Is Fracking ‘Legitimate’?

Is Fracking ‘Legitimate’? by Russell Mendell, August 23, 2012, ecowatch
When I heard Missouri Rep. Todd Akin say that “legitimate rape doesn’t cause pregnancy,” my jaw dropped. This is a member of the House Sciences committee who is bending the truth to fit his viewpoint. Or should we say inventing a truth that is at odds with the laws of nature. So it should not come as a surprise that some in Washington, DC, and Albany, NY, have taken to listening to the so called “frack scientists.” These are the scientists who choose to ignore the tough questions and data concerning fracking. In New York, we’ve learned from doctors including Robert Howarth, Anthony Ingraffea and Sandra Steingraber—authors and scientists renowned for their expertise—that fracking contaminates the water and air, and is worse for the climate than coal. They show us that real science comes to the conclusions that the data presents. According to Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency the only thing “legitimate” about fracking is people’s fear of it. Speaking at the Baker Institute in Houston on Aug. 17, van der Hoeven said that fracking causes “legitimate public concerns about its environmental and social impacts, these include implications for water resources, land use and disruption of local communities.” van der Hoeven spoke of her conversations with shale gas companies as cause for alarm. “If people tell me, ‘We know what we are doing,’ then they don’t know what they are doing. Companies have to realize that they need to take people’s concerns seriously. There’s a very real possibility that public opposition for drilling for shale gas will halt the unconventional gas revolution and fracking in its tracks.” [Emphasis added]