Ask a Geologist's: Another Geology Question

Julie,

Given recent attempts to pass legislation in North Carolina to allow "fracking" for natural gas, what can you tell us about this process? Is it worth it to get the clean burning fuel source?

Thanks Julie :-D

If you weren't so nice about this and I didn't like you so much I wouldn't answer this because it's a geology question. At least write back later and ask me something about your cat, ok? Like, "My cat is in a bad mood. How can I make it less crabby?"

Fracking is a nickname for hydraulic fracturing. It's bad for the environment in a number of ways but the worst is that it contaminates fresh water. In the US we are pretty sheltered from the notion that water is a finite resource but fresh water is on the verge of becoming non-renewable all over the world.

Fracking is an easy one to answer. It's a BAD BAD BAD idea. NO NO NO BAD NO NO WRONG NO BAD.

There's a reason the word sounds like a swear word. It's because greedy people are fracking you over to get natural gas. When they are through you will be totally fracked. You should tell them to go frack themselves and get out of your community.

It's also a bad sign that we're taking it so seriously. It is definitely one of those things were corporations are taking advantage of the general public's lack of confidence in science. People think they are "bad" at science and generally let the government, media and corporations spoon feed them "facts" that they just swallow without research...or even thinking them through.

Now, I generally take videos like the one below with a grain of salt because they are trying to be persuasive. Sometimes they stretch the facts. Even though the cartoon is a dramatization I really feel like all of the points are valid.

Fracking is a great way to make money at the expense of the health of your population. It is not worth the trade off of being a "clean burning fuel source." Let's find other ways to solve this problem. If we're all dead we won't need electricity.