60 Minutes Opens with a Feature on Fracking
Last Sunday, 60 Minutes aired a segment by Leslie Stahl discussing the potential economic positives and the environmental perils of fracking. The piece features contrasting interviews of Aubrey McClendon, the CEO of Chesapeake Energy, the largest independent gas producer in the country, and Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. The feature highlights the noted Louisiana fracking fluid spill that resulted in the “gruesome death” of 17 cows. Stahl also profiles the notorious cases of drinking water contamination in Dimmock, Pennsylvania, where fracking contaminated the area’s aquifer with high levels of methane. “So here we have natural gas from shale touted as the solution to our energy problems by one group. Another group says it’s the biggest environmental nightmare,” Stahl remarked. Brune vigorously argues that tighter fracking standards are critical; a proposition that even McClendon concedes he would go along with. Click here to watch or read the feature.