Fracking: A Ticking Time Bomb

Hydraulic Fracturing: A Destructive SolutionDarcy Schober

What is it?

Hydraulic Fracturing, also known as fracking, is a method of extracting natural gasses from the Earth that otherwise are unreachable. (What Is Fracking?)

How Its DoneBy drilling into the Earths crust, natural gas is able to be extracted from shale deposits. This is called horizontal fracking. (Gasland)

Once the well is constructed, high pressured water and fracking liquids are poured into the ground.

Because of this pressure, the shale rock cracks, which allows for the natural gas to escape.

Hydraulic fracturing has allowed for the collection of natural gas deep in the ground that would have otherwise been unobtainable.(Dangers of Fracking)

But with this discovery comes great dangerThe practice of fracking has proven over and over again to be wasteful of our recourses and endangering Earth and her inhabitants.

People against fracking have very moving arguments. They focus on the effect this industry has on the communities it disrupts and the disruption of Earth.

Anti-Fracking: Environmental impactUp to 400 tanker trucks are needed to bring water and supplies to and from the fracking site.Of 40,000 chemicals poured into the well, 600 chemicals are carcinogenic. Some of these include: lead, uranium, mercury, ethylene glycol, radium, methanol, hydrochloric acid and formaldehyde While the high pressured well effectively cracks nearby shale, methane gas as well as other toxic chemicals leak into the surrounding water. Methane concentrations are 17x higher in drinking-water wells near fracturing sites than normal wells.After a fracking site is tapped out, only 30%-50% of fracking fluids are recovered. The other 50%-70% is left in the ground, none of which is biodegradable (Dangers)

Anti-Fracking: Community Impact

Due to well leakage, over 1,000 cases related to water contamination which have reported sensory, respiratory and neurological damage.Because of elevated methane in drinking water. As showed in the movie Gasland, a documentary, homeowners are able light their water on fire.

Add It Up500,000 active wellsX8 million gallons of water per frackingX18 times a well can be fracked=72 trillion gallons of waterAnd 360 billon gallons of chemicals to run the wells

According to the site, Dangers of Fracking:

What can be done?

Fortunately, the vast majority of people believe that fracking is a dangerous practice despite the job opportunities and lower energy costs.

Anti-fracking organizations across America are hard at work trying to promote a cleaner alternative to energy, inform the public about the dangers of fracking, as well as attempt to pass laws to regulate this dangerous practice.

The FRAC Act (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness to Chemical Act) is a House of Representatives bill that strives to repeal the Halliburton Loophole, an energy bill that took away the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate hydraulic fracking, and require natural gas companies to disclose the chemicals used. (STOP FRACKING NOW!)

Together We Can

Knowledge is power. Informing our citizens about how fracking effects the environment and its inhabitants can change regulations on this practice.

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"STOP FRACKING NOW! Tell Congress to Pass the FRAC Act." Stop Fracking Now! N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2012. .

Picture Credits"Fracking." The Colorado Observer. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2012. .

"A Colossal Fracking Mess." Vanity Fair. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2012. .

"Can Fracking Contaminate Drinking Water?" The Watchers. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2012. .

"Digging Deep: Fracking Litigation Trends." Insurance News and Analysis for Risk Managers, Agents, Brokers, P&C Insurance Pros. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2012. .

"Electric Tree House." Fracking. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2012. .

"New Report: Fracking Could Cause a New Global Water Crisis." Food & Water Watch. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2012. .

"Digging Deep: Fracking Litigation Trends." Insurance News and Analysis for Risk Managers, Agents, Brokers, P&C Insurance Pros. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2012. .

Song CreditEveryday by Carly Comando