Experts: Drillers must coordinate to prevent sprawl

Researchers said better planning among drillers, with government and citizen involvement, are key to realizing a lot of the best recommendations. Collaboration can put multiple pipelines into one right-of-way and ensure drilling happens at times when vegetation is...

Whiff of Phenol Spells Trouble

Phenol, a deadly chemical used in Aristech Chemical Corp.’s process of drilling, is known to cause internal burns, muscle spasms and organ failure. Environmental regulators suspect that the chemical is somehow drifting upward in one the of company’s sites. If...

Injection Wells: The Poison Beneath Us

There are more than 680,000 underground waste and injection wells nationwide, more than 150,000 of which shoot industrial fluids thousands of feet below the surface. Scientists and federal regulators acknowledge they do not know how many of the sites are leaking. But...