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Greens exaggerating fracking fears 'to control you': Santorum

Green groups opposed to hydraulic fracturing are merely trying to raise money for "their reign of environmental terror" says Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum.

“The left is always looking for a way to control you," Santorum declared recently to Politico. "They’re always trying to make you feel guilty so you’ll give them power so they can lord it over you. They do it on the environment all the time.”

Hydraulic fracturing -- more commonly known as "fracking" -- refers to the process of injecting high-pressure fluids into rock formations to extract natural gas.

This shale gas industry has been under intense public scrutiny across North America. Critics, such as a landowner's group in Alberta, argue that fracking contaminates groundwater and leaks poisonous hydrogen sulphide, among other environmental impacts.

Santorum thinks green activists are exaggerating the dangers of fracking.

"[They're] saying, 'Look what's going to happen. Ooh, all this bad stuff's going to happen, we don't know all these chemicals and all this stuff,'" he told Politico. "Let me tell you what’s going to happen: Nothing’s going to happen, except they will use this to raise money for the radical environmental groups so they can go out and continue to try to purvey their reign of environmental terror on the United States of America."

Santorum, who recently won nominating contests in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota, has attacked his Republican rivals for not being conservative enough.

His recent fracking comments echo statements made by Canada's natural resources minister Joe Oliver last month.

Oliver attacked the "environmentalists and other radical groups" who he said "threaten to hijack our regulatory system", an apparent reference to Enbridge's Northern Gateway proposal.

Geoff Dembicki reports on the energy and climate issues for The Tyee.

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