Whoa there! Hang on a second....

First of all, the Marcellus Shale is relatively shallow compared to the Eagle Ford Shale. When fracturing occurs some 18,000 to 22,000 feet below surface and is cemented properly, the odds of gas coming to the surface or into drinking water aquifers are very small. The same holds true for drilling fluids and fracturing fluids. The possibility exists i.e. earthquake breaking the cement and steel casing or fracturing into a transmissive fault, but still the odds are very small.

Regarding the Barnett Shale, things have happened and lessons are being learned from this. Vertical hydraulic fracturing is not new, but horizontal fracturing is relatively new. So is this increased water consumption and disposal of or recycling of the flowback and produced water. Sure, it has to be tweaked but the industry is getting there.

I believe it was just this last week that Railroad Commission mandated disclosure of fracking chemicals, as well as accurate logging of water usage. The chemicals used in fracking have been considered propietary until now, and even though the disclosures may be of "generic" composition, at least now the landowner will have available a list of things to look for if his water well goes sour.

Folks, this is a learning process. Those land owners who reap the monetary benefits must be prepared to potentially suffer some mishaps. And when I say monetary benefits, I'm talking about some $40,000 per day per well and in some instances more than that.

Now, with that being said, above-ground spills are unacceptable. Intentional discharge into creeks is unacceptable, as is any discharge which is a threat to wildlife, livestock or human beings.

I say now, as I have always said, it's all up to the operators but also the landowners. There are responsible operators and there are operators who have no sense of environmental responsibility, so it's the landowner's responsibility to study, question, analyze and then decide who they want on their property. Indeed, they are becoming more educated today than last year or the year before. So, before blame is put upon the industry, question the landowner, your neighbor, to determine whether HE or SHE made the decision to do the right thing by contracting with a responsible operator, as opposed to going with the highest bidder.

Incidentally, I treat private water well contamination problems for a living, and I have had not one single complaint regarding horizontal hydraulic fracturing in a private water well to date.

People in the EFS should learn from the mistakes made in the Barnett Shale. We have some horrible impacts.

What "gasland" may have uncovered is that some drillers are bad, not that fracking is bad. We can see that with the current situation in the Gulf. BP tried to take some short cuts with deep water drilling and Mother Nature hammered their a$$.

But there is a larger issue here. Everyone is against something particularly with energy. They are against nuclear, coal, drilling anywhere, wind turbines, transmission lines, solar, ad nauseam.

There is one thing about natural gas. As we construct more wind turbines to produce electricity we also have to switch more generation from coal to gas to control the grid. So we are going to need a lot more gas. That means if we don't drill for gas we are going to have to import cryogenic gas.

In the meantime the construction of terminals for liquified gas are also being block. The hazards with cryogenic gas make the concerns about fracking shale seem silly. But in any event some of us will soon be sitting in the dark or paying a hell of a lot for electricity.

Once we get behind in electrical production it's hard to makeup, California had a brush with this - what they did is quickly build a bunch of gas fired plants. What will we do if there is no gas?

Well let me retract my last statement , because I do know know a little bit about national politics and that particular energy bill.... Thanks for the opening.

Well let me retract my last statement , because I do know know a little bit about national politics and that particular energy bill.... Thanks for the opening.

The provision was just one example of how the energy bill, touted as a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil or moderate gasoline prices, has been turned into a piñata of perks for energy industries.

"Every industry gets their own little program," said Myron Ebell of the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute. "There's pork in there for everybody."

The bill exempts oil and gas industries from some clean-water laws, streamlines permits for oil wells and power lines on public lands, and helps the hydropower industry appeal environmental restrictions. One obscure provision would repeal a Depression-era law that has prevented consolidation of public utilities, potentially transforming the nation's electricity markets.
It also includes an estimated $85 billion worth of subsidies and tax breaks for most forms of energy -- including oil and gas, "clean coal," ethanol, electricity, and solar and wind power. The nuclear industry got subsidies for research, waste reprocessing, construction, operation and even decommisiion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...

Now, the Washington Post lies?..I think the HBO will come up for re airing and I advise all to watch and then decide.

I did say I was not an expert but the Victoria Advocate article did mention "hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing was explained in detail in the HBO documentary titled "Gasland."... Were they wrong? If I'm wrong ,then I stand corrected and I apologize.

Again, I'm just saying that we should not just jump in, just because the oil companies say " trust me." We all know how that goes.

You have your opinion and ways at looking at the situation; I have my mine.

It's off my mind and I will not comment further.

I am far from being an expert on the oil and gas industry, but after watching the HBO documentary " Gasland" , I think consumers should think twice about the Fracking methods used to extract the gas. Consumers in the northeast have complained of their drinking water being contaminated with the explosive gas and chemicals, the oil companies used to extract the gas.

The July 2010 issue of Popular Mechanics stated that energy companies would have to mine and process millions of tons of shale from the earth-leaving behind toxic heavy metals and sulfates that could seep into the groundwater. Mining and processing shale also require vast amounts of water..i.e. Producing 2.5 million barrels of shale would require 105 to 315 million gallons of water a day..... It is a highly energy intensive process that releases large amounts of CO2.

I think it's worthy of a study.