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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39032748
Up to 16% of hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells spill liquids every year, according to new research from US scientists. They found that there had been 6,600 releases from these fracked wells over a ten-year period in four states. The biggest problems were reported in oil-rich North Dakota where 67% of the spills were recorded. The largest spill recorded involved 100,000 litres of fluid with most related to storing and moving liquids.
[...] A [previous] study carried out by the US Environment Protection Agency on fracking in eight states between 2006 and 2012 concluded that 457 spills had occurred. But this new study, while limited to just four states with adequate data, suggests the level of spills is much higher. The researchers found 6,648 spills between 2005 and 2014.
"The EPA just looked at spills from the hydraulic fracturing process itself which is just a few days to a few weeks," lead author Dr Lauren Patterson from Duke University told BBC News. "We're looking at spills at unconventional wells from the time of the drilling through production which could be decades."
Patterson, et.al. Unconventional Oil and Gas Spills: Risks, Mitigation Priorities, and State Reporting Requirements Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b05749
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 23 2017, @09:50PM
Actually, the point was that the spills have environmental impacts that aren't always immediately apparent.
And my point is that argument from ignorance combined with the small size and consequences of these spills is hysteria. For example, the biggest spill mentioned here was about 625 barrels of oil. Sorry that's insignificant even when one counts the effects which aren't immediately apparent such as getting into the water table. Also keep in mind that the minimum reported spill size was 1 to 5 barrels depending on the state and most such spills would both be on that small side and be cleaned up.
The news story couldn't be bothered to state how much is estimated to go into the environment or how serious that is compared to other sources (like gas stations and personal vehicle oil changes, which I suspect are greatly worse even if we similarly restrict our attention to the areas of the study).
No one is going hysterical, but the evidence is clearly mounting that oil is not the best future for humanity.
It doesn't have to be the best future forever, it just happens to be the best option now. We can always change our minds later when it makes sense to do so.