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Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking)

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Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking)
Danielle Myers12-1

Hydraulic fracturing(also known as fracking) is a highly controversial topic to those that keep up with current government issues. Although many people believe that fracking is malicious, it is potentially one of the greatest ideas for America, and could end our distress very quickly. The only negative responses to fracking are coming from relatively uninformed people. Fracking has both environmental and economic advantages.

Many people are uninformed about fracking. Some believe that fracking causes cancer. This is untrue, and has been disproven by highly qualified epidemiologists, such as David Risser. Others are convinced that fracking contaminates groundwater, thus polluting our drinking water. This, however, has been investigated. So far, experts from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have not definitely linked the contamination to fracking. It could be caused by any number of outside pollutants. There are still more claims that fracking has caused cattle to die. However, these claims have also been proven false. Yes, cattle died in several areas where fracking was in progress nearby. No, these deaths were not caused by fracking. In every case, the cattle's deaths were caused by unrelated occurrences. The backlash that advocates for fracking are experiencing is caused by those who have not bothered to check their facts, or insist upon disputing any statement or conclusion that opposes their beliefs.

Fracking promises environmental gain. The human race used 143,851 terrawatt hours of energy in 2008 alone. With the amount of energy that many of the machines used require, it is necessary to spend this much energy. If fracking were legalized everywhere in the US, it would have enough natural gas to replace the majority of the energy we use. Natural gas would be the most effective way of utilizing the environment's natural resources. Fracking would also lessen pollution in the air. Many environmentalists complain that the

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