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Fracking Cause And Effect Essay

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Fracking is an important action that is taking place right now in the United States. There are people who look at fracking as positive and there are those who look at it as being negative. “Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside. Water, sand, and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well” (BBC News). One of the many harmful facts that were mentioned in “Gasland” is water contamination. Not only could the water contamination caused by fracking lead to health issues, it could also lead to cancer, birth defects, and disorders of the nervous system. Being that the toxic substances are brought out during this process, our supply of water could be contaminated. Therefore, this possibly would lead to a mass sickness of the general population (Gasland). Fracking raises quite a few red flags …show more content…
The contamination activity that has been traced to fracking is the culprit for it. The same methane that leaks during fracking, is the same methane that was found in the 18 drinking-water wells in Pennsylvania. To give a sense of just how much water could so easily be intoxicated, in just one well, there is generally 2 to 8 million gallons of water “fracked”. While there are wells that could use much more than that, those same wells can be fracked multiple times with each time increasing the chances of chemical leakage into the soil and local water sources. Setting the harm of the environment to the side, the impact on our infrastructure and societies are just as bad. With the use of 2 to 8 million gallons of water in play, this translates into 400 to 600 tanker truckloads of liquids to the well, and 200 to 300 tanker truckloads of liquid waste from the well. The tanker, amassing up to 80,000 lbs. would destroy our roads and bridges, leaving our cities to recover the mess

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