Last Sunday's 60 Minutes reported on 'the pros and cons of shale gas drilling,' a segment that brought the program to north Louisiana, where the Haynesville Shale project has been an economic boon for the region.
Last Sunday's 60 Minutes reported on "the pros and cons of shale gas drilling," a segment that brought the program to north Louisiana, where the Haynesville Shale project has been an economic boon for the region. Haynesville Shale is one of the nation's largest shale drilling projects, where companies extract natural gas from shale rock through a process called fracking.
The fracking process has also come under scrutiny from the environmental community, who have been calling for shale drilling companies to release all of the chemicals that they use in the process. There have also been some extreme cases of ground water contamination, to the point where some families in Pennsylvania discovered their gas-infused tap and well water was flammable.
Ironically, shale drilling is also touted as a clean energy, in that natural gas produces less carbon emissions than oil or coal. It also can be found in abundance in the U.S. Watch the 60 Minutes segment below and find more Web extras on shale drilling at the program's website.