Fracking contaminates groundwater and its wastewater injection triggers earthquakes.

Evidence

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of extracting natural gas and oil from shale rock deep in the earth by injecting water, sand, and toxic chemicals under high pressure. The industry claims that fracking does not release pollutants, but environmentalists have long claimed that fracking releases toxic chemicals, such as methane gas, into the water table, contaminating drinking water and even making it flammable (Marder, 2012). In addition, fracking releases methane gas into the atmosphere, which is considerably more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide (Magill, 2015a). After extracting the natural gas, companies pump millions of tons of wastewater back into the earth, because there is at present no other way to dispose of it. The reservoirs of wastewater have been implicated in a rising number of earthquakes in states where fracking takes place, such as Oklahoma (Oskin, 2015). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2749

Some observers promote natural gas as a cleaner fossil fuel that provides a new source of power while reducing carbon emissions. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of extracting natural gas and oil from shale rock deep in the earth by injecting water, sand, and toxic chemicals under high pressure. The industry claims that fracking does not release pollutants, but environmentalists have long claimed that fracking releases toxic chemicals, such as methane gas, into the water table, contaminating drinking water and even making it flammable (Marder, 2012). In addition, fracking releases methane gas into the atmosphere, which is considerably more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide (Magill, 2015a). After extracting the natural gas, companies pump millions of tons of wastewater back into the earth, because there is at present no other way to dispose of it. The reservoirs of wastewater have been implicated in a rising number of earthquakes in states where fracking takes place, such as Oklahoma (Oskin, 2015). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2749

Categorization

• SEED: The wastewater-earthquake link in Oklahoma is a vivid, counterintuitive angle for a piece on hidden costs of the natural-gas transition.
• QUESTION: The claim that methane is ‘considerably more damaging than CO2’ — worth pinning down the exact global-warming-potential multiplier used.
• SHARE: Worth sending to anyone following Oklahoma earthquake swarms or methane-versus-CO2 climate debates; tight factual synthesis of fracking’s harms.
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2749