In a Environmental Studies class of mine, we watched a documentary that some of you might have seen titled Gas Land, by Josh Fox. In this film, it starts out with some vivid imagery of some of our natural gas wells, and takes us inside a some sort of congress meeting, discussing the importance of drilling for natural gas, saying that there is “no real credible threat to underground drinking water from hydrolic fracturing,” however, Josh seems to come up with some different findings along his journey for the truth. What he finds is frighting, and I encourage all of you to watch Gas Land, for I cannot get the whole feeling of the movie in one small post. This film is available on HBO and Netflix right now, and I’m sure you can find it a thousand other places online, because it is a pretty relevant issue. In the first minute of the film, those in favor of fracking have been giving misleading information, such as :” … entire process is imperceptible under the surface” and, “Mostly water and a few chemicals are used”. However after watching the film, and doing some independent research, I found that the fracking could drill us into a darker future.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 excepts fracking wells from being reclassified as “injection wells” and thus not subject to the EPA enforcement of the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act. This is known as the “Haliburton Loophole” and was signed into office under President Bush and Dick Cheney. This is another huge reason why fracking is so dangerous, the EPA has not been a factor in any of the policy and pollution controls, therefore many environmental injustices are occurring. “Hydraulic fracturing involves the injection of fluids including toxic chemicals into oil or gas wells at very high pressure, it is not subject to the same standards as other industries when it comes to protecting underground sources of drinking water” A leaked EPA study lists 750 chemicals (29 carcinogens) in ave. 300 tons of fracking fluid per well, which includes a minimum of 1 million gallons of water.
What scares me the most, is that the US is on track to become the worlds top producer of Oil in 2020, we are nearly self sufficient in natural gas, and will likely become energy self sufficient by 2035, according to the 2012 IEA report. BUT AT WHAT COST??? To our communities and to our local environment. The IEA report announced that its Global projections for the future included: 53% increase in energy consumption by 2035, 43% increase in CO2 in atmosphere by 2035, with China accounting for 73% of the coal increase. So when our leaders say that we are running on “Clean Energy”, as opposed to coal, think again. For it may be a little better for the atmosphere when burned, the extraction of natural gas is devastating communities.
Netflix: Gasland: A film by Josh Fox
How Fracking Works, the Corporation’s perspective — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY34PQUiwOQ
Earthquakes in Texas due to fracking — http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/08/06/how-fracking-disposal-wells-are-causing-earthquakes-in-dallas-fort-worth/
More info on loophole — http://www.independentwatertesting.com/education-center/148-what-is-the-halliburton-loophole.html