What the Frack?!?!

       So it seems that there is a bit of controversy brewing in the wonderful little state of Pennsylvania these days.  Pennsylvania is home to one of the largest pockets of natural gas in the United States.  this pocket of prehistoric energy apparently has in itself enough energy to power the entire city of New York for an entire year!!! At a glance this seems like a great resource to tap in order to ease our reliance on fossil fuels from other areas of the world.  Unfortunately this great natural resource is causing more trouble than it's worth.

     Energy companies have been trying to get to this natural gas pocket for years but the problem is that it is entirely encased in rock.  this rock has to be broken in a way that the gas can be reached without causing any significant damage to the pocket itself.  Their solution has been in the form of "fracking."  Fracking is the use of forced chemical-laden water to blast a small hole into this pocket that is miles deep in the ground.  These companies are pumping millions of gallons into the ground and then pumping them back out in order to retrieve gas that is barely getting to the surface.

     The problem with this is... well honestly everything!!!

     These companies are pumping more water into the ground than the amount of water that exists in the ground naturally in the entire Northeast.  This water is full of chemicals that help to move the gas out of the pocket, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that when you pump water miles down you aren't going to get all of it out.  These chemicals are leached into out underground aquifers and showing up in residential wells.  Some homes can light their drinking water on fire straight from the tap because of these residual chemicals!!!!!  The worst part is that these companies are manipulating the government to make this practice of fracking legal for which it was not only a year or two ago.  There is also strong evidence of these companies going to these mostly rural and mostly uneducated parts of our state to trick the owners of this land into giving up their rights to stop this drilling.

     We need to look into these practices and decide whether or not this is something that is worth doing when it can ruin our drinking water in Pennsylvania forever.