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For years politicians in Britain have been looking with increasing envy at the burgeoning shale boom in the US, believing that it could be replicated in the UK.

As the ALS IceBucket Challenge sweeps across many countries, A-list actor Leonardo DiCaprio joined the craze to nominate Canadian Premier Stephen Harper to undertake the challenge.

Its hotting up down in Ohio between the oil industry and locals who oppose the dumping of millions of gallons of potentially toxic waste water.

Subsidy Spotlight: The fracking boom has had devastating health and environmental impacts in Colorado – and it likely wouldn't have been possible without government subsidies.

The UK had never seen a day like it. Yesterday, there were over a dozen protests against fracking across the country, from Wales to the North West, from London to Manchester.

Could this be the fracking industry’s Silent Spring moment? One of the most alarming aspects of fracking is how little we understand the long term risks of the technology. As the shale boom explodes in the US, concerns about the health and environmental impacts have been largely ignored in the rush to frack.

Last month, when the British Government announced that half the UK would be opened up to fracking, it was widely reported that the country’s treasured National Parks would be protected.

A new scientific study argues that the State Department has seriously underestimated the climate emissions from Keystone XL. The study concludes that the pipeline could produce four times more greenhouse gases than the State Department calculated.

For the oil industry business comes first. After years of preparation, on Saturday Exxon began drilling a $700 million well in the Kara Sea in Russia's Arctic. It is Russia’s most northerly well.

As the shale gas revolution continues a pace in North America, so does its wider environmental impact. And nowhere is that more apparent than in the burgeoning demand for frac-sand.