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Mathew Naismith

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Is hydraulic fracturing the answer especially when you take in consideration the environmental impact it is having?

Hydraulic fracturing is polluting the underground water which comes up through the cracks caused by the fracturing of the rock & ends up in our water ways. I think we have enough pollutants to deal with above & below the ground now!!

Topics: Environmental degradation hydraulic fracturing
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  • Vladimir Kasacheuski

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    Jan 20 2013: The problem with hydraulic fracturing is that it can not be safely regulated. Impacts vary from immediate concerns to others that spread over time, and distance. Water is contaminated throughout the region where the process takes place. Similarly, wild life is destroyed in the operation around the site. Down the road, structures, like the Tar-Sands pipeline (stretching from Canada to Texas), are erected leading to more environmental hazard and destruction to transport the fossil fuel. Most importantly, however, is that the overall dependency on unsustainable fossil fuel is only increased; therefore, limiting growth of renewable energy, and renewable energy research.

    Ultimately, i can not see how saving pennies for the average consumer and funding a corporate titan outweighs destroying wildlife (throughout continents), promoting unsustainable living, deterring innovative growth, and all this at the mercy of public health.

    To summarize: Saving money in the short term does not outweigh the environmental destruction that comes with fracking (long term and short term).
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      Mike Colera 10+

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      Jan 20 2013: Oh my, With fracking in Canada and the Tar Sands pipeline failing, the great nation of Canada is doomed.
      I am sure that fracking in Australia will lead to Lake Mackay draining like a bath tub. God only knows what will happen to the USA with all that fracking going on. If it makes If this keeps up, all mankind is doomed. I did learn of a study by an University in Australia, that if all humans were gone from earth tomorrow, that the earth would be completely void of any sign of human activity in a millennium. Just a thousand years. Maybe a few shreds of pottery. Think of it, just a thousand years. So if us humans do the bad things you're concerned with and lead to the destruction of us all. In a thousand years, the environment won't even remember us. Now, I feel better.

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