Some water treatment plants refuse to take fracking fluid

Good for them! Until we know more about what flows out the other end and what is effective at keeping the population safe, more wastewater treatment plants should refuse to take this fracking shit.

Several wastewater treatment plants in Western Pennsylvania have stopped taking in waste from natural gas hydraulic fracturing amid controversy about potential waterway contamination.

Testifying before a Senate committee examining natural gas extraction, Environmental Protection Agency deputy administrator Robert Perciasepe was asked about a recent flap over stream contamination related to wastewater treatment plants. A New York Times report about radiation found in Pennsylvania streams near plants that treat fracking "flowback" water prompted additional testing and information gathering from EPA and state officials.

Mr. Perciasepe also revealed that, "In many cases, those plants have stopped taking some of those fracking fluids."

The article goes on to compare the geology of Pennsylvania and Oklahoma and how the fracking fluid is dealt with in either state. And ends with a quote from Sen. Inhofe:

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., a leading EPA critic, lauded the economic benefits of increased natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania and other states.

"A virtual boom in natural gas development is transforming America's energy security -- due in no small measure to the absence of federal regulation," he said.

Frack you, Sen. Inhofe! It's pitiful how political demagoguery is getting in the way of attempts to safely extract the gas. I'm all for natural gas and for fracking, and for that opinion I get quite a bit of flack (frack?). But being for extraction also means being for effective regulations that keep the population safe, informed and comfortable with the practice of what's going on beneath their feet. And the only way to accomplish that is for the federal EPA to step in, because there's clearly too much money on the table for state regulators to be impartial about this matter.