The Deadly Extraction of Natural Gas

Click title to read entire article about hydraulic fracking/natural gas extraction and what it means. No amount of taxes or jobs are worth it. Turn Pennsylvania into environmental wasteland. The coal extraction mess was never cleaned up and now they want to do even worse damage.

Hydraulic Fracturing, a process that uses a high pressure injection of water, sand, and chemicals into the ground to crack open the shale formations and release natural gas. Chemicals and sand are violently pumped into the ground, preventing the fracture from collapsing.
The result, as one can imagine, is devastating to the area. Water wells become chock full of chemicals. Ground soil will no longer support life. The fracturing is so disruptive it even penetrates the water table. One of the most memorable scenes from the movie is Josh and a rural Colorado man holding a lighter next to a home sink faucet. After a few seconds, a huge burst of flame engulfs the lighter, natural gas has seeped into the water table and is now coming out our faucets.

UPDATE on 10/27/2010: New information from former oil industry executive speaks about #hydrofracking