Fracking Hurting Pennsylvania

Article: The Fracking of Pennsylvania

The act of injecting harmful fluids into a living being and harvesting what it bleeds out seems odd and cruel, but this is something commonly done in the form of fracking. Fracking is a colloquial term for hydraulic fracturing. It is basically the practice of injecting fracking fluid (which is largely comprised of water and many harmful chemicals, such as benzene) into the earth in concentrated amounts at high pressure, in an effort to cause a fracture that would release natural gas and oils.

This demonstrates how science has been able to create methods and tools through which we can obtain much needed resources, such as gas and oil. Fracking has grown more and more prevalent, but this prevalence is not without repercussion. Pennsylvania is one of the known hotspots for fracking. The article, ‘The Fracking of Pennsylvania’, the story focuses on the area of Amwell Township. This place was home to, the article states, “…10 gas wells, a compressor station…and open five acre water impoundment chemical pond.”

The main concern the article leads to is the detrimental effects of fracking on the environment and the people around it. It follows the specific tribulations of Stacey Haney, a resident of Pennsylvania who lives near the infamous frack pond. She expounds to the New York Times how the chemical cocktail that was the fracking fluid began to negatively affect her and those around her, beginning with the death of animals caused by toxicity from licking even puddles.

This toxic substance soon spread to the air, residents noting strong foul odor. Then, the drinking water, Haney expressing that, “…sometimes her water was black and that it seemed to be eating at her faucets…” The pollution stems from the fracking fluid, which leaked out from pipelines and contaminated the environment. This contamination caused the family and many others to become sick, Haney and her family suffering from nosebleeds, headaches, and more. Medical tests prove that they have been exposed to volatile chemicals such as arsenic and benzene.

Science has allowed us to discover methods with which we can take advantage of our resources and support our ever thriving population. Science leads to the advancement of technology, which leads to new ways to advance and take advantage of our environment. But the act of performing unnatural and crude practices like fracking, while beneficial, will always prove to hold major repercussions in return.