No, Fracking Won't Drain Lake Erie

Essentially pushing a biased report that would otherwise go unread The Toledo Blade is citing a ridicules assertion by the National Wildlife Federation that fracking will pump Lake Erie dry. " Laws in Ohio and Michigan will not adequately protect the Great Lakes basin from huge water withdrawals to fuel an expected shale oil and natural gas drilling boom, a report from the National Wildlife Federation charged Thursday"
Oh please, are they telling us that the drilling industry is going to lower the level of Lake Erie either by direct withdrawals from the lake or its feeder streams? It takes about 8 million gallons to frack a well. Typically that water which, is contaminated with brine, is used several times before the saline content reaches unmanageable levels then it is disposed of by injecting it into deep wells drilled for that purpose. Eventually we can expect to see evaporation facilities replace injection wells as the incipient industry matures. In that case the water would be returned to the atmosphere in the form of water vapor with all contaminates extracted. If we believe the NWF and the Blade, Lake Erie will be trucked to central and pumped underground. Give us a break!