Fracking FAQ

1. What is fracking?

Fracking is an extreme method of oil and gas extraction that involves blasting huge amounts of water — mixed with sand and toxic chemicals — under high pressure deep into the earth. Fracking breaks up rock formations to allow oil and gas to flow up to the surface. It also pollutes air, water, and the climate and endangers wildlife and human health.

2. Which places in the United States are at risk?

Fracking has been documented in more than 30 U.S. states and is particularly widespread in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Texas. It has juiced New Mexico’s recent oil and gas boom.

3. But hasn't fracking been around for many years?

Yes, but today’s fracking techniques are new and pose new dangers. Technological changes have facilitated an explosion of fossil fuel production in areas where, even a decade ago, companies couldn't recover oil and gas profitably.

Directional drilling, for example, is a modern technique that has greatly expanded access to rock formations. Companies also use large fluid volumes to fill horizontal “well bores” that sometimes extend for miles. Many chemicals used in fracking are unknown because drillers hide behind dubious claims of “trade secret” protections. Then there are chemicals we can name but have no information about when it comes to their potential adverse effects on human health.

As fracking has expanded, so too have its threats to people and the environment.

4. How does fracking contaminate water and harm water supplies?

Fracking uses chemicals like methanol, benzene, naphthalene, and trimethylbenzene that are toxic to humans and wildlife. About 25% of fracking chemicals could cause cancer, according to scientists with the Endocrine Disruption Exchange. Evidence is mounting throughout the country that these chemicals are making their way into aquifers and drinking water.

That’s happening in a huge variety of ways, including (but not limited to) leakage from liquid storage areas and injection wells, leakage during fracking along faults or up abandoned wells, seepage into the ground when wastewater and residuals are applied to land, and disturbingly common accidents like surface spills and well-casing failures.

Methane contamination tied to drilling and the fracturing of rock formations is documented in video footage showing people in fracked areas accidentally setting fire to methane-laced water from kitchen faucets. A fracking boom in North Dakota has led to thousands of accidental releases of oil, wastewater, and other fluids, according to a ProPublica investigation.

Fracking can also expose people to harm fromsubsurface arsenic and radioactive material when fracking fluid flows back to the surface. And fracking wastewater is so dangerous that it can't be reused for other purposes. Since fracking requires enormous amounts of water — as much as 5 million gallons per well — that’s a serious problem, especially in dry western states and with climate change worsening.

5. How does fracking pollute the air?

Fracking can release dangerous petroleum hydrocarbons, including benzene, toluene, and xylene, into the air. It can increase ground-level ozone (aka smog), a key risk factor for asthma and other respiratory illnesses. The pollutants in fracking water and flowback fluid can enter the air when wastewater is dumped into pits and left to evaporate. Air pollution caused by fracking may contribute to health problems in people living near natural gas drilling sites, according to a study by researchers with the Colorado School of Public Health.

6. How does fracking worsen climate change?

Fracking often releases large amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas that traps heat at least 87 times more effectively than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Fracked shale gas wells may have methane leakage rates as high as 9%, making fracked gas worse for the climate than coal.

To have a reasonable chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change, we need to leave 80% of proven fossil fuel reserves in the ground. Fracking allows drillers to extract far more oil and gas than would otherwise be accessible — and allows access to huge fossil fuel deposits that were once beyond the reach of drilling.

7. Does fracking cause earthquakes?

There are reports from British Columbia and the United Kingdom that fracking has caused small earthquakes, so there’s some risk from fracking itself. The greater problem, however, is earthquakes induced when fracking wastewater is dumped in injection wells. A Center for Biological Diversity study points to underground injection as a key factor in a 5.7 quake outside of Prague, Oklahoma, in 2011 that did hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to homes. Scientists also concluded that a series of earthquakes in Youngstown, Ohio, was induced by underground wastewater injection.

8. How does fracking threaten wildlife?

Fracking comes with intense industrial development, including multi-well pads and massive truck traffic. That leads to more disturbance of wildlife habitat and more wildlife killed by vehicles.

Fish die when fracking fluid contaminates streams and rivers. Birds are poisoned by chemicals in wastewater ponds. And the intense industrial development that accompanies fracking pushes imperiled animals out of the wild areas they need to survive.

9. Don't state and federal laws protect people and wildlife from fracking?

Fracking is poorly regulated at the federal level. In fact, in 2005 Congress exempted most types of fracking from the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and several other federal environmental protections, severely limiting protections for water quality. As a result, regulating fracking falls largely to the states.

While some states, like California, have stepped up to ban fracking, other states have been more permissive, leading to widespread contamination. For example, in 2014 Pennsylvania state agencies confirmed more than 100 cases of pollution over a five-year period, despite the state's fracking regulations — and the problems continue today. Many states lack even basic chemical disclosure requirements. In Texas companies routinely exploit a trade-secret loophole to avoid disclosing which chemicals they're using in fracking fluid. This makes understanding the true extent of harm impossible for the public to know.

The widespread pollution and significant risk of harm to people's health and the climate are inherent to fracking, regardless of well-intentioned state regulations. The only way to protect water, air, and the climate is to ban fracking now.

10. How can fracking booms damage infrastructure and create social problems?

Let's look at North Dakota as an example: Heavy truck traffic associated with fracking in the state has caused extensive damage to its roads. Drilling and fracking a single well can result in billions of dollars of road-upkeep costs in a decade.

The North Dakota fracking boom also led to an increase in traffic accidents and traffic fatality rates. Hospitals in the state's oil-boom area have suffered a debt crisis fueled by the need to treat workers who don't have health insurance or permanent addresses.