Fracking, not worth it, ban it!

Fracking could sound a little weird to some people(including myself),  but it describes a drilling practice that has created a serious boom in natural gas production in Texas and elsewhere, and with the boom has come serious worries about what fracking can do to the environment. For those of you who don’t know, this process used to be called hydraulic fracturing. It's a drilling process that forces a high-pressure mixture of water, chemicals and sand deep underground to break apart shale formations. Oil and natural gas then flow along these cracks to the surface. Energy companies use fracking to tap reserves previously out of reach. Even though it is cheap and may reduce oil prices, it should be banned here in Texas because of the health hazards it brings to the state and anyone living near could be seriously affected by it. 

Although many energy companies believe fracking to be safe, its effect on groundwater supplies is not fully understood. Fracking uses insane amounts of water, millions of gallons for example, and some of the chemicals that are pumped underground are poisonous. The waste water that flushes back to the surface not only has dangerous chemicals, but also sometimes contains radioactive elements that naturally occur in the ground. The contaminated water usually is disposed of in deep injection wells. There are concerns about spills and leakage from this process and the storage wells into drinking water.

Believe it or not, some researchers believe that fracking can even cause earthquakes. Injecting water under a high amount of pressure deep into the earth creates shakes in the ground as the fluid breaks fissures in the rocks. These shakes in the ground more often than not are not consequential, but earthquakes of some strength have occurred recently in gas-producing areas, and scientists are studying the relationship between fracking and strong earthquakes. This is why it should be banned, even though some may argue that this could never happen.

Some states have already passed a law where they must post on the website what chemicals are being used in the fracking process .Some states are looking at imposing tougher rules; while others are debating whether to ban fracking or not.

Fracking will continue to be used natural gas plays an important role to the nation's energy mix, and fracking is necessary to tap increasingly much needed and very rare to find gas reserves but a debate about its potential harm and the risks associated with it is necessary. Additional rules governing its use may be warranted, but let’s try and ban it for all its worth to avoid all the health hazards and safety of Texas citizens.

After all, we don’t want to be left with poisonous contaminated water, or explosions from the injections of wells and what not.