Fracking and Brewers

So it is?

 

My parents live in an area where fracking is going on. Their water is a weird color now and it seems dirty. The first shower I took irritated my skin and gave me a rash all over. I can't say whether it was the soap or the water but it was soft enough soap that it shouldn't have done that.

 

Game on, MODS !

 

it

It may be time to start thinking about leaving the earth and with NASA and the muslims contributions to space exploration we can create another caliphate or I mean peaceful place to live, oh yeah and green at the same time.

 

Huh, I will admit I have not seen any of the facts regarding fracking so I can't state with any certainty whether or not it's safe. However I also certainly do not trust the statement of a person who works inside the industry on the subject matter. Anyone without a vested interest have some actual facts to point to about fracking?

And I don't know why you would pair the statement that fracking is harmless with the statement that man made global warming is a hoax. That reduces your credibility, because while I have already admitted my ignorance regarding fracking, I have seen ample evidence that man made global warming is real.

Though I do respect that you admitted upfront that you have a vested interest in convincing people fracking is safe.

 

Your posts keep getting better. Don't stop now.

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/11/eagle-slaughter-wind-farms-kill-67-eagles-5-years/
Any Honest Green Energy Mega Investor/ Lib Party SuperPac donor would agree that windmills kill Eagles.

 

Could have been an interesting discussion...then the troll chimed in. I'm out.

 

do you like it?

 

what troll?

 

I would beg the mods to clean this thread of all the jarhead comments already submitted and invite all commenters to a) do a little homework before speaking on something you know little to nothing about other than what your favorite local election committee has told you, and b) try to keep a discussion about this inevitable phenomenon as civil and open with as few actual political comments as possible. Otherwise it will be shut down.

This may be one of the most poignant and timely threads I've seen in a long time on BA. It is a big deal. It is something that beer brewers and beer drinkers should care about. Leave out the dem/gop platforms and any references to the current administration and this could be a great conversation.

This is about the potential contamination of groundwater. It has everything to do with beer.

 

You mean like the famous "consensus of scientists" on global warming?

 

If the guy employed in fracking says fracking is safe, we should probably take his word for it.

When wells are drilled through aquifers, midwestern studies have shown a 15% concrete grouting failure rate, meaning chemicals leak into aquifers used for farming or drinking. So essentially, if 8 or more are drilled through a single aquifer, youre 100% f*cked.

 

I can't put my finger on it... but for some reason I find myself questioning your objectivity on this subject.

 

I don't really want to jump into the debate too much but if you're looking for a link between fracking and migration of methane and/or fracking fluids into the groundwater then migration from the fractures is probably not the place to start. The distance between the formation and the aquifers is pretty great (thousands of feet) so if there is a connection it's likely due to faulty casing.

 

Out of curiosity how close to your actual home is fracking taking place? Is it as close as the "crazy people" who complain about contaminated ground water?

Edit: you may see this question I posed as snide but I'm genuinely curious.

 

I'm not sure if I'm missing anything, but I think he was being sarcastic.

 

We're 37 posts in (38 including mine) and a whopping ONE post has anything to do with beer or the brewing industry.

I'm not denying that having clean groundwater is an important issue to the industry, but there was no way this thread was going to result in a productive conversation without either 1) an article that specifically tied the issue back to the industry/beer, or 2) an initial post that went more in depth about how fracking and brewing are connected beyond a short reference to Ommegang and other brewers being concerned about it. The article in question doesn't even really talk about fracking and the benefits/problems associated--it's more an article about the legal process a town went through to prohibit fracking which sorta presumes that it is bad (and it very well may be--there are certainly reasonable concerns about the practice).

I don't mean any offense, @beertunes--there was nothing particularly wrong with your post. And I'm not about to sit here disagreeing that fracking is bad. From what I know, it can have some pretty serious side effects and things that are reasonably worrisome (as I already noted), but I also don't know a whole ton about it, and I imagine many on BA are in the same boat.

For example--let's assume, for the sake of argument, that the concerns about fracking are well-founded. Do brewers have the option to purify contaminated groundwater, or is it pretty much a lost cause once it's been contaminated? In other words, is this a major threat to brewers ability to remain in business in fracking-ripe areas, or is it just a potential new cost to deal with?

 

You make a really good point about the thread not being tied to beer. I posted but you're right, this is really off topic as relates to beer.