fracking

Driven by new regulations and fracking, more coal power plants are retiring for cheaper, cleaner-burning natural gas. But scientists have yet to work out the fossil fuel's imperfect climate footprint.

New York state has banned fracking, but it is considering a plan to allow fracked gas to be stored under Seneca Lake — which isn't sitting well with residents of the state's Finger Lakes region.

When it comes to improving the standard of living for Americans, the middle class could use some help. One Harvard economist says the help is underground, in the form of oil and natural gas.

Walnut Cove commissioners are defending their decision to allow a drilling project to assess the Dan River Basin for the presence of shale gas.

The report says there are few incidents of tainted water given the number of wells. Energy companies agree. Environmentalists accuse the industry of undue influence over the study.

SciWorks Radio is a production of 88.5 WFDD and SciWorks, the Science Center and Environmental Park of Forsyth County, located in Winston-Salem.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a method of extracting petroleum trapped in solid rock layers that were previously inaccessible. But how do they do it and how is it different from standard drilling? The politics and environmental planning involved in fracking are beyond the scope of this show, but we will explore what fracking is, and how the petroleum resources got there in the first place.

The U.S. Geological Survey issues a report Thursday on quakes linked to oil and gas drilling, but Oklahoma has said that the industry's wastewater disposal is the cause. What's unknown is a solution.