Are You Fracking Kidding Me?!?

I always see signs in people's yards, or they have writing on their barns saying they are for or against fracking. I only knew the basics of what it was about, drilling for natural gas under the ground. I had briefly heard the pros and cons of each. The pros being that we would need to rely less on foreign gas and it would create jobs. The cons are that it is dangerous and is contaminating the water along with other important natural resources. I thought the signs were kind of funny using frack as a swear word, but never really looked into hydrofracking, so I didn't have an opinion either way. However, after watching Gas Land I don't think it is such a good idea for this country. Regardless of how much money they might offer you.

Before we get started let's go over the basics of what exactly hydrofracking is. Hydrofracking is a means of natural gas extraction. The gas is extracted by deep well drilling. The water is extracted from the well and then once the well is dried millions of gallons of water, sand and proprietary chemicals are injected to the well using high pressure. This pressure fractures the shale and    opens fissures that allow natural gas to flow freely out of the well.

The documentary Gas Land was about Josh Fox traveling around the country looking into hydrofracking and what it has been doing to the towns and the people living in those towns. He
initially started this documentary because his home town was in the Marcellus Shale. Which is the area along the east coast mostly in Pennsylvania and New York where there is natural gas available for drilling. The hydrofracking companies were coming into his town and going to people who had natural gas on their lands asking if they could drill there. They would offer money based on how much land they owned. This could be a LOT of money. Most people weren't thinking about the
consequences of what the hydrofracking could do to their land all they were seeing is dollar signs. Fox was offered $100,000 for his land (which would pay off my college loans).

Because he grew up on the land and truly loved it he wasn't so sure about allowing them to drill on his land without know all the facts. He went out West to Colorado and Wyoming, down South to Texas and Louisiana, to New York and his home state of Pennsylvania looking for information. He went around asking those whose land were being drilled on how it was effecting them and the stories they told him astounded me.

The amount of problems those people were having was awful and the side effects they were experience were heart wrenching. There were a whole host of problems, but the main ones people were having was that the water was making people sick, water would bubble and hiss, animals were losing their hair and loosing weight, people getting headaches, the water smelt like gas, people were loosing their sense of smell and taste, and to me the most shocking side effect was that people could light their water on FIRE!!! You really should not be able to do that! Not only was the water causing a lot of problems, but those people who had drilling on or around their homes were breathing in chemical toxins 24/7.

There were a lot of facts thrown around in the film and also a lot of legal acts that were mentioned. Because I was not already familiar with the topic I really had no clue what they were talking about. Two facts that I decided to look into were what exactly was the loophole in the safe drinking water act that allowed hydrofracking and what exactly the hydrofracking is doing to the animals.

The loophole that allowed hydrofracting to occur is called the Halliburton Loophole. The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was passed by Congress in 1974 and ensured clean drinking water free from brutal and man-made contaminates. Because fracking can pollute people's wells thereby making their water undrinkable and dirty, fracking shouldn't be allowed. However, thanks to President Bush and Dick Cheney it was overrided. In 2005 they created a bill called the Bush/Cheney Energy Bill that exempted natural gas drilling from the SDWA. What's written in this bill to allow hydrofracking is that hydrofracking companies are exempt from telling what chemicals are used during hydrofracking. By not disclosing the chemicals the EPA can't prove that hydrofracking could pollute the water.


How is the hydrofracking effecting the animals? An article written in the Cornell Daily Sun looked at just that. The author Bob Hackett looked at a study done by a Professor and his wife. The professor teaches molecular medicine and his wife is a vet. They studied 24 cases of affected animals. Those animals were goats, cows, chickens, deer, horses, cats, birds, koi, llamas and humans. Together they were from 6 different states. The most common problem that all of the animals faced were reproductive issues. The animals were not producing offspring during the usual time period. Other symptoms that showed up in both the humans and the animals were burning of the eyes, upper respiratory problems, diarrhea, nosebleeds, rashes, vomiting, neurological issues and headaches (which people reported in Fox's film). They can't prove that any of the chemicals that they found in the sick animals and humans were the direct cause of hydrofracking because under the Halliburton Loophole the companies don't have to disclose that information. So, we can't tell for certain that the animals are being harmed because of the hydrofracking, but the evidence is pointing in that direction.

Basically nothing can be done until a law passes revising or overriding the Halliburton Loophole. I'm sure the minute that happens, if it ever does, hydrofracking will be attacked and the findings could be epic.

There was some footage of a congressional hearing where they were discussing hydrofracking and a couple of the senators were hardcore against the fracking and this one lady was a total boss and shut the congressman that was pro hydrofracking down! It was pretty funny to watch I wish I had been there.

I have discussed many of the cons of hydrofracking and I agree that hydrofracking is harming people and that something needs to be done, however there are some pros. Using natural gas is more green. It is better for the environment than burning coal and oil. The biggest factor that appeals to most people is that the gas is domestic and could eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. And obtaining the fuel in America will help with the economy and jobs. However, if those people keep dying because of their constant exposure to hydrofracking that could cause a problem for us.

This is going to continue to be a problem for everyone in America. It is also close to home for me. They are discussing hydrofracking in my town. The property my
family lives on doesn't have natural gas on it, but the land across the street from my home does. If they decide to allow hydrofracking in my town this could harm my family. My father is on our town board and it is a constant topic during their meetings.

As for the rest of New York State...New York is in the Marcellus Shale, so hydrofracking companies want to drill here. It is still being debated. An article in the New York Times in January 2013 stated that Cuomo planned to allow a limited amount of fracking in the Southern Tier along the Pennsylvania border, however the drilling process has not yet received full approval. His analysis team's work showed that fracking can be done safely. There are many issues with the study that was conducted including the quantitative risk assessment of fracking. Basically the study doesn't attempt to look at the probability of various hazards because it would involve a lot of assumptions on the scenario-specific variables that influence the environment and people. So, it is really hard to find any data because it hasn't been done in New York, but if you look at what's happened to other states it doesn't seem too good.
 The assembly wants more research done on the health impact that will be due to congress on April 15, 2015.
 There will not be another vote on hydrofracking until May 15, 2015.

There is also talk that Cuomo might make propose that instead of it being a state decision it will be up to each town to decide if they want to allow hydrofracking.


Like I said in the beginning I really didn't have an opinion on hydrofracking, but after watching this documentary I do now! For writing this blog I did look up the pros as I wrote about above and they didn't outweigh the cons in my opinion. Until we can get the exact chemicals that are in hydrofracking there isn't much people can do. It is all just speculation and that doesn't fly in court. If there isn't anything wrong with what they are doing then why can't they just tell us what chemicals we are being exposed to?!? They claim that if fracking is contaminating the water then they will just bring more, give them a different water supply. They had to do that for a few people in the film after they suddenly could light their water on fire. This so far has only happened in 6 states, but what is going to happen as that number slowly increases? We are already concerned about our water supply. Other countries are looking into fracking as well, which is going to spread this problem across the continents.

Fracking right now seems like a shiny wrapped package under the Christmas tree. Everyone wants to get a look at it and guess what is inside. Some people open it and see something awesome. Other people open it and see through the haze to what can really happen. Until we can read the receipt and see all the ingredients it's still a toss up as to whether or not hydrofracking is a good thing or a bad thing. In my opinion right now it isn't looking so good and once everyone can read the receipt and see what chemicals are really in hydrofracking and how it's effecting humans, animals, water and other parts of the environment there will no longer be a debate and the evidence will speak for itself.

To see how much you know about hydrofracking take this quiz. And get more info about the film at http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/. This IS a factor this is going to effect us all. People need to educate themselves! It's time to give a frack!!!!

Photos courtesy of creativecommons.com. All other information copywrite of Logan Tallmadge'13