A major study by the US Environmental Protection Agency into the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water has concluded that fracking has not caused any significant harm to drinking water. The five year study, which is by far the most comprehensive on the subject, found that fracking in the US has not “led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States.”

It does however warn that shale gas drilling has the “potential to impact drinking water resources” if wastewater is not treated correctly or if major mistakes are made such a fracturing directly into underground drinking water resources. Can we stop listening to the anti-fracking brigade now?