Full Transcript for Fracking

00:04:06.780 --> 00:04:08.879 From drilling to, yes. So if you're going to say 77 00:04:08.909 --> 00:04:10.069 drilling but not fracking. 78 00:04:10.430 --> 00:04:10.550 Ugh. 79 00:04:11.430 --> 00:04:16.009 So that's Seneca Resources, the very same company that inspired 80 00:04:16.350 --> 00:04:17.350 Chief Thundercloud. 81 00:04:17.449 --> 00:04:18.829 Whatever happened. 82 00:04:18.910 --> 00:04:21.610 No, there's no need to play that again. Enough with 83 00:04:21.629 --> 00:04:22.509 the folk songs. 84 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:27.819 Enough with the Wagner soundtracks and the shady definitions. 85 00:04:28.430 --> 00:04:30.870 We're here to look at the science. 86 00:04:33.509 --> 00:04:37.310 Today we're looking at how fracking affects four major things. 87 00:04:37.790 --> 00:04:42.319 Our water, our health, earthquakes and finally our climate. 88 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:47.139 Let's start with a detailed look at how fracking actually works. 89 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:50.819 Our frackers, Seneca's Rob Bulware and Doug Kepler, offered to 90 00:04:50.860 --> 00:04:53.189 give us an up-close look at one of their fracking 91 00:04:53.230 --> 00:04:58.149 sites in northwestern Pennsylvania. The fracking site itself is actually 92 00:04:58.310 --> 00:05:01.470 inside a national forest, which means that as you drive in, 93 00:05:01.610 --> 00:05:05.310 you see tonnes of trees and beaver dams and even 94 00:05:05.449 --> 00:05:08.699 Pennsylvania's state bird, the ruffled grouse. 95 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:12.870 Oh, look, Doug. You see it, Doug? It's a grouse, 96 00:05:13.269 --> 00:05:14.970 isn't it? 97 00:05:15.029 --> 00:05:15.649 Right back there. 98 00:05:15.670 --> 00:05:15.829 See? 99 00:05:16.350 --> 00:05:20.050 But as you approach the frack, things look a little different. 100 00:05:20.769 --> 00:05:23.290 We see a couple of huge cranes connected to a 101 00:05:23.370 --> 00:05:27.250 bundle of narrow pipes. And it's right here that water 102 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:30.800 gets pushed under the surface at intense pressures, which is 103 00:05:30.839 --> 00:05:33.560 what cracks the rock to release the natural gas. 104 00:05:34.259 --> 00:05:37.480 We're actually fracking right now underground, so... There is a 105 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:40.000 five-inch diameter pipe that that water is being pumped through. 106 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:43.220 We're pumping about 4,000 gallons per minute of water through 107 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:45.519 that pipe. So a tremendous amount of water in a 108 00:05:45.540 --> 00:05:48.149 very quick time. The pressure from that is what breaks 109 00:05:48.170 --> 00:05:48.529 the rock. 110 00:05:48.750 --> 00:05:50.810 Gimlet producer Caitlin Kenney is here with me. 111 00:05:51.209 --> 00:05:52.370 We're right under our feet right now. 112 00:05:52.509 --> 00:05:53.910 Big, old rocks are breaking. 113 00:05:53.990 --> 00:05:54.430 Yes, and. 114 00:05:54.449 --> 00:05:57.509 I can't feel anything. 115 00:05:58.290 --> 00:06:00.500 But it's not just water going down that pipe. 116 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:02.660 There's also sand and chemicals. 117 00:06:03.180 --> 00:06:05.360 There's a conveyor belt that takes all the sand to 118 00:06:05.379 --> 00:06:07.899 the blender... where the water in those tanks is blended 119 00:06:07.939 --> 00:06:10.439 along with the chemicals, and then they're pumped downhole. 120 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:12.980 The sand is used to keep the cracks in the 121 00:06:13.019 --> 00:06:15.600 rocks open so that the gas can flow out, while 122 00:06:15.620 --> 00:06:19.600 the chemicals, they do a couple of things. A bactericide 123 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:22.959 is added to prevent bacteria growing down the hole, and 124 00:06:22.980 --> 00:06:25.800 to get the fracking fluid moving very quickly through a 125 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:30.600 very narrow pipe, they add friction reducers. And this brings 126 00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:33.610 us to the first fear that people have about fracking. 127 00:06:34.430 --> 00:06:39.490 Can these chemicals get into our drinking water? When rocks 128 00:06:39.529 --> 00:06:42.329 are being cracked more than a mile underground, which is 129 00:06:42.410 --> 00:06:45.910 below drinking water supplies, studies have shown that there is 130 00:06:46.029 --> 00:06:49.589 a very low risk of the fracking chemicals seeping up 131 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:53.839 through the rocks, up into your drinking water. It could happen, 132 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:57.220 but one study estimated that it would take several thousand 133 00:06:57.660 --> 00:07:01.319 or even millions of years. And the thing is, one 134 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:05.779 report estimated that 95% of fracking wells in America are 135 00:07:05.819 --> 00:07:09.680 being fracked this far below the surface. In Australia, though, 136 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:14.079 where fracking is happening higher up, it is riskier. So 137 00:07:14.819 --> 00:07:18.360 that's cracks in rocks. But there is also the potential 138 00:07:18.459 --> 00:07:21.939 of chemicals leaking into our water through cracks in pipes. 139 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:26.470 But how often does that happen? Well, a study found 140 00:07:26.569 --> 00:07:27.649 that in Pennsylvania. 141 00:07:27.649 --> 00:07:31.019 6% of pipes had some kind of problem. 142 00:07:31.610 --> 00:07:36.829 So it's not widespread, but it is happening. So that's 143 00:07:36.870 --> 00:07:40.399 what's happening below ground. But the biggest risk. 144 00:07:40.220 --> 00:07:45.839 Of contamination, it seems, is happening above ground on the surface. 145 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:47.339 What am I looking at here? 146 00:07:47.810 --> 00:07:47.990 Red. 147 00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:51.279 Doug from Seneca explains that once you've cracked the rocks 148 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:54.139 open to release the natural gas, the gas comes up 149 00:07:54.379 --> 00:07:57.490 and the pressure from the gas carries the fracking

water 150 00:07:57.550 --> 00:07:58.250 back up with it. 151 00:07:58.259 --> 00:08:01.009 So you had shoved the water down there? 152 00:08:01.389 --> 00:08:04.230 We pump it down under pressure to fracture the rock 153 00:08:04.449 --> 00:08:07.089 and then the pressure of the gas carries the water 154 00:08:07.129 --> 00:08:08.750 back up out of the ground with the gas and 155 00:08:08.790 --> 00:08:10.379 then we separate the gas from the water. 156 00:08:10.899 --> 00:08:13.600 And this water, which has the fracking chemicals in it 157 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:16.459 plus salts and heavy metals from underground. 158 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:20.170 is now known as wastewater. 159 00:08:21.370 --> 00:08:23.810 Anyway, you've got all this wastewater that's up at the 160 00:08:23.870 --> 00:08:27.009 surface and it gets trucked or piped away from the 161 00:08:27.050 --> 00:08:29.589 fracking site and then Seneca has to figure out what 162 00:08:29.629 --> 00:08:32.470 to do with it. Right now, they're storing some of 163 00:08:32.549 --> 00:08:34.730 it and they showed us the storage site. It looked 164 00:08:34.750 --> 00:08:36.950 like three giant water coolers. 165 00:08:37.549 --> 00:08:39.210 So this is how many gallons? 166 00:08:39.429 --> 00:08:41.610 Each one of those three tanks holds two million gallons 167 00:08:41.649 --> 00:08:42.009 of water. 168 00:08:42.470 --> 00:08:44.269 That is a load of water. 169 00:08:45.429 --> 00:08:46.370 It is a lot of water. 170 00:08:46.940 --> 00:08:50.460 When you look at the entire fracking industry, it's billions 171 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:51.419 of gallons. 172 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:52.590 Of wastewater per year. 173 00:08:53.139 --> 00:08:56.029 And while the shiny tanks that we saw looked watertight, 174 00:08:56.769 --> 00:08:59.230 not all fracking sites are storing their wastewater this way. 175 00:09:00.210 --> 00:09:03.809 Sometimes fracking companies use pits, large holes that they've dug 176 00:09:03.850 --> 00:09:06.830 in the ground and then lined with a plastic. Now, 177 00:09:07.049 --> 00:09:11.139 this plastic is thick, but still it can rip, allowing 178 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:12.120 wastewater to leak. 179 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:13.519 Also. 180 00:09:14.039 --> 00:09:17.700 When you're schlepping vats of wastewater plus vats of fracking 181 00:09:17.740 --> 00:09:22.740 chemicals around, there's just lots of chances for spills. But 182 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:27.139 here's the question, and it's a really important question. Yes, 183 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:31.120 there's lots of chances for leaks and spills, but how 184 00:09:31.250 --> 00:09:32.950 often do they actually happen? 185 00:09:33.870 --> 00:09:35.629 It's time to talk to our expert. 186 00:09:36.090 --> 00:09:36.789 The bullfrog. 187 00:09:39.330 --> 00:09:42.669 This is Robert Jackson, a professor at Stanford, and he's 188 00:09:42.789 --> 00:09:46.529 one of the top experts on fracking in America. He 189 00:09:46.629

--> 00:09:51.019 also does some very impressive frog poetry. This is the 190 00:09:51.059 --> 00:09:51.840 green tree frog. 191 00:09:52.220 --> 00:09:53.179 Oinky boink boink. 192 00:09:53.659 --> 00:09:55.860 So remember when I said at the beginning of the 193 00:09:55.899 --> 00:09:58.889 show that both sides of this debate weren't being straight 194 00:09:58.929 --> 00:10:02.500 with the fracts? Well, that can make it hard to 195 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:06.700 know who to trust on this fracking debate. But Robert Jackson, 196 00:10:07.059 --> 00:10:10.309 he's my guy. I do trust what he says. And 197 00:10:10.350 --> 00:10:13.970 it's not because of the frog poetry. Well, it's partly 198 00:10:13.990 --> 00:10:16.990 because of the frog poetry. But it's also because of this. 199 00:10:17.629 --> 00:10:21.990 Honestly, I get beat up. from everybody, depending on what a, 200 00:10:22.610 --> 00:10:25.289 what a particular study says. When we publish a study 201 00:10:25.330 --> 00:10:28.269 that says we find no evidence of, of contamination of 202 00:10:28.309 --> 00:10:30.350 drinking water in a place like the Fayetteville field, I 203 00:10:30.389 --> 00:10:32.210 get calls and emails from people saying, you know, how 204 00:10:32.250 --> 00:10:34.370 can you say that? And, you know, you, you only 205 00:10:34.409 --> 00:10:37.110 looked at a hundred or 150 houses and, and this 206 00:10:37.129 --> 00:10:38.870 and this and that. And, and I promise you every 207 00:10:38.909 --> 00:10:43.149 time I say that we find water contamination or publish 208 00:10:43.169 --> 00:10:45.799 a map of 6,000 leaks in Washington, DC, I get 209 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:48.580 beat up from, from people in industry who say you're 210 00:10:48.620 --> 00:10:53.259 fear mongering, you're, promoting the decline of our industry and 211 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:55.159 all that. I get it from all sides. 212 00:10:55.179 --> 00:10:59.220 So, leading researcher in the field pisses off both sides 213 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:02.679 of this debate. What does he say about how often 214 00:11:02.740 --> 00:11:04.379 fracking contaminates water? 215 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:08.379 It does contaminate drinking water. It has contaminated drinking water. 216 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:13.240 But most of the time, it doesn't. So it can happen. 217 00:11:13.259 --> 00:11:16.159 It doesn't happen very often. But when it happens to 218 00:11:16.210 --> 00:11:18.809 you or your neighborhood or you think it could happen 219 00:11:18.850 --> 00:11:22.370 to you, It's something to be afraid of. I think 220 00:11:22.429 --> 00:11:25.440 that's what people latch on to. So most of the time, 221 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:27.899 it's completely safe. Once in a while, it isn't. 222 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:31.120 It's really hard for scientists to put a figure on 223 00:11:31.179 --> 00:11:34.360 what that once in a while is. A report made 224 00:11:34.419 --> 00:11:38.289 public by the Environmental Protection Agency last year put the 225 00:11:38.330 --> 00:11:44.049 number at between 100 to 3,700 spills from fracking each 226 00:11:44.129 --> 00:11:47.970 year in the United States. Let's think about that for 227 00:11:48.009 --> 00:11:52.509 a second. The EPA doesn't know if there are 100 228 00:11:52.509 --> 00:11:56.210 or 3,700 spills. 229 00:11:56.389 --> 00:11:58.110 We're going to put a sound effect on that, right? 230 00:11:58.710 --> 00:11:58.889 Cool. 231 00:11:59.190 --> 00:12:05.889 From fracking each year. Why so much uncertainty? Well, there's 232 00:12:05.909 --> 00:12:06.519 a few reasons. 233 00:12:07.059 --> 00:12:10.000 But one of them is that if scientists go to 234 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:12.379 a town and test the water and find out that 235 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:16.259 it's dodgy... If no-one tested that water before the frackers 236 00:12:16.299 --> 00:12:18.799 came to town, then the scientists can't say for sure 237 00:12:18.899 --> 00:12:21.980 what made it dodgy. Some things are just naturally in 238 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:24.639 the water. They come from the rocks and the geology nearby. 239 00:12:24.659 --> 00:12:28.480 And currently, we don't have a lot of this independently 240 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:33.679 gathered baseline data. Add to this, it's notoriously difficult to 241 00:12:33.730 --> 00:12:38.190 get fracking companies to acknowledge spills and to explain what happened. 242 00:12:39.389 --> 00:12:40.549 Seneca does this too. 243 00:12:42.370 --> 00:12:45.730 Take, for example, when we asked Doug from Seneca about 244 00:12:45.769 --> 00:12:48.889 whether fracking chemicals had ever contaminated water. 245 00:12:49.549 --> 00:12:51.409 He and Rob denied it. 246 00:12:52.710 --> 00:12:55.269 I don't think we could find a documented case of that. 247 00:12:55.509 --> 00:12:56.149 But we could. 248 00:12:56.710 --> 00:13:00.429 We used the internet and found that there were 270 249 00:13:00.429 --> 00:13:03.769 instances where an oil and gas company had affected someone's 250 00:13:03.830 --> 00:13:07.870 water supply in Pennsylvania. In each of those cases, the 251 00:13:07.909 --> 00:13:12.309 Department of Environmental Protection, or DUP, sent a letter confirming 252 00:13:12.350 --> 00:13:15.809 the contamination to the company that was responsible. And Seneca 253 00:13:16.129 --> 00:13:19.370 was called out in a handful of those letters. When 254 00:13:19.389 --> 00:13:22.509 we talked to Seneca about this, they kept denying that 255 00:13:22.570 --> 00:13:27.100 their chemicals were responsible for contaminating people's water. And that's 256 00:13:27.539 --> 00:13:29.240 when we finally took out the letters. 257 00:13:29.860 --> 00:13:32.460 OK, so like. 258 00:13:30.460 --> 00:13:32.740 like this. 259 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:34.059 Have you guys seen these letters? 260 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:37.679 From the Department of Environmental. 261 00:13:38.350 --> 00:13:40.850 protection in

Pennsylvania. This is to Seneca. 262 00:13:41.009 --> 00:13:43.190 Now, for a visual on what you're about to hear, 263 00:13:43.490 --> 00:13:46.700 this was happening in Rob's car right outside the fracking site. 264 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:49.259 The conversation went on for a while, and by the 265 00:13:49.299 --> 00:13:51.240 time I took the letters out of my backpack, it 266 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:53.899 was actually so tense that the windows had steamed up, 267 00:13:54.059 --> 00:13:54.879 Titanic style. 268 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:56.809 So just the fact that you have one of these 269 00:13:56.850 --> 00:13:59.169 letters doesn't mean we actually polluted something. It means that 270 00:13:59.230 --> 00:14:01.029 they were responding to a complaint that was made. 271 00:14:01.090 --> 00:14:03.549 I think this says that actually it did determine that 272 00:14:03.570 --> 00:14:04.669 there was a pollution. 273 00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:08.500 Let me see what's this one. This is again, Warsaw Township, 274 00:14:08.539 --> 00:14:24.370 Jefferson County, 2009. Increased levels of sodium chlorides in total 275 00:14:24.409 --> 00:14:26.600 dissolved solids. This looks like there was some type of 276 00:14:26.700 --> 00:14:31.200 impact at that time because the sodium would have come 277 00:14:31.220 --> 00:14:34.450 from the drilling itself. I don't remember what it was, 278 00:14:34.490 --> 00:14:36.850 but it appears there was a temporary impact on this one. 279 00:14:36.870 --> 00:14:39.250 But again, I wasn't looking at the types of things 280 00:14:39.289 --> 00:14:41.080 we're doing now and what you're talking about. But that 281 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:42.980 is included. 282 00:14:43.019 --> 00:14:46.580 When you read the EPA report on hydraulic fracturing and 283 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:49.059 the effects of it, we are talking about from the 284 00:14:49.139 --> 00:14:52.500 surface spills, we're talking about exactly where. 285 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:54.039 Something might go wrong. And you even mentioned. 286 00:14:54.120 --> 00:14:57.139 I stand firm on what we've done at Seneca that 287 00:14:57.159 --> 00:14:58.139 we have not had those issues. 288 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:00.820 But then you read the letter and it... No, because 289 00:15:00.860 --> 00:15:02.470 this is not fracking. That's what I'm saying. 290 00:15:02.519 --> 00:15:04.450 It wasn't, and it didn't have the process of fracking 291 00:15:04.549 --> 00:15:05.090 within it. 292 00:15:05.289 --> 00:15:09.230 It probably fracked as well. But this was not anything 293 00:15:09.250 --> 00:15:10.730 that had to do with fracking. It looks to me 294 00:15:10.769 --> 00:15:12.470 as though with that it would have probably been some 295 00:15:12.490 --> 00:15:14.720 type of surface spill next to a... Was it a 296 00:15:14.750 --> 00:15:16.360 spring again? Yeah, it was a spring on that. 297 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:20.740 And why were there spills into people's water supply? 298 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:22.100 Why did it happen? 299 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:24.120 And they were related to surface spills. 300 00:15:24.179 --> 00:15:28.379 Yeah, it was a... very careless act by a contractor 301 00:15:28.419 --> 00:15:31.039 on the location that spilled that one that temporarily impacted 302 00:15:31.059 --> 00:15:35.159 that spring so yes it did happen I'm not making 303 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:39.059 light of it it wasn't willful it was an accident 304 00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:43.450 but this was this was one incident that happened that 305 00:15:43.529 --> 00:15:45.769 year out of 300 and some wells that were drilled 306 00:15:45.789 --> 00:15:47.230 and it didn't happen every year but I would say 307 00:15:47.269 --> 00:15:52.110 we probably averaged maybe one or so some years maybe 308 00:15:52.129 --> 00:15:53.669 two some years maybe not but maybe one a year 309 00:15:53.690 --> 00:15:55.789 something like this would happen with a 300 well program 310 00:15:56.269 --> 00:15:59.120 when the regulations were very lax compared to what they 311 00:15:59.139 --> 00:15:59.519 are now. 312 00:15:59.960 --> 00:16:02.220 So that's what it takes to get these guys to 313 00:16:02.259 --> 00:16:05.519 agree to publicly confirmed facts that you can find on 314 00:16:05.539 --> 00:16:09.899 the internet. Now, about those regulations Doug mentioned at the end? 315 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:13.000 We're not going to go into the details of how 316 00:16:13.100 --> 00:16:16.250 regulations on fracking have changed in different parts of America 317 00:16:16.500 --> 00:16:20.710 or the world. But regulations on fracking continue to get tighter. 318 00:16:20.909 --> 00:16:23.909 And looking around us today at Seneca's storage site and 319 00:16:23.929 --> 00:16:26.759 the fracking site... you can see the effects of them. 320 00:16:27.340 --> 00:16:30.460 Here at the site, there was lining under everything. Those 321 00:16:30.679 --> 00:16:33.879 water coolers that were filled with waste, they were sitting 322 00:16:34.039 --> 00:16:36.730 on what looked like a giant kid's swimming pool made 323 00:16:36.769 --> 00:16:39.210 out of metal, and then under that was another layer 324 00:16:39.230 --> 00:16:39.870 of protection. 325 00:16:40.370 --> 00:16:43.149 You have to have containment in case a tank would 326 00:16:43.549 --> 00:16:44.549 have some type of failure. 327 00:16:44.830 --> 00:16:47.980 And all of this was designed to stop a leak if, say, 328 00:16:48.059 --> 00:16:50.600 something busted out of one of those water containers. 329 00:16:51.700 --> 00:16:52.120 Conclusion. 330 00:16:53.070 --> 00:16:57.049 Chemicals used in fracking can contaminate drinking water. They leak 331 00:16:57.070 --> 00:17:00.580 through damaged pipes or spills up on the surface. But 332 00:17:00.620 --> 00:17:06.960 from what we know, these instances are rare. OK, so 333 00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:09.980 the scary stuff used in fracking doesn't get into drinking

334 00:17:10.019 --> 00:17:13.119 water very often. But when it does, will it make 335 00:17:13.140 --> 00:17:16.859 you sick? After the break, I drink some fracking chemicals 336 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:20.289 and we find out... No, I'm definitely not going to 337 00:17:20.309 --> 00:17:22.619 do that. But we will talk to scientists about the 338 00:17:22.660 --> 00:17:35.609 potential health risks. Hey, it's Wendy from Science Versus, and 339 00:17:35.630 --> 00:17:38.170 I want to tell you about a podcast that I love, 340 00:17:38.410 --> 00:17:41.539 Science Friday. They cover all sorts of amazing things in 341 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:45.500 the weird and wonderful world of science, from how concussions 342 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:48.720 affect our brain to the inner secrets of a snake 343 00:17:48.940 --> 00:17:51.180 with a spider on its tail. tail. It's a lot 344 00:17:51.220 --> 00:17:53.920 of news that you can use and some that you can't, 345 00:17:54.049 --> 00:17:55.170 but you're going to love anyway. 346 00:17:55.410 --> 00:17:58.569 It's hosted by Ira Flato and Flora Lichtman. 347 00:17:58.730 --> 00:18:01.430 Who is an old friend of the show and loves 348 00:18:01.529 --> 00:18:04.130 a pun as much as we do. Science Friday is 349 00:18:04.190 --> 00:18:06.750 on every day, wherever you get your podcasts. 350 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:10.180 Welcome back to Science Versus. 351 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:13.519 So we talked about how fracking chemicals can get into 352 00:18:13.539 --> 00:18:15.980 your water, and we're going to get to the environmental 353 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:18.920 impacts of fracking just a bit later. But let's start 354 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:22.240 where we left off. The scary stuff in fracking can 355 00:18:22.329 --> 00:18:25.869 get into drinking water. But if that happens, will it 356 00:18:25.890 --> 00:18:29.710 make you sick? Some of you listening have seen scary 357 00:18:29.809 --> 00:18:33.130 footage of people lighting their water on fire and they 358 00:18:33.190 --> 00:18:34.609 say fracking is to blame. 359 00:18:35.589 --> 00:18:37.349 Footage like this. 360 00:18:37.809 --> 00:18:40.029 Unbelievable, a river on fire. 361 00:18:40.430 --> 00:18:44.450 In this video, an Australian politician fashioned after Steve Irwin 362 00:18:44.869 --> 00:18:46.970 lights a match and puts it to a river and 363 00:18:47.069 --> 00:18:48.710 flames leap up from the water. 364 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:50.579 It's all very dramatic. 365 00:18:51.140 --> 00:18:51.579 Whoa! 366 00:18:52.900 --> 00:18:56.779 The fracking just a kilometre away, methane coming up, and 367 00:18:56.900 --> 00:18:59.180 now the river is alight. 368 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:02.539 This video is real and the water is burning because methane, 369 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:05.700 the main ingredient in natural gas, is flammable. And it 370 00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:08.319 can end up in water supplies because when you're fracking 371 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:11.660 and trying to capture all that natural gas underground, some 372 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:14.420 of it leaks through the pipes and can escape. But 373 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.339 just because something is flammable, it doesn't mean it's bad 374 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:20.710 for you. pistachio nuts are flammable. 375 00:19:21.450 --> 00:19:25.640 Fun fact, right? Oh, the pistachio nuts are on fire. 376 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:32.420 Anyway, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, quote, 377 00:19:32.980 --> 00:19:37.420 drinking water or eating food prepared with water containing methane 378 00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:41.630 gas is not a health hazard, end quote. The CDC 379 00:19:41.769 --> 00:19:45.049 also says that methane leaves the water and enters the 380 00:19:45.170 --> 00:19:48.000 air very quickly So even if there was a lot 381 00:19:48.019 --> 00:19:51.519 of methane, quote, it is unlikely that this level would 382 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:54.059 remain in the water long enough to be ingested. 383 00:19:54.599 --> 00:19:55.119 End quote. 384 00:19:56.140 --> 00:20:01.069 So that's methane. What about the chemicals used in fracking operations? 385 00:20:01.369 --> 00:20:04.109 We talked about a few of them already. The bactericide, 386 00:20:04.210 --> 00:20:06.970 the friction reducers. Are they okay to drink? 387 00:20:07.950 --> 00:20:09.049 Well, no. 388 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:13.259 An Australian team of researchers recently bathed some cells from 389 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:16.359 the human intestine in the water and chemical mix used 390 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:21.369 in fracking. And it killed the cells. The mix was toxic. 391 00:20:22.349 --> 00:20:26.950 But you would never drink this mix straight. If fracking 392 00:20:27.009 --> 00:20:29.589 water was coming out of your tap, it would be 393 00:20:29.690 --> 00:20:32.819 cut with lots and lots of fresh water. And as 394 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:35.920 a general rule, the more diluted things get, the safer 395 00:20:35.940 --> 00:20:39.670 they get. So when this same team of Australian researchers 396 00:20:40.049 --> 00:20:43.930 diluted the fracking mix by five times, the test couldn't 397 00:20:43.970 --> 00:20:47.170 pick up any damage to the cells. And the researchers 398 00:20:47.250 --> 00:20:49.509 pointed out that the water coming out of your tap 399 00:20:49.609 --> 00:20:54.210 would actually be way more diluted than that. But they 400 00:20:54.250 --> 00:20:57.410 wrote in their paper that if you were exposed chronically 401 00:20:57.869 --> 00:21:00.549 over time to the diluted chemicals in fracking. 402 00:21:01.450 --> 00:21:02.339 It might change the game. 403 00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:06.039 Plus, cells in a petri dish versus the body, that's 404 00:21:06.099 --> 00:21:08.900 very different. So to get to the bottom of these 405 00:21:08.940 --> 00:21:13.099 health questions, we need to look at another kind of study. Say, 406 00:21:13.480

--> 00:21:20.009 a survey of people living near fracking wells. Peter Rabinowitz, 407 00:21:20.170 --> 00:21:23.210 a physician and an associate professor at the University of Washington, 408 00:21:23.609 --> 00:21:27.490 has done just that. He started studying fracking after a 409 00:21:27.569 --> 00:21:31.190 visit to southwestern Pennsylvania when he spoke to one family 410 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:34.839 that claimed to have been affected by fracking operations nearby. 411 00:21:34.859 --> 00:21:38.500 The family told Peter that the drilling company had said 412 00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:40.200 that the water was fine. 413 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:42.119 And it certainly didn't look that way to me, and 414 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:44.420 they definitely said that it had changed in some way. 415 00:21:44.869 --> 00:21:47.430 And then they gave interesting anecdotes that I was not 416 00:21:47.549 --> 00:21:51.529 sure what to make of about how when they tried 417 00:21:51.549 --> 00:21:53.950 to give water to their dog, the dog refused to 418 00:21:53.990 --> 00:21:57.759 drink from the bowl, or another dog drank some of 419 00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:00.079 the water and got sick and its hair fell out. 420 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:06.490 It's a scary story. Dodgy fracking company. Dog's hair falling out. 421 00:22:07.390 --> 00:22:11.490 Peter was intrigued. But he's a scientist. And this was 422 00:22:11.529 --> 00:22:12.150 an anecdote. 423 00:22:13.029 --> 00:22:15.240 So he got a team together and they surveyed the 424 00:22:15.299 --> 00:22:20.500 health of 180 households in the area. Ultimately, he found 425 00:22:20.779 --> 00:22:24.019 no link between living near a fracking site and the 426 00:22:24.059 --> 00:22:27.970 people reporting that they had heart, brain or stomach problems. 427 00:22:28.609 --> 00:22:32.309 But he did find something. two issues were more likely 428 00:22:32.349 --> 00:22:35.150 to be reported in those living within one kilometre of 429 00:22:35.210 --> 00:22:39.190 a fracking drill compared to those living further away. One, 430 00:22:39.880 --> 00:22:40.599 skin problems. 431 00:22:40.910 --> 00:22:44.779 Which included generalised rashes or itching of the skin. 432 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:47.259 And two, upper respiratory complaints. 433 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:51.359 Which could be burning eyes or cough or sore throats. 434 00:22:51.660 --> 00:22:54.660 But Peter says just because he found those issues, that 435 00:22:54.759 --> 00:22:58.329 doesn't mean the chemicals in fracking or fracking operations caused them. 436 00:22:58.670 --> 00:23:01.440 It's a correlation at this point. which means that there 437 00:23:01.480 --> 00:23:04.559 is a very real risk that these issues could be 438 00:23:04.619 --> 00:23:13.569 caused by something else, the nacebo effect. This is like 439 00:23:13.589 --> 00:23:17.950 the placebo effect's evil twin sister, where just believing that 440 00:23:17.990 --> 00:23:21.730 something will make you sick actually does. And so powerful 441 00:23:21.829 --> 00:23:24.930 is the nacebo and the placebo effect that every medical 442 00:23:24.990 --> 00:23:28.190 study has to consider them. And according to Peter, the 443 00:23:28.210 --> 00:23:32.250 circumstances surrounding fracking... are a perfect storm for this kind 444 00:23:32.289 --> 00:23:32.569 of thing. 445 00:23:32.829 --> 00:23:35.079 Things have happened so rapidly that there's a lack of 446 00:23:35.210 --> 00:23:38.799 information flowing. I think it's more likely that people start 447 00:23:38.859 --> 00:23:43.140 fearing the worst and thinking that there could be unknown 448 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:45.380 hazards that they, again, are being exposed to. 449 00:23:45.779 --> 00:23:48.259 So it could be that people's fears about fracking are 450 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:51.559 making them anxious and stressed and bringing on those rashes. 451 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:53.859 But it could also be the fracking chemicals. 452 00:23:54.670 --> 00:23:58.029 So with this in mind, Peter also asked residents about 453 00:23:58.049 --> 00:24:00.829 the health of their farm animals and their pets. Because 454 00:24:01.109 --> 00:24:02.829 while your dog might be very smart. 455 00:24:03.029 --> 00:24:05.390 We don't expect that they're going to read the newspaper 456 00:24:05.509 --> 00:24:08.410 or listen to the radio and have preconceptions about whether 457 00:24:08.450 --> 00:24:09.339 they're sick or not. 458 00:24:09.980 --> 00:24:13.240 He looked at a range of domestic animals. Dogs, cats, fish. 459 00:24:13.380 --> 00:24:17.380 Someone even had a pet raccoon. Who has a pet raccoon? 460 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:21.279 Pocahontas had a pet raccoon. Come on, Miko! 461 00:24:25.410 --> 00:24:26.730 Overall, good news for Miko. 462 00:24:27.089 --> 00:24:29.950 He found that pets living near fracking wells weren't any 463 00:24:30.009 --> 00:24:35.089 sicker than animals living further away. But when he analysed 464 00:24:35.130 --> 00:24:38.549 the results focusing on the dogs, he found that they 465 00:24:38.650 --> 00:24:41.150 were more likely to have skin problems if they lived 466 00:24:41.250 --> 00:24:44.950 closer to the fracking wells. Peter wanted to know more, 467 00:24:45.380 --> 00:24:47.859 so a year after his survey, he returned to the 468 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:49.579 households to get more data. 469 00:24:49.980 --> 00:24:52.799 We asked someone in the household to provide a urine 470 00:24:52.819 --> 00:24:55.279 specimen and also to get a urine specimen from a 471 00:24:55.319 --> 00:24:56.039 dog in the house. 472 00:24:56.599 --> 00:24:59.180 Just in general, you knock on someone's door and say, 473 00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:00.960 remember me from a year ago. 474 00:25:01.140 --> 00:25:02.299 Can I get some urine? 475 00:25:03.940 --> 00:25:07.680 It's an interesting conversation to have. And some people say 476 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:09.599 yes and some people say no.

And then when you 477 00:25:09.660 --> 00:25:12.339 ask to get a sample from the dog, it gets 478 00:25:12.420 --> 00:25:14.579 even more interesting. They're not used to doing that. 479 00:25:15.940 --> 00:25:19.299 Peter is currently looking into this data. So where does 480 00:25:19.319 --> 00:25:24.140 that leave us? What is the scientific answer? Are chemicals 481 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:27.400 from fracking making us sick? 482 00:25:29.180 --> 00:25:33.039 There may be something here and we need to have further, 483 00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:36.319 better studies to investigate it further. 484 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:38.299 Conclusion. 485 00:25:38.619 --> 00:25:41.059 If there was a major chemical spill onto your property's 486 00:25:41.099 --> 00:25:42.880 water and the water looked different. 487 00:25:43.690 --> 00:25:45.109 it's probably not a good. 488 00:25:45.009 --> 00:25:47.799 Idea to drink it because high doses of fracking fluid 489 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:50.299 are likely to be toxic. But in terms of whether 490 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:56.299 you'll get sick from smaller, say, harder-to-detect leaks, currently there's 491 00:25:56.339 --> 00:26:01.359 not good evidence that you will. Next up on our 492 00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:04.259 journey into fears about fracking, we're moving away from the 493 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:07.650 personal and asking, what is fracking doing to the world 494 00:26:07.710 --> 00:26:08.190 around us? 495 00:26:08.930 --> 00:26:11.089 Like, is it causing earthquakes? 496 00:26:12.170 --> 00:26:16.390 Some parts of the US, including Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Arkansas, 497 00:26:16.450 --> 00:26:17.230 have experienced. 498 00:26:18.130 --> 00:26:21.619 Oh, sorry. I'm going to get letters about that. Should 499 00:26:21.630 --> 00:26:22.559 have been Colorado. 500 00:26:22.579 --> 00:26:27.299 OK, so some parts of the US, including Texas, Colorado, 501 00:26:27.500 --> 00:26:32.220 Oklahoma and Arkansas, have experienced an unprecedented increase in earthquakes 502 00:26:32.380 --> 00:26:37.250 since 2009. And unprecedented, that's not my word. It comes 503 00:26:37.349 --> 00:26:41.849 from a paper published in Science magazine. And Professor Robert Jackson... 504 00:26:42.220 --> 00:26:46.960 He says these earthquakes are worth getting shook up about. Obviously, 505 00:26:47.180 --> 00:26:50.240 he didn't use those words. He doesn't talk in puns. 506 00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:54.980 It gets people's attention when someone has to start paying 507 00:26:55.009 --> 00:26:56.890 for earthquake insurance when they didn't even know what an 508 00:26:56.910 --> 00:26:58.609 earthquake was probably. 509 00:26:58.170 --> 00:26:59.049 A decade ago. 510 00:26:59.069 --> 00:27:02.509 That is really remarkable, and that is not natural. 511 00:27:02.829 --> 00:27:03.109 Yes. 512 00:27:03.789 --> 00:27:07.470 Robert says frackers are responsible for the increase in earthquakes, 513 00:27:08.190 --> 00:27:10.049 but not for

the reason that you might think. 514 00:27:10.950 --> 00:27:11.849 I'll let Robert explain. 515 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:13.099 Oinky boink. 516 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:14.299 Wrong audio. 517 00:27:14.619 --> 00:27:17.740 It's not this step of cracking open the rock that's 518 00:27:17.819 --> 00:27:21.549 causing those earthquakes. That does cause little tiny tremors, but 519 00:27:21.609 --> 00:27:24.890 no one feels those. What's causing some of these earthquakes 520 00:27:24.950 --> 00:27:27.789 instead is the disposal of the wastewater. 521 00:27:27.809 --> 00:27:30.750 Okay, so, wastewater. 522 00:27:32.369 --> 00:27:35.089 Remember, that's the dirty water that comes back up the 523 00:27:35.150 --> 00:27:38.720 pipe after you frack the rocks. Now, you can deal 524 00:27:38.789 --> 00:27:40.910 with that water in a couple of different ways. You 525 00:27:40.930 --> 00:27:43.990 can store it above ground in those giant water coolers. 526 00:27:44.430 --> 00:27:47.769 You can recycle it, use it for more fracking. But 527 00:27:48.029 --> 00:27:50.789 it's just a lot of water to deal with. So 528 00:27:50.849 --> 00:27:55.369 sometimes the fracking companies just shove it right back underground 529 00:27:55.990 --> 00:27:58.250 into what's called a deep injection well. 530 00:27:58.990 --> 00:28:00.950 And those wells are the problem. 531 00:28:01.309 --> 00:28:04.490 What's causing some of these earthquakes is the disposal of 532 00:28:04.539 --> 00:28:10.000 the wastewater. When we pump millions of gallons of wastewater 533 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:13.619 back underground at high pressure, it can cause rock layers 534 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:19.140 to slip. It essentially lubricates those rock layers, and that slipping. 535 00:28:19.240 --> 00:28:19.980 Is an earthquake. 536 00:28:21.849 --> 00:28:26.329 So, pouring wastewater from fracking down an underground disposal well 537 00:28:26.410 --> 00:28:30.809 can and is causing earthquakes in some places. Huh, that 538 00:28:30.829 --> 00:28:34.119 was an easy one. But here's a tricky one. How 539 00:28:34.210 --> 00:28:39.079 is fracking impacting climate change? The sweet fuel we get 540 00:28:39.140 --> 00:28:43.220 from fracking, natural gas, is in one way great for 541 00:28:43.240 --> 00:28:43.779 the climate. 542 00:28:44.299 --> 00:28:46.839 It doesn't emit much carbon dioxide when it's burnt. 543 00:28:47.900 --> 00:28:53.690 But the main ingredient of natural gas, methane, is not 544 00:28:53.730 --> 00:28:54.849 that great for the climate. 545 00:28:55.549 --> 00:28:57.390 It's a greenhouse gas and it. 546 00:28:57.410 --> 00:29:03.309 Traps heat very effectively, more effectively than carbon dioxide. 547 00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:07.359 Natural gas is mostly methane, and methane's an incredibly potent 548 00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:08.140 greenhouse gas. 549 00:29:08.359 --> 00:29:11.019 This is Bob Howarth, and he's an ecology professor at 550 00:29:11.079 --> 00:29:14.769 Cornell University.

Bob says that when fracking companies are trying 551 00:29:14.809 --> 00:29:17.990 to capture the natural gas, some of it escapes, becoming 552 00:29:18.109 --> 00:29:20.410 what's known as fugitive methane. 553 00:29:21.210 --> 00:29:26.089 No, seriously. That's the scientific term for it. Fugitive methane. 554 00:29:26.950 --> 00:29:32.339 Like the fugitive. The one-armed man. But for methane. Do-do-do-do. 555 00:29:34.509 --> 00:29:37.640 It's a really bad whammy for the climate. Even very 556 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:41.750 small emissions of methane to the atmosphere are globally important 557 00:29:41.789 --> 00:29:43.230 in terms of global warming. 558 00:29:43.549 --> 00:29:48.170 Fugitive methane is obviously problematic. But the question is, how 559 00:29:48.230 --> 00:29:51.759 much methane is actually leaking into the atmosphere from fracking? 560 00:29:52.470 --> 00:29:55.720 And this question, just like the question of how much 561 00:29:55.779 --> 00:29:59.670 fracking chemicals are getting into people's water... is really tricky 562 00:29:59.769 --> 00:30:04.099 to answer. For one, the science is pretty new. Bob 563 00:30:04.150 --> 00:30:06.400 published the first paper to look at this, and it 564 00:30:06.440 --> 00:30:10.420 wasn't that long ago, in 2011. And back then, his 565 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:14.900 calculations made the picture look bad for fracking. But that 566 00:30:14.940 --> 00:30:18.400 was just one paper. So Bob went searching for more data. 567 00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:22.619 He got in a plane, hunting for plumes of fugitive methane. 568 00:30:26.380 --> 00:30:29.579 We used an airplane and we flew over southwestern Pennsylvania 569 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:33.180 in the Marcellus Shale area. The pilot flew back and 570 00:30:33.220 --> 00:30:38.349 forth measuring methane in real time. And he was able 571 00:30:38.390 --> 00:30:42.470 to determine plumes, they're clearly visible when you plot the 572 00:30:42.490 --> 00:30:45.710 data out, that are coming from distinct points on the ground. 573 00:30:46.210 --> 00:30:48.960 Using the data that Bob collected, along with other work, 574 00:30:49.400 --> 00:30:53.079 He estimates that in parts of America, around 9% of 575 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:56.609 the methane that companies are trying to capture escapes during 576 00:30:56.619 --> 00:31:00.930 the entire fracking process. But lots of folks cite lower 577 00:31:00.990 --> 00:31:04.410 numbers than Bob's. And much of this is because fugitive 578 00:31:04.450 --> 00:31:08.789 methane emissions fluctuate wildly, depending on a lot of factors, 579 00:31:08.930 --> 00:31:12.049 like the type of rocks in an area. Either way, 580 00:31:12.529 --> 00:31:15.609 whatever the number is, it isn't very helpful in isolation. 581 00:31:16.109 --> 00:31:20.329 The important question for us right now is this. Is 582 00:31:20.430 --> 00:31:25.279 natural gas production, which obviously includes fracking, better for the 583 00:31:25.339 --> 00:31:30.339 climate than our other big fuel source, coal? If Bob's 584 00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:35.339 fugitive methane estimates are correct, then no, natural gas is 585 00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:40.460 worse than coal. But the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 586 00:31:40.500 --> 00:31:45.940 which represents the views of over 800 scientists from 80 countries, disagrees. 587 00:31:47.190 --> 00:31:51.089 Every few years, these scientists analyse the most up-to-date research on, 588 00:31:51.269 --> 00:31:54.680 among other things, how energy production is affecting climate change. 589 00:31:55.259 --> 00:31:58.140 And at their last report, they labelled natural gas, the 590 00:31:58.180 --> 00:32:03.400 fuel from fracking, as a transition fuel. That is something 591 00:32:03.480 --> 00:32:07.119 that's better than coal. But over the years, as more 592 00:32:07.160 --> 00:32:10.369 and more data has been coming out on fugitive methane emissions, 593 00:32:10.829 --> 00:32:14.289 the IPCC has been giving less and less love to 594 00:32:14.349 --> 00:32:18.779 natural gas. So after reading the IPCC reports and chatting 595 00:32:18.819 --> 00:32:20.920 to Bob, I didn't know what to think. 596 00:32:21.480 --> 00:32:23.099 I talked to Robert Jackson at Stanford. 597 00:32:23.779 --> 00:32:26.579 This has like been exploding my brain a little bit 598 00:32:26.660 --> 00:32:32.769 because you have even the IPCC, like over time, I 599 00:32:32.809 --> 00:32:35.269 feel like they've been moving on this as well and saying, oh, 600 00:32:35.289 --> 00:32:36.869 we didn't realize the methane leaks were bad. 601 00:32:36.990 --> 00:32:38.349 Natural gas is worse than we thought. 602 00:32:38.369 --> 00:32:41.779 But where do you think we're currently sitting on this 603 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:44.619 methane leakage question when it comes to fracking? 604 00:32:45.730 --> 00:32:48.279 Our work, the work of many people, has shown quite 605 00:32:48.359 --> 00:32:52.539 clearly that we've been underestimating the leaks on average, not everywhere, 606 00:32:53.079 --> 00:32:58.279 but on average. That doesn't mean that that number, that 607 00:32:58.299 --> 00:33:02.900 that leakage is so large that it negates any potential 608 00:33:02.940 --> 00:33:06.369 benefits compared to coal or that it's far worse than coal. 609 00:33:07.720 --> 00:33:10.009 I just don't think the body of evidence suggests that 610 00:33:10.029 --> 00:33:10.650 to be the case. 611 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:15.380 So, bottom line, to the question of natural gas versus coal? 612 00:33:15.880 --> 00:33:18.619 Point blank, I think natural gas is a better fuel 613 00:33:18.660 --> 00:33:21.920 than coal. Anytime we can take an old coal plant offline, 614 00:33:22.549 --> 00:33:23.269 I'm all for it. 615 00:33:23.990 --> 00:33:27.910 But of course, that's just compared to coal. Don't go 616 00:33:27.970 --> 00:33:32.410 buying your I Heart Fracking t-shirts just yet.

Practically everyone 617 00:33:32.450 --> 00:33:35.630 we spoke to agreed that renewables are the best option 618 00:33:35.710 --> 00:33:41.789 for reducing pollution and staving off climate change. Conclusion Methane 619 00:33:41.829 --> 00:33:45.210 from natural gas does escape into the atmosphere through fracking. 620 00:33:45.630 --> 00:33:48.430 And that's bad for the climate. It traps heat. It's 621 00:33:48.470 --> 00:33:49.849 a powerful greenhouse gas. 622 00:33:50.930 --> 00:33:55.519 But currently, the evidence suggests that even with that, natural 623 00:33:55.559 --> 00:33:57.259 gas is better than coal. 624 00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:03.299 But worse than renewables. So, our fears about fracking, do 625 00:34:03.460 --> 00:34:06.359 they stack up? Maybe? 626 00:34:07.700 --> 00:34:08.519 Not really. 627 00:34:10.019 --> 00:34:10.780 Let's break it down. 628 00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:16.440 Fear number one, can the chemicals from fracking contaminate people's water? 629 00:34:17.380 --> 00:34:23.659 Science says yes, but these instances are rare. Fear number two, 630 00:34:24.039 --> 00:34:29.860 can these chemicals make us sick? Science says yes, in 631 00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:33.099 high doses, but the amount that's likely to get into 632 00:34:33.139 --> 00:34:34.940 your water supply is small. 633 00:34:36.039 --> 00:34:38.760 And so far, and for now. 634 00:34:40.050 --> 00:34:44.440 evidence suggests that in these doses, people should be okay. 635 00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:50.239 Fear number three. Does fracking cause earthquakes? Science says. 636 00:34:51.679 --> 00:34:53.860 Here, there's almost no debate. 637 00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:57.519 Fracking sites that dispose of their wastewater by injecting it 638 00:34:57.619 --> 00:35:01.090 back into the ground, they can cause earthquakes. 639 00:35:01.949 --> 00:35:06.760 And fear number four. Will fracking destroy the climate? Science says.... 640 00:35:08.050 --> 00:35:08.369 Well. 641 00:35:09.510 --> 00:35:10.920 It's not good for the climate. 642 00:35:11.760 --> 00:35:16.980 It's better than coal. It's worse than renewables. So, when 643 00:35:17.019 --> 00:35:20.260 you add all these points up, how bad is fracking? 644 00:35:21.179 --> 00:35:24.579 It's not an unmitigated evil. The science on many of 645 00:35:24.619 --> 00:35:29.420 these fears is uncertain. And that means that when anyone, anyone, 646 00:35:29.980 --> 00:35:33.090 comes out with some grand statement about the horrors of 647 00:35:33.139 --> 00:35:37.289 fracking or the greatness of fracking, those comments aren't based 648 00:35:37.389 --> 00:35:38.010 on science. 649 00:35:38.750 --> 00:35:42.940 But they do make for a good story. Remember Chief Thundercloud, 650 00:35:43.380 --> 00:35:44.019 James Hughes? 651 00:35:44.860 --> 00:35:47.960 Whatever happened to Chief Thundercloud? 652 00:35:48.019 --> 00:35:52.650 Where are his people? Where is the land of a free? 653 00:35:53.369 --> 00:35:57.670 We called him to

find out exactly what happened. And yeah, 654 00:35:58.269 --> 00:35:58.900 he told us. 655 00:35:58.880 --> 00:35:59.619 A good story. 656 00:36:00.090 --> 00:36:03.070 Well, it happened so fast, Wendy, I didn't expect it, 657 00:36:03.190 --> 00:36:06.750 and boom, boom, boom. I mean, they just basically, they 658 00:36:06.789 --> 00:36:10.309 started drilling next door, right, first, to my neighbor's ground. 659 00:36:11.269 --> 00:36:14.409 Next thing you know, boom, I had red water coming 660 00:36:14.449 --> 00:36:17.010 out of my faucet, and I went, what in the 661 00:36:17.070 --> 00:36:18.170 world's going on? 662 00:36:18.510 --> 00:36:20.030 And yes, we checked it out. 663 00:36:20.469 --> 00:36:24.570 We contacted Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection, who confirmed that 664 00:36:24.630 --> 00:36:28.239 James's water did change color. The DEP said in their 665 00:36:28.280 --> 00:36:31.199 report that by releasing iron from the rocks, the drilling 666 00:36:31.239 --> 00:36:34.199 process had turned the pond a reddish-brown colour. 667 00:36:34.920 --> 00:36:37.679 And according to James, that was just the beginning. 668 00:36:38.409 --> 00:36:39.949 So, wow. 669 00:36:40.590 --> 00:36:44.750 Seneca, they drilled me a new water well. And when 670 00:36:44.769 --> 00:36:48.409 they were putting the new plumbing in, somebody lit up 671 00:36:48.630 --> 00:36:50.070 a match for a cigarette. 672 00:36:50.750 --> 00:36:51.179 Poof! 673 00:36:51.300 --> 00:36:53.099 We had almost like an explosion. 674 00:36:53.940 --> 00:36:56.639 The DEP report doesn't mention the fire, but it does 675 00:36:56.719 --> 00:36:59.420 mention that the new water well initially had high levels 676 00:36:59.480 --> 00:37:03.539 of methane, which returned to normal after some months. Seneca's 677 00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:06.389 Rob Boulware told us, quote, He also said that Seneca 678 00:37:06.409 --> 00:37:09.250 accepted the DEP's resolution, but, quote, Mr Hughes was not 679 00:37:09.269 --> 00:37:10.550 fully satisfied with that result. 680 00:37:23.590 --> 00:37:24.030 End quote. 681 00:37:24.889 --> 00:37:27.070 That's why I don't like these guys, Wendy. These guys 682 00:37:27.170 --> 00:37:31.510 drill holes in the ground, puke up the land, ruin water, 683 00:37:31.570 --> 00:37:34.730 have a bad attitude. Then us poor landowners got to go, 684 00:37:34.769 --> 00:37:38.150 what just happened to us? Well, I'm one of these guys. 685 00:37:38.210 --> 00:37:40.670 I'm what you call a fighter. I don't like people 686 00:37:40.769 --> 00:37:43.090 stomping on me. I'm a Donald Trump kind of guy. 687 00:37:43.929 --> 00:37:46.289 The whole thing ended up in a legal battle and 688 00:37:46.309 --> 00:37:47.409 they settled out of court. 689 00:37:48.610 --> 00:37:52.989 So, compelling story, right? But remember the science? 690 00:37:53.849 --> 00:37:55.050 These events are rare. 691 00:37:55.070 --> 00:37:58.260 And the thing is, the scary stories, they get the 692 00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:00.400 headlines and they capture our imagination. 693 00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:04.199 But the science, it isn't that easy. It's complicated and 694 00:38:04.280 --> 00:38:07.610 slow and full of inconvenient details. And I know that's 695 00:38:07.659 --> 00:38:09.630 hard if you're at the pub and you're trying to 696 00:38:09.670 --> 00:38:13.130 have very strong opinions, but that's the way it is. 697 00:38:13.969 --> 00:38:16.570 And the thing is, if you do want an easy answer, 698 00:38:18.070 --> 00:38:19.820 I've got one YouTube video for you. 699 00:38:20.559 --> 00:38:22.699 Unbelievable! A river on fire! 700 00:38:23.530 --> 00:38:26.030 Don't let it burn the boat. Whoa! 701 00:38:27.789 --> 00:38:29.360 That's science versus fracking. 702 00:38:30.619 --> 00:38:33.699 This episode has been produced by Caitlin Kenny, Heather Rogers, 703 00:38:33.820 --> 00:38:37.119 Caitlin Sori, edited by Annie Rose Strasser and Alex Bloomberg. 704 00:38:37.460 --> 00:38:41.530 Production assistance by Austin Mitchell and fact-checking by Michelle Harris. 705 00:38:42.380 --> 00:38:45.539 Recordings from the town hall meeting in 2014 are from 706 00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:51.280 NPR's WHYY reporter, Katie Colaneri, and the team at NPR's 707 00:38:51.420 --> 00:38:52.900 State Impact Pennsylvania. 708 00:38:53.400 --> 00:38:53.860 Thank you. 709 00:38:54.300 --> 00:38:56.929 A big thanks to the Gimlet Hive Mind for comments 710 00:38:57.010 --> 00:39:00.449 and joke advisements. That's you, Eric Mennell, PJ Vogt and 711 00:39:00.489 --> 00:39:03.130 Stevie Lane, plus the Zuckerman family. 712 00:39:03.409 --> 00:39:07.280 Thank you. Sound design and music production by Matthew Bolt. 713 00:39:07.510 --> 00:39:11.559 Music written by Bobby Lord. Next time, attachment parenting. 714 00:39:25.880 --> 00:39:29.969 Next on Science Versus, we're tackling attachment parenting. 715 00:39:30.889 --> 00:39:33.369 In the first few months, it's like the fourth trimester 716 00:39:33.670 --> 00:39:36.809 and they should just be part of me. I just 717 00:39:36.869 --> 00:39:41.110 feel as though a stroller, when they're so small, it 718 00:39:41.150 --> 00:39:43.369 doesn't feel right. It just makes me cry to think 719 00:39:43.409 --> 00:39:44.929 like they're separated from me. 720 00:39:45.489 --> 00:39:47.940 I'm Wendy Zuckerman. Back to you next time.