May 9, 2012

SandBoxBlogs: Times Union "Letter: Hydrofracking success stories"

John Krohn, Washington D.C.:
"In "Fracking hazardous to New Yorkers' health" (April 24). Sandra Steingraber makes some extreme claims about hydraulic fracturing.

The author declares hydraulic fracturing will ruin our air for pregnant mothers, children and innocent grandparents without citing a single source.

On the same day Ms. Steingraber made these claims, the American Lung Association released a report on our nation's air quality. The study found North Dakota's air quality among the nation's best. The state is home to more than 6,500 oil and natural gas wells developed and fractured in just the past few years.

Ms. Steingraber also referenced a Colorado School of Public Health study that used flawed assumptions and committed gross errors in reaching its findings. One example: The study relied on samples taken a mile from a major interstate. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notes that automobiles are one of the largest sources of harmful emissions such as benzene. As a result, the study was criticized by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and scuttled by the Garfield County Board of Commissioners.

Contrary to Ms. Steingraber's claims, a recent Bloomberg article noted greenhouse-gas emissions are expected to decline through the end of the decade thanks to natural gas use in power generation. This is helping achieve the goals of recent ill-fated cap-and-trade legislation. This is an environmental success story, not the horror story Steingraber is hoping to promote..."  (Read more? Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

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