Houston Chronicle Editorial: UT report offers fracking facts

The University of Texas Energy Institute recently released a report confirming that the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, used to release oil and gas from shale rock, has a minimal impact on ground water.

The study, begun last May, was done by UT geologists and scientists in order to separate fact from fiction in the fracking process, which has drawn more than a little criticism from those concerned about its potential adverse impacts, especially on water supplies.

The university's Energy Institute researchers examined evidence from three of the nation's major shale gas production areas - the Marcellus Shale that extends from the mid-Atlantic into Pennsylvania and New York State, the Barnett Shale in Texas and the Haynesville Shale in East Texas and Louisiana.

A single study does not settle an issue as contentious and complex as this one, but the UT Energy Institute effort makes a significant and credible start.  MORE