Process of extracting natural gas is 'dirty energy,' singer says
August 28, 2012 12:00 PM ET
Sean Lennon ripped fracking today in a New York Times op-ed, saying the process of extracting natural gas has been falsely portrayed as "clean." "Natural gas has been sold as clean energy," Lennon wrote. "But when the gas comes from fracturing bedrock with about five million gallons of toxic water per well, the word 'clean' takes on a disturbingly Orwellian tone. Don't be fooled."
Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing, uses water and chemicals to free natural gas trapped in rock deposits below the surface of the earth. Lennon says there's simply no way the process can be clean. "Fracking for shale gas is in truth dirty energy," he writes. "It inevitably leaks toxic chemicals into the air and water. Industry studies show that 5 percent of wells can leak immediately, and 60 percent over 30 years. There is no such thing as pipes and concrete that won't eventually break down.
It releases a cocktail of chemicals from a menu of more than 600 toxic substances, climate-changing methane, radium and, of course, uranium."
Rolling Stone
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