There are too many reports of problems with fracking for them to be a Green Conspiracy against American Free Enterprise and Energy Independence. However, since the areas being fracked are usually at great depths and separated by thousands of feet of impermeable layers from aquifers, I suspect that most of the time it is a perfectly safe practice and can be carried out with no environmental hazard. Podrock is our geological expert, I hope he responds to your question.

The one thing I do know is that the industries who will profit from fracking should not be able to decide whether or not their fracking is benign. You simply can't trust anyone who stands to gain financially from any activity to either evaluate the activity as safe, or to honestly investigate complaints from farmers who suddenly have flames and toxic fumes erupting from their kitchen sinks.

There needs to be a neutral agency or party with the technical expertise, budget, and teeth to conduct surveys, issue permits, levy fines, shut down projects, and send deliberate and malicious violators to prison. And these agencies should be free from industry lobbying and control and their legislative toadies.

We have mine safety laws and agencies and occasionally environmental catastrophes and deadly accidents occur, the system is certainly not perfect, or even free from corruption. But we have at most a handful of miner deaths a year. The Chinese, who have no regulation, have hundreds. This is a no-brainer.