23 Jun Sandy Dechert is a blogger and writ
Sandy Dechert is a blogger and writer. In the following viewpoint, she explores an Associated Press (AP) report that four states—Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Texas—found evidence that hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking, has caused considerable water pollution near oil and gas wells. The AP investigation found that there were thousands of complaints of pollution in these four states, with several confirmed by state investigators. The pollution caused by fracking is associated with a range of severe health problems, including cancer, respiratory problems, neurological issues, and a higher rate of birth defects. Now that it has been established that fracking has contaminated community water supplies, Dechert deems it vital that state governments establish better and more standardized reporting of fracking pollution and greater transparency with the public.
As you read, consider the following questions:
According to a 2012 survey from the University of Texas, what percentage of Americans have no idea how fracking works?
How many wells are fracked each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)?
According to Dechert, what is the amount of recoverable gas estimated for Pennsylvania alone?
Four states—Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Texas—have confirmed that hydraulic fracturing, also called “fracking,” has caused water pollution near oil and gas wells.
The Associated Press released these state government findings on Sunday [in January 2014]….
But how well did the public understand what was important in the AP report? Probably not very well. A survey from the University of Texas [UT] about twice the size of Gallups usual weekly polls, conducted in mid-2012 but quoted as recently as 15 months later, and with age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, and household income weighted where necessary to reflect the actual U.S. population, revealed that almost two-thirds of Americans have no idea how fracking works.
What Is Fracking?
Widely used in North America over the past decade, fracking is a petroleum mining method that injects a huge, highly pressurized mixture of water, sand, and chemicals deep into the earth to break up dense shale rock and release oil and/or gas formerly trapped in it. The mining practice involves nonrenewable and polluting fuels. Thus it does not fit current definitions of “clean” and “green,” although when used for power, fracked gas pollutes less than coal or gasoline.
Environmental groups and some politicians believe that fracking could cause environmental damage, including effects on climate and human health. They foresee impacts caused by the rough physics involved (which has been linked to earthquakes in previously non-seismic areas) and due to the use of biocides to kill belowground bacteria, lubricants for smooth product pumping and scale inhibitors to reduce minerals that inevitably clog transport pipes.
Some deride fracking for reducing natural or built areas into seemingly meaningless webs of dirt roads, creating fast wealth, and reinventing previously civilized settlements—all to be deserted when the resources are exhausted and boom turns to bust. Most of the vaunted “new” jobs created by fracking last only through the exploration and construction phases of development.
Industry, other politicians, and often government hail the recently adopted mining practice as re-enabling Americas national status and contributing toward our energy independence. The 2010 IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates report “Fueling North Americas Energy Future” has estimated that natural gas, which provides almost 25% of the U.S. energy supply, could meet half of our needs by 2035. Since President [Barack] Obama is still holding firm to an “all of the above” energy mix, fracking is not likely to go away any time soon.
Scope of the APs Investigation
For their study, AP researchers requested data from Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Texas, all states heavily involved in the recent surge of oil and gas drilling, about complaints related to hydraulic fracking for oil and gas.
Although multinational oil companies drill thousands of wells across the U.S. without incident each year, AP discovered that hundreds of drilling-related objections have been filed in these four states. The complaints also revealed major differences in state reporting.
Lindsay Abrams revealed the crux of the problem in her article in Salon Tuesday [January 6, 2014]:
For a process thats driving Americas energy boom, the things we dont know about fracking for oil and natural gas often seem to surpass that which we do…. Leaving aside the fact that gas and oil companies arent required to disclose exactly which [of the hundreds of] chemicals theyre using, actual information about water contaminations scope and severity … is hard to come by.
The main concern here is not the existence of pollution reports. Almost 2,500 have been cited by officials in four different states. Pollution has been publicly confirmed in some of these cases, and in a handful, the oil and gas companies responsible for doing the fracking have attempted to clean up their errors.
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