# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Lighting my tap water on fire!! Watch until the end, in the last few seconds!!

# data[].attributes.body
Level the playing field

# data[].attributes.headline
Would this issue pop up in "better' neighborhoods?

# data[].attributes.subject
Would this issue pop up in "better' neighborhoods?

# data[].attributes.body
I like thinking about this from an economic lens. That's the historical argument against renewable energy, but wind and solar are arguably cheaper when government subsidies for fossil fuels are factored in. That didn't use to be the case, but it is now.

# data[].attributes.body
Of course there is environmental and economic issues dealing with race.  The poor people have been used as tools for years by both the right and the left to advance their own agenda.

# data[].attributes.body
Oil often comes from low income areas. Therefore oil companies carry a lot of power when it comes to jobs and money for the community. Lower income families are less likely to speak up for the environment.

# data[].attributes.body
Look at it through how the job outlook has shifted over time, and what can we see in the future jobs outlook in energy.

# data[].attributes.body
What stands in our way to move from hydraulic fracking to renewable energy? Politics, beliefs, scientific fact...

# data[].attributes.headline
Using technology to continuously improve energy development to make it safer, cleaner and more sustainable.

# data[].attributes.subject
Using technology to continuously improve energy development to make it safer, cleaner and more sustainable.

# data[].attributes.headline
Sun and wind will be there!!!  Until the end of time!!!

# data[].attributes.subject
Sun and wind will be there!!!  Until the end of time!!!

# data[].attributes.body
Podcast episode

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We often hear stories about fracking that go like this: a gas company comes to a small town, starts drilling wells, and then terrible things start to happen. People get sick. Water burns from taps. Earthquakes ruin houses. And the climate will soon be destroyed. But, is fracking really a disaster unfolding? To find out, Science Vs speaks to Prof. Robert Jackson, Assoc. Prof. Peter Rabinowitz and Prof. Bob Howarth. We're also joined by Pennsylvanian resident James Hughes and Seneca Resources' Rob Boulware and Doug Kepler.

Credits:

This episode has been produced by Caitlin Kenney, Heather Rogers, and Kaitlyn Sawrey. Edited by Annie-Rose Strasser and Alex Blumberg. Production assistance by Austin Mitchell. Fact checking by Michelle Harris.

Recordings from the Town Hall meeting in 2014 are from NPR's WHYY reporter Katie Colaneri, and the team at NPR's StateImpact Pennsylvania. Thank you.

Big thanks to the Gimlet hive mind for comments, plus the Zukerman family.

Music written by Bobby Lord. Sound design and music by Matthew Boll. Engineered by Austin Thompson.

Sponsors:

For 10% off your new Squarespace site, click here and punch in Science Vs at checkout.

Selected References:

Letters from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection addressing complaints that private water supplies were contaminated by fracking activity

Fracking fluids kill intestinal cells - but become nontoxic once diluted
Payne et al, "In vitro cytotoxicity assessment of a hydraulic fracturing fluid", Environ. Chem. 2014

Health survey of people living near fracking sites
Rabinowitz et al, "Proximity to Natural Gas Wells and Reported Health Status: Results of a Household Survey in Washington County, Pennsylvania" Environ Health Perspect., 2015

Does living near a fracking site affect the health of pets? Possibly in dogs
Slizovskiy et al, "Reported health conditions in animals residing near natural gas wells in southwestern Pennsylvania", J. Enviro. Sci. and Health, Part A., 2015

Wastewater injection can cause earthquakes
Weingarten et al, "High-rate injection is associated with the increase in U.S. mid-continent seismicity", Science, 2015

Estimates of fugitive methane emissions
Howarth et al, "Methane and the greenhouse-gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations", Climatic Change, 2011

2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report assessing emissions from shale gas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We often hear stories about fracking that go like this: a gas company comes to a small town, starts drilling wells, and then terrible things start to happen. People get sick. Water burns from taps. Earthquakes ruin houses. And the climate will soon be destroyed. But, is fracking really a disaster unfolding?

# data[].attributes.body
I would look at it through the lense of a community member who had experienced proximal fracking(Oklahoma).  Permanent environmental damage.  Long term affects unknown.

# data[].attributes.headline
We don't understand the possible harmful ramifications of drilling/plugging wells.

# data[].attributes.subject
We don't understand the possible harmful ramifications of drilling/plugging wells.

# data[].attributes.body
About two months ago, a man and his brother-in-law, who happened to be a plumber,  were installing a new hot water heater in Firestone, Colorado (not too far north of Denver). There was a plugged well nearby, that was evidently leaking  gas. The entire house blew up because of that gas leak. Both men were killed. The first man's wife, who happened to be a teacher, was badly burned. I wonder how many other neighborhoods are in danger of this possibility.

# data[].attributes.headline
Discuss the possible benefits of oil and gas development for America.

# data[].attributes.subject
Discuss the possible benefits of oil and gas development for America.

# data[].attributes.headline
Discuss the possible threats of oil and gas development in our country.

# data[].attributes.subject
Discuss the possible threats of oil and gas development in our country.