Energy Imagery

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Energy exploration, extraction and production — and its products and byproducts — are resource-intensive and pollutive. For a better picture of the impacts of these industries, explore the albums below provided by FracTracker Alliance, including submissions from FracTracker staff and members of the public.

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Photos & Videos by Subject

Looking for imagery showing a certain oil and gas process, or perhaps renewables? This section is for you.

Coal Mining

Imagery that captures coal mining activities

Coal Mine and Slag Pile, River Rouge, MI. Photo by Ted Auch

Communities

Communities and neighbors impacted by fossil fuel development and sprawl

Compressor Stations

These facilities compress natural gas, but in that process release significant amounts of hazardous air pollutants.

Construction

Construction related to fossil fuel industries contributes to environmental degradation, infringes on communities, disconnects habitat corridors, and deteriorates air, water, and soil quality.

Cracker Plants & Ethylene

Cracker plants transform petrochemicals into the building blocks of plastic products, and other hydrocarbons used in making various consumer, industrial, and agricultural goods.

Culture & Livelihoods

Countless communities — and so their cultures and livelihoods — have been transformed by the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry buildout in various locations around the US.

Longhorn cattle in Hendrysburg, OH. Photo by Ted Auch.

Drilling & Fracking

Countless communities — and so their cultures and livelihoods — have been transformed by the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry buildout in various locations around the US.

Drill rig in Potter County, PA. Photo by Ted Auch, 2019.

Environmental Justice

Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Explosions, Fires, & Flaring

Countless communities — and so their cultures and livelihoods — have been transformed by the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry buildout in various locations around the US.

Flaring at compressor station in Butler County, OH. Photo by Ted Auch, 2018.

Frac Sand Mining

These photos depict frac sand storage and processing facilities and sites across the US.

Frac Sand Storage & Processing

These photos depict frac sand storage and processing facilities and sites across the US.

Silica sand, New Auburn, WI. Photo by Ted Auch.

Frac Sand Transportation

Frac sand and its byproducts are transported by rail, barge, and truck, to various location around the US.

Frac sand barge on the Mississippi River in IA. Photo by Ric Zarwell.

Impoundment Ponds

Sometimes, spent water is treated to remove some fracking chemicals and reused in the fracking process, but this accounts for only a portion of fracking water.

Injection Wells

These photos illustrate ways that land is used, preserved and managed for different industries and diverse livelihoods in various locations around the US.

Injection well in Morrow County, OH. Phot by Ted Auch, 2015.

Land Preservation & Management

These photos illustrate ways that land is used, preserved and managed for different industries and diverse livelihoods in various locations around the US.

Lupine flowers in Nachusa Grasslands, IL. Photo by Ted Auch.

Methane & Air and Water Quality Concerns

Oil and gas development negatively affects air and water quality. Construction, drilling, storage, transportation, processing, and the burning of fossil fuels are all sources of serious pollutants.

Oil refinery in Toledo, OH. Photo by Ted Auch.

Offshore Drilling

Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed.

Pipelines

North America consists of a vast network of inter- and intrastate pipelines that transport products ranging from water, to hazardous liquids, to raw materials.

Pipeline pathway in Tioga County, PA. Photo by Ted Auch.

Plastics & Petrochemicals

Petrochemicals are derived from oil and gas, and used in the production of various consumer goods. These photos were captured in various locations around the US.

Cracker plant under construction in Beaver, PA. Photo by Ted Auch.

Plastic & Petrochemical Processing

These photos illustrate the buildout of plastic and petrochemical processing facilities in various location around the US.

Cryogenic processing plant in Doddridge County, WV. Photo by Ted Auch.

Pollution, Toxins, & Disposal Concerns

Unconventional oil and gas development produces billions of tons of waste annually, laden with contaminants, radioactive materials, heavy metals, and more poisonous substances.

Frac sand mining impoundment pond in Wedron, IL. Photo by Ted Auch.

Power Plants

A fossil fuel power plant is a thermal power station which burns a fossil fuel — like coal or natural gas — to produce electricity.

Power plant under construction in Byesville, OH. Photo by Ted Auch.

Refineries & Processing

These photos depict oil, gas, and petrochemical refinement and processing infrastructure and facilities in various locations around the US.

Refinery in Toledo, OH. Photo by Ted Auch.

Storage

These photos illustrate the infrastructural buildout of oil and gas storage facilities in various locations around the US.

Transportation

These photos illustrate the infrastructural buildout and activities of the transport of oil and gas in various locations around the US.

Trucks hauling brine in Moundsville, WV. Photo by Ted Auch.

Waste & Wastewater

Unconventional oil and gas development requires extraordinary quantities of water during the extraction process. Flowback is disposed of by injection into underground wells, in water treatment plants, or in open air pits.

Wildlife

Oil and gas activities can harm endangered species, critical habitats, watersheds, and ecosystems by polluting the air and water, installing disrupting infrastructure such as roads or pipelines, creating noise and light pollution, and more.

Bald eagle flying over coal mine in Alledonia, OH. Photo by Ted Auch.

Wind Energy

These photos illustrate advances in wind energy utilization in various locations around the US.

Wind farm in Taft, TX. Photo by Ted Auch.

By Location: Ecosystem, State, & Tour Albums

Want oil & gas imagery from specific locations? Look no further.

Appalachian Buildout

These photos illustrate the fossil fuel industry buildout across the Appalachian region of the US.

Fracking waste recycling plant in Doddridge County, WV. Photo by Ted Auch

California

These photos show the fossil fuel extraction operations in various locations around California. California is home to the largest urban oilfield, an expansive landscape that brings undue harms to public health of Frontline communities and the environment.

Pump jack in Lost Hills, Kern County, CA.

Channels of Life: the Gulf Coast Buildout in TX

Promising job and economic growth, the fossil fuel industry brings enormous environmental consequences to the area, with increasing emissions and discharge that continue to infringe on neighborhoods and degrade ecosystems.

Coastal & Marine Environments

These photos illustrate the diverse coastal and marine habitats and ecosystems in places around the US.

Corpus Christi Bay shoals in TX. Photo by Ted Auch.

Endless Effects: the Loyalsock Watershed Project

Endless Effects examines local fracking issues, the extensive footprint of the gas industry, and the problems encountered to date.

Forests

These forested places are juxtaposed to fossil fuel activity, subjected to it already, or threatened by its expansion.

Forest in Potter County, PA. Photo by Ted Auch.

Freshwater Ecosystems

These areas are imperative for the provision of ecosystem services, like soil retainment and erosion control, water and soil purification, and oxygen production and carbon dioxide abatement.

Grasslands & Prairies

Grasslands and prairies used to cover most of the US’ landscape. Over time, industrial activities have severely degraded these ecosystems, resulting in fragmented habitats, soil erosion, and various other consequences.

Gulf Coast Buildout

These photos depict fossil fuel industry infrastructure and activities along the Gulf Coast in the US.

Pipeline staging area in Mantu, TX. Photo by Ted Auch.

Illinois

These photos offer a glimpse of the fossil fuel industry infrastructure and activity in the state of Illinois.

Frac sand processing facility in LaSalle County, IL. Photo by Ted Auch.

Marshes, Swamps, & Wetlands

O&G activities can harm endangered species, critical habitats, watersheds, and ecosystems by polluting the air and water, installing disrupting infrastructure such as roads or pipelines, creating noise and light pollution, and more.

Sandhill cranes in Byron, WI. Photo by Ted Auch.

Maryland

These photos show oil and gas expansion, operations, and construction in Maryland.

Michigan

These photos offer snapshots of oil, gas, and petrochemical infrastructure and activity – and the impacts to communities and the landscape – in the state of Michigan.

Oil well in Kalkaska County, MI. Photo by Ted Auch.

Minnesota

This collection offers a look at the presence of fossil fuel industries and activities in Minnesota.

Abandoned sand mine in Woodbury, MN. Photo by Ted Auch.

Netherlands

These photos show oil & gas pipelines and extraction methods in the Netherlands.

North Dakota

These photos depict fossil fuel operations in North Dakota.

Ohio

This album includes all imagery captured in the state of Ohio, depicting the oil, gas, and petrochemical industrial presence and its activities.

Frack pad in Goshen, OH. Photo by Ted Auch.

Pennsylvania

This album contains imagery from the oil, gas, and petrochemical buildout in the Commonwealth, including glimpses of the communities and environments infringed upon by these activities.

Southeastern Michigan Sand Mining & Industrial Impacts

This album contains imagery from various towns and cities in southeastern Michigan where industrial buildout has taken over and infringed on communities there.

Automobile and steel plants in River Rouge, MI. Photo by Ted Auch.

Texas

The photos contained in this album reflect the oil, gas, and petrochemical buildout in the state of Texas.

Flaring at oil refinery in Corpus Christi, TX. Photo by Ted Auch.

West Virginia

West Virginia also sees much O&G activity, exposing them to truck traffic, spills, compromised roads, guardrails, and stream crossings, etc.

Wildness Lost: the Pine Creek Watershed Project

The river’s iconic watershed in north-central PA spans 979 square miles, including parts of Clinton, Lycoming, Potter, and Tioga Counties, and an infamous 47-mile gorge through which the Creek flows.

Wastewater impoundment tanks in Lycoming County, PA. Photo by Ted Auch.

Wisconsin

Western Wisconsin’s hills carry the sand used in O&G activity, leaving many of its inhabitants concerned about health effects as the frac sand industry booms.

Frac sand storage and transport in Augusta, WI. Photo by Ted Auch.

PHOTO & VIDEO REUSE POLICY

Noncommercial Purposes

FracTracker encourages you to use and share our photos of energy infrastructure. Images and videos may be reproduced free for noncommercial purposes, provided that the photographer and FracTracker are cited, and usage follows our guidelines, below:

Upon use, please cite imagery in this format: Author (if provided), of FracTracker Alliance, with help from [partner org] (if provided), Date posted.
For example: Ted Auch of FracTracker Alliance, with help from Lighthawk, 2020.

Photo credit information can be found on the bottom of a photo once it has been selected in the album. Thank you for your cooperation.

Commercial Purposes

If you wish to use our photos and/or videos for commercial purposes, including distributing them in publications for profit, please follow the subsequents steps:

Email us at info@fractracker.org to request permission first. Note that usage must follow the Usage Guidelines, below.
If permission is granted, we appreciate donations for use of our imagery, so we can continue educating the public on the risks posed by fossil fuel development. Donate here
Upon use, please cite imagery in this format: Author (if provided), of FracTracker Alliance, with help from [partner org] (if provided), Date posted. For example: Ted Auch of FracTracker Alliance, with help from Lighthawk, 2020.
Photo credit information can be found at the bottom of the photo’s page.

Thank you for your cooperation.

General Usage Guidelines

The use of FracTracker Alliance imagery, name, and/or logo for any of the following reasons is forbidden:

For-profit or commercial use without permission (see above);
In a manner that suggests endorsement by FracTracker Alliance of a political candidate, policy, or product;
In a manner that falsely represents yourself as an employee of or spokesperson for FracTracker Alliance;
To create modified imagery that does not align with FracTracker’s commitment to providing reliable and accurate energy data.

To submit your imagery to these albums, email us (info@fractracker.org) with the details, including date and place taken, and the person/group we should credit (if applicable). By submitting your photos, you permit us to display them in this format for public use as described in our photo and video reuse policy found on this page.

Photo Archives

If you are looking for photos in FracTracker’s former photo albums, please click here. Note that these photo albums are no longer being updated.

Please consider making a donation in exchange for use of our imagery. Your support allows us to continue educating the public on the risks posed by fossil fuel development.

Energy Imagery

Photos & Videos by Subject

Coal Mining

Communities

Compressor Stations

Construction

Cracker Plants & Ethylene

Culture & Livelihoods

Drilling & Fracking

Environmental Justice

Explosions, Fires, & Flaring

Frac Sand Mining

Frac Sand Storage & Processing

Frac Sand Transportation

Impoundment Ponds

Injection Wells

Land Preservation & Management

Methane & Air and Water Quality Concerns

Offshore Drilling

Pipelines

Plastics & Petrochemicals

Plastic & Petrochemical Processing

Pollution, Toxins, & Disposal Concerns

Power Plants

Refineries & Processing

Storage

Transportation

Waste & Wastewater

Wildlife

Wind Energy

By Location: Ecosystem, State, & Tour Albums

Appalachian Buildout

California

Channels of Life: the Gulf Coast Buildout in TX

Coastal & Marine Environments

Endless Effects: the Loyalsock Watershed Project

Forests

Freshwater Ecosystems

Grasslands & Prairies

Gulf Coast Buildout

Illinois

Marshes, Swamps, & Wetlands

Maryland

Michigan

Minnesota

Netherlands

North Dakota

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Southeastern Michigan Sand Mining & Industrial Impacts

Texas

West Virginia

Wildness Lost: the Pine Creek Watershed Project

Wisconsin

PHOTO & VIDEO REUSE POLICY

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