• “No verified incident of hydraulic fracturing harming groundwater”

• “We’ve never had any problems with hydraulic fracking”

Top Colo. Oil, Gas Regulator: “No verified incident of hydraulic fracturing harming groundwater”: “David Neslin, director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, told the EPA the state has found no verified incident of hydraulic fracturing harming groundwater. Industry representatives from as far as North Dakota defended the safety of producing oil and gas by underground injection of high-pressure fluids to fracture formations, and spoke of the necessity of the practice for energy development. (Grand Junction Sentinel, 7/14/10)

Colo. Woman Drives Over 4 Hours to Defend America’s Oil, Natural Gas Producers: “Mariah Raney traveled all the way from Grand Junction to Denver to deliver a simple message Tuesday. The oil and gas industry is economically important to families such as hers, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should consider the industry’s job and tax benefits as it moves forward with a study of the possible groundwater and other effects of hydraulic fracturing by energy companies, she told EPA officials. … Raney said she has a brother-in-law who works as a welder in the industry and other family members who work in areas such as education and health care that benefit from taxes generated by oil and gas development. “I don’t think that people realize it’s important to everybody’s family,” Raney said later in an interview. “Every time you flip on your lights it’s important to your family.” (Grand Junction Sentinel, 7/14/10)

Colo. County Commissioner on Fracturing: “It’s safe”: “It’s safe. In Weld County, where we have more than 30,000 wells, 19,000 active wells, more than any other county in the nation, we’ve never had any problems with hydraulic fracking,” Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer said. … Gas and oil companies say fracking is safe, and 95 percent of wells in the western U.S. are stimulated by the process. “It’s like robotics to the automotive industry, without fracking we can’t develop most of the natural gas in the United States,” Western Energy Alliance Director of Government Affairs Kathleen Sgamma said. (9 News, 7/14/10)

Petroleum Engineering PhD: “Drilling is a safe and economically urgent choice”: “Fears of environmental ruin are exaggerated and examples often have no relevance to shale gas technology. A narrow 5z-inch diameter horizontal hole more than a mile beneath the surface, sealed with multiple layers of casing and cement, stimulated by a time-proven technology of creating micro-fractures no more than 150 feet in height, presents no danger …  Industry is already quickly approaching near 100 percent reuse and recycling of waste water in closed loop systems that minimize the surface spill risks. … Obstructionists with no practical energy or economic alternatives fiddle from their ivory towers while typical upstate New Yorkers and communities struggle in quiet desperation epitomized by what a local struggling farmer recently told me: “We are in the fight of our lives for our economic survival and our basic mineral rights.” … It’s time to move forward rather than hinder this exceptional economic opportunity. (Buffalo News Op-Ed, 7/14/10)