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Fracking: A Cure or a Curse?
To some it is a cure for an energy-hungry country, to others a flawed process that endangers people and the environment.
A race is on to extract natural gas from vast swathes of the US. But is hydraulic fracking the cure for an energy-hungry country or a fatally flawed process that will have disastrous consequences for people and the environment?
Estimates of vast deposits of shale gas under US soil have led to intense pressure from industry and the government to extract it - in a process known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking.
Its backers say that hydraulic fracking is the answer to the US' energy crisis and a way to prise the US away from its dependency on foreign oil.
But there is increasing evidence that fracking comes at an enormous cost to health, with reports of highly toxic chemicals seeping into water supplies.
The industry has spent vast sums of money lobbying the US Congress to avoid government regulation of its practices.
But now there are even new doubts emerging over the much-touted positive economic benefits fracking brings to the communities it so profoundly affects.
So, does hydraulic fracking come at too great a cost to our health and environment?
Joining Inside Story Americas, with Shihab Rattansi, to discuss this are: Bernard Goldstein, an emeritus professor from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health who has testified before Congress on this issue; Michael McKenna, formerly with the energy department and now president of the corporate communications company MWR Strategies; and Josh Fox, the director of the Oscar-nominated documentary, Gasland, about the natural gas drilling industry.
4 Comments so far
Show AllBurden of proof, vacating the precautionary principle, proprietary chemical application, plausible deniability etc... = the politics of the consummate fact of power.
I don't know the answer, and none of us do. Get the politicians off the payroll of the two sides of the issue and we'll soon find out.
Fracking will, in a short amount of time, DESTROY our water supply. The companys, such as cabot oil and head honchos like the liar, T Boone Pickins, has lied to the American Public in their commercials, and the T V appearences on talk shows. If you take the time to research these companys, they have the same owner, Of course, none other than T Boone Pickins.
Every place they are fracking, they have destroyed the water wells and streams, really this is what we have, FILTHY DIRTY COAL BLOWING UP MOUNTAINS , FILTHY DIRTY OIL KILLING OFF OUR OCEANS, AND, FRACKING FOR NATURAL GAS. all destroying our water supply. Then we have our President, siding with the republicans to hand out permits, hand over fist. It makes me sick! Oh well, drink up America.....Q
Fracking is dirty. Who cares if it is only "the casings?" It is still permanent contamination, and it is still an unsolvable problem. In Virginia we have put a halt to the marcellus drilling before it got started.
The real answer to it all is for us to move away from fossil fuels, and into deep conservation, along with renewables. When every car has 3-4 passengers, and there are as many vans/buses as cars, then we are moving in the right direction. When the speed limit goes back to 55, and we are turning our thermostats to the same number, then we are moving in the right direction. When people turn off the water heater for most of each day, then we are moving in the right direction. When we choose just to stay home this time, or ride a bike, then we are moving in the right direction.