Over the past week or so, The New York Times has run this series of articles on the dangers of natural gas drilling generally and particular techniques called "hydro-fracking" in particular. The reports also suggest that neither state nor federal regulators are doing a terribly good job at dealing with the dangers. I take it as a sign that the reports from The Times are relatively even-handed that both the industry mouthpieces and the government officials formerly charged with regulating them both wrote letters complaining that they are one-sided.
Natural gas typically is depicted as a "clean" energy source but (as is the case with Coal and uranium mining), the extraction processes are highly toxic. They produce millions of gallons of waste water contaminated with chemicals and radioactivity. in unsurprising statement, the reporter from The Times writes: "Industry officials say they are not concerned."And government regulators are busily seeking to so narrow the scope of their inquiries that the conclusions of any investigations are foregone. Everything is just fine!
I've posted here several times recently on this topic. These reports reinforce my view that this sort of drilling is simply a disaster. The surest way to avert it is to stop the drilling now. There are better, cleaner - not perfect, but better and cleaner - ways to generate energy. Why aren't we pursuing them more vigorously?
