Should NG fracking be done near potable water resiviors?

I don't think of myself as an environmentalist but if water from my bathroom sink burst into flames if I lit a cigarette lighter on water coming out of the spigot, I wouldn't be very happy. \

I just ran across this video taken in North Dakota, America's new energy boom state.

Has there been issues? (before I vote)

OPPs guess so.

My question would be : "why did he try that in the first place?"

BTW: That gas in the the pipes, not the lake.

WCH said:

Has there been issues? (before I vote)

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I've seen reports of this sort of thing happening a while back. Then I saw reports (commercials) that the industry has changed its harvesting methods that are now completely safe. Then I saw this youtube video today but I'm not sure when it was taken. I think its safe to conclude natural gas getting into the water people consume and wash with is not healthy. The questions are does NG get into potable water when harvested, how safe are the harvesting methods and are the safest harvesting methods always followed?

I don't know when the video posted was taken but I tend to think youtube videos go up right away so I lean toward thinking it was recent. If so, then the fracking safety commercials I've seen have lost a lot of credibility with me.

The burning spigot is just the tip of the iceberg. The toxic chemicals they use to make the shale or gas producing formation slippery to gas and increase production are proprietary and contaminate more water wells than the methane gases. Since it all occurs a mile or so underground, the gas corporations always deny culpability. I'm not against drilling with adequate regulation. The regulators in many states, like Pennsylvania, are bought and sold by the Big Energy Corporations.

WCH said:

My question would be : "why did he try that in the first place?"

BTW: That gas in the the pipes, not the lake.

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A lot of water comes from underground water tables. Its where well water originates for example. To get to the NG they have to drill through those water tables and hope the gas doesn't leak into the ground water on the way up. I've seen commercials to create public support that say every effort is made to prevent gas from leaking into ground water but that's from people becoming gazillionaires from it so understandably they want the public to think its harmless. I personally don't know either way if it truly safe, especially if this video was recent and after all these new safety measures were implemented.