From John Locke Foundation’s Jon Sanders:
Yet another long-term university study of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has found no evidence that the process contaminates drinking water. This one is a four-year study from Texas, “the fifth and final in a series conducted by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan that looks at groundwater wells in the Barnett Shale area.”
What did researchers find after four years of study? That methane in the well water around the Barnett Shale area was naturally occurring, not linked to the fracking process and natural gas production activities.
The press release from the University of Texas announces:
After four years of studies, scientists have found no link between methane present in water wells outside of Fort Worth and nearby gas production activities in the Barnett Shale. The methane appears to have migrated naturally to the wells from the shallower Strawn formations and not from the Barnett Shale, where natural gas production and hydraulic fracturing are occurring. By conducting the studies, researchers believe they have developed important methods that could be applied in similar situations to determine where methane originates in an environment.
Also worth nothing, all five studies made the same findings: “The researchers’ findings and conclusions have remained consistent through the studies.”
Again and again, researchers ratify that hydraulic fracturing is an intrinsically safe process. Beyond that, thanks to fracking we are seeing results people have long wanted:
- lower U.S. emissions (we’re the world leader in emissions reductions)
- cheaper and more reliable electricity
- U.S. energy independence
You’d have to be Vladimir Putin to object to that.
Or, that is, paid by his government.
Find more information here, including a list of other studies on fracking and their results.
