ジェームズ・オズボーンさんが公聴会で聞きたかったのはこれだけだ。
「あなたはこの水を飲むことができますか？」
オズボーンさんの言う「この水」とは茶色の泥水のことで、シェールガスやシェールオイルなどを採掘する際に用いられる水、「フラッキング水」だと見られる。
シェールガスを採掘する技術「水圧破砕法」は産業界を一変させた技術だが、採掘時に地下の岩体に亀裂を生じさせるために使うフラッキング水には化学物質が混ざっており、水質汚染が懸念されている。
公聴会が開かれたネブラスカ州西部の街シドニーでは、採掘に使われたあとのフラッキング水を貯蔵する井戸の建設が予定されている。建設に先立ってネブラスカ州石油・ガス保護委員会が3月24日に開いた公聴会で、先陣を切って意見を述べたのがオズボーンさんだった。
冒頭に掲載したYouTube動画にはオズボーンさんが質問する様子が映っている。委員らに礼儀正しく話し始めた彼は、3つのプラスチックカップを取り出して透明な水を少し注ぎ、そしてその後にそれぞれのカップに茶色の液体をたっぷりとつぎ足した。
「今朝、皆さんはこの水は飲めるとおっしゃいましたね」と言ったあとオズボーンさんは、カップを指さして落ち着いた様子でこう質問した。「ではこの水を飲んでいただけますか？」
沈黙がしばらく続いた後で、委員の1人が用心深い口調でこう答えた。「われわれは、この件に関してコメントできません」
オズボーン氏はその後も数分間にわたって話し続け、最後に委員と出席者たちにお礼を述べてその場を去った。
地元の新聞、オマハ・ワールドヘラルド紙によると、3つのカップは2時間半続いた公聴会が終わるまでそこに残され、それを飲んだ人は誰もいなかったという。
文末スライドショーでは、シェールガス採掘で引き起こされたメタンガスの漏出事故や、各国で行われているシェールガス採掘反対運動を紹介している。
この記事はハフポストUS版に掲載されたものを翻訳しました。
[日本語版：遠藤康子、合原弘子/ガリレオ]
シェールガスの採掘を巡る出来事
(01 of30)
In this file photo from Oct. 14, 2011, a drilling rig is seen in Springville, Pa. State regulators blamed faulty gas wells drilled for leaking methane into the groundwater in nearby Dimock, Pa. It was the first serious case of methane migration said to be related to the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale gas field drilling boom. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, FILE) (credit:AP)
(02 of30)
British police secure the area where demonstrators erected a mock fracking rig with a banner reading \'No fracking in the UK\' in a protest against hydraulic fracturing for shale gas outside the Houses of Parliament in London on December 1, 2012. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS (credit:Getty Images)
(03 of30)
SPRINGVILLE, PA - JANUARY 18: A truck with the natural gas industry, one of thousands that pass through the area daily, drives through the countryside to a hydraulic fracturing site on January 18, 2012 in Springville, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
(04 of30)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MAY 30: Protestors stage a demonstration against fracking in California outside of the Hiram W. Johnson State Office Building on May 30, 2013 in San Francisco, California. Dozens of protesters with the group Californians Against Fracking staged a protest outside of California Gov. Jerry Brown\'s San Francisco offices demanding that Gov. Brown ban fracking in the state. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
(05 of30)
People demonstrate on August 3, 2013 in La Petite Brosse, near Jouarre, outside Paris, to protest against an exploratory oil shale drilling, considering that it opens the door to the exploration of shale gas in the Parisian Basin. Banner reads \'Stop gas and oil shale\'. AFP PHOTO / PIERRE ANDRIEU (credit:Getty Images)
(06 of30)
In this Nov. 26, 2012 photo, Steve Lipsky demonstrates how his well water ignites when he puts a flame to the flowing well spigot outside his family\'s home in rural Parker County near Weatherford, Texas. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had evidence a gas company\'s drilling operation contaminated Lipsky\'s drinking water with explosive methane, and possibly cancer-causing chemicals, but withdrew its enforcement action, leaving the family with no useable water supply, according to a report obtained by The Associated Press. The EPA\'s decision to roll back its initial claim that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations had contaminated the water is the latest case in which the federal agency initially linked drilling to water contamination and then softened its position, drawing criticism from Republicans and industry officials who insisted they proved the agency was inefficient and too quick to draw conclusions. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (credit:AP)
(07 of30)
In this file photo of Jan. 17, 2013, Yoko Ono, left, and her son Sean Lennon visit a fracking site in Franklin Forks, Pa., during a bus tour of natural-gas drilling sites in northeastern Pennsylvania. Ono and Lennon have formed a group called Artists Against Fracking, which has become the main celebrity driven anti-fracking organization. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) (credit:AP)
(08 of30)
In this March 29, 2013 file photo, a worker checks a dipstick to check water levels and temperatures in a series of tanks at a hydraulic fracturing operation at a gas drilling site outside Rifle, Colorado. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) (credit:AP)
(09 of30)
In this March 29, 2013 file photo, a worker switches well heads during a short pause in the water pumping phase, at the site of a natural gas hydraulic fracturing and extraction operation outside Rifle, in western Colorado. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) (credit:AP)
(10 of30)
In this March 29, 2013 file photo, workers tend to a well head during a hydraulic fracturing operation at a gas well outside Rifle, in western Colorado. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) (credit:AP)
(11 of30)
Josh Fox, director of the anti-fracking, Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland testifies during a House Committee hearing on oil drilling, \"fracking\" legislation at the Illinois State Capitol Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman) (credit:AP)
(12 of30)
This is a Thursday Aug. 15, 2013 image of the Cuadrilla exploration drilling site in Balcombe, southeast England. (AP Photo/Gareth Fuller/PA) (credit:AP)
(13 of30)
A child plays near a farmers\' protest in an area where oil company Chevron plans to put a drilling rig exploring for shale gas in the south-eastern Polish village of Zurawlow on June 11, 2013. AFP PHOTO / JANEK SKARZYNSKI (credit:Getty Images)
(14 of30)
Protesters hold a banner during a protest outside of the Momentive resin plant, Monday, July 8, 2013, in Morganton, N.C. Dozens of environmental activists blocked a chemical plant Monday to protest against the company\'s sale of products used in the natural gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. (AP Photo/The News Herald, Mary Elizabeth Robertson) (credit:AP)
(15 of30)
A fracking rig exploring for shale gas of oil company Chevron on June 11, 2013 in a village of Ksiezomierz in south-eastern Poland. AFP PHOTO / JANEK SKARZYNSKI (credit:Getty Images)
(16 of30)
People demonstrate on August 3, 2013 in La Petite Brosse, near Jouarre, outside Paris, to protest against an exploratory oil shale drilling, considering that it opens the door to the exploration of shale gas in the Parisian Basin. AFP PHOTO / PIERRE ANDRIEU (credit:Getty Images)
(17 of30)
Opponents of hydraulic fracturing in New York state attend a news conference and rally against hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, on January 11, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(18 of30)
Eric Weltman of Food & Water Watch attends a news conference and rally against hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, in New York State on January 11, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(19 of30)
Opponents and supporters of gas-drilling, or fracking, walk into the last of four public hearings on proposed fracking regulations in upstate New York on November 30, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(20 of30)
Engineers on the drilling platform of the Cuadrilla shale fracking facility on October 7, 2012 in Preston, Lancashire. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(21 of30)
Engineers at work on the drilling platform of the Cuadrilla shale fracking facility on October 7, 2012 in Preston, Lancashire. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(22 of30)
General views of the Cuadrilla shale fracking facility on October 7, 2012 in Preston, Lancashire. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(23 of30)
Engineers look at the Cuadrilla shale fracking facility on October 7, 2012 in Preston, Lancashire. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(24 of30)
A lump of shale rock on display at the Cuadrilla shale fracking facility on October 7, 2012 in Preston, Lancashire. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(25 of30)
Engineers on the drilling platform of the Cuadrilla shale fracking facility on October 7, 2012 in Preston, Lancashire. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(26 of30)
Engineers at work on the drilling platform of the Cuadrilla shale fracking facility on October 7, 2012 in Preston, Lancashire. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(27 of30)
Drill heads on display at the entrance to the Cuadrilla shale fracking facility on October 7, 2012 in Preston, Lancashire. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(28 of30)
An engineer displays a lump of shale rock at the Cuadrilla shale fracking facility on October 7, 2012 in Preston, Lancashire. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(29 of30)
Actor/director Mark Ruffalo (C) speaks at the Hydraulic Fracturing prevention press conference urging the protection of the drinking water source of 15 million Americans at Foley Square on April 25, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by D Dipasupil/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(30 of30)
(L-R) Actor/director Mark Ruffalo, Denise Katzman, Wenonah Hauter, and Water Defense co-founder/campaign director Claire Sandberg attend the Hydraulic Fracturing prevention press conference urging the protection of the drinking water source of 15 million Americans at Foley Square on April 25, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by D Dipasupil/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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