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Tyler Buttars
Joshua Terry
English 2010
4 August 2016
Fracking the Future
Its one of the saddest sights youll see. Almost forgotten by the busy rush of the energy
production world is a relatively small patch of green grass. Its surface scared with cute little
names. Some of them large and freestanding and others small and go easily unnoticed. These
names belong to the stillborn babies of Vernal, Utah. The one thing most these babies share is the
number 2013 on their place of memorial.
Donna Young, a longtime resident of Venal, Utah, was among one of the first to notice
the striking number of infant deaths. She found that At least 10 (families) in 2013 alone,
(Solotaroff par 3) had made a trip to Vernals small cemetery and littered the ground with
flowers. Alarmed by her findings Young brought the issue to the TriCounty Health Department.
In a town built by oil her concern for child safety branded her a traitor as she raised questions
about the safety of fracking (Solotaroff par 3).
Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking, is the new gold rush in
energy production. Fracking is the process of extracting natural gas and crude oil trapped in the
layers of shale rock within the earth. This is done by a new technique of deep horizontal drilling
then injecting high pressured water, mixed with various chemicals and sand or ceramic material.
This process creates fissures deep in ground that allow trapped shale gas and oil to escape and be
pumped to the surface (Harrison, Hester 6). The process of fracking can be traced back all the
way back to 1862 (Prichard 1). Few innovations in fracking were made up to the 1960s when

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pressurized water, laced with chemicals and sand or hydraulic fracturing took over in place of
acid. Originally meant to increase oil production from wells, the discovery fracking for shale gas
was realized (Manfreda pars 8-10).
Modern day fracking was born in the 1990s, although not widely known until the mid2000s, when a new technique created by George P. Mitchell combine hydraulic fracturing with
horizontal drilling, greatly improving its efficiency (Manfreda 12) and regrettably its risk. This
new type of fracking is moving all over the US quickly. This has done great things for the US
economy creating many new jobs and causing the price of natural gas to fall from $8.01 per
thousand cubic feet in January 2006 to $2.89 per thousand cubic feet in January 2012 (Harrison,
Hester 6).
In the wake of this so called shale savior, we have unfortunately become too comfortable
with the pollution it emits. It seems that it has developed into a shoulder shrug-able byproduct of
our modern life. Now its time to think, has fracking taken it too far this time? Youngs
staggering observation needs to be examined further before new fracking proposals in Utah are
approved. We stand with Young when she proclaimed Vernal has to turn around or there will not
be anyone left to drill their oil (qtd. in Solotaroff). This does not mean that all oil and shale gas
production needs to be halted, but fracking as executed now will indefinitely effect the air, water
and eventually the lives of you and me.
There are currently two big proposals for more shale gas and oil drilling in Uinta and
Duchesne counties in Utah. Newfield Exploration, a Texas based company, wants to frack up to
5,700 wells. Crescent Point Energy based in Canada, wants to frack 3,925 wells on a 35-milelong swath, starting basically in the town of Myton all the way past the Green River (Maffly par
2). Both of these companies are already operating in these areas and looking to expand. The

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Crescent Points project area almost completely surrounds the towns of Randlett and Leota, while
Myton, Ballard, Ouray and Gusher are only a few miles away. Together the projects virtually
envelop the Ouray National Wildlife Refuge; this haven is a key factor in keeping migrating
birds along the Green River off the endangered species list (Maffly par 8).
The increase of land disturbances and air pollutants caused by fracking will no doubt
affect this precious wildlife. Beyond that, Crescent Point Energy project gets uncomfortably
close to three of Utah most visited and valuable treasures: Aches National Park, Moab, and
Desolation Canyon. These are areas that locals and tourist flock to because of its pure natural
beauty. Fracking so close to these areas would mar the landscape and the air. Raising pollution in
a high activity area like this it could have major health implications for people and the wildlife.
The areas where fracking has become a popular practice rising air pollution readings seem to
follow (NRDC 2).
In 2013, Vernal air pollution had: ozone readings that rivaled the worst days of summer
in New York, Los Angeles or Salt Lake City; particulate matter as bad as Mexico City; and
ground air fraught with carcinogenic gases like benzene, rogue emissions from oil and gas
drilling (Soltaroff par 5). According to the Utah Air Monitoring Program in 2013 Uintah and
Duchesne counties had 42 advisable air quality days. That is over a month when enjoying a day
outside is a risk to your health.
One study by the University of Missouri Concluded that exposure to air and water
pollution caused by UOG operations may be linked to health concerns including infertility,
miscarriage, impaired fetal growth, birth defects and reduced semen quality (Sossaman par 4).
"It's the long-haul exposure that nails you I watched people get progressively sicker," says
filmmaker Debra Anderson, after making a documentary on the explosion of a gas well in

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Garfield County which dumped more than 100 million cubic feet of gas that eventually flowed
into the Colorado River (Solotaroff par 14).
Dr. Brian Moench, President of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, spoke out
about the how pollution in the air especially affects the respiratory system of pregnant women
and can cause lack of air to the baby. Pollution causes a flammatory response to all main
organs the blood flow to the developing human embryo is being compromised, he stated. His
efforts to convey this message have been met with People who say show me the evidence but
they arent looking at the evidence said Moench. We are trying to show them the evidence but
theyre not listening, (qtd .in Solotaroff). These statements can be very hard to accept in a town
where oil and drilling are the life blood it feels it needs to survive.
This is no surprise since shale gas has brought record high paying good jobs particularly
in rural parts of our country as is the in Utah, claimed Utah Governor Gary Herbert in a
National Governors Association Conference (qtd. in ODonoghue par 3). During the conference
Gov. Herbert advocated the fracking has occurred in Utah for the last 50 years and "There's not
been one incident with fracking," Herbert said, referring to soil or water contamination "I think
we are doing a good job," (qtd. in ODonoghue par 5). It is worrisome that Gov. Herbert does not
consider the fracking explosion mentioned above in Garfield County as an incident involving
water contamination. (Solotaroff par 14).
Further those in favor of fracking debate that the water usage of fracking is considerable
less than used by the major energy production methods like coal, which is true. The grand
difference is the water used by most thermoelectric plants is never introduced to chemicals; it is
easily treatable and can be reused (USGS par 6). The water that is recovered from fracking is
treated to extract the natural gas and oil. After that process is complete the remaining water is

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then dumped into deep storage waste wells, because it is still too toxic to be reused for domestic
or agricultural use. That means after each fracking well millions of gallons of water are rendered
useless.
In the past couple of years Utah has been on the border of a drought. Campaigns by the
government like slow the flow push
to reduce water waste. Fracking wastes
anywhere between 2-10 million gallons
of water for each well (Lubber par 4).
With the current 9,625 proposed new
fracking wells in Utah, they will require
between 19,250 and 96,250 million
gallons of water that could never be
used publicly again (EPA par 5).
Increased fracking will bring a
great stain to Utahs water demand.
Almost half (47%) of all U.S. wells are

Image from: http://visual.ly/waterconsumption-comparison

being developed in regions with high to

extremely high water stress, (Ceres par
1). Almost all Utah fracking locations fall under the high or extremely high stress areas.
The treatment of fracking waste water or flow back is another reason to think deeply about the
proposed fracking increase in Utah. While its true that 98%-99.5% of fracking fluid is water and
sand, that remaining 2-.5% percent is highly toxic (Lallanilla par 7). This solution gets more
potent when injected into the well and mixed with methane gas and radioactive and other

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chemicals inside the shale gas well. Depending on the geology, recovery of these fluids ranges
from 15 to 80% (Harrison, Hester 22).
The effects of this water wasting may
go far beyond that of the millions of gallons of
flow back. There has also been much
controversy whether fracking could
contaminate ground water. Most claims say
that ground water could be contaminated by
the fissures created by fracking reaching
underground aquafers. Other possible
contaminations (see image on the right) are
from improper well drilling or well castings
failing, along with spills of fracking fluid
above ground (EPA pars 1-5).
The problem is that At the federal level,

Image from: serc.carleton.edu

fracking is exempt from some of the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act, particularly
the requirement to disclose the chemicals used in injection wells, (Lallanilla par 32). Shale Gas
Company argued that this information is Intellectual Property. On a website called
fracfocus.org, companies can voluntarily post the additives used in their fracking fluid. A follow
up study by the EPA found at least one chemical was identified as confidential business
information in 70 percent of the disclosures analyzed, (qtd. in Benerjee par 2). This has made it
nearly impossible for any water contamination to be linked to fracking. Shale companies
operating in Utah are not required to share their fracking water solution. The new proposed wells

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are so close to communities and wildlife that this information needs to be released before any
action toward approving the new 9,000+ wells Utah.
Vernal needs drilling jobs and will continue to need more in the future; unfortunately, we
cant just ban fracking and oil drilling because they pollute. That does not mean we should let the
fracking industry go unbridled as they have been so far. There needs to be greater in-depth
studies of the short and long effects this fracking gold rush will bring before Vernal and its
neighbors turn into ghost towns. Reducing the amount of shale production may lessen the
national security that those in favor of fracking advocate for.
What good is this national security if fracking pollution makes it unfit for human life?

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Works Cited
Banerjee, Neela. Fracking Companies Keep 10% of Chemicals Secret, EPA Says. Inside
climate news. 31 Mar 2015. Web. 20 Jul. 2016.
Harrison, Roy M., and Ron Hester. Fracking. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2014. E
Book Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 12 July 2016.
Lallanilla, Marc, "Facts About Fracking. Live Science, N.p. 23 Jan. 2015. Web. 14 Jul.
2016.
Lubber, Mindy. Escalating Water Strains In Fracking Regions. Forbes. Forbes, 28 May. 2016.
Web. 16 Jul. 2016.
Natural Resources Defense Council Fracking Fumes: Air Pollution from Hydraulic Fracturing
Threatens Public Health and Communities. Pfd. Dec. 2014.
Maffly, Brian. New 4,000-well drilling project proposed for Uinta Basin. Salt Lake Tribune.
Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Apr. 2016, Web. 14 Jul. 2016.
ODonoghue, Amy. Herbert: Fracking safe in Utah. Deseret News. Deseret News, 3 Dec 2014.
Web, 2 Aug. 2016.
Pritchard, Joshua. "Fracking Overview." Salem Press Encyclopedia (2016): Research Starters.
Web. 15 July 2016.
Sossamon, Jeff. Chemicals Released During Natural Gas Extraction May Harm Human
Reproduction and Development. MU News Bureau, 5 Dec. 2014. Web. 18 Jul. 2016.
Solotaroff, Paul, Whats Killing the Babies of Vernal, Utah? Rolling Stones. Rolling Stones, 22
Jun. 2015. Web. Jul 15. 2016.

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Utah Dept. of Environmental Quality. Utah Historical Summary Winter Air Quality Alert
Program. N.d. Web. 18 Jul. 2016.
http://www.airmonitoring.utah.gov/dataarchive/woodburnsummary.pdf.html
U.S. Geological Survey. Induced Earthquakes. N.d. Web. 16 Jul. 2016.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/.html
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle. N.d. Web. 20
Jul. 2016.