As a proponent of hydraulic fracturing, my concerns are with the proposed changes to the Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD) condition of 1993. I fear that the proposed changes will hinder the hydraulic fracturing industry. Many opponents to hydraulic fracturing base their concerns in the perceived environmental harms. However, progress reports and several studies have proved that hydraulic fracturing has not harmed water supplies as they are thought to do.
According to a study by Samuel C. Schon, published in the Proceedings of the NAtional Academy of Sciences of the United Sates of America, many of the studies done to evaluate the chemical effects of hydraulic fracturing on nearby water supplies are conducted without full disclosure of their sample selection methods and are not a purely random sample of water samples. Schon evaluated the Osborn et al. study done in 2011 and states that the study presents “interpretations without baseline (predrill) data for comparison and without explaining any selection criteria for the small nonrandom sample (n=68) used in the study” (Schon). Schon’s reasoning demonstrates the bias and misconstruction of information regarding hydraulic fracturing on the water supply.
Based on Schon’s research, there is no reason to fear that hydraulic fracturing is contaminating the water supply, neither in terms of the hydraulic fracturing fluids used nor the natural gas released in the process. Methane and natural gas levels have maintained consistent both before and during hydraulic fracturing in local wells. Furthermore, the fracturing is conducted far below the ground, away from watersheds. Overall, hydraulic fracturing has been extremely safe and not imposed any heath risks on people drinking the water from nearby water sources.
The new proposed regulations would greatly restrict hydraulic fracturing efforts in the New York State area, despite the fact that the process has no extreme negative effects on the water supply. By imposing more restrictions on hydraulic fracturing, such as imposing a substantial border around watersheds where hydraulic fracturing cannot take place, the industry would have more difficulty finding already limited natural gas, which our country is running low on. We are not imposing a threat on the environment, but instead helping the society economically, and ask that our requests be accommodated.
Source:
Schon, Samuel C. “Hydraulic Fracturing Not Responsible for Methane Migration.”Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. N.p., 13 Sept. 2011. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3174578/>.
