How can we be sure fracking will not pollute aquifers? Lessons from a major longwall coal mining analogue (Selby, Yorkshire, UK)

摘要

Development of shale gas by hydraulic fracturing ('fracking') is opposed by campaigners who propose (inter alia) that freshwater aquifers could be polluted by upward migration of fractures and any fluids they contain. Prima facie hydrogeological analysis of this proposition has been undertaken. For it to occur, two conditions must be satisfied: