EPA to Spend $1.9 Million to Study Impacts of Fracking

[wtmusic]

"The United States has an estimated 2,074 trillion cubic feet of natural gas locked away in the geologic formations below our feet. And until fairly recently, we didn’t really have a good way of unlocking the gas from the tight seems in which it is embedded. That was the case until Halliburton brought a technique called hydraulic fracturing, or, ‘fracking’, onshore from its marine roots where it had been used for several decades to make offshore oil and gas wells more productive.

Although there have been no studies linking hydraulic fracturing to groundwater problems, and the most recent EPA investigation in 2004 turned up no major problems with the technique, high profile cases of spilled fracking fluid killing fish in Pennsylvania in 2009, and another case in Colorado where the water coming out of people’s faucets was literally flammable, have caused a high degree of concern in the environmental community–and now the EPA–about the potential health and environmental impacts of fracking.

<>

'It is much like asking Coca-Cola to disclose the formula of Coke,' said Halliburton executive, Ron Heyden, in 2008 testimony before the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission."

Um, except this "Coke" tends to kill things.

http://ecopolitology.org/2010/03/19/epa-to-spend-1-9-million-to-study-health-environmental-impacts-of-fracking/

[OKIsItJustMe]

1. See also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=237203&mesg_id=237203

[d_r]

2. sorry, I thought this was going to be about battlestar gallactica

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. In that context, the impacts are well known

(children)

[d_r]

4. exactly

but clearly i was intrigued enough by what the epa might be finding that I clicked

[Dead_Parrot]

5. I'm pretty sure that if coke turned tapwater flammable...

...the FDA would be all over them like a rash. Even these days.

[AlecBGreen]

6. why do taxpayers foot the bill?

i say make Halliburton cough up a little cash and pay for this. Im sure they've got a few billion stashed away somewhere. God knows they put hardly any money into Iraqi construction.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. I hear you, but...

Let's just think about this for a moment.

If Halliburton paid for a study, would you trust the study's conclusion?

[AlecBGreen]

8. no I wouldnt

if they commissioned the study from another private firm. You would need someone nonpartisan, similar to the CBO. EPA could do the study and just send the bill over to Halliburton.

[NNadir]

9. One point nine million should stop it dead in it's tracks. Blow it up. Dynamite it!

On the other hand, maybe it will cause too many problems in places like, um, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/epmxlfile1_6_a.xls">Maine, where reliance on fracking is considered a sustainable idea.

I don't think they could even hold a hearing on a new offshore natural gas terminal in Maine for $1.9M dollars.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Good thing we're studying this before trying it on a large scale. nt

:sarcasm: