Report | Environment Ohio Research & Policy Center

The Costs of Fracking

Over the past decade, the oil and gas industry has fused two technologies – hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling – to unlock new supplies of fossil fuels in underground rock formations across the United States. “Fracking” has spread rapidly, leaving a trail of contaminated water, polluted air, and marred landscapes in its wake. In fact, a growing body of data indicates that fracking is an environmental and public health disaster in the making.

Report | Environment Ohio Research and Policy Center

When it Rains, it Pours

Global warming is happening now and its effects are being felt in the United States and around the world. Among the expected consequences of global warming is an increase in the heaviest rain and snow storms, fueled by increased evaporation and the ability of a warmer atmosphere to hold more moisture.

Report | Environment Ohio Research & Policy Center

Summer on the Road

Our oil dependence risks our environment to disasters like oil spills, endangers our climate with the nearly 2 billion metric tons of global warming pollution each year, and threatens our families’ health. With prices in some areas hitting $4 per gallon once again, our oil consumption is also putting an incredible burden on American families’ finances. It’s time for us to break our dependence on oil. Recognizing this, the Obama administration is working to finalize standards for our cars and light trucks that would achieve 54.5 mpg by 2025--that would be the single biggest step we have ever taken to get off oil. A new report, Summer on the Road: Going Farther on a Gallon of Gas, demonstrates the enormous benefits we would see just from having these cleaner cars on the road during this summer driving season.

Report | Environment Ohio Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group

Wasting Our Waterways 2012

Industrial facilities continue to dump millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into America’s rivers, streams, lakes and ocean waters each year – threatening both the environment and human health. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pollution from industrial facilities is responsible for threatening or fouling water quality in more than 14,000 miles of rivers and more than 220,000 acres of lakes, ponds and estuaries nationwide.

The continued release of large volumes of toxic chemicals into the nation’s waterways shows that the nation needs to do more to reduce the threat posed by toxic chemicals to our environment and our health and to ensure that our waterways are fully protected against harmful pollution.

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