[ExI] Ummm... are you still ranting about this? [WAS Hydraulic Fracturing]

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 9:51 PM, Mike Dougherty <msd001 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 9:37 PM, Rafal Smigrodzki
> <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com> wrote:
>> ### Why do you want to pick on miners? Why don't you go after
>> Coca-Cola? They keep the recipe secret, and they used to add addictive
>> poisons to their products.
>
> Seriously?  If someone started pumping Coca-Cola into the ground and
> contaminating public waters, then yes - I'd demand to know the secret
> recipe.  Unless they've suddenly stopped putting HFCS in there, I'd
> argue they're still putting addictive poisons in it.

### So you have no problem putting this mysterious and possibly
poisoned swill into your mouth but you want protect the groundwater
from it?

-------------------
>
> I also don't care if the water is only slightly polluted to the tune
> of "You'd have to really drink a lot of it, wash your clothes in it
> and bath in it every day for it to even amount to anything over years
> of exposure."  Believe it or not, people DO this.  You can call me a
> non-scientist - I won't take any offense.  I have been around for a
> while though; I've seen things.  Maybe you have too?

### Everything is slightly polluted. Fracking can produce only an
infinitesimal increase in pollution with minor irritants, even if the
fluids were discharged directly into surface water. Why is this a
problem?

And I don't use the word "infinitesimal" lightly: Just try to
calculate the concentration of e.g. mineral oil in groundwater based
on the average density of actively fracked wells (much less than 1 per
square mile even if there is an insane feeding frenzy in gas mining -
not to be confused with the number of operating wells which could be
larger than 20 per mile), the concentration of oil (1%) and the volume
of fracking fluid typically discharged per well per day (around 5 - 10
thousand gallons during fracking). It's much less than a drop in the
bucket, even if the fluid wasn't being actually reused.

Rafal