Fracking is a process of fracturing subterranean shale deposits to free methane by high-pressure injection of a water-chemical mix.
Fracking
• Uses large volumes of fresh water (2.7 million to 15 million gallons per well) with major impact on land and water resources.
• Produces large volumes of contaminated waste requiring disposal.
• Has caused major impacts on the land and water resources of rural communities.
• Releases excessive methane, up to 105 times more potent as a greenhouse gas (pound for pound) than C02.
There are two strongly complicating factors hindering public understanding of the impact or risks of fracking. Both are roadblocks created by the industry:
1) The fracking industry uses the term ‘fracking’ to mean only the injection of the fracking mix (chemicals, water and sand) into a well. That allows them to make claims regarding safety and pollution which ignore the underground dispersion of the chemicals injected, and the storage and disposal of the backwashed fracking mix.
2) Gas fracking companies keep the identity of the chemical compounds used in the fracking mix secret -- the "Halliburton loophole -- making it impossible for people to evaluate their risk if exposed through their air or water.
A USGS map of 2012 (not pictured here at present) shows fracking wells (black dots) in the brook trout range of the Appalachians. It is easy to see why companies want to pipe across the mountains to the export sites on the coast.
The Marcellus shale formation, associated with gas deposits, extends into Virginia and underlies large areas of the Thomas Jefferson and George Washington national forests.
See the following page for the Virginia Chapter's Statement on Fracking.
