Green

New tactics from drillers to quell neighbors and protect the environment

The practice of cracking the subterranean rocks to extract trapped oil and gas is known as fracking. Many believed the practice cause enormous environmental problems including ground water pollution and earthquakes. The fracking boom in the United States started in early 2000s. According to published reports more than 430 nationwide measures have been adopted either banning or controlling fracking. Keeping a healthy distance from residential areas is a one common measure throughout the Barnett Shale and other popular fracking areas. Many drillers are employing community leaders to work with impacted communities. Most of the objections for fracking started around 2009 in some places in Texas. Recent community efforts in Colorado are helping big oil to continue fracking.

Due to public outcry and opposition many drillers are taking new steps to win public support. Anadarko Petroleum, one of the major drillers in the country is using manmade barriers to hide drilling sites and to reduce noise impacts to adjacent residents. Instead of hauling water to fracking sites they build new pipelines to bring water. This helps to cut down carbon emissions too. These practices helped Colorado to avoid an anti-fracking measure on the ballot during the last election.