The Fracas Over Fracking (This op-ed article has been submitted as a comment letter to the Dallas Morning News)

The_Fight_Over_Fracking.pdf

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Comment by Robert Schultz on November 3, 2009 at 11:21am: Water Contamination Concerns Linger For Shale Gas

This is from the end of the article:
>>The rapidly expanding development of shale gas reservoirs has left regulatory agencies and legislatures scrambling to keep up with the new environmental issues raised by the operations. In June, several members of Congress introduced the "Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act." The "FRAC Act" would amend the federal Safe Water Drinking Act to bring hydraulic fracturing under federal rather than state regulation.

The "FRAC Act" would also require natural gas producers to disclose the chemicals they are using during hydraulic fracturing operations. The producers have been reluctant to reveal the chemical formulas used in their fracturing operations, for fear of disclosing proprietary information to their competitors.

In a statement accompanying the introduction of the bill, the sponsors said they do not oppose hydraulic fracturing but want "to ensure that the practices are done safely and do not threaten the health of the public." <<

The most concerning issue , in my opinion, is the non-disclosure of "fracking" chemicals. Many of these are acids and known toxins, which are leaching into water supplies. Some areas have also had sufficient methane in the water supply to cause flammable tap water.