Blunting the hysteria of anti-fracking forces
(Raleigh N&O) A group of Duke University scientists often accused of anti-fracking bias have published their most definitive research to date linking shale gas exploration with methane gas contamination of drinking water.
But their paper, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, exonerates fracking from the most serious environmental risks. The study blames the water contamination on leaky well shafts near the earth’s surface, not on the process of hydraulic fracturing itself, which takes place thousands of feet underground.
The distinction is critical because fracking foes base much of their opposition to natural gas drilling on the fear that fracturing shale rock poses an environmental danger. They worry that fracturing, or fracking, could cause toxic chemicals and radioactive elements to flow out through fissures and contaminate freshwater aquifers on which residents and farming operations depend.
The findings of the Duke researchers, based on 133 drinking water wells in Texas and Pennsylvania, corroborate claims by the energy industry that the fracturing process alone is not likely to imperil drinking water.
This in no way means that we shouldn’t be cautious and diligent in the push for fracking, nor give up looking at all the different energy methods. What it does show is that certain people have made outlandish accusations based on feelings rather than facts.
Obviously, Warmists/enviro-weenies are not taking this well, as shown by the hysteria in the article comments.
