Natural gas is a critical feedstock to many chemical production
processes, and has many environmental benefits over coal as a
fuel for electricity generation; over electricity and
traditional heating fuels in the industrial, commercial and
residential sectors; and over gasoline as a fuel for the
transportation industry. Because natural gas has the lowest
carbon content of all fossil fuels and not a mixture of other
carbon containing compounds with other inorganic impurities, it
is the cleanest “burning” fossil fuel, including lower emissions
of sulfur, metal compounds, and carbon dioxide. But to produce
natural gas from shale has some questionable environmental,
safety and health risks. These environmental issues are the
result of modern methods of subsurface extraction. Specifically,
the unconventional methods involve horizontal drilling and
“fracking” or more formally “hydraulic fracturing.” Fracking is
a current societal hot a button. Almost as pervasive as the
subject of Climate Change! Both topics give r