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People have been coming to my front door asking for signatures about Fracking in NY State. My huge dog would not allow me to get the proper information, so does anyone know what this is all about? Thank you,
People have been coming to my front door asking for signatures about Fracking in NY State. My huge dog would not allow me to get the proper information, so does anyone know what this is all about? Thank you,
I think its when liquid is forced into the ground to build up pressure to release natural gas. I dont know much about it but Im originally from Youngstown Ohio where they started fracking recently. Its very controversial and supposedly causes a lot of environmental damage. Youngstown has had quite a few small earthquakes since fracking started and a lot of people think they were cause by fracking. Also, a lot of people think it causes water pollution to underground water sources.
I'm from Arkansas and there's been a big natural gas boom in the north central region of the state thanks to fracking. It's brought a lot of jobs and money into that part of the state, but there have been dozens of very small earthquakes in that same area (I think the biggest was around 4.0 on the Richter scale, but I could be wrong). Some people have raised questions about groundwater contamination, but I have no clue whether that's a legitimate concern.
Pennsylvania has a lot of it and NY has previously forbidden it. The new push is to allow it in NY first near the PA border.
For a good look at Fracking, rent the important documentary film GASLAND (streamable from Netflix.)
Highlight of the movie is flames shooting out of people's water taps.
I think the NYC Watershed is too valuable a resource to risk fracking up. Half of the state's population depends on it for drinking water...9 million of us. Poisoning it would be catastrophic.
Kefir King is right, as usual. Check out the movie Gasland, as an easy way to pick up preliminary information. Fracking can potentially be catastrophic to the water supply. It's serious and worth learning about.
I, for one, find the claims of frack-quakes to be quite hilarious. I've been living on frac sites for about 6 months (24hr security work), and have not felt a single earth quake. I don't know what others are claiming, but that's my first hand experience *shrug*. Have felt detonations at rock quarries quite a ways away, but nothing from down below Honestly, the idea that fracturing some rock 5000+ft down could cause an earthquake of any size seems kinda laughable to me, but I'll admit I'm not an expert. I have no firsthand experience with water supplies as ours is trucked in, but that too seems like a pretty far fetched claim. There's a whole hell of a lot of geological study and engineering that goes into these operations, it's actually quite amazing to be around!
That said, I can't imagine why they'd be bothering to expand to NY anytime soon, we have quite a stockpile right now. From space you can actually see the oil fields in North Dakota lit up like a big city at night - because of all the natural gas they're just burning off as a waste product there. That's the only reason I'd be questioning expansion into my backyard - that IS still a finite natural resource that's being wasted because of a lack of infrastructure to get it to market :\ If it was coming to a neighborhood near me I'd demand appropriate infrastructure to be part of the deal or no deal - but I wouldn't be rejecting it on any of these other claims I've heard others insist on so far.
Kefir King is right, as usual. Check out the movie Gasland, as an easy way to pick up preliminary information. Fracking can potentially be catastrophic to the water supply. It's serious and worth learning about.
Potentially is the key word here. Done correctly--and I'm the first to grant that it isn't always done right--fracking is a cheap way to get an enormous amount of natural gas (Read: fuel for power plants) that will last until better power sources are developed and made economical. And in depressed parts of the nation like upstate NY, central Pa, or North Dakota, it's an enormous source of jobs and economic activity.
But the big question is what do we use to fuel our power plants? Nobody wants nuclear, too dangerous. Nobody wants coal, too dirty and polluting. Nobody wants wind, those huge mills are too unsightly off the coast, too unreliable. Nodoby wants to string wires to bring in power from somewhere else ca'cause who wants those big towers in the backyard? Nobody wants pipelines bringing oil from Canada.
I am far from an apologist for the oil/gas industry. Generally, in fact, I think they're pigs. But we hve to get power from somewhere and fracking--if done right--is the best bet in the short-term. And despite the scare tactics, most of the time it is done right with no pollution of water levels.
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Honestly, the idea that fracturing some rock 5000+ft down could cause an earthquake of any size seems kinda laughable to me, but I'll admit I'm not an expert. I have no firsthand experience with water supplies as ours is trucked in, but that too seems like a pretty far fetched claim. There's a whole hell of a lot of geological study and engineering that goes into these operations, it's actually quite amazing to be around! 
