| Updated: 11/10/2010 9:28 am |
Published: 11/09/2010 10:10 pm |
GUY, AR - At least 200 people packed into a school cafeteria in Guy, AR, demanding answers from the state about whether natural gas drilling causes earthquakes and other problems.
Residents are upset that a drilling method called fracking in the Fayetteville Shale could be polluting their well water, causing earthquakes, killing their plants, and doing lots of damage.
Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is the process in which fluid is used to fracture rocks underground, thereby increasing the output of a well.
The state is busy compiling research to see if drilling at injection sites caused the quakes over the past month.
Larry Bengal, with the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission told the crowd, “I don't think that the drilling of the production wells and the fracking has anything to do with, and you'll see this with Scott's presentation, with the earth quakes at all."
Bengal went on to say that there is “strongly circumstantial” evidence that connects the injection wells with the earthquakes.
The Oil and Gas Commission could have answers in a month. Still, a lot of people left Tuesday night’s meeting feeling like they don’t have enough information, and the majority wants the drilling to stop.
