We live on top of the Utica and Marcellus Shale. Supposedly the source of enough natural gas to supply the country with "clean" energy for generations. The problem is that in order to retrieve this abundance, the shale must be "fractured" and the process, known as High Volume Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing, is bad for the planet. The fluid is loaded with carcinogens as well as hormone disrupters and the process disturbs radon and millions years old bacteria that come back up with the flow back. Not to mention that it requires MILLIONS of gallons of water that will never be clean EVER AGAIN. It is terrifying. Our government thinks that this can be done safely. It cannot. Norway and Quebec have banned it. France did too. However, this process has been used in the US and the devastation it has wrought on the air and water and people's lives is irreparable. Some of our neighbors have leases. Our only hope is a state wide ban. We are working toward. that. In the meantime, I am driving less, the furnace is now off for the season, and we are looking in to better ways to insulate our one hundred year old home.
I am devastated by our government's lack of response on this issue. Our hunger for fossil fuesl have created yet another ecological nightmare, and we will not likely recognize it for many years.
ReplyDeleteanything that causes earthquakes, in areas that would never otherwise have earthquakes, is an obviously bad idea. it is stunning that it is allowed.
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