Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced during a Tuesday Senate hearing that he has drank fracking fluid and that it wasn't bad at all, the Denver Post reports.
"You can drink it. We did drink it around the table, almost ritual-like in a funny way. It was a demonstration. ... they've invested millions of dollars in what is a benign fluid in every sense," said Hickenlooper to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, according to the Examiner. He said the fluid is made up of ingredients sourced from the food industry.
Minnesota Democrat Al Franken, who sits on the committee, thought Hickenlooper's remarks were funny and asked if the Governor did it as some type of cult practice.
"No, there were no religious overtures," Hickenlooper answered. The bizarre admission drew some laughs but Hickenlooper stressed that he was trying to prove a point that fracking is not bad for drinking water and the environment. He also said that federal and state lawmakers are asking for too much by requiring energy companies to disclose what the fluid contains.
"If we were overzealous in forcing them to disclose what they had created, they wouldn't bring it into our state," he said.
But environmentalist disagree, and say that when fracking fluid is injected deep below the Earth to releases hydrocarbons like gas and oil it eventually contaminates drinking water that is then consumed by millions.