In a poor attempt at a balanced Baltimore Sun oped on hydraulic fracturing or fracking—the process of extracting natural gas from shale deposits deep underground—state delegate Heather Mizeur (D Montgomery County) can’t help but devolve into environmental fear mongering. If we don’t act as Mizeur says, the Chesapeake Bay could be set ablaze.
And yet at least a few of these same companies have had to provide bottled water to whole neighborhoods. Why? Because in the shadow of new drilling operations, some families have discovered that their tap water is now flammable.
Yes flammable.
Water is so fundamental to our health and well-being that it is difficult to imagine the consequences of living in a world where it became more like lighter fluid….
But it is the method of extraction — not the fuel — that has raised red flags. When combined with advances in deep drilling techniques, hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has enabled companies to extract these once untappable natural gas deposits. Wells are drilled into the shale first vertically, and then horizontally, at a depth between 5,000 and 20,000 feet. To release the gas, the rock is injected with a highly pressurized mixture containing at least 2 million gallons of water, 200,000 pounds of sand and 80,000 pounds of chemicals.
Mizeur’s proposes a state moratorium on Marcellus Shale drilling permits “until until the state can assess the risks that fracking poses to streams, rivers, lakes, groundwater and the health of Marylanders.” The Marcellus Shale deposit stretches from New York south through Pennsylvania, western Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia.
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