What the Frack?

Fracking and Groundwater, courtesy of EcoWatch

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking for short, is a process of injecting a high-pressure mixture of water, chemicals, and substrates into a drilled pipeline in order to release oil and natural gas from solid shale. While some fracking advocates argue that this practice is in the public and environment’s best interest by providing vital energy without drilling new oil wells, many anti-fracking activists, most notably in California, are not convinced in the slightest. 

In my opinion, no person with any sense of social or environmental responsibility could promote this practice, especially now as we endure the third year of drought in Southern California. Environmentalists are now hailing water as the next nonrenewable resource. Water conservation programs instituted by private and public agencies alike are becoming common, as is the practice of saving water in private residences. We are all aware of how much we rely on water, and we are all experiencing this global change phenomenon right in our own backyards as living organisms shrivel and die in the unrelenting sun; and the rain just won’t come.

If my dramatics haven’t painted it clearly enough, we are in a dire situation where water could hardly be more valuable for our environment, wildlife, and ourselves. And yet, energy companies want to mix this precious resource with carcinogens and sand, and pump it into the earth? Mind = blown.

Let’s pretend for a moment that we are not in the driest year of the last 119 years. Even when there is water to spare for fracking (if there is ever such a time in water-scarce So-Cal), this water must be mixed with “up to 600 chemicals, including known carcinogens and toxins” including formaldehyde, mercury, lead, uranium, radium, and hydrochloric acid". This toxic slurry, called fracking fluid, then is pressurized and sent down into the well to fracture shale deposits, which then releases the prized oil and gas we so crave. 

Yet there is no action without a reaction, and oftentimes contamination occurs. Natural gas and those toxic additives may escape and pollute groundwater supplies. Even worse, between 50-70% of fracking fluids are unrecoverable, and are left in the well to continue to pollute water supplies in the long term. In California alone, 16 million people depend on our groundwater supplies. In case you had any doubts about how dangerous fracking can be to public health, “There have been over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination next to areas of gas drilling as well as cases of sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water" (DangersofFracking.com).

With so many people, nearly half the population of California, relying on groundwater for survival, can we choose fracking in good conscious? Now let’s recall that we are in the most serious drought in recorded weather history in Southern California. How can fracking be justified when we know that water is a precious and nearly non-renewable resource? How can we pollute the small supply we have left? 

The only outcomes of continued fracking seem bleak; once the clean water disappears and the only reserves left are too polluted to drink, our only options will be to pump water in from elsewhere or desalinization. These choices leave extreme expense and environmental destruction in their wake. The final outcome, once we have stripped this land of all its precious liquids and gases, is of course desertion. We will leave our major southern California cities in mass for more northern places where water still flows, creating a new Detroit of desert. 

To you, I send out a plea: vote no on fracking measures to your local state representative, in California and beyond. We need to let our voices be heard, to say no to polluting our ground waters and yes to other, alternative, renewable energies. We need to beat down the big-oil titans and let our Governor Jerry Brown know that this practice is unacceptable, on or off the coast. Follow this link if you wish to contact your local representative.