Buried Secrets - Gas Drilling's Environmental Threat
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 10:39 amBuried Secrets - Gas Drilling's Environmental Threat
http://www.propublica.org/series/
buried-secrets-gas-drillings-environmental-threat
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Gas Drilling: The Story So Far
http://www.propublica.org/article/gas-d ... ory-so-far
ProPublica, June 26, 9:42 a.m.
[ Links to References are on website above. ]
The country's push to find clean domestic energy has zeroed in on natural gas, but cases of water contamination [1] have raised serious questions about the primary drilling method being used.
Vast deposits of natural gas, large enough to supply the country for decades, have brought a drilling boom stretching across 31 states. The drilling technique being used, called hydraulic fracturing [2], shoots water, sand and toxic chemicals into the ground to break up rock and release the gas. The Environmental Protection Agency has declared the process to be safe [1], but water contamination has been reported in more than a thousand places where drilling is happening. Gas companies, exempt from federal laws protecting water supplies, may conceal the identities of their chemicals as trade secrets, making it difficult to determine [3] the cause of contamination.
The EPA is now conducting a deeper study [4] of the drilling, New York state has blocked drilling [5] in New York City’s watershed, and lawmakers are pushing for closer oversight of the industry. The industry -- in the form of millions of dollars spent on lobbying, a slew of court cases, and a robust public relations campaign -- is pushing back [6].
http://www.propublica.org/series/
buried-secrets-gas-drillings-environmental-threat
= = = = =
Gas Drilling: The Story So Far
http://www.propublica.org/article/gas-d ... ory-so-far
ProPublica, June 26, 9:42 a.m.
[ Links to References are on website above. ]
The country's push to find clean domestic energy has zeroed in on natural gas, but cases of water contamination [1] have raised serious questions about the primary drilling method being used.
Vast deposits of natural gas, large enough to supply the country for decades, have brought a drilling boom stretching across 31 states. The drilling technique being used, called hydraulic fracturing [2], shoots water, sand and toxic chemicals into the ground to break up rock and release the gas. The Environmental Protection Agency has declared the process to be safe [1], but water contamination has been reported in more than a thousand places where drilling is happening. Gas companies, exempt from federal laws protecting water supplies, may conceal the identities of their chemicals as trade secrets, making it difficult to determine [3] the cause of contamination.
The EPA is now conducting a deeper study [4] of the drilling, New York state has blocked drilling [5] in New York City’s watershed, and lawmakers are pushing for closer oversight of the industry. The industry -- in the form of millions of dollars spent on lobbying, a slew of court cases, and a robust public relations campaign -- is pushing back [6].