Natural Gas: Fracking and You

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a process in which natural gas deposits can be extracted from shale rock layers deep below the earth’s surface. Although it is not a new process, fracking has made headline news numerous times during recent years, and continues to be a very hot topic, primarily due to the dangers and risks inherent within the fracking process. The media is filled with reports of fracking protests, fracking bills coming under attack from environmental groups, increased fracking potentially leading to a serious housing crisis, the discovery of offshore fracking activities and more. CNN International recently posted an interactive graphic to give people an idea of how the process works. They ask, “Fracking: Is exploration a danger to earth or much-needed boost to energy?

But, while interactive charts like that may be interesting to view, what about the stuff the oil and energy companies don’t want us to know?

Back in March, the New York Times posted this article covering what they considered to be the facts on fracking. The Huffington Post also posted some results from a Texas fracking study that was recently conducted. Take a look at the risks this film unit uncovered when delving into the natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale.

On the other side of the coin, and in an effort to try and give people a different perspective, one Pennsylvania family decided they would put together their own so-called documentary on their first-hand experience with natural gas resources and the fracking industry. They called their movie, “Truthland“.

But whatever your previous thoughts, current views or future ideas as to the viability and safety involved in the natural gas fracking process, it is a subject that will not quickly or quietly be dismissed. It’s fracking, fracking & more (f*cking) fracking. Many people are simply not willing to take the risks, or believe the hype, when it comes to the safety of fracking. Take a look at these places where fracking has been banned already. Do you consider fracking to be a safe process by which to extract natural gas? Is extracting natural gas through fracking a “necessary and acceptable risk” to get access to this alternative source of energy? Would you want to live/work near a fracking extraction site? I’d love to hear your views on the subject.

Thumbnail natural gas pad image by Andy Arthur via Flickr Creative Commons

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