I first started hating on fracking during a lecture about hydraulic fracturing legislation. I was surprised because the presenter repeatedly joked that New York made regulations by “doing the opposite of whatever Pennsylvania did”. I was irritated because I am from Pennsylvania and though I cannot set my tap water on fire, I am still disturbed by the effects of hydraulic fracturing. Although discouraging, this lecture sparked my passion for environmental dilemmas and motivated me to explore them.
The cons of fracking include: immense water usage, water pollution, boom & bust towns (this will be addressed in the next post), truck usage, road building, and air pollution leading to climate change. Of the water present on earth, 97% of the it is sawdy (the slang word for salty), the other 3% is freshwater. Of this 3% only 30% is groundwater, the rest is frozen!
These percentages are merely used to show that the amount of drinkable water on earth is extremely limited. Each natural gas well uses millions of gallons of water. This would be worth it if there was legislation forcing natural gas companies to clean the water they contaminated. Right now companies keep that shit in a plastic lined hole in the ground. This is not a sustainable way to take care of water that has been mixed with carcinogens and toxins.
What do people think is going to happen to that sludge?? It shouldn't evaporate because then it will contaminate the air with all the crap that's in it!! It shouldn't seep into the aquifers because some of us like to drink clean water!! Come on people this isn't rocket science!! We need politicians to protect us from money grubbing companies who are just trying to make the most money possible and taking short cuts from keeping the earth clean.
Let's pretend for a moment that these plastic linings are sufficient and that the nasty water companies keep in it is safely contained. There's still the water that is not successfully retrieved from the pipes and that leaks into local wells and aquifers. There have been several cases involving families suing these companies because of health effects down the road. These will be investigated later in a later post (get psyched!).
Natural gas wells aren't in the middle of cities where there is already a road built for heavy duty trucks. This means that N.G. companies build new roads in previously pristine pieces of undisturbed land. This is bad for the environment because it creates more "edge". The edge of roads is a dangerous place for animals because they can easily become roadkill or succumb to the oil runoff of cars. The many trucks used to transport the gas too and fro burns gas which releases carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.
The air pollution of natural gas is not as bad as other fossil fuels, however it still emits a significant amount as seen below.
The Specific Facts:
This website gives an interesting visual to the dangers of fracking.
Sources:
http://www.agci.org/classroom/hydrosphere/
http://www.energyjustice.net/content/trash-and-biomass-incineration-worse-climate-coal
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