The first stage of FrackFinder, Project TADPOLE was launched on August 1, 2013. State drilling data was used to identify 2,963 hydraulic fracturing (fracking) sites within the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania. High resolution aerial photographic surveys flown by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Aerial Imagery Program (NAIP) for 2005, 2008, and 2010 were also used -- most of the drilling and fracking targeting the Marcellus Shale has happened since 2004.
For each of the three years, all 2,963 fracking sites were observed. That's 8,889 tasks each observed and categorized by ten volunteers, to ensure accuracy, totaling to 88,890 observations. The project was completed within 29 days with the help of 233 volunteers.
According to our results, in 2005, only 60 well pads existed in the Marcellus Shale region of the state of Pennsylvania. In 2008, 410 new well pads were located. In the 2010, 950 additional new well pads were located. Total, 1,420 well pads were found over the 5-year period.
Below is an interactive map displaying the well pads found in PA, by year.
For more information, check out our, more detailed, article about Project TADPOLE- PA results and keep an eye on our FrackFinder news feed.
Data available for download for 2005, 2008, and 2010.
Sorry, the map that used to be here was built with Google Maps Engine, which is no longer supported by Google.
Download the underlying data from Project TADPOLE