In a speech this week, Ken Salazar, formerly a Colorado Senator and Obama cabinet member until last year, made his opinions quite clear on hydraulic fracturing (fracking):
From my opinion and from what I ve seen ¦ I believe hydraulic fracking is, in fact, safe. Salazar said the oil and gas industry must work to educate the public of the technology and make sure people are not scared.
We know that...there s not a single case where hydraulic fracking has created an environmental problem for anyone, Salazar said.
Salazar says he came to his conclusion after speaking with others in the federal government, including scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize-winning former U.S. Energy Secretary who also says fracking is safe.
ACSH s Dr. Gil Ross added this: High-volume hydraulic fracturing or fracking of shale deposits to release trapped fossil fuels, mainly natural gas, has been going on for decades in the west and south,without much notice. Now that the technology has entered the Marcellus shale region of the northeast, threatening (or so they perceive) the Eden where millionaire entertainment moguls reside, it s become a cause celebre. These activists don t care about the vast potential benefits for America from obtaining energy from beneath our own soil, instead of from folks who hate us. All the claptrap about the environment is based on nothing but their own emotion and agenda as we made clear in an op-ed last year.
For even more perspective, visit our Facebook page devoted to Fracking Science, where a lively discussion can be had at any time. AND be alert for the imminent publication of ACSH s peer-reviewed paper on Fracking and Health.