Frontier Centre

The controversy continues over hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking' , to enhance recovery of oil and gas. Some places, such as France and the state of New York, have banned fracking because of fears that it might harm ground water, or possibly cause an earthquake. Meanwhile, much of the world continues to rely heavily on coal as a source of energy. Coal mining is more dangerous than fracking, and the burning of coal produces harmful emissions, including mercury and sulfur dioxide. Fracking has been around for decades, but it can now be done horizontally and not just vertically. This is positive news for the environment. A single horizontal well can replace the need to drill a dozen or more vertical wells to access the same amount of resources. This results in dramatically less impact on the surface than before. Horizontal wells are especially useful to reach gas deposits that are under developed areas with roads and buildings. Given its past record of success and these positive changes in the proces