Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas
Energy Consumption remains one of the most fundamental issues facing human society. Hydraulic Fracturing or "fracking" for the extraction of natural gas is a controversial technique in the Marcellus Shale Regions of the United States and elsewhere. It is controversial because it involves the usage of millions of gallons of water that is laced with hundreds of chemical contaminants, most of which are secret ingredients that are considered proprietary by corporations and governments that are required to protect the public. The lack of transparency in the use and disposal of these materials has lead to community and environmental activism and to revelations of environmental and health abuses and catastrophes. This includes contaminated wells, aquifers, and illness amongst wildlife, livestock, and humans.
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Click Here to go to an important new paper published by the Ecological Society of America "Rapid expansion of natural gas development poses a threat to surface waters"
Is Natural Gas the "Cleaner" Alternative?
"Natural gas is "clean" only in contrast to coal -- just as a bacon cheeseburger can only be regarded as healthful compared with a double bacon cheeseburger." Stan Cox, AlterNet
America's Natural Gas Alliance, an industry trade group has promoted claims for years that natural gas is a cleaner fuel, and is less likely to contribute to climate change than other fossil fuel energy strategies. As gas extraction strategies involving hydrofracking have been emerging, contradictions to those clean energy assertions have begun to emerge as well. For instance a reports recently issued by Cornell University, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the EPA have cast doubts on the clean energy assertions. For instance, the EPA now claims that methane gas, a very dangerous greenhouse contributor is almost twice what the industry claims. These emissions come from gas field emissions, transportation and leaks throughout the extraction, manufacture, and distribution systems are seriously under reported. Combine that with the threats to water supplies by hydrofracking techniques and a host of other toxic releases including actual newly revealed details about tail pipe emissions tell a far different story than the industry wants to portray. The following are links to reports and papers analyzing the cleanness of natural gas.
Huffington Post/Propublica- Abraham Lustgarten
Natural Gas Not as Clean as Previously Thought, New Research Suggests
NPR- Natural Gas May Not Be a "Clean" Energy Source
The Wilderness Society Natural Gas: Not as Clean As You Think
(Incudes impacts on habitat and wildlife)
LA Times "Clean Natural Gas, Not So Fast Study Says"
AlterNet "Why Natural Gas is not a Clean Energy Panacea"
Comparative Life-Cycle Air Emissions of Coal, Domestic Natural Gas, LNG, SNG, CMU
Cornell -Preliminary Assessment of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions from natural Gas obtained by Hydraulic Fracturing
Huffington Post/Propublica- Abraham Lustgarten
Natural Gas Not as Clean as Previously Thought, New Research Suggests
NPR- Natural Gas May Not Be a "Clean" Energy Source
The Wilderness Society Natural Gas: Not as Clean As You Think
(Incudes impacts on habitat and wildlife)
LA Times "Clean Natural Gas, Not So Fast Study Says"
AlterNet "Why Natural Gas is not a Clean Energy Panacea"
Comparative Life-Cycle Air Emissions of Coal, Domestic Natural Gas, LNG, SNG, CMU
Cornell -Preliminary Assessment of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions from natural Gas obtained by Hydraulic Fracturing
Links to ArticlesScientific American
EPA Finds Fracking Compound in Wyoming Aquifer New York Times Drilling Down-series The Nation The Perils of Hydrofracking, Peter Rothberg Orion Magazine "The Whole Fracking Enchilada" by Sandra Steingraber Food and Water Watch The Case For a Ban on Gas Fracking Propublica Scientific Study Links Flammable Drinking Water to Fracking NPR-The Trouble With Health Problems Near Gas Fracking Times Tribune Dangers Surface |
WebsitesClean Water Not Dirty Drilling Frack Action Website Frack Action Facebook Gasland, The Movie Gasland Facebook NRDC Report Drilling Down, Protecting Western Communities from the Health and Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Exploration Earth Works -Hydraulic Fracturing 101 -Our Drinking Water at Risk TEDX Exchange-The Endoctrine Disruption Exchange, founded by Dr.Theo Colburn, author of "Our Stolen Future" |