Thursday, December 31, 2009

T. Boone Pickens Will Not Be Happy To Hear This

A ProPublica investigation finds that natural gas exploration is fraught with financial uncertainties and hidden environmental costs. The environmental effects of the most popular method for extracting natural gas, a technique called hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. "fracking"), are poorly studied -- and could end up being very expensive for both energy companies and taxpayers if they necessitate clean-up of thousands of square miles of toxic wastelands where huge quantities of industrial chemicals were pumped into the ground to fracture bedrock and extract gas bubbles. (If it amazes you that this is considered clean energy, you are certainly not alone.)
Link