Michael Giberson
Commenter “Fat Man” recommends Peter C. Glover’s essay in the Energy Tribune: “Ten Fracking Things Everyone Should Know.” Number one on the list of things to know is “Hydraulic fracking has been around for 60 years. Developments made by U.S. engineers around 2008-9 have simply made the process much more commercially viable.”
Relatedly, Greg Rehmke considers some implications of the oil production boom from the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas at Master Resource.
As someone sympathetic to the expansion of hydraulic fracturing, I was with Peter Glover’s “10 things” until I got to the last two points.
9. Hydraulic fracking procedures are heavily regulated and not, as often claimed by eco-activists, exempt from drinking water and other key regulatory laws.
I have the law in my hands, and it says very clearly that hydraulic fracturing is exempt from the underground injection regulations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. (Specifically, the U.S. Code, Title 42, Section 300h(d).)
10. Concerns about using “excessive water resources” in the process are already being assuaged by new developments, including recycling water. And the U.S. Ground Water Protection Council confirms that drilling with compressed air is becoming increasingly common.
This doesn’t diffuse any concerns. All it says is that we hope that new developments might solve the problem. Worse, it cites the “U.S. Groundwater Protection Council” as if it were an objective third party, when in fact it is a pro-fracking lobbying group backed by the industry.
Again, I’m sympathetic to fracking, but we shouldn’t need to lie to make our case for it.
Fracking is regulated at the state level, not federally which is what the eco-mentalists are pushing for.
For info on water treatment, read this: http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article263015.ece
Regulation is no guarantee for anything anyways. Bad press is likely a better “stick” for those who screw-up.
More from the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page:
The Facts About Fracking
The real risks of the shale gas revolution, and how to manage them.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303936704576398462932810874.html