Gas Fracking

[Aurielius]

Should the federal government seek to regulate a controversial extraction method for natural gas known as hydraulic fracturing?

 

The process, dubbed "fracking," involves forcefully shooting water and chemicals into rock formations miles under ground to release trapped natural gas. With possible federal regulation from Congress and EPA looming, environmental groups and the oil and natural gas industry are battling it out. Environmentalists claim the process could contaminate rivers and aquifers, while the natural gas companies point out that the fracking method has been used safely for decades and minimal state regulation should suffice. Hydraulic fracturing has gotten more national attention in the wake of new discoveries of massive amounts of gas, such as the Marcellus Shale in Appalachia.

[grannywils]

I would love to respond to this, and have an instinctive response on the tip of my tongue. However it is a subject about which I know absolutely nothing. So I will go read up on it and talk with a couple of friends of mine who probably know a lot about it, and get back to you on this one.

[Vagrant0]

This is just another disaster waiting to happen since most of this fracturing occurs at a point below the level of the natural aquifers which supply most of the US with water. You think the BP spill was bad... consider that much of the midwest could be permanently transformed into desert without so much as a warning.

[Chaosblade02]

This is just another disaster waiting to happen since most of this fracturing occurs at a point below the level of the natural aquifers which supply most of the US with water. You think the BP spill was bad... consider that much of the midwest could be permanently transformed into desert without so much as a warning.

 

Regulation didn't stop the BP oil spill, we all know about the officials busted for pornography in the work place, not very professional at all, its safe to say what they were doing when they should have been watching BP like a hawk. Regulation doesn't necessarily make it any less likely something bad will happen.

[Vagrant0]

This is just another disaster waiting to happen since most of this fracturing occurs at a point below the level of the natural aquifers which supply most of the US with water. You think the BP spill was bad... consider that much of the midwest could be permanently transformed into desert without so much as a warning.

 

Regulation didn't stop the BP oil spill, we all know about the officials busted for pornography in the work place, not very professional at all, its safe to say what they were doing when they should have been watching BP like a hawk. Regulation doesn't necessarily make it any less likely something bad will happen.

The problem is not with regulation, it is with those who are doing the regulating. The BP spill happened because the regulators weren't doing their job.

 

In this case however you have a very different story in that nobody knows what is and is not safe regarding this method. And there are serious concerns related to this practice contaminating water supplies. It's just bad.

[Maharg67]

This is just another disaster waiting to happen since most of this fracturing occurs at a point below the level of the natural aquifers which supply most of the US with water. You think the BP spill was bad... consider that much of the midwest could be permanently transformed into desert without so much as a warning.

 

Regulation didn't stop the BP oil spill, we all know about the officials busted for pornography in the work place, not very professional at all, its safe to say what they were doing when they should have been watching BP like a hawk. Regulation doesn't necessarily make it any less likely something bad will happen.

 

Just because laws or regulations might not always do the job is not a good reason for not having them. We have laws against murder that fail to stop people murdering each other but would you like to see those criminal laws removed because of that reason?

 

Just a thought!

[grannywils]

Ok, A. I've taken a mini college course in this stuff since I read your post and is scares the dickens out of me. So, my answer is yes, at the very least it should be regulated. I have some other thoughts on it, but think I'll leave at that for now. It's been a long day for me.

[Balagor]

Of cause such things need regulations, and ´very competent people to manage them :thumbsup:

[evilneko]

Ok, A. I've taken a mini college course in this stuff since I read your post and is scares the dickens out of me.

 

And my grandfather lives in a rural area where they are doing this.

 

There is a distinct lack of regulation and accountability when it comes to fracking. This is a dangerous, dirty process and the industry has shown it cannot be trusted to self-regulate. Thus, I voted for regulation.

[ginnyfizz]

I voted yes. It strikes me as being an extremely high risk procedure where the industry needs to be inspected and held to account. As Vagrant has described there is an inherent risk of the aquifers and the water table being disturbed with potentially disastrous results.