Dateline: 2 February 2012
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| Few people in the world have a better understanding of hydrofracking technology than Anthony Ingraffea (foreground) |
I have made a sincere effort over the past couple of months to learn what I can about High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking). And I’ve learned a lot. But I don’t know anywhere near as much as Anthony Ingraffea. I dare say that precious few people on this earth know as much about the realities of hydrofracking technology as does Anthony Ingraffea. Here’s why I say that...
More than three decades ago, before any of us even heard of fracking, Anthony Ingraffea was earning his Ph.D. in rock fracturing. Then, for the past 30 years, he has been a engineering professor at Cornell University. But, more than that, Professor Ingraffea has worked about half of those years for the gas industry and government agencies doing research directly related to hydrofracking.
If you want to hear “both sides” of the fracking issue, you’ll get them from Professor Ingraffea. When he speaks about fracking, he speaks with a combination of onsite industry experience, firsthand insight and intellectual honesty. I’ve yet to find a voice in the hydrofracking debate with the credentials of Anthony Ingraffea.
And so it is that Professor Ingraffea’s presentations and opinion are more valuable and trustworthy to me than anyone else I’ve listened to.
I first encountered Professor Ingraffea when I watched This YouTube Movie of a presentation he made in 2011 to a group of concerned citizens in Pennsylvania. The movie is one hour and 45 minutes long. I’ve watched it twice.
In that movie, Professor Ingraffea teaches all about the technology of hydrofracking and, to his credit, he dispels a couple of exaggerations in the Gasland documentary. At the end of his presentation the professor changes gears and gives his opinion. It is the well-informed opinion of a well-informed mind.
If you watch the movie, you will see that, in the final analysis, professor Ingraffea believes the safety record of the hydrofrackers is terrible. He believes the relatively-new hydrofracking technology now being used to extract gas from shale presents an unacceptable risk to people and communities. He believes that the gas industry must develop far safer technologies before it is allowed to drill in the Marcellus Shale. He is personally opposed to hydrofracking in New York State.
Professor Ingraffea’s opinion is not shaped by anti-fracking documentaries. It is also not biased by gas industry misinformation. I believe professor Ingraffea is a very credible voice in the midst of so much confusion, half-truths, and misinformed opinions.