University of Cincinnati: Fracking safe, study won’t be released because results are not “scary”

The University of Cincinnati Department of Geology recently completed a three-year study of fracking. The results further buttress the pro-fracking view that it is a safe process. But the political wrangling over the study show “anti-fracking” forces, including those in government, aren’t nearly as interested in science as they’d like us to believe.

First, the conclusions: as the lead researcher, Dr. Amy Townsend-Small noted, “We haven’t seen anything to show that wells have been contaminated by fracking.” More details on the study and its findings can be seen in this video.

That was apparently not the right answer for the University or some of the study’s funders because when asked if the University planned to publicize the results, Dr. Amy Townsend-Small, said there were no plans to do so.

“I am really sad to say this, but some of our funders, the groups that had given us funding in the past, were a little disappointed in our results. They feel that fracking is scary and so they were hoping this data could to a reason to ban it,” she said. Those funders include state funding in the form of an $85,714 grant from the Ohio Board or Regents and federal funding from the national Science Foundation.

Rep. Andy Thompson, R-Marrietta, whose district includes the area studied in the report said, “It is unacceptable that taxpayers have funded this important groundwater study and the findings are being kept from the public.”