Clean groundwater is our most valuable resource. We’ve survived for thousands of years without oil and gas, but we couldn’t live a year without potable water. There is no substitute, no synthetic way to produce enough for our needs. We’re dependent on water and the system that produces it: natural hydrology, with which fracking plays merry hell.
Hydraulic fracturing involves the high-pressure injection of a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals deep underground. There drilling companies shatter the rock, making the natural gases available for retrieval. The companies have refused to disclose the substances that they use, but assure us the process is safe. Last December, however, the EPA announced a documented link between fracking and chemical water contamination. It’s official, though not news.
In 2008, the EPA’s test well in Wyoming showed levels of the carcinogen benzene (used in fracking) at 1,500 times the level safe for human consumption. More than 1,000 cases of water contamination near fracking operations have been documented in Colorado, New Mexico, Alabama, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. In Ohio, a house exploded from the buildup of methane in the water supply. In Louisiana, 16 cattle dropped dead after drinking from a pool of fracking fluids. In one house, tap water contained so much flammable gas it could be set on fire. Cancer rates and neurological damage have risen among nearby residents. Sterility and stillbirths in livestock herds have increased. Benzene, methane, phenols, acetone, toluene, and napthalene - all lethal fracking-related substances - have seeped and leached through the landscape.
