For Frack Sakes: the chemicals

Now we’ve mentioned a few times the copious amount of chemicals that go into fracking. Do you know that Why is Fracking Bad? We wanted to show you exactly which chemicals are being used each time a well is fracked. Below we will go over the chemicals taken from EnCana Corporation where they are currently mixing 11,800 gallons of their chemical solution with over a million gallons of water and a heavy dose of sand.

Fortunately, 30-70% of the solution will reemerge once the well has been fracked but the rest will linger underground, seeping into our soil and waterways.

Now for the juicy part… What chemicals are they really using for this solution of theirs? The way we’ve broken it down is the (chemical name – percentage of the solution – what else the chemical is used for).

1. Diammonium Peroxidisulphate – 29% – Bleach, laboratory cleaning
2. Petroleum – 17% – Kerosene
3. Guar Gum – 15% – the Food additive
4. Tetramethylammonium Chloride – 9% – Chemical catalyst
5. Vinylidene Chloride – 6% – Plastic wrap
6. Methanol – 5% – Formaldehyde
7. 1,2,3 Propanetriol – 4% – Preservative
8. 2,2`, 2” Nitrilotriethanol – 2% – Chemical manufacturing
9. Sorbitol – 2% – Preservative
10. Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate – 2% – Insecticides
11. Sodium Borate – 1% – Insecticides

This will help you getting know Why is Fracking Bad. Believe it or not, this is only half of the list. The rest are all less than 1% of the solution but still nonetheless disgusting. Ranging from soaps and textiles to baby powder, to gasoline, all of these chemicals are dangerous to our health.

Now, these chemicals cannot only seep into the soil around us and into our drinking water, but they can also create harmful VOCs such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene. Unfortunately, fracking was explicitly made exempt from the Safe Water Drinking Act, which was passed by a congress called the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This exemption allows the companies to inject unknown chemicals into the ground without reporting the chemicals or quantities used. I personally don’t understand how Acts like this can exists. Seems to defy my rights as a human being.

Hope that is clear now Why is Fracking Bad. There are many fracking facts which will also help you to know better about it.  We need to support the FRAC Act, which would require the energy industry to disclose all chemicals used in their fluid as well as repeal fracking’s exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act.