Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” is a common process used in the extraction of natural gas. This process is necessary to make the wells profitable by increasing yields. However, there is much controversy surrounding the process, which industry experts claim is safe. Oil and gas companies, along with companies that only provide fracking services such as Halliburton and Slumberger, claim the process is safe and there have never been any reported incidents of groundwater contamination during the approximately sixty years the process has been in use. The fracking fluid is made up mostly of water and sand, but also contains a small amount of chemicals, and that is the primary issue with the process.
There have been several incidents of groundwater contamination in Colorado, along with a few other states, but the contamination has never been officially linked to fracking. One argument on why these cases have never been linked to fracking is because companies are not required to disclose what chemicals they use in the process. Each company has its’ own proprietary recipe, and will not disclose secrets. However, there is no law requiring disclosure, so the companies are not breaking any laws. In fact, fracking was excluded from regulation under a 2005 Clean Water Act amendment put in place by the Bush Administration.
