New Oil-Gas Well Database Offers Tool for Environmental Reporters

The federal government certainly won't tell you. But the nonprofit research group FracTracker will give you data and maps on some 1.1 million oil and gas wells in 36 U.S. states. It's a great starting point for stories on the environmental impacts of drilling and fracking in your area.

FracTracker collected the data from state agencies — the ones that actually regulate drilling — and they are constantly extending and updating the database. It is free and online. Data from Texas is not available from FracTracker, because that state, with the nation's most wells, charges for it. Data for Maryland and North Carolina are unavailable for other reasons. FracTracker's site presents the data in map form and downloadable data are in shapefile format.

• FracTracker website.
• "Fracking the USA: New Map Shows 1 Million Oil, Gas Wells," Climate Central, March 27, 2014, by Bobby Magill.
• FracFocus Chemical Disclosure Registry.
• Distribution and Production of Oil and Gas Wells by State, Energy Information Administration.  (These aggregate statistics are based on an EIA database known as the "U.S. Petrosystem Data Warehouse.")