Fracking Facts
Fracking Facts
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Interesting Fracking Facts: |
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In order to complete a fracking job, an average of 400 tanker trucks must carry the needed supplies and water to the site. |
Each fracking job requires approximately 1 to 8 million gallons of water. |
Each fracking job requires approximately 40,000 gallons of chemicals, which are sent at high pressure into the drill hole and subsequently the environment. |
There as many as 600 different chemicals used in the fracking fluid and many of these are known to be toxic and carcinogenic (cancer-causing). Some of these include lead, uranium, mercury, ethylene glycol, radium, methanol, hydrochloric acid, and formaldehyde. |
In the United States alone there are half a million active gas wells. Each can be fracked up to 18 times. Each time a well is fracked it requires as much as 8 million gallons of water. This equals 72,000,000,000,000 (72 trillion) gallons of water that will be required for well fracking, just for the current wells in the U.S. |
The drinking water wells located anywhere near fracking sites have methane gas concentrations 17 times higher than drinking water wells with no nearby fracking sites. |
People living near fracking sites have become sick after drinking contaminated water. They have suffered from neurological damage, respiratory damage, and sensory issues after ingesting the water contaminated by fracking. |
Once fracking is completed, only 30 to 50% of the fracking fluid, loaded with chemicals, is ever recovered. The rest remains in the ground, contaminating the earth. |
The used, chemical-filled water used for fracking is often left in open air pits to evaporate. The chemicals evaporate to a certain extent into the air as well, adding to air pollution, and contributing to global warming via greenhouse gases. |
Because fracking can upset the rock in the earth, some states in the U.S. that did not experience seismic activity in the past, such as Oklahoma and Ohio, are now experiencing earthquakes. |
North Texas has nine confirmed earthquakes in early 2015 and the suspected cause is fracking. |
Some cities and countries are banning fracking because of the potential damage it can do to water, and the environment. |
The water that is full of chemicals and used in fracking often returns to the surface, which is why drinking wells and surface water are contaminated. Some of the elements contained in this water are radioactive. |
Spills from trucks and storage of fracking water also contaminate the environment, and most of the chemicals being used are not disclosed by gas companies. |
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