To the Editor:

I understand no one should bite the hand that feeds them, but I found it somewhat disheartening how your May 2011 issue glossed over the hazardous side effects of hydraulic fracturing.

David Wagman's editorial "alleges" that the process causes natural gas to migrate into groundwater supplies, and the "Gas Development Executive Roundtable" discussion has Larry Nichols brushing off such incidents with his quip, "Our industry has pointed out that hydraulic fracturing has been used for 60 years in well over a million wells and no one has been able to point to a single well where hydraulic fracturing has caused any problem with groundwater."

I'd like, then, to have these learned gentlemen explain to me how such incidents would occur naturally. Can they? Of course they can't. Short of an earthquake, it simply doesn't happen. If natural gas seepage occurred naturally, there wouldn't be any left in the ground to go after. And how many times does muriatic acid just "suddenly" appear in the water table and soil? Anyone got some numbers on that?

Time and again we've seen incidents of polluted groundwater, polluted land and chemically-induced disease happening only where hydraulic fracturing has been involved. The industry claims no one has ever shown a direct link between the two. Well, 60 years ago we didn't have the type of 24-hour news coverage we take for granted today. Sixty years ago people couldn't take pictures and videos with their phones, able to capture moments of injustice and corruption instantly and then transmit those images to the world. You want a direct link between drilling and polluted groundwater? Don't worry, you'll get it soon enough, baby.

Douglas Prince
Peoples Utility