Hydraulic Fracturing is harmful because it is a dangerous way of collecting Natural Gas. It could cause a natural disaster, it is also very damaging to the Earth as well as damaging to the people who live close to the well sites. Hydraulic Fracturing business should be slowed down and more research should be done to make sure it is a safe way of collecting Natural Gas.

First, Hydraulic Fracturing is harmful because it could pose a threat of natural disaster. On Greenpeace.com, an author states “The EPA has acknowledged the connection between fracking and increased earthquakes since 1990. Scientists have made firm links between earthquakes in Colorado, Oklahoma, Ohio and Arkansas in the past few years. Oklahoma, for example, averaged 21 earthquakes per year above a 3.0 magnitude between 1967 and 2000. Since 2010 and the beginning of the fracking boom, the state has averaged more than 300 earthquakes above 3.0 magnitude every year. Most of these earthquakes are caused by underground injection wells, which are used to dispose of contaminated water created by the fracking process.” By analyzing this paragraph stated by a Greenpeace author, we realize that Earthquakes are a problem. But what some people don’t realize is, Earthquakes are the movement of Platonic Plates, under the Earth’s crust. Earthquakes can lead to Volcanic eruptions, Tsunamis, and Sinkholes. All will affect surrounding areas. Possibly harming people, animals, and more!

Second Hydraulic Fracturing affects the Earth. As many people know there are lots of drought in many different areas on Earth, Hydraulic Fracturing is not going to help. In fact Fracking will make droughts much worse, and create many more drought areas. Fracking uses tons of water! When I say tons, I mean it! Hydraulic Fracturing uses 31491 to 251931 tons of water, for only one expedition! That’s practically 1-8 million gallons of water. Our Earth will not be able to supply enough water for so much Fracking. Some spots in California have restricted shower time! So how will the Earth cope with instead of maybe ten gallons of water down the drain, 1-8 million gallons of water sitting inside of the Earth, unusable? On dangersoffracking.com an author states that, “Only 30-50% of the fracturing fluid is recovered, the rest of the toxic fluid is left in the ground and is not biodegradable.” Biodegradable means an object is able to decompose. To not be able to decompose means, we are leaving dangerous chemicals in the Earth. So we are leaving Fracking fluid, a mixture of more than 600 different kinds of dangerous chemicals in the Earth. So the Earth is soaking up chemicals while we are gathering Natural Gas.
Another reason out of many other reasons for why fracking is not a safe way to gather Natural Gas is, is that it hurts people. Fracking fluid is made up of 600 different kinds of chemicals and for every Fracking expedition Natural Oil gatherers or Frackers use 40 thousand gallons of chemicals!  An author on dangers of fracking.com states,“Fracking uses 40,000 gallons of dangerous chemicals for only one fracking job.”Fracking is harmful to people. Because only  30 to 50 percent of all fracking fluid is retrieved after fracking. Some chemicals leak into water, and all the people drinking water nearby will take in some of the dangerous chemicals from the fracking fluid. On dangersoffracking.com an author states, “Up to 600 different chemicals are used in fracking fluid. Such as: Lead, Uranium, Mercury, Ethylene Glycol, Radium,Methanol, Hydrochloric Acid, Formaldehyde, only a fraction of what chemicals they use in fracking fluid.” The author also states, “Methane concentrations are 17x higher in drinking-water wells near fracturing sites than in normal wells.” As well as, “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.” On Greenpeace.com an author states,
“Fracking has already been linked to drinking water contamination in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Ohio, Wyoming, New York, and West Virginia.” So if these chemicals are contaminating people’s water, we might as well drink the Natural Gas straight out of the well! Many people test their tap water by holding a lighted match close to the water. If the water flares, the people know that there are chemicals in the water, because many of the chemicals are flammable.

Many people acknowledge that fracking saves a lot of time! Those people also say that fracking gives us independence from buying Middle Eastern oil. Many activists state that natural gas, which is “greener” than the oil that we buy from the Middle East. But is it worth saving time, economic independence, and a cleaner Earth if we’ll just destroy the Earth using fracking? Many people argue that we shouldn’t trade with the Middle East because of past affairs, that by using fracking America shows independence from Middle Eastern oil. But by buying Middle Eastern oil, we could come to many agreements that vary from oil. By buying oil we could build a stronger relationship with the Middle East showing that we can work together. Many European countries favor instead of drilling for oil, buying oil, or fracking for oil, they use green energy. Such as; wind energy, solar energy, and even algae from the sea! Many activists in the United States would agree, and have agreed!

In conclusion Hydraulic Fracturing is an extremely controversial topic. But by knowing that Fracking could possibly cause natural disasters, it would hurt the Earth, and it has hurt people causing neurological, respiratory, and possibly drug addiction, as well as more issues. In all, help by signing my petition, “Stop Fracking in the US!” on change.org, sign another petition, or write a letter. But join the protest for reducing Hydraulic Fracturing.