[QUOTE=Eric 951;6275731]
Quote:
Originally Posted by sammyg2
Here's a clue for ya, we've been fracturing deep subsurface rock to release crude oil for nearly a century. Doing the exact same thing but for natural gas is even safer and easier.
QUOTE]
Alot of people around here fail to recognize this. Since this is something new IN THIS AREA-they assume that the process is also brand new. As you mention, fracking isn't new. Some of the techinques are, as they are being perfected and tweaked, but fracking itself is an old process.
Most of the environmental damage I have read about around here or seen involves illegal dumping of frack water and/or inexperienced drilling companies using the lowest cost labor not following industry practices.
Alot of oppossition here is stirred up by those that don't have any mineral rights with their land, and thus can't profit from the process.
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New in your area? Where in "Steeler country" are you? They've been pumping oil out of the ground in Western Pennsylvania longer than anywhere in the world, and fracking isn't a new procedure there.
From what I've learned, the dangers are real, but they are primarily incident rather than systemic dangers. Bad casings can introduce natural gas into the water table, and frack water spills can and do happen and they poison water supplies and livestock. Although the huge water usage in the fracking procedures is a systemic concern that I'm not comfortable with.
There are real concerns about the safety of the operations, and the gas companies are intentionally deceptive in their efforts at dealing with landowners. I'm especially interested in 2 dynamics:
#1 the landowners are the leaseholders. In Western PA, when you buy property you buy surface rights, the GOM rights have been sold off, and usually don't come when you buy property. In N. Centeral, PA that hasn't been the case, most property retains the GOM rights, and the gas companies aren't dealing with people who live out of the area and simply want a return on their investment, but rather the people who live where the development is happening.
#2 much of the outcry comes from people who made big money living and working in cities (in my opinion cities are far worse for the environment than a gas or oil field), and they don't want their bucolic retirement spoiled by the economic opportunity afforded their idyllic rural community.