The Costs of Fracking

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Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 Introduction 5 Fracking: The Process and its Impacts 7 Defining “Fracking” 7 The Fracking Process 8 Fracking and the New Gas/Oil Rush 10 The Costs of Fracking 12 Drinking Water Contamination 12 Health Problems 15 Damage to Natural Resources 19 Impacts on Public Infrastructure and Services 24 Broader Economic Impacts 29 Who Pays the Costs of Fracking? 32 Accounting for the True Costs of Fracking: Conclusion and Recommendations 35 Notes 37
THE COSTS OF FRACKING The Price Tag of Dirty Drilling’s Environmental Damage DAMAGE TO NATURAL RESOURCES $$ Threats to rivers and streams $$ Habitat loss and fragmentation $$ Contribution to global warming DRINKING WATER CONTAMINATION $$ Groundwater cleanup $$ Water replacement $$ Water treatment costs BROADER ECONOMIC IMPACTS $$ Value of residents’ homes at risk $$ Farms in jeopardy HEALTH PROBLEMS $$ Nearby residents getting sick $$ Worker injury, illness and death $$ Air pollution far from the wellhead PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES $$ Road damage $$ Increased demand for water $$ Cleanup of orphaned wells $$ Emergency response needs $$ Social dislocation and social service costs $$ Earthquakes from wastewater injection Infographic design: Jenna Leschuk
Page 1 and 2: The Costs of Fracking The Price Tag
Page 3: Acknowledgments Environment Minneso
Page 7 and 8: • The provision of temporary repl
Page 9 and 10: • Existing legal rules are inadeq
Page 11 and 12: for cleaning up the damage they cau
Page 13 and 14: Fracking imposes a range of environ
Page 15 and 16: Figure 1. Shale Gas and Oil Plays 6
Page 17 and 18: The Costs of Fracking A great deal
Page 19 and 20: ut likely runs into the hundreds of
Page 21 and 22: attorneys’ track record of exploi
Page 23 and 24: cough and breathing difficulty. 44
Page 25 and 26: The Monongahela River, shown here a
Page 27 and 28: Pronghorn antelope are among the sp
Page 29 and 30: the maintenance of healthy ecosyste
Page 31 and 32: Increased Demand for Water Earthqua
Page 33 and 34: crack or loosen and allow contamina
Page 35 and 36: Economics found that Western counti
Page 37 and 38: Who Pays the Costs of Fracking? The
Page 39 and 40: THE COSTS OF FRACKING The Price Tag
Page 41 and 42: also recoup for the public some of
Page 43 and 44: Fracturing: Preliminary Analysis of
Page 45 and 46: of this family of diseases (includi
Page 47 and 48: High Emissions from Gas Field,” N

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