Sandra Steingraber's When Cowboys Cry

These individuals are more than willing to risk oil spills, water pollution, reliance on fossil fuels, and higher unemployment rates. There are several environmental concerns that should be known. “If constructed, the pipeline, known as Keystone XL, will carry one of the world’s dirtiest fuels: tar sands oil. ”(1) It has been shown that the tar sand oil from this region of Canada is some of the dirtiest fuel on the planet; the extraction and refining process is just as dirty.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently adopted the first federal limits on air emissions from oil and gas, creating New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for certain pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds. In New York, fracking has been banned completely after the release of a revealing seven-year study of drilling practices. The future looks bright, and perhaps, as the need for alternative energy sources becomes more prevalent, the US will adopt safer

Prior to watching Gasland 2 and Truthland, I am familiar with the term “fracking” but never took the time to look into it. After watching these two films, I realized how fracking is a controversial topic in the world of environmentalists. These two very different films explain how fracking is effecting the environment around us. Before explaining further into these films, we need to know what fracking really means. Fracking is “a process by which the rock is split so that natural gas can flow to the surface,” defined by Terry Engelder, a professor of geosciences at Penn State University.

Karen Joy Fowler depicts a family heavily impacted by an experiment to raise a chimpanzee as their own in her 2013 novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. Fowler illustrates how even though leading character Rosemary attempts to hide her monkey-like attributes, her animality is ultimately unveiled. Through Rosemary’s need for attention, shown through her physicality and impulsive choices, she evinces her animal-like characteristics. Growing up perpetually being in the arms of her beloved chimpanzee sister produced Rosemary’s desperation for physicality.

"Hydraulic fracturing, the process of extracting oil or gas by forcing fluids into the ground to fracture shale rocks, at the Eagle Ford Shale Play has produced more oil and natural gas but at the cost of environmental hazards and affect human health. The part of the process that creates the environmental hazards is the fracking fluids that are forced into the ground. For each fracking job, these fluids are comprised of 1 to 8 million gallons of water and 40,000 gallons of chemicals. Some of the 600 chemical carcinogens and toxins in the fracking fluids are lead, radium, uranium, mercury, methanol, hydrochloric acid, ethylene glycol, and formaldehyde. Once the fracking job is done, about 50 to 70 percent of fracking liquids are left in open

Hydraulic fracking has the capabilities to change the United States economy and improve the lives of many people. Fracking produces large amounts of natural gas that can be used as fuel, but because fracking is such a new process, researchers and environmentalists do not yet fully understand the negative effects it can have on our environment over time. Fracking has been linked to the contamination of groundwater and this contamination is a danger to people who live near fracking sites. The process of hydraulic fracking requires the use of hundreds of potentially dangerous chemicals which need to be regulated to keep our environment safe and clean. Hydraulic fracking should be allowed in the United States because it provides a useful resource,

Fracking poses potential danger to all of the workers. For example fracking can cause small earthquakes that can be harmful. The earthquakes have not been a safety concern yet but if they get any bigger they can become a big concern. During fracking it takes several days, during those days it requires continuous monitoring to ensure the safety of the workers.

Some people believe that the environment isn 't being harmed by everyday production, but one can argue that as people move closer to fracking industries, people become exposed to harmful gases and chemicals. Fracking a destructive force, is it safe, is it reasonable, is it right? As Chris Hedges explains in his article “Death By Fracking”, he says, “There are more than 15 million Americans, many of them children, who live within a mile of a fracking site. Most are being exposed daily to a deadly brew of toxins. Because the oil and gas industry is not required under law to disclose the chemicals used in

Some people argue that natural gases are environmentally safer because they don 't emit as many harmful chemicals as similar oil products (Loris). However, these people don 't understand or have never been informed of the chemicals that are being forced into the ground water systems right below their very feet. New York is trying to implement new hydraulic fracturing regulations that would allow companies to drill an estimated 48,000 gas wells. Some people argue that New York will use these regulations to benefit both the environment and the economy. In reality, both will suffer if the hydraulic fracturing is used.

In addition, there are more downsides to fracking than just water pollution, and that is the pollution of our environment. The condition of our environment is horrendous when fracking is conducted. To add on to that statement, fracking has caused natural gas leakage into the air, marred landscapes, and many more hazards to our environment. Fracking has already caused pollution to the air, and fracking companies have to remove trees, then that takes away more air from our environment. Trees are vital to Earth’s supply of oxygen, and these companies are just taking the air straight out of the lungs of the people.

The article Gasland Debunked and the documentary “Gasland” discuss the very controversial topic of “fracking.” According to the beliefs of Josh Fox, fracking is extremely dangerous to the environment and the Earth’s groundwater supply. Contrary to this, the article Gasland Debunking claims that Fox is trying to portray untrue words as facts. In the article Gasland Debunked, there are many pros to how the article was written.

Despite, the human’s constant concerns about the impact of fracking on the environment, human health and other issues, it has been one of the most important innovations for the economy in Northeastern Pennsylvania over the last century. “It’s almost impossible to overestimate the importance of fracking to the natural gas industry and the nation”. The importance of fracking on the economy in Northeastern Pennsylvania is similar to everywhere else in the United States. However, ever since the discovery of this technology, Northeastern Pennsylvania in particular has transformed completely.

People complain about pollution from factories, cars, global warming, and the melting of polar ice caps, yet many people disregard the dangerous that come with fracking. Fracking is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, and/or boreholes to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas. Fracking is causing an epidemic economically and environmentally. Fracking is continuously destroying the earth day by day. From the endless fracking today’s economy is depleting.

For the citizens, “fracking will give them jobs so they can make money and support their families” (Rogowsky). Furthermore, with the addition of fracking “the United States can get about 1.8 trillion barrels of shale (“sedimentary rocks that have rich sources of petroleum and natural gas” (Rogowsky)) a year compared to Saudi

This is important because the cost benefit of allowing companies to frack could possible put your life or loved ones in danger; fracking is not worth it. On the other hand companies do recycle the water they use to frack; that point is true but only 20% is recycled while the 80% stays in the hole. The rest could possibly affect the landscape and the environment around it. The marginal benefit does not outweigh the safety of people and water it wastes when we really need