Does Fracking Lead to Groundwater Contamination?
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of extracting natural grass from rock layers deep within the earth. According to a recent article, this process very commonly causes earthquakes and also may be linked to increasing groundwater contamination and air pollution. The 2010 documentary, Gasland, illuminated many of the problems associated with the fracking process and its effect on groundwater. Near the end of the trailer for the documentary (at 2:23), you can even see a man set his tap water on fire! An increase in air pollution may also be seen due to more methane being released into the environment. Although fracking has been a very successful method to obtain natural gas and oil from the Earth, I feel that the negative effects that this process may have on the environment and human health must be reconsidered, despite the claims made from industries that fracking has no adverse affects.
There's an environmental forum online where an environmental consultant for the O&G industry posted an image with the caption "THIS is what is wrong with the effort to defeat fracking." The image was a screen-capture of a news site with two stories side-by-side, "Anti-frackers deliver petitions", "Pro-frackers meet with lawmakers".
ReplyDeleteThe point was that while this is a concern heavy on the minds of environmentalists, the only reason why it is still a debatable method is because those who do it are those with capital to influence lawmakers. Sad, but true.