Editorial: New study shows fracking has minimal environmental effects

[IsailedawayfromFR]

An important report was issued last week by Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas, the state’s premier scientific body, about hydraulic fracturing. And it’s a very positive report, showing that fracking can be done safely and cleanly, to produce the energy that drives our economy - indeed, our whole way of life.

But you wouldn’t know it’s a positive report, if you read some of the coverage on it. The Houston Chronicle’s headline was “Study of oil and gas drilling finds pollution and connections to earthquakes.”

Here’s the Chronicle’s lead sentence: “Oil and gas drilling in Texas shale plays pollutes the air, erodes soil and contaminates water, while the disposal of millions of gallons of wastewater causes earthquakes, a consortium of the state’s top scientists concluded.”


Not only is that misleading on its face, but it’s also misleading in another way.


We must have energy. And for now, that means oil and gas.

So fracking should be compared to conventional drilling for a real evaluation. But many in the media aren’t doing that. Instead, they’re comparing the effects of fracking to the effects of doing nothing at all.


That’s like a scientific study that says eating salad causes weight gain - when compared to eating nothing at all. It’s true, but misleading.

The actual report cited by the Chronicle sounds quite different.
http://www.tylerpaper.com/TP-Opinion/290192/editorial-new-study-shows-fracking-has-minimal-environmental-effects

I stopped taking the Houston lib newspaper.  It is trash.