Fracking uses a toxic chemical cocktail known as fracking fluid.
- Companies using fracking fluid have resisted disclosing the contents of fracking fluid, claiming the information is proprietary. However, samples from well sites indicate that the fluid contains: formaldehyde, acetic acids, citric acids, and boric acids, among hundreds of other contaminants.
- It has recently come to light that, despite the illegality of the action, companies have been caught using diesel fuel in the fracking fluid.
Fracking removes millions of gallons of precious freshwater from the water cycle.
- Each well uses between two and five million gallons of locally-sourced freshwater which will be permanently contaminated by ground contaminants and toxic chemicals contained in the fracking fluid.
- The “Fracking by the Numbers” report measured key indicators of fracking threats across the country
- • 280 billion gallons of toxic wastewater generated in 2012,
• 450,000 tons of air pollution produced in one year,
• 250 billion gallons of fresh water used since 2005,
• 360,000 acres of land degraded since 2005,
• 100 million metric tons of global warming pollution since 2005.
Fracking also inflicts other damage not quantified in the report — ranging from contamination of residential wells to ruined roads to earthquakes at disposal sites.
- About half of this water returns to the surface, where it is stored in steel containers until it can be injected deep underground in oil and gas waste wells.
- No one is entirely sure what happens to the other half of the water used in the process. Our best guess is that the water remains underground, though there are indications that at least some of this toxic cocktail makes its way back into the water supply.
Fracking causes a range of environmental problems.
- At least eight other states have reported surface, ground, and drinking water contamination due to fracking.
- In Pennsylvania, over 1,400 environmental violations have been attributed to deep gas wells utilizing fracking practices.
- Pollution from truck traffic, chemical contamination around storage tanks, and habitat fragmentation and damage from drilling to environmentally sensitive areas have are all related to fracking.