For Frack Sakes

Are you familiar with the term fracking? What are the Fracking Facts? How about hydraulic fracturing? First used in the 1940s, fracking is used to get gas out of wells. Basically, a driller blasts about 2m-4m gallons of water, sand, and chemicals down the good shaft at a high pressure, creating thousands of tiny cracks in the rock to free the gas.

Knowing Fracking Facts is beneficial for everyone. Well, believe it or not, now more than 15 million Americans now live within a mile of an oil or gas well. 6 million of those are in Texas. Now before I go bashing the fracking process, there are a few benefits. Electricity and heating costs have dropped and the activity from the oil and gas industry has helped the nations overall economy. It has even helped pay for many new schools. The US has produced more oil at home than it imported for the first time since 1995.

But what about all those homes and people living in fracking areas? Homeowners have not only found chemicals seeping into their drinking water, but the gas emissions being let out into the environment are also held accountable for the serious risks of climate change. In North Texas, the number of new oil and gas wells have gone up by 800% since 2000. Energy companies don’t give a crap about where they make money. They have set up shop on church property, school grounds, and in gated developments.

One homeowner stated that the activities on the other side of her fence had deposited a layer of white powder on her counter tops, the crew would be shouting into their megaphones 24/7, invading her bedroom. Bright lights would be shining at all hours of the day, and the rumble of trucks and equipment rattled the glass throughout her place. There was a terrible smell of chemicals that they were unable to get rid of as well. The cherry on top of this story… She was pregnant the whole time they were there.

So why is this ok? Why are energy companies so easily allowed to destroy our land like this? Energy companies are not prepared or sufficiently insured, to deal with a major contamination event such a leak. Not to mention the amount of water that is used when fracking a well. Wait, aren’t we in a drought? You would think there is enough evidence by now that fracking should be illegal. The sad truth is that this will continue to grow more and more popular until we realize the harmful damages 20 years from now. Hope everything is clear about Fracking Facts now.