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Fracking is killing coal. So why do so many environmentalists hate it?

Few things have inspired angst among green groups and climate advocates like the question of how to deal with fracking. It's been one of the more important discussions within environmentalism over the last few years.

Here's a very rough breakdown of the debate: Supporters of fracking tend to argue that the US natural-gas boom, driven by hydraulic fracturing, has actually been one of the big environmental success stories of the past decade. Electric utilities are now using more cheap gas and less dirty coal to generate power. Since gas burns more cleanly, that curbs air pollution: US carbon dioxide emissions have plunged roughly 10 percent since 2005.

That, in turn, has given momentum to President Obama's big push to tackle global warming and curtail power plant emissions further via EPA regulations. "You have to ask," Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations told me last fall, "does the emergence of a cheap, reliable option for cutting emissions make regulators more willing to force power plants to cut their emissions? And the answer is yes. We're seeing that play out."

Many green-minded supporters of fracking will also concede that there are real problems with the practice — like water pollution — but they often focus more on patching those problems than on banning it altogether. Advocates of this approach include the Environmental Defense Fund, as well as, crucially, the Obama administration.

On the "anti" side, meanwhile, are a large and growing set of environmentalists who now argue that the problems with fracking outweigh the benefits.* It's not just the air and water pollution caused by fracking. They also point out that there's methane leaking out of all those gas wells and pipelines. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and depending on how big those leaks are, they could offset the climate benefits of lower CO2 emissions.

Just as significantly, those more skeptical of fracking point out that natural gas is still a fossil fuel and produces carbon dioxide when burned (even if it's only half as much as coal). And if we want to avoid drastic global warming, we'll need to phase out most or all fossil fuels very soon. These groups are less keen on Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz's suggestion that natural gas can be a "bridge" to a cleaner future. They don't see gas as helping us move away from coal. They see cheap gas as hampering the transition to renewable sources like wind and solar.

The conflict around these different worldviews have also spurred a recent, practical disagreement. Should activists push for tighter regulations around fracking to fix its downsides — or focus on trying to ban fracking altogether?

source: http://www.vox.com