The concerns of Fracking

Fracking is the use of a high pressure mixture of water, sand, and chemicals that is injected into a horizontal well to encourage the flow of natural gas and petroleum in the well. The problem arises that through this process both the chemicals and some of the gas finds its way instead into the water table (and in the case of Florida most likely the aquifer system).

The aquifer system is where most of the water for Florida and several other states is taken from and the most worrying byproduct of fracking that makes it into the water is methane. In West Virginia (where quite a bit of fracking has taken place) there are problems with the water and methane mixture making its ways into people’s homes and therefore their tap water can be set on fire.

In Florida the wastewater concerns would be even greater as our area is part of a watershed that goes from Orlando to the Everglades as well as the Corkscrew watershed. This translates to all of the fracking wastewater running directly into the Everglades given time.

Some important information about Florida legislation on fracking can be found here: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Florida_and_fracking
The flip side of all of this of course is fracking could be an important piece of the puzzle towards energy independence and in the short term stands to make money both for landowners with oil on their land and oil and gas companies. This group does a particularly good job of outlining the benefits: http://www.energyfromshale.org/americas-energy/security?gclid=CPyS5p7r_c0CFQckhgodZP0MOA.