Author: Walter M. Brasch

Publisher: Greeley & Stone, Publishers

Published: 2014-02-14

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 9780942991253

--70% new content --current to 2014 --30 photos and graphics --fully indexed and documented In his most powerful investigation to date, award-winning journalist Walter M. Brasch digs into the natural gas industry and extracts the truth about fracking. This is the second edition of the best-selling critically-acclaimed first edition, with a focus on the scientific information and social issues, written for a general trade audience. Hydraulic horizontal fracturing, better known as fracking, is the process of injecting as much as seven million gallons of water, proppants (like silica sand), and toxins into the earth to fracture the shale and extract methane. Politicians want natural gas drillers to come into their states, primarily because of the numbers of well-paying jobs the industry creates, the overall economic benefits, and the lower costs of natural gas to the consumer. Dr. Brasch investigates those claims, and provides an extensive look at the money trail between the industry and the politicians' campaign receipts. Combining both scientific evidence and extensive interviews with those affected by fracking throughout the country, he concludes that errors made by the natural gas industry as well as the process itself have caused significant public health and the environmental problems that also affect agriculture, wildlife, and livestock.