"Fracturing or horizontally fracturing the shale to open up larger pockets of natural gas ... has been used for over 60 years and, as of 2009, over 80,000 wells have been fracked in Ohio."
-- State Sen. Kris Jordan
During a recent debate in the Ohio Senate over a proposed law to allow drilling at state parks, some lawmakers focused on fracking, an increasingly controversial technique used to extract oil and gas from underground.
Republican Sen. Kris Jordan was among those to defend process. He questioned why Democrats and others were so worried, considering fracking’s long history in Ohio.
"The process of fracturing or horizontally fracking the shale to open up larger pockets of natural gas in order to make it financially feasible to drill the wells – this process has been used for over 60 years and, as of 2009, over 80,000 wells have been fracked in Ohio," Jordan said on the Senate floor on June 15.
Considering that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is studying hydraulic fracturing’s effects on drinking water and since fracking will remain a topic of interest as more oil and gas companies are expected to tap Ohio’s natural gas deposits, PolitiFact Ohio decided to look at Jordan’s claim.
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