

This Is What Fracking Really Looks Like - sheri
http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/07/19/nina_berman_fractured_the_shale_play_looks_at_lives_affected_by_fracking.html

======
clarkm
This article isn't anything more than a collection of NIMBY quotes and emotive
pictures. It doesn't really have any substance.

There are fair criticisms of hydraulic fracturing, but I've found that most
content outside of scientific journals / EPA reports to be incredibly
overblown and very inaccurate.

------
Nux
I recommend this BBC documentary which tries to shed some light on the matter.
Fracking: The New Energy Rush -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjgzrmoLc7g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjgzrmoLc7g)

------
cliveowen
Two days ago I watched "Promised Land" which deals with this issue, but I
thought it was just hyperbole when they were talking about dying animals and
people setting water on fire.

------
locusm
Whats happened to good regulatory frameworks in America? Was the breakdown of
industry regulation a Bush thing or does it pre-date that? Seems to be a
similar theme across Health, Food, Petroleum.

~~~
Steko
Industries are always working to capture their regulators regardless of
administrations. The massive push for deregulation since Reagan has certainly
helped destroy it though.

The other side of the problem is the explosion in global energy demand (and
hence prices).

------
tls
Wait a damn minute here. The EPA came down and even tested the damn waters
(*wells) in these areas. Methane had been coming out of the ground before
these people were born and now they are saying something? Are these the very
people that don't own the land that fracking is leased on?

~~~
anon1385
Perhaps you should give these people the benefit of the doubt before attacking
them? "Methane existed before" is very simplistic. Has the amount increased?
Has the affected area increased? Is there a change in prevalent isotopes that
might give a clue as to the origin of the methane? Is the change enough to put
the level over EPA standards?

There isn't really any question that some people have seen an increase in
methane in their water supply (unless you believe these people have been
living without usable water for decades but only cared to do anything about it
once fracking came to town). Working out why is more difficult.

Here is one study (insert usual disclaimer about relying too much on a single
paper)
[http://www.pnas.org/content/108/20/8172.long](http://www.pnas.org/content/108/20/8172.long)

 _Our results show evidence for methane contamination of shallow drinking-
water systems in at least three areas of the region and suggest important
environmental risks accompanying shale-gas exploration worldwide._

------
Steko
This article should be #1 on HN right now but has been disappeared.

Shenanigans has been called.

------
sl1e
False,

~~~
ancarda
Can you expand on that point or is that all you have to say?

~~~
icebraining
Parent may be referring to this:
[http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/07/19/doe-...](http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/07/19/doe-
study-fracking-didnt-taint/2567721/)

