Green Piece Profile: Fracking up the environment

     Today's Green Piece comes from the Citizen's Campaign for the Environment (CCE) based out of the great State of New York. The CCE is a non-profit group which has been working at bringing attention to local environmental issues and lobbying their government on a number of environmental issues.

     The CCE's newest campaign is to raise awareness of and hopefully stop hydraulic fracturing operations in the US. Hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking is a method of petroleum and natural gas extraction from shale beds. Wells are drilled down deep into the rock and water and chemicals are pumped into the well in order to stimulate the release of the the valuable gases which are subsequently recovered at the surface. This diagram provides a simplified view of this process:

     From The High Country News - Green Justice Blog

     The Fracking industry has been in hot water recently due to the documentary GASLAND, which has highlighted the dangers which fracking poses to drinking water supplies local ecosystems and brought the issue to the attention a wider audience.

     Fracking shale to release natural gas has a number of side effects, some of the most troubling being the release of massive amounts of methane gas and small earth quakes which have been reported to have been caused by this process. The methane gas is reportedly responsible for groundwater contamination in areas near fracking sites and is being released into the atmosphere. Methane gas is one of the largest contributors to the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere and its release from fracking contributes to the overall warming of the planet.

 
     On Saturday February 25th the CCE held a rally in NYC hoping to bring attention to fracking and connect concerned citizens. They hoped that by bringing a national concern to the local consciousness that they would have a better chance to change public opinion and gain followers for their cause. The Council of Canadians is leading a similar campaign on this side of the border, publishing maps showing the location of fracking activities and encouraging canadians to get involved by signing a petition calling for a moratorium on fracking in Canada.

    I'm hoping that the CCE and other environmental groups can get the ball rolling on this issue and make enough noise to be heard by decision makers. The fracking industry is rapidly growing and will be extremely difficult to slow down. Shale gas extracted through fracking has gone from representing 2% of natural gas production in the US in 2000 to 23% in 2010. This massive industry represents billions to the US economy and provides jobs for many people. Convinving leaders that it is the wrong path will be a difficult task indeed.