Fracking

                When people first found out about the amazing amount of oil and natural gas that was hiding underneath earth’s surface, it became an all out race to get as much as possible. Digging in very shallow areas was only effective for a short time, but eventually there was not more oil to get at such depths. This is where more modern techniques than just drilling come in. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of taking a machine that shoots fluid and using is to bore into the ground to help release oil and natural gas. The fluid that is used is more than just water and is made up of many different chemicals to increase the viscosity of the liquid. With a thicker liquid, the machine can bore faster and through tougher rocks. There is a problem with the liquid and the whole system of fracking: the chemicals seep through the ground and get into ground water, water that humans drink.

                The town of Pavillion, Wyoming is one that has been the victim of much fracking. The company EnCana had been fracking near the town for a few years when the effects of the act became visible. The people started complaining about the quality of the water in their wells, but EnCana just gave the people clean drinking water and they quieted down. The Environmental Protection Agency was not pleased with this and wanted to know if there was a correlation between the fracking and the unhealthy quality of the peoples’ drinking water.

                The EPA took samples of drinking water from the wells of many residents and tested them to find unusual chemicals. They found hydrocarbons that seemed to be related to fracking, but couldn’t blatantly state that. They redid the test a few years later and confirmed their first suspicions. With that, they warned the people of the dangerous chemicals that they would be consuming and bathing in. To confirm everything, the EPA drilled 1000 feet and took more samples finding high levels of carcinogenic chemicals that are associated with fracking.

                When the EPA brought their findings to EnCana and asked for a list of chemicals that the company uses in their fracking fluid, they declined to give them the list. They also dismissed the findings of the carcinogenic chemicals saying that they were inconsistent and that specific chemicals were only found in single samples out of the many that the EPA took.

                Fracking can be very destructive to people because of the many chemicals that are used to create the fracking fluid. The chemicals can leak into the groundwater and that can lead to serious problems for human health. Fracking has already been banned in some countries for this very reason.