Energy Environmental Blog

WSJ: "The Facts About Fracking"

Written by Greg Russell | Jun 26, 2011 2:52:24 PM

That's the title to an article in the WSJ seeking to separate fact from myth regarding the claims about hydraulic fracturing:  "Fracking contaminates drinking water. One claim is that fracking creates cracks in rock formations that allow chemicals to leach into sources of fresh water. The problem with this argument is that the average shale formation is thousands of feet underground, while the average drinking well or aquifer is a few hundred feet deep. Separating the two is solid rock. This geological reality explains why EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, a determined enemy of fossil fuels, recently told Congress that there have been no 'proven cases where the fracking process itself has affected water.'"