This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Tribune editorial "Cleaner drilling: Basin project could be model" (Our View, June 13) rightly underscores the enormous benefits associated with environmentally responsible, American natural gas production.
But the claim that hydraulic fracturing "has contaminated groundwater in other parts of the country" is fundamentally unsupported by the facts, as well as the technology's 60-year record of environmental safety.
In fact, at a recent congressional hearing, Lisa Jackson, President Barack Obama's Environmental Protection Agency administrator, said, "I'm not aware of any proven case where the fracking process itself has affected water." She's absolutely right. And this is because fracturing is effectively and tightly regulated — and has been for decades.
The fact that more than a million wells nationwide have been fractured to enhance the production of job-creating American oil and natural gas without ever impacting groundwater is proof that continued state regulation — not a one-size-fits-all, top-down policy driven from Washington, D.C. — is the most effective way to promote responsible natural gas production.
Lee Fuller Executive director, Energy In Depth
Washington, D.C.