Fracking: Natural Gas and Fracturing Hydraulic Fracturing
-- Hydraluic Fracturing Hydraulic fracturing, which is also known as fracking, is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to relase the natural gas inside. Many believe that fracking should be banned due to the cancerous chemicals that are injected into the shale rocks, which contaminates the water that we drink and runs into our homes. In the U.S., there are more than 500,000 active natural gas wells. Each of these wells requires 400 tanker tucks in order to carry water as well as supplies to the site where fracking will occur. For each of these individual fracking jobs, 1 to 8 million gallons of water is used. About 40,000 gallons of chemicals (per one fracturing job) are used and mixed with the water to create the "fracking fluid." What people do not know, is that up to 600 different chemicals are used in this "fracking fluid," including known toxins and carcinogens such as lead, mercury, uranium, ethylene glycol, radium, methanol, hydrachloric acid, and formaldehyde. These chemicals are known to cause cancer and other health problems. 72 trillion gallons of water and 360 billion gallons of these cancerous chemicals are needed to run our current gas wells. The fracking fluid is then pressure injected down 10,000 feet into the ground through a drilled pipeline. When the fluid reaches the end of the well, the high pressure causese the nearby shale rock to crack, causing the natural gas to flow into the well. During this proccess, the methane gas and highly toxic chemicals leak out of the fracturing system and into the surrounding groundwater, therefore contaminating the water that runs into our homes and water that we drink. This contaminated well water is used for drinking and other things for cities and towns near the well. Over 1,000 cases are documented for water contamination and cases of sensory, respitory, and neurological damage due to these chemicals used in fracking. Only