Fracking Does Not Harm Drinking Water

Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality say’s that companies in Michigan have been using it to facilitate oil and gas production for about 50 years. Approximately 12,000 wells have been fractured in that time, and fracturing has never jeopardized the environment or public health.

Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found after an exhausting 5 year study that fracking has not caused any widespread impact on our drinking water.

I just read an article in The Washington Times that this study has dealt a major blow to the environmentalist activist who believe anything to do with carbon based energy is evil and destroying mother earth (my words not the EPA’s).

Now what will the environmentalist say, wait and I will let you know at the end of this piece.

As reported in The Washington Times and taken from the Environmental Protection Agency study “From our assessment, we conclude there are above and below ground mechanisms by which hydraulic fracturing activities have the potential to impact drinking water resources … These mechanisms include water withdrawals in times of, or in areas with, low water availability; spills of hydraulic fracturing fluids and produced water; fracturing directly into underground drinking water resources; below ground migration of liquids and gases; and inadequate treatment and discharge of wastewater.”  The their conclusion was “We did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States.”

Although the EPA study did identify several “specific instances” where the drinking water in some wells was contaminated, they concluded that the number of cases “was small compared to the number of hydraulically fractured wells.”

What was the reaction from some environmental groups, well they believe that “other” practices associated with fracking could be harmful to drinking water.

When will they ever give it a break?

Will this now take some of the wind out of the sails of the environmentalist?

I doubt it, but it is good news from an energy standpoint.

What are your thoughts?

Let’s discuss this tomorrow (Friday) on my show The Live with Renk  show, which airs Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to noon, to let me know your thoughts at (269) 441-9595.

Or please feel free to start a discussion and write your thoughts in the comment section.