Oil and gas industry fires back at fracking opponents
The Louisiana Oil and Gas industry is fighting back against claims fracking is a threat to drinking water. Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a process used to get natural gas out of the ground.
It's a hot button issue in many areas of the country and only recently here-- since companies are buying up leases in Beauregard and Vernon parishes.
In Beauregard Parish, land owners have been approached by companies who want to lease their property to extract natural gas from the subsurface. It's triggered an outcry from some about fracking-- a process to get the gas out of the ground.
Citizens like Bonnie McElroy fear it could threaten groundwater supplies and the environment. " They drill horizontally much deeper and they shoot thousands and thousands, over a million gallons of water mixed with toxic chemicals into the earth to cause the rocks to fracture. Then they get the gas. But the problem with that is, it has not proven itself environmentally safe in other areas."
Some states mandated that the typical 15-story, 1200-horsepower drilling rigs be set up at least 150 feet from homes — not out of any environmental concern, but because that was the distance that would keep the house safe if the rig toppled over.