Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Environmental Issues


What is fracking? Fracking is the of study natural gas extraction using a technique of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. This technique is a huge environmental issue for all of the United States. It requires millions of gallons of fresh water, acres of land per well pad, and the use of undisclosed chemicals. While this new technique is becoming worldwide, almost all communities are noticing an increase in air emissions, water contamination, and very serious problems associated with the disposal of horizontal fracking waste fluids.
We already have a scarce amount of water to drink and produce products so why try and contaminate it? This answer is beyond me, but from research it has already shown that if fracking is done within three thousand miles of a water resource, it will contain chemicals prone to cause cancer. Ohio is trying to pass legislature to hold off on permits to frack until it is proven safe for the environment. I believe this is progress to put a hold on fracking, but I do not think it is effective enough to work. Fracking should be done away with completely in my eyes. In 20 years I don’t want to die due to contamination of pure drinking water because of fracking.
Not only is fracking contaminating the water, it is also producing mass amounts of air-borne chemicals that is hazardous not only to mankind but also to the environment. With the exposure of these air-borne chemicals people have had an increase of dying with cancer. This is devastating because we our killing our own people by thinking we are doing right. Honestly fracking only causes more altercations for our future generations. This places stress on my heart because there is no telling how much longer the planet will be able to survive.
I believe that if they are going to frack they should at least send everyone a list of all the harmful chemicals that will be drilled into the ground. This at least raises awareness to the communities of what will be subject to happen in their environments. If the communities knew more about what was going on they could start petitions and try to fight the contamination of what goes into their bodies. This new technique is a major concern to everyone even North Carolina.
With research I learned that the North Carolinian general assembly recently passed legislator to approve fracking to happen in the Triassic Basin. This means all the fresh water that surrounds us could be in jeopardy of becoming contaminated. This is tragic because we have a lot of fresh water resources in that area. I love my state and myself, so I am not ready to have it more polluted than it already is. Also, I want to live a long life and die of old age not cancer. If you do not agree with me or my opinions do some of your own research and see if fracking is for the better or the worse. With this let us as North Carolinians gather knowledge about fracking and try to put an end to it . http://www.southernenvironment.org/cases/fracking_in_north_carolina 

1 comment:

  1. Chelsi,

    I really enjoyed your post about fracking and our environment. It is kind of scary to think that something I have never heard of could affect me in such a huge way. I feel like there must be several other solutions to purifying drinking water from our environment that would be a lot less destructive. It must be somewhat illegal to put individuals in a community at risk without their prior knowledge. I definitely agree that something should be done to put a stop to fracking in our environment. If people had knowledge of what it is, there would be much more concern. In my response, I wrote about deforestation and how it is affecting places in the United States. In Oregon, plant and animal diversity have decreased dramatically due to the loss of the Douglas fir. There aren’t many of these trees left, and the ones that remain are at high risk of dying off. These environmental issues are so important and we have to act fast. Thanks again for a great and very informational post!


    Andrew Benson

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