Blog 1

Blog Post 1

Do we not love being able to drink our water at home and have no worries about our personal safety? Well soon you’re your water could be contaminated with hundreds of harmful chemicals. Fracking is on the move in the United States and could be coming to your backyard. Fracking has been in the United States since the 1950’s, but just recently has it began making big headlines. With the way people live in America today there is an extremely high demand for oil and gas. With tensions in the Middle-East the United States is trying to rely less on foreign countries for oil. This has led to an increase in interest for hydraulic fracking. Although hydraulic fracking could help relieve the high demand for energy in the U.S., it could also have major repercussions such as water contamination, polluting our air, and wastes huge amounts of water. If it is proven that fracking does this to our environment, why are we doing it? Because people just are not aware.

                Fracking seems like an easy solution to our energy crisis right? At first this sounds like a great idea, but once you look further into it there are major issues. A major problem with Fracking is water pollution. According to DangersOfFracking.com methane concentrations are 17 times higher in drinking-water wells near fracturing sites than in normal wells. If fracking is such a danger to our water supply then it seems absolutely crazy to do it. Another fact on DangersOfFracking.com is that there have been over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination next to areas of gas drilling as well as cases of sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water. If it harms people then it is insane to keep building fracking sites, especially around homes. With hundreds of chemicals being pumped into the ground to extract the natural gas from the rock it is easy for these chemicals to leak into water supplies and be pumped directly into households. If most people knew the danger that could be coming to their backyards then they would be irate.

                If fracking causes such issues with the water we drink then we are just killing ourselves. Gas and oil companies need to make people aware of the possible dangers before they start fracking in an area. New laws also could be passed for people’s safety, or even researching new ways of finding oil and gas could be researched now before more people are harmed. With the rapid expansion fracking in the United States many grassroots organizations are fighting back. According to foodandwaterwatch.org there are about 400 state wide efforts to stop fracking across the United States. These organizations are trying to have anti-fracking laws passed within their states. Once people in future fracking areas realize the danger of fracking they will not want it in their local communities, but the important part is making everyone aware of the danger before it is too late. Although fracking can take some of the demand of oil from foreign countries, it is just not worth the risks.

Works Cited

Dong, L. What Goes In and Out of Hydraulic Fracking. Dangers of fracking. Web. 13 Nov 2013.                 <http://www.dangersoffracking.com/>.

                This site gives a detailed information on the steps that go into fracking. It gives information on where pollution in fracking originates and how the fracking process works.

 Mapping the Movement. Food & Water Watch. Web. 13 Nov 2013.                            <http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/fracking-action-center/map/>.

This page maps anti-fracking movements across the country. This shows how grass roots organizations are fighting back against the spread of fracking and its dangers.