Posted July 26, 2010 by Jason Miller in The Environment
Amid growing reports of dying livestock and polluted water supplies, the Environmental Protection Agency is focusing its attention on a technique for exploiting previously unreachable natural gas deposits, one gaining traction across the country in the race to find cleaner alternatives to burning coal.Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, uses high pressure water and sand mixed with chemicals to blast rock deep underground to extract natural gas. The process has been around for decades and industry estimates say 90% of the 450,000+ gas wells in the United States rely on fracking for operations.
What a word. Fracking. I find it hard to believe anything good could come from such a word. I understand that we need to find better alternatives to coal and oil. Natural gas seems an obvious choice given that it can run existing electrical power plants. Yet in our haste to solve one problem, it seems prudent not to cause an even more immediate and catostrophic one.
As uncomfortable as our lives would be without iPhones and air conditioning, no fresh water really is lights out for us. Game over.
