The American Oil & Gas Reporter (AOGR) reviewed studies on “extensive mapping of hydraulic fracture geometry” data from both Marcellus and Barnett Shale development and concluded that:
“Studies conducted by governmental agencies and respected authorities have unanimously concluded that hydraulic fracturing is safe. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission all have found hydraulic fracturing nonthreatening to the environment or public health.”
Using microseismic and tiltmeter technologies American Oil & Gas Reporter found that:
“the largest directly measured upward growth of all of these mapped fractures still places the fracture tops several thousands of feet below the deepest known aquifer level in each county.”
Figure 1 & 2 below plot data collected on thousands of hydraulic fracturing treatments in the Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth Basin in Texas and in the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin. They illustrate the “large distance between the top of the tallest frac and the location of the deepest drinking water aquifers as reported in USGS data.”
Read the full AOGR article here: Data Confirm Safety Of Well Fracturing