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. 2011 Aug;119(8):A348-53.
doi: 10.1289/ehp.119-a348.

Blind rush? Shale gas boom proceeds amid human health questions

Blind rush? Shale gas boom proceeds amid human health questions

Charles W Schmidt. Environ Health Perspect. 2011 Aug.
No abstract available

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Figures

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Although shale gas offers many benefits as a fuel and a source of jobs and revenue, the process of extracting it from the ground has drawbacks for surrounding communities.
(Clockwise from top left) A natural gas well pad sited near Rifle, Colorado; a worker at a fracking site in Rulison, Colorado; a glass of water taken from a residential drinking water well in Dimock, Pennsylvania, after fracking began nearby; a Dimock backyard overlooking a natural gas well. © AP Photo/David Zalubowski, © Tim Shaffer/Reuters.
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Natural gas exploration, lower 48 states, as of 9 May 2011.
“Basins” are sedimentary rock formations known to contain shale gas. “Plays” are sites where developers are actively looking for natural gas in shale rock. The Energy Information Administration estimates that technically recoverable shale gas reserves have the potential to satisfy domestic consumption in the United States for more than 30 years. Source: Energy Information Administration, http://tinyurl.com/3uhqnh5.
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Natural Gas Drilling Practices Raise Environmental Health Questions
Adapted from original artwork courtesy of the Checks and Balances Project.

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