Fracking

When we were in class one day, we were having a discussion about fracking.  Now, I was a little bit confused and lost during this conversation, because I was not aware of what fracking was.  So obviously I looked up the definition of what the procedure was and everything.  I then did some research on the matter, and found that only a few days ago, there was an article about fracking in Pennsylvania.  The article was entitled, "A Debate Over Who Regulates Gas 'Fracking' in Pennsylvania".  The article was about a new Pennsylvania law that could drastically change the ability for people to zone and regulate fracking.  The act that the lawmaker's are trying to change is the old Oil and Gas Act that is extremely out f date and does not keep up with today's standards.  "Right now, local regulations on where drilling rigs can go, how loudly they operate and how far they need to be from buildings differ from community to community. Pennsylvania lawmakers who support the natural gas drilling industry are trying to standardize the rules across the state" (Scott Detrow, author of the article).  I personally agree and think that there should just be one standard law that the whole state has to abide by.  I think that it gets too confusing that the regulations change for the different areas and regions that someone is in.   I think this is one of the greatest factors as to why fracking happens, because the people that are doing the procedure may not know what is or is not allowed in the region that they are drilling, so they do not know what thy are doing is an issue.  Clearly, fracking is a serious issue, and something needs to be done about it so that it stops.  


I also read another article about an incident that happened in Pennsylvania, just the other day.  On November 30, 2011, in Dimock, Pennsylvania, there was a fracking incident that left all of the surrounding water of this place infected and not able to drink.  This water that they are left with is not only extremely toxic, but it is also flammable, and allows for the risk of illness and skin lesions for the people that have contact with it.  Many of the people that live in this area actually have gotten ill and have had skin lesions due ingesting, touching, or having any contact at all with this contaminated water.  What the biggest issue is of this article is sadly not just the fracking, but that the Cabot Oil and Gas Co. have decided to stop any other water delivery to the people of this town.  This is completely absurd.  First of all, that oil and gas company never should have been allowed to have contaminated their water by fracking.  Second of all, it is complete crap that they are not letting these people have any regular water that will not cause them to get sick.  This article pretty much just sums up why fracking should not be allowed.  It is not only hurting our Earth and our water supply, but it is hurting the people that are living in these areas that had nothing to do with their water getting contaminated.