Fracking Con: EPA Should Put a Hold on Fracking for Natural Gas

First published Jul 22 2011 01:01AM
                    

LOS ANGELES — On May 24, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson testified before Congress, saying, “I am not aware of any proven case where the ‘fracking’ process itself has affected water, although there are investigations ongoing.”

It was a classic case of non-denial denial by a federal agency enjoying observer status courtesy of a law assigning natural gas drilling oversight to the states.

Jackson wasn’t saying there have been no cases of ground water contamination from this controversial new mining technology; she was just saying she wasn’t “aware” of a “proven” one.

So why have New Jersey, North Carolina and New York, the cities of Buffalo and Pittsburgh, the Canadian province of Quebec and all of France banned or issued moratoriums on fracking?

With fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a well is drilled thousands of feet deep into rock. Then millions of gallons of water, mixed with sand and toxic chemicals — including asbenzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, xylene and formaldehyde — are blasted into the shale, fracturing it and releasing the natural gas.

Suddenly, the inaccessible is accessible, and the gas rush is on with tens of thousands of new wells popping up in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, West Virginia, Utah and Wyoming, and residents in those states reaping lucrative leases.

And why not? Natural gas burns cleaner than oil or coal, it’s cheaper than foreign oil and it creates jobs. That’s what industry is pitching, and it’s what Lisa Jackson pitched to Congress. And it’s probably safer than nuclear energy.

Or is it?

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It's all about stalling.  They must stall as long as possible while they scramble to find remedies for an unsound method called 'hydraulic fracturing.' The longer they stall, the more revenue the Oil & Gas industry makes while more and more innocent citizens become victims from fracking crimes all across the country. It is criminal.

Hundreds more cases of soil, water, air and other types of contamination will surface. Many more people will be paid off. Many more humans and animals will die. Ecosystems will be impacted so negatively that they may never recover. These crimes go on and on while they, the ones with a vested interest, stall and make money. I am starting to think these processes are un-American. Well ok, they are, and those conducting this toxic orchestra are criminals.

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