Drilling Down on Fracking

Center for Biological Diversity examines the environmental perils associated with drilling the Monterey Shale: biologicaldiversity.org.

Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at Berkeley Law studied the Monterey, looking at water impacts and policy: law.berkeley.edu.

Council on Foreign Relations published a comprehensive fracking backgrounder: cfr.org.

Energy in Depth, produced by the Independent Petroleum Association of America, gives an industry view: energyindepth.org.

The best U.S. government websites about fracking come from the Energy Information Administration (eia.gov); Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov); and the U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov). In 2012, the Government Accountability Office released a report looking at fracking’s potential upsides and risks: gao.gov.

Data nerds will love the maps at Fractracker: fractracker.org.

Monterey and Related Sedimentary (MARS) Rocks Project at California State University, Long Beach, has a website for those interested in the Monterey Shale’s geology: geology.campus.ad.csulb.edu.

Physicians Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy has a library of peer-reviewed journal articles about unconventional oil and gas development, including fracking: psehealthyenergy.org.

Some of the most dogged research about the dangers of fracking is from the investigative newsroom ProPublica: propublica.org.

Western States Petroleum Association funded this independent University of Southern California report about the vast economic potential of drilling the Monterey Shale: wms.communicationsinstitute.org. Post Carbon Institute and Physicians Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy countered with this “reality check”: psehealthyenergy.org.

And, of course, the most entertaining critical look at fracking comes from the Josh Fox documentaries Gasland and Gasland Part II: gaslandthemovie.com.