Fracking offers energy potential

Editorial, Jacksonville Daily News, July 11, 2013.

President Barack Obama was right when he conceded recently that the boom in U.S. natural gas production is both good for the environment and good for the economy.

Obama made this point when he gave a major environmental speech that focused on climate change and carbon emissions.

But to the surprise of some — including some environmentalist supporters, who were irked — Obama supported the boom in U.S. natural-gas production that is, in part, caused by a relatively new drilling technique called “fracking.”

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, has helped stimulate the U.S. energy sector and, thus, the U.S. economy. Obama noted that the natural gas boom is creating jobs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering utility bills.

The reason for this is simple. Natural gas is used by many power plants to create electricity. Natural gas burns more cleanly than coal, sending fewer greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Such carbon emissions, in theory, lead to global warming and climate change. Regardless of how one feels about the great climate-change debate, it just makes sense to try to find cleaner ways to generate electricity.

The best two ways to do that are to use nuclear energy and natural gas. Nuclear power plants have zero emissions. They should continue to be a source of U.S. power. But nuclear power plants are expensive to build and maintain.

Right now, the market is moving toward natural gas. Natural gas production, thanks to fracking, is up 30 percent since 2005, according to USA Today. Much of this stems from technological innovation.

Fracking involves pushing water and sand, mixed with some other fluids, deep into ground. Pressure is added as the fluid is pushed sideways. This fractures shale, and natural gas rises up through a well.

Many environmentalists hate the practice, although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has balked at attacking it. Most recently, the EPA decided not to finalize a 2011 report that fracking had contaminated a Wyoming aquifer.

Studies of fracking continue. USA Today reported that the U.S. Geological Survey found no evidence of wide-scale leaks of methane far from the fracking sites, “beyond naturally occurring amounts.”

Here one should note that no wide-scale production of energy is perfectly safe or free from accident. But there is little evidence to suggest fracking causes serious environmental damage.

Fracking shows that innovation is alive and well in the United States. The process started in the U.S., and scientists enhanced the process to get at natural gas trapped in shale. U.S. shale formations have great untapped sources of natural gas and oil. Getting at them could produce long-term energy independence for the United States. And it could drive down energy costs, at home and at the pump.

It’s fortunate that President Obama understands that fracking and the natural gas boom have clear economic benefits to the nation, with minimal environmental dangers.