The Green Pages A new controversy over “fracking”
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new study by the U.S. Forest Service has expanded the controversy over hydraulic fracturing, "fracking” for short.
Fracking is the process of injecting certain chemicals deep underground to break up rocks, and free up deposits of natural gas. The heart of the controversy is between environmentalists who claim that the chemicals poison groundwater, and oil and gas companies that insist that the process is safe. The new element comes from recent research by the Forest Service, which indicates that the waste water produced by fracking is very bad for forest ecosystems. Scientist Mary Beth Adams conducted the study and published the results in the Journal of Environmental Quality. The work was done in West Virginia's Fernow Experimental Forest, but it has implications for western Colorado, where fracking is common. Adams reportedly applied more than 75,000 gallons of fracking fluid on a quarter-acre of forest. The results: all of the ground cover in the affected area died immediately, and 56 percent of the plot's 150 trees died within two years. Environmentalists say the study proves that fracking
fluid should be treated as toxic waste. So, just what are the chemicals in this fluid? Well, that's a secret. For several years now, U.S. Rep. Dianna DeGette, of Denver, has been trying to get a bill passed that would force oil and gas companies to reveal that information. However, the industry insists that it must keep that secret for proprietary reasons. Spokespeople also claim that the process is exempt from regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency, under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Also, Colorado's oil and gas regulators agree with industry representatives that revealing the composition of the fluid would do nothing to prevent spills from holding pits and pipelines. They argue that those spills should be the main focus of regulatory concern. Typically, fracking involves the injection of those chemicals, sand, and water, thousands of feet underground to crack tight rock and sand formations; that, in turn, releases more natural gas. Those processes happen far below drinking water wells and groundwater supplies. However, scientists are still arguing amongst themselves over whether the process can contaminate groundwater.
Denver rates high on “greenest cities” list The town that was once known for its "brown cloud" of pollution is now rated as one of the greenest cities in the U.S. and Canada. Denver has come in fifth in a study of 27 major American and Canadian cities examined for a variety of environmental factors, according to the Huffington Post. The research was commissioned by Siemens USA, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and covered nine environmental categories—CO2 emissions, energy, land use, buildings, transportation, air quality, water, waste, and environmental governance. San Francisco was rated as the greenest city over all, but the Mile High City came in first in one category: energy usage. Denver also tied with New York and Washington, D.C. for first place in the category of "environmental governance".
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Fall 2011
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In the final analysis, the overall ratings of the top 10 cities in the EIU study were: 1. San Francisco 6. Boston 2. Vancouver 7. Los Angeles 3. New York 8. Washington D.C. 4. Seattle 9. Toronto 5. Denver 10. Minneapolis. You can learn more about the general environmental condition of urban areas in the U.S. and Canada at these websites: United States: http://www.epa.gov ; Canada: http://www.ec.gc.ca Air Qualiity-United States and Canada: http://www.airnow.gov