Guest View: More facts, less hysteria on hydraulic fracturing

Earlier this year, President Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told Congress: “There’s a lot of hysteria that takes place now with respect to hydraulic fracking, and you see that happening in many of the states.” Salazar then added: “It can be done safely and has been done safely hundreds of thousands of times.”
Unfortunately, the fact that the Board of Supervisors is considering a “moratorium” on hydraulic fracturing shows that this hysteria has made its way to San Benito County. Locals – often unknowingly – peddle misinformation gleaned from professional activist groups from out of state which prey on people’s fears, all to score political points against the oil and gas industry. But what the activists fear most are facts, and the possibility that the citizens and elected officials will use them to make informed decisions.
Let’s start with the fact that hydraulic fracturing is a safe and proven technology, used more than 1.2 million times in the United States since the late 1940s. More recently, it has helped create surge in domestic oil and gas production from shale formations and an economic renaissance in other states. California also has tremendous shale resources, and accessing that energy with hydraulic fracturing will mean more jobs and tax revenue for our state. It will also mean increased economic and energy security as we currently import over 63 percent of our petroleum from out of state and foreign sources.
Activists routinely charge that the hydraulic fracturing process, which takes place thousands of feet below the ground, can contaminate shallow drinking water aquifers and trigger damaging earthquakes. What do the experts say? According to Stanford University geophysics professor (and Obama Administration advisor) Mark Zoback: “Fracturing fluids have not contaminated any water supply.” As for earthquakes, a recent report from the National Academy of Sciences found hydraulic fracturing “does not pose a high risk for inducing felt seismic events.” That’s because the process releases about the same amount of seismic energy “as a gallon of milk falling off the kitchen counter,” according to Professor Zoback.
The activists can’t stand the fact that major environmental accomplishments would be impossible without hydraulic fracturing. For example, producing more natural gas from shale has dramatically cut the amount of electricity generated from coal, and U.S. carbon dioxide have fallen close to 1990 levels – the same goal set by California’s AB 32 global warming law.
As hydraulic fracturing is being debated, let’s stay focused on the facts and the economic opportunity it can bring, and avoid passing an ill-advised moratorium based on unfounded criticisms of a safe process that is responsible for significant economic and environmental improvements throughout the nation.
Dave Quast, California director, Energy in Depth