rate over the past century has not shared the same pace of decline as those events transpiring during the daytime. From 1950 to 2005, a mere 27.3% of tornadoes were nocturnal, yet 39.3% of tornado fatalities and 42.1% of killer tornado events occurred at night. Tornadoes during the overnight period (local midnight to sunrise) are 2.5 times as likely to kill as those occurring during the daytime hours. It is argued that a core reason why the national tornado fatality toll has not continued to decrease in the past few decades is due to the vulnerability to these nocturnal events. This vulnerability is magnified when other factors such as escalating mobile (or “manufactured”) home stock and an increasing and spreading population are realized. Unlike other structure types that show no robust demarcation between nocturnal and daytime fatalities, nearly 61% of fatalities in mobile homes take place at night revealing this housing stock’s distinct nocturnal tornado vulnerability. Further, spatial analysis illustrates that the American South’s high nocturnal tornado risk is an important factor leading to the region’s high fatality rate. The investigation emphasizes a potential break in the tornado warning dissemination system utilized currently in the United States.

scholarly journals Household Water Security: An Analysis of Water Affect in the Context of Hydraulic Fracturing in West Virginia, Appalachia

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethani Turley ◽  
Martina Angela Caretta
Keyword(s):  
West Virginia ◽  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Water Security ◽  
The United States ◽  
Well Water ◽  
Gas Extraction ◽  
Testing Procedures ◽  
Water Testing ◽  
Oil And Gas Companies

Hydraulic fracturing has been booming in the last decade in the United States. While natural gas extraction and production has improved the national energy security, it has raised questions around the water security of those communities where extraction is taking place. Both scientists and residents are concerned about hydraulic fracturing’s impacts on surface- and groundwater, especially regarding how hydraulic fracturing impacts residents’ access to safe household well water. In the past decade, the Marcellus Shale has been developed in Northwestern West Virginia, yet the human geography dimensions of oil and gas extraction in West Virginia remain to be investigated. This article, based on 30 in-depth interviews, explores household groundwater insecurity due to hydraulic fracturing experienced by residents (i.e., mineral owners, surface owners, and concerned citizens) in Northwestern West Virginia. The concept of water affect is used to attend to the emotional and subjective dimensions of water security by unveiling the power, emotional struggles, and mental stress inherent in water testing practices and environmental regulation around hydraulic fracturing. Water testing is typically conducted by contractors hired by oil and gas companies, but it is mired in delayed test results and incorrect testing procedures, triggering residents’ negative feelings toward oil and gas companies. This article furthers the understanding of water security, commonly defined in terms of individual access to adequate water quality and quantity, by studying Appalachian residents’ anxieties about well water contamination and uncertainty around the long-term water impacts of hydraulic fracturing. By investigating the uneven power relations around groundwater in West Virginia, the emotional experiences and responses are articulated to further the notion of water affect as impacting household groundwater security.

Transgender and Nonbinary Gender Policy in the Public Sector

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Elias
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
The Public ◽  
Gender Policy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Government Documents ◽  
Nonbinary Gender ◽  
And Gender

Our understanding and treatment of gender in the United States has evolved significantly over the past four decades. Transgender individuals in the current U.S. context enjoy more rights and protections than they have in the past; yet, room for progress remains. Moving beyond the traditional male–female binary, an unprecedented number of people now identify as transgender and nonbinary. Transgender identities are at the forefront of gender policy, prompting responses from public agencies at the local, state, and federal levels. Because transgender individuals face increased rates of discrimination, violence, and physical and mental health challenges, compared to their cisgender counterparts, new gender policy often affords legal protections as well as identity-affirming practices such as legal name and gender marker changes on government documents. These rights come from legal decisions, legislation, and administrative agency policies. Despite these victories, recent government action targeting the transgender population threatens the progress that has been made. This underscores the importance of comprehensive policies and education about transgender identities to protect the rights of transgender people.

scholarly journals Comment on “The intensification of the water footprint of hydraulic fracturing”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. eaav2110
Author(s):  
Daniel Raimi
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Permian Basin ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas ◽  
Water Intensity

Kondash et al. provide a valuable contribution to our understanding of water consumption and wastewater production from oil and gas production using hydraulic fracturing. Unfortunately, their claim that the water intensity of energy production using hydraulic fracturing has increased in all regions is incorrect. More comprehensive data show that, while the water intensity of production may have increased in regions such as the Permian basin, it has decreased by 74% in the Marcellus and by 19% in the Eagle Ford region. This error likely stems from an improper method for estimating energy production from wells: The authors use the median well to represent regional production, which systematically underestimates aggregate production volumes. Across all regions, aggregate data suggest that the water intensity of oil and natural gas production using hydraulic fracturing has increased by 19%. There also appears to be an error in estimates for water consumption in the Permian basin.

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