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Natural gas industry associations have claimed, and President Obama has repeated the claim, that hydraulic fracturing operations, or fracking, will produce a 100 year supply of natural gas in the U.S. There are many refutations of this statistic but the industry itself, and it’s abhorrent practices, may be in the process of foreshortening this so-called bonanza. Two articles published today in Grist point out why.
Groundwater and air pollution, habitat and road degradation, horizontal drilling encroachment, and a host of other effects of fracking are causing various negative consequences for property owners where shale gas deposits are being exploited. This article by Roger Drouin explores some of these problems.
Within the gas industry, a gold-rush mentality has caused over-supply and the resulting drops in gas prices have reduced profits and hampered additional drilling and exploration, as noted in this post by Claire Thompson.
