Environmentalists in New York say “don’t bother us with the facts, our minds are already made up.”
Dr. Taury Smith, the New York State Geologist, had the temerity to suggest that activists had exaggerated problems of hydraulic fracturing. After three years of study, he could not find any evidence to support that hydraulic fracturing had impacted ground water.
New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation has published the most comprehensive study yet on hydraulic fracturing. Like the BAPE, they could find no evidence that hydraulic fracturing has impacted ground water.
Dr. Smith’s reward is to be muzzled after ferocious protests by environmental groups.
Many American state regulators have publicly said the same thing as Dr. Smith. According to activists, regulators are all in the pocket of industry and don’t count. New York has a moratorium, so it cannot be argued that their regulators are in the pocket of industry.
Suggestions that hydraulic fracturing for natural gas deep underground will affect groundwater defies Darcy’s Law and other laws of physics. If your mind is already made up, facts and laws of physics are slightly boring. For pure entertainment, I recommend re-runs of Gasland.
