Talk:Environmental impact of fracking

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Lkashef.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 20:46, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Robert W. Howarth
Howarth has been in the article since its inception in 2012. I do not think it appropriate to remove this expert's study (Howarth CV) using the claim that is a flat-earth theory (WP:FRINGE) when his name comes up frequently with regard to fracking and emissions (Google search of "fracking and emissions"). If it were a flat-earth theory, it would have been removed shortly after the article was first created, and no credible scientist would have wasted their time arguing against it. Hence I have restored it. --David Tornheim (talk) 01:36, 7 December 2019 (UTC)


 * A comment has now been posted on the Howarth "paper" that highlights some of the errors: https://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/bg-2019-419/. Again, this "paper" is not one that should be used as a definitive source on wikipedia.  It is controversial at best.


 * : I just took a look at the Biogeosciences rebuttal cited above & it seems pretty convincing. Howarth's proposal, that the stable carbon isotopes of methane (δ13C1) of shale gas are lighter than that of conventional gas, is precisely opposite to the larger data set available now. Quoting the rebuttal: "A plethora of publicly available data show that the δ13C1 values of shale gas are typically heavier than those of conventional gas. This contradiction renders his ideas, perspectives, and calculations on methane emissions from shale gas invalid." I agree that Howarth's outdated idea has no place here. --Pete Tillman (talk) 04:28, 7 December 2020 (UTC), retired geochemist

Wiki Education assignment: Geographies of Energy and Sustainability
— Assignment last updated by Juniper37 (talk) 18:47, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

Potential Edits for 'Community Impacts' and 'Policy and Science' Sections
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

In the next couple weeks, I will be revising and editing this article for an energy and sustainability course project. I would appreciate any feedback on my proposed edits, which will be adding sources to and modifying the 'Community Impacts' and 'Policy and Science' sections.


 * Community Impacts - impacts to indigenous people and their lands, impacts to marginalized communities in Pennsylvania, and general impacts on socio-psychological health (referencing sources b, c, and e below)
 * Policy and Science - fracking policy history on indigenous lands and the economic balance that ties into these decisions, and fracking policies in Pennsylvania (referencing sources a, c, and e below)

There is some existing information on indigenous groups in this article, but I am hoping that these new sources can add additional relevance to the topic.

a.     Thompson, G. E. B. (2016). The Double-Edged Sword of Sovereignty by the Barrel: How Native Nations Can Wield Environmental Justice in the Fight against the Harms of Fracking Comment. UCLA Law Review, 63(6), 1818–1860.

b.     Soyer, M., Kaminski, K., & Ziyanak, S. (2020). Socio-Psychological Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Community Health and Well-Being. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(4), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041186

c.     Zwickl, K. (2019). The demographics of fracking: A spatial analysis for four U.S. states. Ecological Economics, 161, 202–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.02.001

d.     Powers, M., Saberi, P., Pepino, R., Strupp, E., Bugos, E., & Cannuscio, C. C. (2015). Popular Epidemiology and “Fracking”: Citizens’ Concerns Regarding the Economic, Environmental, Health and Social Impacts of Unconventional Natural Gas Drilling Operations. Journal of Community Health, 40(3), 534–541. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-014-9968-x

e.     Exploring the Negative Impacts of Fracking Policies on Native American Lands and Communities | The Classic Journal. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2024, from https://theclassicjournal.uga.edu/index.php/2022/12/01/exploring-the-negative-impacts-of-fracking/

Thanks! @Gibbsotis GibbsOtis (talk) 19:25, 19 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you for helping out. I noticed some of them don't have links to the full article.  If you can provide links for the full article that we can review online that would be helpful for those of us who don't have access to the printed article.--David Tornheim (talk) 19:33, 19 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I look forward to reading what you uncover, whilst being mindful not to make this too reductive: too much about local experience (Pennsylvania). The rest of the world (often more tightly populated) needs to know how this relates to them and any incipient projects aimed at providing benefits or threats to their communities, both in socio-economic terms and physical (environmental).  Not an easy balance to strike but Pennsylvania provides an example that we can all learn from.Guy WF Loftus (talk) 06:45, 20 February 2024 (UTC)