After an oil boom in North Dakota, trains are moving more oil than ever. Derailments and explosions have prompted emergency responders to call for more information about oil train traffic but railroad companies mostly have refused, saying that releasing the data would put them at a competitive disadvantage.
Oil and Mining
The environmental legacy of oil and mining booms across the U.S. and around the world
In North Dakota’s Bakken oil boom, there will be blood
Across the Bakken, deeply entrenched corporate practices and weak federal oversight have inoculated energy producers against responsibility when worke
Hydraulic fracturing: How it works in one minute
What exactly is fracking anyway? Check out this short animated explainer from Marketplace for a quick download.
Earthquake hazard forecasts upgraded for Oklahoma, 7 other states
The U.S. Geological Survey is planning to significantly upgrade its forecasts of seismic hazards in places such as Oklahoma that have seen dramatic increases in earthquakes since 2009.
Oklahoma unveils new wastewater restrictions as quakes keep coming
Oklahoma officials are beefing up their regulation of the injection of wastewater from oil and gas into deep layers of rock that scientists blame for an explosion of earthquakes.
Hey, California: Oklahoma had 3 times as many earthquakes in 2014
Earthquakes are synonymous with California to most Americans, but other states are seeing more earthquakes likely triggered by human activity.
Obama wants to end the mining industry’s free ride on public land
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has proposed a host of new fees for mining on public land as part of President Barack Obama’s 2016 budget.
FRONTLINE/CIR exposed how public lands are still ruled by 1872 mining law
In 1994, The Center for Investigative Reporting teamed up with FRONTLINE to produce the documentary, “Public Lands, Private Profits.” Eleven years later, it’s clear that not much about the 19th century mining law has changed.
Foreign-owned mines operate royalty-free under outdated US law
This “lords of yesterday” policy, created in 1872 in an era of Western expansion, still governs how people and companies prospect and mine for certain minerals on public lands.
The surprising reason abandoned US mines haven’t been cleaned up
The worst of America’s toxic abandoned mines get federal Superfund money for cleanup. The rest – and liability for their pollution – are left to states, private organizations and nonprofit conservation groups to clean up.