Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I am here today to speak about an incredible opportunity which is in the northeastern part of the United States, and that is the Marcellus shale natural gas. The Marcellus shale describes a natural gas play in Pennsylvania that has created jobs and economic growth, even in the most difficult of economic times. It is one of the largest deposits of natural gas in the world, and much of it is located in my district. However, the play is deep down and requires a process called fracking, in which water, sand, and approved chemicals are pressured into the play to fracture the shale to release the gas. Now it is this process that has come under criticism and has been the subject of a great deal of inaccurate information both in the media and a so-called documentary called ``Gasland.'' Fracking has been used for 100 years, hydro-fracking for 60 years. The safety is documented with zero confirmed cases of groundwater contamination in 1 million applications over that 60 years. The director of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Oil and Gas Management said that he has never seen an impact to fresh groundwater directly from fracking. Another piece of incorrect information is that no one knows what goes into fracking fluid. Well, first of all, more than 99.5 percent of the fluid is sand and water. For the remainder, Pennsylvania law requires companies to disclose all chemicals used in the fracking process, just not the specific formula.…”