Quote:
Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45
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In summary, hydraulic fracturing is an important technique
that is inherently risky, but manageable if performed correctly.
I, and other people in the field, will admit that there is a lack
of consistency between companies and how the frack.
This leads some companies to cut corners and damage the surrounding environment,
harming the process for everyone.
This is number one concern environmentalists should be focused on.
Put more regulation on fracking, don't outright ban it.
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PW45, I sincerely appreciate your post.
I think you've made a genuine effort to address the issues,
without the hysteria that I usually infuse into my own writing.
Obviously, internal sources of natural gas are very important to the US economy.
And as you say, fracking can be an efficient way to obtain it... IF
... it is done in the right (environmentally safe) way.
But even in your current posting, this tiny word creeps in to many paragraphs.
For me, the issues are that the fracking chemicals are not environmentally safe.
And
even if each particular fracking-well is constructed properly,
EPA has shown that the chemicals can make their way into other passages
(such as abandoned wells) and back up towards the surface.
Again for me, IF the industry were to put forth a feasible way to recover most of
the fracking chemicals once the fissuring-operation is completed,
it would be much more politically acceptable.
But I personally can't imagine how that would be done.
Likewise, and closer to impossible, would be how to rehabilitate
a contaminated ground water or drinking water source.
More distantly, natural gas is still putting CO2 into the atmosphere,
and as such has the same political problems as the fabled "clean coal".
Here in PDX, the Willamette River is considered to have been cleaned
and is a show piece for many environmentalists.
But in the
downtown area of the river, it is still an EPA Superfund Toxic Waste site.
Dioxans and many other industrial polutants are in the mud sediments of the river bottom,
and there is immense worry about disturbing these sediments and
spreading the carcinogens throughout the river systems.
Some of the clean up problems are due to the companies and
industries that caused the situation have gone out of business
All these years after Love Canal, the professionals have finally developed plans for
starting the clean up.
But it will still be many years and $millions before the work actually begins or is completed.
Given the Sunday morning tv ads, I am troubled by the credibility of the coal and fracking industries.