Use Of Hydraulic Fracturing For A Drinking Water Well Was...

Snap Crackle Frack DIMOCK, PA -- Norma Fiorentino’s drinking water well was a time bomb. For weeks, as workers drilled natural gas deposits nearby, stray methane worked into tiny crevasses in the rock, leaking upward into the aquifer and slipping quietly into her well. Then, according to the state’s working theory, a pump turned on in her well house, flicked a spark, and caused a New Year’s morning blast that tossed aside a several-thousand-pound concrete slab. Afterward state officials found methane, the largest ingredient of natural gas, in her drinking water. Drilling for natural gas has caused explosions, polluted aquifers and even burning water. (Lustgarten n. pg.) Ninety percent of natural gas wells in the United States use hydraulic†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Accidents, spills, and leaks have polluted rivers, streams and drinking-water supplies to unsafe levels. Hydraulic fracturing is exempt from key federal water protections, and federal and state regulators allo wed unchecked expansion of fracturing, creating widespread environmental degradation. Due to inadequate numbers of state and federal inspectors wells go without inspection or oversight. (Thompson, Hydraulic Fracturing Should Be Banned. n. pg.) Substandard well encasements failed and the toxic chemicals and gas seep into the water table. A study by Duke University showed the following results â€Å"They found that, on average, methane concentrations were six times higher and ethane concentrations were 23 times higher in samples from homes within a kilometer of drilling. â€Å"The methane, ethane and propane data, and new evidence from hydrocarbon and helium content, suggest that drilling affected homeowners’ water,† said Robert B. Jackson, a professor of environmental sciences at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. (Thomas H. Darrah n. pg.) Filling, emptying, and loading trucks with waste-water stored in open pits adjoining the well, to point out, creat es potential for leaks and spills when disconnecting and connecting discharge lines. With little or no oversight, not reporting incidents, resulting, in behavior that does not try to prevent future incidents and dismisses reporting themShow MoreRelatedHydraulic Fracturing2549 Words   |  11 Pagesï » ¿Sarah D Karen K English Composition 407 Novemeber 7, 2013 Cause and Effects of Hydraulic Fracturing Hydraulic Fracturing is the process where millions of gallons of water that contain thousands of chemicals is pushed thousands of feet below the surface of the earth releasing gas, oil and sand from shale rocks (Hydraulic Fracturing Definition.) This chemical-filled water passes through water ways that are vital to life causing millions of animals, plants and humans to be harmed. Fracking isRead MoreTaking a Look at Fracking1282 Words   |  5 Pagesif not ominous threat to every person’s health within miles of the well sites. So what is fracking? Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has played an important role in the development of Americas oil and natural gas resources for nearly 60 years. In the U.S., an estimated 35,000 wells are processed with the hydraulic fracturing method; it’s estimated that over one million wells have been hydraulically fractured since the first well in the late 1940s. (www.energyfromshale.org ) There is a lot of