This blog is a direct result of my frustrations in locating and utilizing web sources covering  the acquisition, conversion, blending, and subsequent analysis of hydro-fracturing, a.k.a. “fracking” data.

Please feel free to click on any of the menu items above, or since you’re already on this web page, one or more of the links below.

 

As I’ve not yet found any comprehensive websites covering:

• Oil and Gas Well Data Sources
• Chemical Toxicities
• FracFocus Data Sources
• Earthquake Data Sources
• Source Code
• (new) Fracking Database/Website Prototype Specifications

in one place, I decided to create one of my own.

Essentially, I’ve tried to build a “one-stop-shop” of data sources useful to anyone wishing to analyze fracking data.

Hopefully, in a small way, I’ve succeeded.

This site will grow, especially in the domain of “blended” data, for example, the blending of fracking chemical disclosure data with each chemical’s recognized or suspected toxicity.  It is my intent to evolve the various fracking datasets into spatially-oriented datasets and blend them with earthquake as well as chemical toxicity data.  One day, if a source of fracking-related non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or a “list of the harmed” is published, I’ll try to blend those into the datasets as well.

The fracking industry and many state governments claim that hydro-fracturing operations are safe, while various environmental and non-governmental organizations claim otherwise.  Tempers run high, especially when large quantities of money are at stake.  State and federal regulators fear for their jobs if they talk about fracking operations, earthquakes, or chemical toxicities with any person or organization not considered “friendly” to the fracking industry.  For example, state epidemiologists are told not to reveal incidents involving fracking.  Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and citizen-scientists find their path to acquiring data relevant to fracking obstructed or obfuscated by the very organizations charged with overseeing its regulation.

Basically, if there’s nothing to hide, don’t suppress the release of data or harass those that either make it available or those that subsequently analyze it.  Otherwise, as long as the obstruction or obfuscation persists, the perception is that something is being hidden will persist as well.

There is a concept in the quality control profession, that of “continuous improvement,” and one of its main pillars is that “one cannot improve that which has not yet been measured.”  Without measurement, the claims of any party, pro or con, cannot be rationally evaluated; and without data, no measurement or improvement is possible.

In short, without adequate and timely data, being on the “right side of history” is only an accident, not an intention.  In the end, I believe that “being on the right side of history” is the true intent of this site.

May all of us, irrespective of our vested interests, be rational stewards of the only home we presently have…