Hydro-fracturing

From Wikimarcellus

Hydro-fracturing, or fracing for short, is the process of injecting water, sand, diesel fuel, and/or a cocktail of chemicals into a well, under high pressure, in order to fracture the shale thereby releasing methane gas trapped in pores of the rock.

Many environmentalists have raised concerned about this process as a potential source of toxic contamination of the water supply. It also requires millions of gallons of water which usually must be trucked into drilling sites. The tanker trucks used to bring water in and the diesel engines used to power drilling and pumping equipment on the drill site are recognized as a sources of air pollution. There are also concerns about noise-control issues. These relate not only to noise from drilling and pumping equipment, but also from gas compressors which run continuously once the well is actually producing.