Drilling

Thumbnail image for Oil and gas lobby overstates job potential

Oil and gas lobby overstates job potential

by Dustin Bleizeffer May 16, 2012

Most of these good jobs that WEA promises are hard to fill and even more difficult to keep filled. When it comes to these drilling locations, “it’s a revolving door,” …

Thumbnail image for Industry’s fracking problem

Industry’s fracking problem

by Dustin Bleizeffer May 4, 2012

All the fuss about fracking centers on two things; the proliferation of oil and gas drilling in and around our drinking water aquifers, and the ability to figure out whether …

Thumbnail image for Widow of a fallen Wyoming worker speaks

Widow of a fallen Wyoming worker speaks

by Dustin Bleizeffer May 1, 2012

Widow of a fallen Wyoming worker speaks
There’d been a fire at the rig that had gone unreported. The drilling company allegedly failed to conduct all the required inspections before putting …

Thumbnail image for Drilling to Energy Independence: Can the West save us from foreign oil imports?

Drilling to Energy Independence: Can the West save us from foreign oil imports?

by Dustin Bleizeffer December 6, 2011

— This story was written in collaboration with the Rural West Initiative at the Bill Lane Center for the American West.
True to the frontier attitude still prevalent here, oil and …

Thumbnail image for EPA Finds Compound Used in Fracking in Wyoming Aquifer

EPA Finds Compound Used in Fracking in Wyoming Aquifer

by ProPublica November 15, 2011

Reprinted with permission from ProPublica. Not for republication by Wyoming media.
As the country awaits results from a nationwide safety study on the natural gas drilling process of fracking, a separate …

Wyoming’s federal drilling stats

by Dustin Bleizeffer June 29, 2011

Wyoming’s federal drilling stats
When reporting on my latest story, Are Feds Slowing Oil and Gas Permitting?, I’d asked Wyoming Bureau of Land Management officials for their most recent oil and …

Thumbnail image for Critics Find Gaps in State Laws to Disclose Hydrofracking Chemicals

Critics Find Gaps in State Laws to Disclose Hydrofracking Chemicals

by ProPublica June 28, 2011

Wyoming’s rules are the strongest in place, although it’s unclear how thoroughly they are being enforced. The rules require public disclosure of all the chemicals except for trade secrets, which …

Thumbnail image for Oil & gas industry sitting on 7,200 drilling permits

Oil & gas industry sitting on 7,200 drilling permits

by Environment & Energy Daily March 29, 2011

The oil and gas industry has nearly 7,200 permits to drill on public lands that it has yet to use. The unused, but still valid, drilling permits paint a starkly …

Thumbnail image for State Oil and Gas Regulators Are Spread Too Thin to Do Their Jobs

State Oil and Gas Regulators Are Spread Too Thin to Do Their Jobs

by ProPublica January 7, 2010

by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica – December 30, 2009 12:38 pm EST

Larry Parrish knew something was wrong as soon as he wheeled his state-owned pickup off the West Virginia highway …

Thumbnail image for Underused Drilling Practices Could Avoid Pollution

Underused Drilling Practices Could Avoid Pollution

by ProPublica December 14, 2009

As environmental concerns threaten to derail natural gas drilling projects across the country, the energy industry has developed innovative ways to make it easier to exploit the nation’s reserves without …