Gas drilling procedure known as 'fracking' causing a public fracas

Environmentalists and lawmakers view it as possibly the biggest environmental threat to the Delaware River and state water supplies in our lifetime.

The gas drilling industry labels such fears as overblown and alarmist.

The contentious issue involves hydro-fracturing or “fracking” — the process of extracting natural gas from wells thousands of feet deep by injecting a mix of water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure to fracture the rock, causing the gas to flow more freely. The average frack uses between 1 million and 6 million gallons of water for each frack and many wells get fracked multiple times before going into production.

The crux of the concern arises from the fracking fluid itself — water mixed with numerous chemicals, many which are hazardous and toxic, including benzene, components of salt, and other volatile organic chemicals.

Fracking has been used extensively in western Pennsylvania, where it has opened up the previously inaccessible Marcellus Shale underground rock formation. While there is a sliver of such a rock formation in Northwest New Jersey, the Garden State is more concerned with runoff problems into the Delaware River as companies frack for gas in the Delaware River Basin. While drilling there is currently on hold, the moratorium will expire later this year, once the Delaware River Basin Commission adopts its fracking rules.

Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club contend that fracking can contaminate streams and rivers through the discharge of fracking fluids or accidental spills. Fracking fluid injected into the ground can potentially contaminate aquifers, the groups say.

Last week, the Highland Park Borough Council passed a resolution calling for a statewide ban of the controversial natural gas drilling technique. Highland Park became the first Middlesex County town to join three other New Jersey communities (Holland and Bethlehem townships in Hunterdon County and Byram Township in Sussex County) calling on state and federal regulators to oppose fracking out of concerns for public safety and impacts to water quality and quantity of the waterways and aquifers.