Fracking Passes Another Review

The National Academies of Science study concludes fracking doesn't significantly contribute to global warming. 

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science concludes that hydraulic fracturing--the controversial technique behind the nation's recent oil and gas boom--doesn't appear to contribute significantly to global warming, as many environmental groups have warned.

It's great news for oil and gas companies such as Exxon Mobil, Shell, and Chevron, which have relied on breakthroughs in so-called fracking technology to cheaply unlock vast new reserves of domestic oil and natural gas that had been trapped underground in shale-rock formations.

Hydraulic fracturing involves cracking open shale rock by injecting a cocktail of sand, water, and chemicals underground. Many environmental groups fear that the process can contaminate underground water supplies--and also that it releases underground stores of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that can have 20 times more impact on global warming than carbon dioxide.

"It's very good news," said Richard Keil, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil, of the study. "This is a groundbreaking survey. It's the most extensive one that's been done yet, and it serves to add important new evidence that hydraulic fracturing does not contribute to climate change--it does not contribute methane emissions at levels higher than those set by the Environmental Protection Agency."

Does anybody really still think that the White House's, EPA's  and environmentalist's objections to fracking are based on science?