From earthquakes to poisoning drinking water this image spells out all the concerns
An info graphic posted on CleanTechnica outlines the concerns that people around the world are raising about hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking – as it is commonly called, is an industrial process where poisonous chemicals are mixed with water and injected into the ground at high pressures to get to natural gas supplies. As the practice has become more common in Colorado, Wyoming and Pennsylvania it has been met with an outcry of concerns. This latest info graphic outlines the totality of the concerns. Below the Checks and Balances Project breaks down the info graphic and the five major threats fracking presents to both people and the planet.
The economic threat
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While gas companies frequently tell the public that increasing our gas supplies by “fracking” the ground beneath us will lead to an economic boom, those living in heavily fracked areas often tell a far different story. Dee Hoffmeister of Garfield County, Colorado is one example of the disconnect between the rhetoric of the gas industry and the reality of what is happening on the ground. Hoffmeister saw a major explosion at a fracking well near her home. Since drilling began Hoffmeister says she has suffered from all sorts of ailments. The retiree who moved to Garfield County from the Chicago area had to fight back tears when she spoke with the Checks and Balances Project: The drilling ruined her “dream retirement house,” she says in the video interview.
The threat to families
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Beyond the threat that fracking has imposed on the personal finances of homeowners from coast to coast, CleanTechnica shows another difficult position fracking has put many families in. After frack-pads are constructed, waste pits are dug or constructed and truck traffic greatly increases in rural communities, families are left with a difficult choice: Try to fight to reclaim their neighborhoods or take cash for the diminished values of their homes. But many homeowners have faced an uphill battle after trying to fight against the fracking industrial complex. Lisa Bracken, another Garfield County resident whose family has suffered from diminishing health affects following the proliferation of frack-wells in her neighborhood, explained the special treatment the gas industry gets, which in turn make s them very hard to fight against. “This industry has had a hundred years of bullying everybody and doing anything that they want to do and getting away with it. They have got exemptions out the wazoo. It defies common sense, from the community’s right to know to the Clean Water Act,” said Bracken in the winter of 2011. Rifle Colorado resident, Leslie Robinson described the entire situation for locals as “economic blackmail.”
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