Here's an article from today's Richmond Register with some (not surprisingly) misleading statements and bald-faced lies from the oil and gas industry. And here's the text of a letter to the editor in response that was submitted (but not yet published):
When the Register reported Mike Smith, executive director of Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission as stating “If you take one thing away today from me and I will emphasize it as loud as I can. Hydraulic fracturing does not cause earthquakes, no way, no how,” the newspaper revealed just one of the many ways that oil and gas industry representatives are trained by public relations consultants to lie to the public and media. It's true that the chemically induced fracturing of bedrock (from which "fracking" gets its name) does not cause earthquakes. But the United States Geological Survey determined in 2015 that, without a doubt, the massive uptick in earthquakes in recent years is the result of injecting fracking waste into the ground. These quakes have damaged property and injured people in Mr. Smith's home state of Oklahoma, where quakes have increased nearly 600-fold over historic levels. These injection wells are an integral part of the fracking process in most areas, with each well producing millions of gallons of polluted wastewater that must be disposed of. Mr. Smith could just as easily have promised that jumping off a roof doesn't cause broken bones - it's that hitting ground part that's to blame. There is a clear and growing body of evidence showing us the risks and harms associated with fracking, including increased birth defects, respiratory illnesses, damaged roadways, well blowouts and explosions, to name just a few. Mr. Smith lied, plain and simple.
http://www.richmondregister.com/news/madison-not-a-large-contender-for-fracking-leases/article_0eec27a2-581f-11e5-abc1-6f05c652a791.html
Madison not a large contender for fracking leases
Posted: Thursday, September 10, 2015 8:50 pm
Machaela Ballard/ mballard@richmondregister.com
For the time being, Madison County is not a large contender for hydraulic fracturing from the Rogersville Shale, explained Andrew McNeill, executive director of the Kentucky Oil and Gas Administration, during a breakfast held for local administrative leaders and industry representatives Thursday.
Although 18 oil and gas leases were recorded in May by the Madison County Clerk's Office, more than 2,100 were submitted in Magoffin County, with Lawrence and Johnson counties following at more than 1,000 leases, McNeill said.
Nearly all of Madison County is within the Rogersville Shale, however, it is not within an area marked by the University of Kentucky Geological Survey as an “area of possible Rogersville production.”
Regardless, McNeill and keynote speaker of the breakfast, Mike Smith, executive director of Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), explained federal and state regulations that are in place for the protection of landowners.
Often oil and gas production is located in areas that have not previously produced oil and gas, Smith said.
“So of course Landowners and people that live in the cities have questions, and rightfully so. And those questions need to be answered. Our organization has worked with environmental groups and industry groups and legislatures to answer those questions,” Smith explained. “It's to look at the science and look at what is really going on and really give the landowners and folks who live in cities close by the answers they need. And give them factual data of what it is and what it isn't.”
All hydraulic fracturing sites are now required to post chemicals used during drilling on the websiteFracFocus.org, Smith explained.
Geologists in attendance of the breakfast asked Smith about seismic and earthquake activity.
“If you take one thing away today from me and I will emphasize it as loud as I can. Hydraulic fracturing does not cause earthquakes, no way, no how,” Smith said.
When the Register reported Mike Smith, executive director of Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission as stating “If you take one thing away today from me and I will emphasize it as loud as I can. Hydraulic fracturing does not cause earthquakes, no way, no how,” the newspaper revealed just one of the many ways that oil and gas industry representatives are trained by public relations consultants to lie to the public and media. It's true that the chemically induced fracturing of bedrock (from which "fracking" gets its name) does not cause earthquakes. But the United States Geological Survey determined in 2015 that, without a doubt, the massive uptick in earthquakes in recent years is the result of injecting fracking waste into the ground. These quakes have damaged property and injured people in Mr. Smith's home state of Oklahoma, where quakes have increased nearly 600-fold over historic levels. These injection wells are an integral part of the fracking process in most areas, with each well producing millions of gallons of polluted wastewater that must be disposed of. Mr. Smith could just as easily have promised that jumping off a roof doesn't cause broken bones - it's that hitting ground part that's to blame. There is a clear and growing body of evidence showing us the risks and harms associated with fracking, including increased birth defects, respiratory illnesses, damaged roadways, well blowouts and explosions, to name just a few. Mr. Smith lied, plain and simple.
http://www.richmondregister.com/news/madison-not-a-large-contender-for-fracking-leases/article_0eec27a2-581f-11e5-abc1-6f05c652a791.html
Madison not a large contender for fracking leases
Posted: Thursday, September 10, 2015 8:50 pm
Machaela Ballard/ mballard@richmondregister.com
For the time being, Madison County is not a large contender for hydraulic fracturing from the Rogersville Shale, explained Andrew McNeill, executive director of the Kentucky Oil and Gas Administration, during a breakfast held for local administrative leaders and industry representatives Thursday.
Although 18 oil and gas leases were recorded in May by the Madison County Clerk's Office, more than 2,100 were submitted in Magoffin County, with Lawrence and Johnson counties following at more than 1,000 leases, McNeill said.
Nearly all of Madison County is within the Rogersville Shale, however, it is not within an area marked by the University of Kentucky Geological Survey as an “area of possible Rogersville production.”
Regardless, McNeill and keynote speaker of the breakfast, Mike Smith, executive director of Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), explained federal and state regulations that are in place for the protection of landowners.
Often oil and gas production is located in areas that have not previously produced oil and gas, Smith said.
“So of course Landowners and people that live in the cities have questions, and rightfully so. And those questions need to be answered. Our organization has worked with environmental groups and industry groups and legislatures to answer those questions,” Smith explained. “It's to look at the science and look at what is really going on and really give the landowners and folks who live in cities close by the answers they need. And give them factual data of what it is and what it isn't.”
All hydraulic fracturing sites are now required to post chemicals used during drilling on the websiteFracFocus.org, Smith explained.
Geologists in attendance of the breakfast asked Smith about seismic and earthquake activity.
“If you take one thing away today from me and I will emphasize it as loud as I can. Hydraulic fracturing does not cause earthquakes, no way, no how,” Smith said.