Hydraulic fracturing or fracking threatens public health and damages the environment, according to a new report released Thursday by Environment Ohio.
Fracking can create air and water pollution problems and can affect public infrastructure and public services, says The Costs of Fracking: The Price Tag of Dirty Drilling’s Environmental Damage.
“Fracking’s environmental and health damage is bad enough, but it turns out that this dirty drilling imposes heavy dollar and cents costs as well,” said Environment Ohio’s Julian Boggs. “And in many cases, the public will be left holding the bag for those costs.”
The costs of fracking “are only just now beginning to be understood and tallied,” the report says. “The burdens imposed by fracking are significant and the dangers posed to the environment and public health are great.”
Environment Ohio said it is especially concerned about what drinking water contamination costs would mean for Ohio.
The report calls on federal and state government to restrict and regulate fracking to reduce its environmental, health and community impacts as much as possible.
In addition, gas and oil companies should ensure up-front financial accountability by posting higher bonds to reflect the true costs of fracking, the report says.
Current laws are inadequate to ensure that the industry will clean up damage it does cause and will compensate any victims, the report says.
The report cited anecdotal evidence of costs from problems reported in shale drilling areas across the country. It offered no estimate of costs incurred.
It cited the heavy use of roads by trucks delivering equipment and supplies to frack wells. Fracking can reduce the value of nearby homes as a result of pollution and the stigma from being close to such operations; such operations can also negatively impact farms and farmers, the report says.
Environment Ohio released the 47-page report at a news conference in the Cleveland suburb of Broadview Heights where natural gas drilling has become a big issue. Voters there will be asked Nov. 6 to approve a city charter amendment to give the city more power over gas drilling. That vote is proceeding, despite state laws that say the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, not local communities, oversee drilling.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.