The people of Pennsylvania are excited about their economy. While the nation wallows in this recession, parts of the Keystone State are seeing the kind of economic boom most usually associated with Texas oil communities.
At the same time, however, some Pennsylvanians are able to light their tap water on fire.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a natural-gas extraction method that appears to offer enormous upside economic benefits for the United States and for parts of North Carolina. By using high-pressure injections of water and chemicals in areas where there are natural-gas deposits in shale formations, drilling companies will be able to extract enough natural gas to serve this country for a century or more. And, with natural gas being a clean fuel, that could also mean a reduction of air pollution and global-warming concerns.
The catch, of course, is that fracking is also accused of creating its own environmental nightmares, most especially the leaking of dangerous chemicals into the water supply.
North Carolina must put safeguards in place to preserve our environment before big-time fracking begins here. The precautions recently suggested by a Duke University study may mean that natural gas drillers don't exact the highest potential profit from our shale formations, but they will probably also protect against the most serious environmental dangers, such as flammable water.
The Duke recommendations look reasonable to us.
- Enough before-and-after data must be collected to guarantee that scientists can determine whether the fracking is causing environmental problems. That data must be shared with independent reviewers.
- Fracking wells must be safely set back away from homes and schools.
Drillers must disclose the chemical recipe they are using and have established plans for safely disposing of the wastewater they create.
- Standards for well casings must be extremely high.
The Duke researchers did not conclude that fracking should be discontinued or banned; they came to the sensible conclusion that fracking can bring many benefits to the U.S. and to the global environment. But it must be done properly, and North Carolina's political leadership must write laws to assure that.
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