America must be cognizant of the environmental impacts fracking can have because the negative impacts may be far greater than that of the economic benefits. Being a new technology rules and regulations have yet to be fully developed to ensure this is done properly or should even be done at all. One example is the “fracking cocktail” which includes acids, detergents and poisons that are not currently regulated by federal laws but can be problematic if they seep into drinking water for effects on the environment, human health, and also animal health. There are many elements that are very dangerous and by the view of many this should not be done. In an article from the New York Times showing opposition for fracking explains that the global green communities in Europe have banned fracking. Countries specifically like France, Poland and England. Greenhouse gases are one of the major concerns outside water contamination. The carbon gas trapped after millions of years in the shale can be expelled into our atmosphere and water increasing potential of global warming (U.S. House).

For example concerning the fracking cocktail it can be clearly seen in point six from the American Petroleum Institiute promoting fracking or is it?  Notice they state that the cocktail consists mostly of water (90%), sand (9.5%), and additives (.5%) to aid in well production. Additives? Yes here lies the potential problem. Hydrochloric acid, sodium chloride, ethylene glycol are just a few as well as radioactive tracers.  Under the law chemicals must be listed under the Material Safety Data Sheet; however, if the mixture is proprietary then the chemical mixture is not mandated to be disclosed, so in the case of fracking cocktail it is of course proprietary and therefore unknown mixture of chemicals are injected into the ground (U.S. House).

In April of 2011 the United States House of Representative Committee on Energy and Commerce Minority Staff released their report on chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing stating between 2005 and 2009, the 14 oil and gas service companies used more than 2,500

hydraulic fracturing products containing 750 chemicals and other components. Overall, these

companies used 780 million gallons of hydraulic fracturing products – not including water added

at the well site – between 2005 and 2009. (US House of Representatives 2011) As stated, this does not include the vast amounts of water which is 90 percent of the fracking cocktail. Most of the chemical are harmless like citric acid and salt and what’s even stranger is that the report shows the companies used walnut hulls and instant coffee. Conversely, the report also found chemical that are extremely toxic such as benzene and lead.  Furthermore, the reports show that methanol was used in as much as 342 hydraulic fracturing products. This may not be a pollutant to water currently but is on the candidate list for potential regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act (U.S. House).

The report also states between 2005 and 2009, the oil and gas service companies used hydraulic fracturing products containing 29 chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens. Over all due to the loop hole in the regulations allowing these companies to conceal their mixtures under proprietary or trade secrets many of the oil and gas companies were unable to provide the Committee with a complete chemical makeup or the fracking cocktail they used. For example, in this same time period the companies used 94 million gallons of 279 products that contained at least one chemical or component that the manufacturers deemed proprietary.  The Committee staff requested that these companies disclose the proprietary information and although some companies did provide the information most stated they did not have access to the information about the products they purchased “off the shelf” from the chemical suppliers. In these cases, the companies are injecting fluids containing chemicals they themselves cannot identify (U.S. House).

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