Gasland- A Few Facts

Part of my research, and a major reason for my interest in hydraulic fracturing in the first place, is the documentary Gasland, by Josh Fox.  This film follows Fox journeying to discover more about the process of fracking, as a company approached him with an offer of $100,000 to drill on his property.  Fox soon discovers however, that the areas across the country that have already had hydraulic fracturing in their areas were experiencing extremely adverse effects.  After watching the film again and some condensed clips on YouTube, there are a few brief interesting facts that stand out from the documentary:

• The Haliburton Loophole to the Safe Drinking Water Act states that it “authorizes oil and gas drillers exclusively to inject known hazardous materials adjacent to underground drinking water supplies.”  This was passed as a part of the Bush administration's Energy Policy Act of 2005.  It essentially states that drillers did not have to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act to prevent contaminating groundwater.
• If for a moment one could disregard the potentially direct contamination to groundwater, it is important to consider that between 1 and 7 MILLION gallons of water are required for drilling ONE well.  And, each time it is fracked (which can be up to 18 times), the well is expected to use an additional 1 to 7 million gallons of water.  This estimates 40 trillion gallons of water with the current wells, all infused with toxic chemicals.

The film addresses a large multitude more of facts that make it seemingly impossible to deny issues involved with fracking and its current regulations.