>Posted: 5:06 pm Thu, June 9, 2011
By Daily Record Staff
Gov. Martin O’Malley made the right call this week in commissioning an in-depth study of drilling for natural gas in Western Maryland’s portion of the Marcellus Shale.
Such drilling would require the use of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — a process that pumps millions of gallons of water, chemicals and sand underground at extremely high pressure to break through shale formations and release the natural gas beneath.
This is the ultimate high-risk, high-reward endeavor. That’s why the governor’s approach — a three-layer analysis that could take as long as three years — makes good sense.
Fracking is already underway in Pennsylvania, which lies atop a vast expanse of the Marcellus Shale, a geological formation underneath much of the northeastern United States believed to contain large amounts of natural gas. Estimates range as high as $2 trillion worth of economic activity that could be generated in Pennsylvania by the fracking boom there.
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