Rules Proposed to Protect Water During 'Fracking'

Water must be better protected during fracking.

We need gas and oil, and we especially need to obtain them from our own resources, instead of importing.

The problem with "fracking," also known as hydraulic fracturing, has been too little regulation, resulting in damage to both surface and groundwater. But now the Bureau of Land Management has proposed rules for public disclosure of fluids used in the process, as well as for the handling of wastewater and the integrity of well casings.

“Sportsmen are pleased that our federal decision makers recognize the need to increase transparency during all phases of energy planning and development,” said Tom Franklin of Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, which is a member of the Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development coalition.

“We will continue to work closely with the administration, Congress, industry, and our conservation partners to assure that public lands energy projects employ a science-based approach that sustains our nation’s fish and wildlife resources and outdoors opportunities.”

Read more here.

Defending Sacred Headwaters

No question exists that we need to produce more of our own energy, or at least obtain it in North America, instead of the Middle East.

We know that we have an abundance of natural gas, and we know that hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is the means to obtain it.

The main problem is that the process has been under-regulated and our waterways and fisheries have suffered as a result. But oversight is improving in most places and we should continue to obtain natural gas this way.

But . . . no matter how safe the process becomes, some places simply are too valuable to risk. Some folks in Canada believe that British Columbia’s Sacred Headwaters is one of those places.

Here is what the website says: “In a vast alpine basin that is the shared birthplace of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine Rivers. Royal Dutch Shell wants to drill more than 1,000 coalbed methane gas wells in the Sacred Headwaters, threatening communities, wildlife and wild salmon. Concerned citizens from around the world are calling for steps to safeguard the Sacred Headwaters from Shell's gas drilling.”

Find out more here, and, if you agree, get involved.