State’s ‘fracking’ plans call for public to pay attention

State’s ‘fracking’ plans call for public to pay attention by Brian Paddock, July 22, 2012, The Tennessean 
The Tennessee Oil and Gas Board has proposed regulations which, for the first time, recognized “fracking” for natural gas. … One target is the relatively shallow “Chattanooga” shale that underlies much of our state. Another is the “Conasauga shale,” which is much deeper and requires extreme injection pressures and expensive horizontal drilling and fracking to release any gas. Unfortunately, the proposed regulations are not protective of surface waters, neighbors to gas wells, or the landscape that may be converted to an industrial wasteland by dozens of well pads, pipelines, tanks, pits for polluted water, and roads. Most important, the regulations are weaker than American Petroleum Institute standards. The Oil and Gas Board has not explained why Tennesseans should not have the protection of nationally recognized standards rather than rules cooked up by a tiny state staff to be adopted by an industry-dominated board.

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