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"Fracked natural gas is certainly better " ... "way less deadly air pollution"... but way more water contamination by fracking chemicals...
by pulse7 6y ago
"Fracked natural gas is certainly better " ... "way less deadly air pollution"... but way more water contamination by fracking chemicals...
- acidburnNSA 6y agoI've seen the video of the guy opening his faucet and lighting it up but I read somewhere that that was found to be biogenic, and that that kind of thing is actually really rare with fracking. Not an expert in this though so I could be wrong. Coal pollutes lots of water though so it seems hard to beat. Certainly fracking causes more fracking waste than coal, but I believe the overall environmental impact is less across the board.
- kube-system 6y agoI think a lot of people forget: 1) how bad well water often naturally is and 2) that it still exists. There is a reason why treated public water systems are such a foundational part of modern public health. I have family whose water is undrinkable, not due to man-made pollution, but due to high levels of natural minerals in their well. They rely on bottled water for human consumption. https://www.epa.gov/privatewells https://www.epa.gov/privatewells
- kube-system 6y agoCoal mining also often employs processes that pose the risk of water pollution. eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_mine_drainage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_mine_drainage The difference is that human activities can be changed through regulation. The chemical byproducts of a combustion reaction cannot.
- maliker 6y agoAnd then there are serious water pollution problems around the management of coal ash after the combustion process. E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Fossil_Plant_coal_fly_ash_slurry_spill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Fossil_Plant_coal_fly...