What is fracking fluid and how does it impact water supplies? Who regulates the industry? Will it reduce our energy costs or poison our water supply? Will it cause earthquakes or bring thousands of jobs to economically depressed areas? What does the evidence show?
One on hand, those against fracking frame this debate as the people versus the oil giants. There is concern about contaminants entering the drinking water and competition for already scarce water resources in some areas. Others speak to the destruction of forests once known for their natural beauty that have been replaced by trucks and drilling equipment. Even Lady Gaga and Yoko Ono joined Artists Against Fracking and support documentaries such as Gasland.
On the other hand, those in favor of fracking speak of the economic boom that fracking would bring, along with a reduced reliance on foreign oil. President Obama spoke on the issue in his 2012 State of the Union address, pledging to take every possible action to safely develop natural gas, promising that the shale gas industry would create hundreds of new jobs. Scientists say the risks are small and the rewards immense: lowered cost for heating, for one, and reduced CO2 emissions. Furthermore, President Obama’s first EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, told Congress that the EPA couldn’t show “that the fracking process has caused chemicals to enter groundwater.”
With all the arguments being and protests going on, it is often hard to know what is fact and what is fiction. And if we don’t know the truth, how can the public, and even more importantly, the policymakers, ever be expected to make the best possible decision?
In his new book, Hydro-fracking: What Everyone Needs to Know, Alex Prud’homme explores both sides of the debate and provides a clear guide to the underlying science, as well as some of the political and economic issues. In his words, the debate has often been “ exacerbated by an absence of hard data and an excess of hyperbole on both sides.” Join the Center for International Studies and Program on Global Environment for a discussion with the author on Nov. 4th from 6-8pm at the International House and start learning some of the truths about this highly controversial process!