Animals are suddenly dropping dead, becoming ill and sterile, and birthing deformed offspring in places where hydrofracturing, or “fracking,” for natural gas is practiced reports a new study by Prof. Robert Oswald, molecular medicine, and his wife Michelle Bamberger, a private practice veterinarian. 

In the early 80s, an oil and gas company issued a press release about its plans to “frack” a well. But now, you will never hear anyone from the energy industry or conservative politics using the word “frack.” Instead you read “hydraulic fracturing,” or sometimes “fraccing” if they’re trying to be sneaky, or “clean energy” if they’re blatantly lying.  Even Obama didn’t use the word “frack” in his State of the Union address when he was offering praise for natural gas development.

The debate over hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, has recently exploded as a local and national issue. The first studies investigating the environmental effects of fracking have just been published and two Cornell studies have drawn contradictory conclusions about the practice. The Sun invited the authors of these studies, as well as other professors studying these issues, to discuss their opinions and findings.

A New York State Supreme Court upheld the Town of Middlefield’s ban on hydraulic fracturing and gas drilling on Friday, mirroring a decision made Tuesday on Dryden’s hydraulic fracturing ban.

In the brewing legal melee between gas drilling companies and local municipalities seeking to ban hydraulic fracturing on their lands, round one, it appears, is over: Local communities in a win by decision.

Three Cornell professors who published conflicting reports earlier this year on the amount of methane gas released into the environment by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, are now embroiled in a debate over the accuracy of the others’ research.

With the City of Ithaca set to vote on a proposed hydraulic fracturing ban Wednesday, the Town of Dryden is preparing to defend its own ban on natural gas drilling before the Tompkins County Supreme Court on Friday.

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo seeks to repeal a state moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, Ithaca’s Planning and Economic Development Committee moved forward to bar encroaching gas companies from ever using the controversial practice in the City of Ithaca.

Denise Robbins '12 calls for an end to misleading discourse from the natural gas industry on hydrofracking.

In cases like the hydrofracking debate — where science, politics and industry are entwined in conflicting interests — a free press has the democratizing power to put information in people’s hands and let them decide for themselves.