Hydro-Fracking Synopsis Hydraulic Fracturing, commonly known as Hydro-Fracking is a newly discovered drilling technique for extracting natural gas from rock shale formations. These shale formations are quite abundant throughout the United States the largest being the Marcellus which encompasses a range of West Virginia to Upstate New York. Estimates predict that these 30 shale formations could provide enough natural gas for US consumption for 118 years (Fortin). Although there appears to be vast amounts of shale fissures containing natural gas within our nation, the extraction process has come under harsh scrutiny. The process of drilling and extracting these gases from the shale formations requires creating fissures within the shale by drilling horizontally, forcing water, sand and chemicals into the rock. In each 10,000 ft well over a million gallons of water is pumped, along with sand in chemicals agents in order to cause fissures. By flowing sand through the well, this acts to keep these fissures open, to allow the natural gas to escape. Between 2005-2009, the House Energy and Commerce committee released a report addressing the chemicals used in the hydro-fracking process. The report stated, “The 14 leading oil and gas service companies used more than 780 million gallons of hydraulic fracturing products, not including water added at the well site. Overall, the companies used more than 2,500 hydraulic fracturing products containing 750 different chemicals and other components.” (Knickerbocker, 2011) Although there is certainly a mix of toxic and non-toxic chemicals used in the process, 29 of these chemical agents are known human carcinogens. The drilling process requires the use of chemical cocktails including, lead, methanol, benzene, toluene, xylene, and ethylbenzene. Under both the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air Act,