Freaking Fracking

By: Trevor Morey

[Background on statement made]

During one of Jill Stein’s twitter sessions, Jill Stein, US presidential candidate, made a claim on twitter. Stein suggests that we should put an end to all fracking because "Fracking is a national threat to our water, our health, and our future.” Jill Stein is one of the many presidential candidates that does not support the use of fracking. And although every candidate may have different reasons for not supporting fracking, Jill Stein had one of the strongest opinions towards the matter.  Jill Stein’s claim was made February 19, 2016 when Jill Stein got on twitter in order to make a statement to the social media.

"Fracking is a national threat to our water, our health, and our future. It's time to work for a national ban on fracking and a just transition to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030.”

[Purpose of this blog article]

Is Jill Stein right? Does fracking actually effect our water and health? Will fracking be so dangerous that it effects our future?

[Evidence for and/or against claims]

On June 9, 2015 Cato Institute  stated that the Environmental Protection Agency conducted a study with the conclusion that “fracking” of gas and natural oils does not affect drinking water except in “extremely unusual cases involving improper drilling techniques”. In this study EPA looked at the results from “thousands of wells” and found “few faults with the drilling technique”. And found that any problems that did occurred, occurred because the wells were not sealed properly.

Ohio Environmental Council however talks about the risks that come along with “fracking”. The article states that any “development of oil and gas involves risks to air, land, water, wildlife and communities”.

Drilling industry’s claim that

certain kinds of fracking are

completely safe because

fracking has been around for

 so long, but the combination

 of hydraulic fracturing and

 horizontal drilling has only

been around for five years.

 As this new type of fracking

has increased, so has the water

contamination, and other

 problems caused by the disposal

 of “fracking waste fluids”.

Frack Free Somerset talks about the fact that fracking is still in its early stages and there is still a lot to be learned about fracking. The article suggests that it’s important to do further studies and gather more information on fracking. Science does “suggest” that fracking as a form of extraction “might” add to current health risks. The reason being that fracking takes up a larger area than a “conventional” oil or gas well. The risks of environmental contamination can occur if nor handles properly. There can be surface spills or different types of leakage. Something that is often looked over is the amount of heavy transport machines that are involved that are contributing to the contamination in the USA.

NCBI explains that Hydraulic fracturing is one of the major steps forward in the USA. However there are many concerns about the effects of fracking. Many believe that fracking can pollute the ground and even the waters around it. NCBI states that the research is not complete but that they do have concerns that the drinking water has been effected by fracking.

When talking about the effects of living near a fracking site, the New York Times states that living close to a site where fracking is under effect is one of the causes of “Migraines and fatigue”  Scientists conducted a study in which 7,785 participants were selected at random to fill out a survey with questions related to headaches and fatigue. Participants were ranked by how close or how far they lived from a site where fracking was taking place. The study showed that those living closer to the fracking site were 84 percent more likely to have all of the symptoms that they were being tested for. However the doctor conducted the survey also stated that there may be variables that they didn’t account for in their study. (Correlation is not causation).

[Conclusion]

 In conclusion Jill Steins claim was false. Jill Stein cannot make a claim that fracking will affect our whole future.  There is a risk when fracking, but only if it done improperly. Therefor fracking itself does not have a direct correlation with our nation’s health or the water supply. The majority of the articles supported the claim of negative effects of fracking. However the majority of the articles also stated that there is no proof that fracking will harm the environment when executed properly. Water being contaminated is one of the big concerns, but that only happens when there is a leak or some sort of mistake in the fracking process, and that doesn’t happen very often. Obviously there is always a risk of something going wrong, but it hasn't happened enough to claim that our whole future will be effected.