We think that the negative effects of fracking outweigh the benfits. After watching videos of people in small communities being able to set their water on fire and reading about the story of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, we have realized how horribly it affects people's lives. Natural gas companies go into small, poor communities and take advantage of them by promising them jobs, money, and prosperity, much like Matt Damon's character does in Gus Van Sant's Promised Land. This may work in the short term, but in the long term their water supply is forever ruined. Poor communities take this bait and suffer the consequences. It is also difficult to fathom how this process can be exempt from regulation, such as the Clean Water Act. The companies are pumping harmful chemicals into the earth that end up in our water supply without any regulation. They are simply allowed to do as they please with little regard for human health.
If the natural gas industry went away, we believe that we would suffer some economic consequences, but our health would be better. If this went away, it would eliminate the risk of water contamination and human beings causing earthquakes near our own homes. We need to start moving to other energy sources that don’t give us cancer or birth defects. We strongly believe that there is a better alternative to fracking. There has to be. Hopefully people will start to see this and there won’t be more sad situations like Luzerne County and other towns in America and the world.
