Comments (10) (Please sign in to comment)

1. 

   Penny Robinson Fan Club said, 4 months ago

   Oops!!!

   The state’s Health Department found in an analysis it prepared early last year that the much-debated drilling technology known as hydrofracking could be conducted safely in New York, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times from an expert who did not believe it should be kept secret.

   http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/nyregion/hydrofracking-safe-says-ny-health-dept-analysis.html?_r=0
2. 

   battle of plattsburgh said, 4 months ago

   Dang! More fracken highway construction to slow us down!
3. 

   Notsoastute said, 4 months ago

   re: Panel 1

   I think this eulogy could apply to all of us.
4. 

   phritzg said, 4 months ago

   The reason the analysis was kept secret is because the document itself is not a health impact study at all but it is merely a defense or justification as to why the administration didn’t do a rigorous study. There are too many instances of families who now have drinking water that is unsafe or even flammable. People who work in fracking should be required to buy those houses and live in them to prove just how safe it is.
5. 

   comicnut4636 said, 4 months ago

   I like the animated banner today!!!
6. 

   Dry said, 4 months ago

   @phritzg

   There are too many instances of families who now have drinking water that is unsafe or even flammable.

   I live in a Fracking state. Yes there is some contamination, but the company has made it right, and there aren’t nearly as many as some sources would have you believe.
7. 

   georgelcsmith said, 4 months ago

   There are places in the US where natural gas is in the water table and always has been. While hydraulic fracking is a relatively new process, older methods have been around for decades. I saw a demonstration of an older method at the centennial of oil in 1959.
8. 

   omwae said, 4 months ago

   but you should see the spread the widow puts out.

   (that would be a triple, by the way)
9. 

   naturally_easy said, 4 months ago

   How about, “cured”?
10. 

    old1953 said, 4 months ago

    Sigh. Fracking at depths over 40,000 feet does not pose any risk of contamination. Fracking at lesser depths will pose increasing risks as the depth decreases. The fracking process involves forcing high pressure fluids into the rock with the intention of cracking the rock and allowing natural gas and oil to escape from being entrapped in shale. The fracking process does not have to break the rock all the way to the surface, it merely has to break rock to the point where it finds an existing fracture that reaches to the water table. Below 20,000 feet open fractures are nearly nonexistent. Pressure from the thousands of tons per square inch of pressure from the weight of the rocks above acts to seal such things very quickly, the rock literally flows to fill fractures. Thus, with increased depth comes greater confidence that fracking won’t cause problems on the surface. Below 40,000 feet, forget it, we don’t have pumps that can create the kind of pressure needed to break rocks for five miles up and possibly find an existing crack. Something seldom mentioned (because much “Green” money comes from coal companies that don’t want it mentioned) is that natural gas emits less than half the CO2 released by burning the amount of coal needed to generate the same quantity of electricity. Moreover, if you count the power used in baghouses, washing plants and smoke digestors that clean and treat coal to prevent SO2 emissions and fly ash particulates, the number drops considerably further. And that’s the science essay for today.
11. Refresh Comments.