If one has followed the news in the past 12 months, I'm sure they have heard about fracking. If you have not, visit my link here, but if you have, you may like to hear that it has been considered to have "minimal impact on ground water" according to tests done by University of Texas Energy Institute. At least, that's what the Houston Chronicle would like us to think. According to their editorial here, it has been deemed safe, and  will "be a cornerstone for the state's economy for decades to come." This piece is clearly written to be on the defense against scrutiny from the "highly urbanized Northeast" who are claiming that studies taken from the same UT tests bear a different conclusion. 
This editorial is clearly written with the intent to reinforce the idea of an economic boom from the shale fracturing industry. His target audience is most likely those who are living in the Houston area working in an industry with some type of tie to the natural gas industry. The editorial goes as far at times to appeal to ethos in it's accusation of other media sources of giving the shale fracturing a horrible name. Houston is one of the largest in the country, and with a lot of the economy riding on oil and gas, the chronicle's stance on the topic is far from surprising. Who can blame them?

The truth of the matter is that one cannot just say Shale Fracturing is safe because one found the words "minimal impact on ground water" in a 78 page report. It seems that at this point UT has made efficient steps to break the mystery behind "fracking," but it is still a sensitive issue and should not be taken lightly for ecological reasons.