Culture and Coexistence into the Great Unknown
For years the drilling industry has insisted there has never been a proven case in which hydraulic fracturing, or natural gas fracking, has led to contamination of drinking water. Now Environmental Working Group has unearthed a 24-year-old case study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that unequivocally says such contamination has occurred.
The environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” as a method for natural gas drilling investigated recently by ProPublica and displayed in the documentary film Gasland, have led to a nationwide backlash against this dangerous fossil fuel touted as a “clean burning alternative to oil.”
The EPA wants to study impacts on drinking water of each stage involved in hydraulic fracturing, where drillers mix water with chemicals and sand and inject the fluid into wells to release oil or natural gas.