Taking Back Our Stolen History
Fracking
Fracking

Fracking

short for “hydraulic fracturing,” it is a destructive process that corporations including Halliburton, BP and ExxonMobil use to extract oil and natural gas from rock formations deep underground. They drill a well and inject millions of gallons of toxic fracking fluid – a mix of water, sand and harsh fracking chemicals – at extreme enough pressure to fracture the rock and release the oil or gas. Fracking pollutes our air and drinking water, hurts communities, worsens climate change, and is linked to earthquakes. Congress has created exemptions for these companies who are exempt from the landmark environmental laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Fracking Facts: The Dangers of Fracking

The entire fracking process — from drilling a well to dealing with the resulting toxic waste — endangers our water and the health of our communities. There is clear evidence of the growing damage caused by fracking:

  • Fracking makes people sick. Some people who live near fracking sites have become seriously ill from polluted air and contaminated water. Others can light their tap water on fire due to the amount of methane in the water.
  • Chemicals used in fracking are toxic. Thanks to government loopholes, the oil and gas industry isn’t required to disclose the chemicals they use — but research has found that many are known endocrine disruptors and carcinogens.
  • Fracking hurts our communities. Communities with fracking have seen declines in property values, increases in crime, and losses in local tourism and agriculture. Pipelines, oil trains and other infrastructure to support fracking add to these harms.
  • Fracking can cause earthquakes. US and Canadian scientists have attributed major earthquakes to fracking.

Why Should We Ban Fracking?

In the United States, drilling and fracking are exempt from the landmark environmental laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, thanks to loopholes Congress and regulators have carved out for oil and gas corporations – and spills and accidents are far too common. Food & Water Watch maintains that the fracking process, from constructing well sites to managing toxic fracking waste, is too risky to be regulated. Regulations can never make fracking safe. Fracking also prolongs our dangerous dependence on fossil fuels, delaying policies that will bring us truly clean, renewable energy. Claims that natural gas is a “bridge fuel” ignore the fact that it is a dangerous fossil fuel with serious climate impacts in its extraction, and relying on it does nothing to move us to renewable energy.

Corporate influence over our democracy is one of the biggest threats to our food and water, and has paved the way for more fracking.

Corporate influence over our democracy is one of the biggest threats to our food and water, and has paved the way for more fracking. Learn more about how a handful of oil and gas companies control the public debate over energy and fracking, and discover the policies and influence peddling that have led to the growth of the fracking industry and how a growing movement is working to ban fracking in Frackopoly: The Battle for the Future of Energy and the Environment by our executive director, Wenonah Hauter.

The movement to stop fracking is strong and growing. Communities around the world are uniting around the call to ban fracking, and they’ve proven in New York, Maryland and in communities across the country that people power can win against corporations. Food & Water Watch has supported this growing movement in many ways: including with ground-breaking research and powerful grass-roots organizing in the United States and beyond, and by sponsoring the Global Frackdown.

Donate to support Food & Water Watch’s campaign to ban fracking everywhere.

Source: https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/problems/fracking

Chronological History of Events Related to Fracking

Final Presidential Debate before 2020 Presidential Election: Donald Trump vs. China Joe

Final Presidential Debate before 2020 Presidential Election: Donald Trump vs. China Joe

President Trump trounced Joe Biden during their final debate Thursday night in Nashville, Tennessee. It wasn’t even close. Biden was looking at his watch because he couldn’t wait to get the hell out of the ring (I’m also told the debate took place in the middle of a Matlock marathon.) I was looking at my watch because I didn’t want it to end. A quick word on ...
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Shocking Study Shows Fracking Is Depleting US Drinking Water Sources at a Catastrophic Rate

Shocking Study Shows Fracking Is Depleting US Drinking Water Sources at a Catastrophic Rate

According to a study conducted at Duke University revealed that hydraulic fracking is having a catastrophic impact on water supplies throughout the US. The findings of the study suggest that fracking is using far much more water than before, and putting a huge dent in the amount of drinkable water available in water supplies. Hydraulic fracturing is a natural gas extraction method that has become extremely ...
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Water Use for Fracking has Risen by up to 770 Percent Since 2011

Water Use for Fracking has Risen by up to 770 Percent Since 2011

The amount of water used per well for hydraulic fracturing surged by up to 770 percent between 2011 and 2016 in all major U.S. shale gas and oil production regions, a new Duke University study finds. The volume of brine-laden wastewater that fracked oil and gas wells generated during their first year of production also increased by up to 1440 percent during the same period, the ...
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New Study Examines Impacts of Fracking on Water Supplies Worldwide

New Study Examines Impacts of Fracking on Water Supplies Worldwide

Using hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and natural gas from shale is a common technique used worldwide. Because the technique requires large amounts of water, however, it raises the question of whether it could lead to water shortages or competition with other water uses, especially agriculture. In a new paper in the American Geophysical Union journal Earth's Future, Lorenzo Rosa and his colleagues evaluated the impacts ...
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Officials Caught Forcing State Scientist to Alter Findings to Cover Up Earthquake Fracking Link

Officials Caught Forcing State Scientist to Alter Findings to Cover Up Earthquake Fracking Link

Oklahoma’s former lead seismologist has testified he was pressured by officials at the University of Oklahoma to suppress findings linking earthquakes with fracking wastewater disposal. In a deposition taken on Oct. 11, Austin Holland alleges he was reprimanded for publishing a peer-reviewed journal article connecting the two and was pressured to alter his findings by Larry Grillot, former dean of OU’s Mewbourne College of Earth and ...
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Fracking Plays Active Role in Generating Toxic Metal Wastewater, Study Finds

Fracking Plays Active Role in Generating Toxic Metal Wastewater, Study Finds

The production of hazardous wastewater in hydraulic fracturing is assumed to be partly due to chemicals introduced into injected freshwater when it mixes with highly saline brine naturally present in the rock. But a Dartmouth study investigating the toxic metal barium in fracking wastewater finds that chemical reactions between injected freshwater and the fractured shale itself could play a major role. The findings, which are published ...
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Toxins found in Fracking Fluids and Wastewater, Study shows

Toxins found in Fracking Fluids and Wastewater, Study shows

In an analysis of more than 1,000 chemicals in fluids used in and created by hydraulic fracturing (fracking), Yale School of Public Health researchers found that many of the substances have been linked to reproductive and developmental health problems, and the majority had undetermined toxicity due to insufficient information. Further exposure and epidemiological studies are urgently needed to evaluate potential threats to human health from chemicals ...
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Fort St. John Earthquake in Canada Caused by Fracking Company Progress Energy

Fort St. John Earthquake in Canada Caused by Fracking Company Progress Energy

It has been confirmed by the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission that a magnitude 4.6 earthquake that struck north-east BC in August 2014 was caused by fracking. The quake paused operations for Progress Energy when it started about 114 km outside Fort St. John on August 17. The commission says it started because of a fluid injection from hydraulic fracturing. The 4.6 magnitude broke the ...
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