Fracking for energy isn’t worth the consequences

To the Editor:

New York State should protect its water supply and health of its citizens by banning fracking. Do you think it’s worth the risk of water waste, business loss, air pollution, and health problems? Fracking for energy isn’t worth the consequences it causes.

One of the risks caused by fracking is water waste. It takes 5 million gallons per fracking cycle. That’s how much water a family needs for more than eight years. We can’t reuse the water once it’s used towards fracking.

Imagine 5 million gallons used to waste. Forty-eight percent of Americans don’t get fresh drinking water. Water is how nature survives and, if all water is contaminated, there will be no nature.

Fracking leads to air pollution. Silica is in the rock that is fracked and is also used in the process. It is very dangerous!

Silica causes a variety of sicknesses such as silicosis, a lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust. It also causes cancer. Cancer is the number-one killer of Americans. Other diseases like pulmonary tuberculosis and chronic renal disease also are caused by silica rock. Is it worth having a 60- to 70-percent chance of getting these diseases?

People that support fracking might say it creates jobs, but fracking actually decreases jobs. When you add things to the Earth, it goes into groundwater. That affects farming, and farming is the route to more than 50 businesses.

Plantation farmers need clean water for their crops; without clean drinking water, the crops will die.  Livestock needs clean drinking water. Fracking also threatens rivers and streams that provide fresh drinking water.

Gas extracted from shale through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is carried by trucks, and a lot of things could cause a spill when you’re transporting things by trucks. In Texas, when they transported shale gas with 55 trucks, they ended up with three accidents that led to a spill.

We will be too busy trying to fix the dangerous effects caused by fracking instead of improving our economy.

You might be thinking, why does a 12-year-old care? I care because I don’t want contaminated water, I don’t want to inhale silica dust, and I don’t want to get a disease! I don’t want to watch my family and friends suffer. I honestly don’t think it’s worth hurting Mother Nature just for energy. Do you think it’s worth the pain?

Fracking is a threat to all human nature. It causes water waste, air pollution, and job loss. This can hurt New York State in many ways.  I think that we should protect the citizens of New York by banning fracking!

Shika Bitkuri

Guilderland

The Altamont Enterprise is focused on hyper-local, high-quality journalism. We produce free election guides, curate readers' opinion pieces, and engage with important local issues. Subscriptions open full access to our work and make it possible.