Clean Water versus Cheap Oil

Which is more important, cheap oil or uncontaminated water?

It should be a no brainer.  But it’s not.  I’m talking about fracking.  Yes, again.  The subject won’t go away because we’re still pitting fresh water against access to oil and gas.

We may not realize it now, but available fresh, uncontaminated water is losing ground.  We prefer cheap oil/gas to inexpensive clean water.  Talk about misplaced priorities.  We can survive without oil.  We cannot survive without water.  Yet, oil fracking companies continue to pollute local wells and water ways free of accountability to the Clean Water Act.  And we the people are fine with that.  We’re going to be sorry.

It’s about seepage.  It’s about lack of accountability.  It’s about greed, power, and money speaking louder than good sense, honesty, and justice.  It’s about bad politics.  It should be about transparency and the preservation of our water-ways and water resources, not to mention about finding alternative clean energy sources—other than fracking for natural gas.  But it’s not.  Yet, the negative ecological side effects of fracking are more damaging to both our water and air supplies than the oil companies will ever be willing to admit.  And they have the money to cloud our thinking on the matter—and it does matter, very, very much!

Water is so basic, so fundamental to the vitality of life, to a prosperous lifestyle, and to a thriving community, that there should be no argument, no hesitation whatever, to side with regulation and the establishment of high standards and cautionary measures to protect and maintain our clean water resources.  Yet, we continue to turn a blind eye to the contaminating effects of fracking upon local wells here in the state of Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

There is evidence that roughly 30% to 35% of all fracking drill-sites will be compromised—leak!   This is called seepage, contaminated water seeping into the ground and finding its way to what were once unpolluted water wells.  For every 1000 fracking wells, 300 will seep into and contaminate fresh water sources.  We have thousands and thousands of these oil drilling holes and more being built in this nation every day.  Why are we not alarmed by this!  Because: we presently think that having cheap oil and gas (along with the jobs that these companies supply—for now) is more important than the loss of a few private fresh water wells and ponds.

We are going to regret this.  Water is too precious a resource to lose.  And water is too fluid a substance to guarantee absolute protection from the damage that fracking causes.  If one water resource is contaminated, it is only a matter of time before others will also show signs of contamination.  Water is just that interconnected and that free-flowing, virtually unstoppable.

So, for now, we seem to be saying that oil and natural gas is more valuable than fresh, clean, uncontaminated water.  Just give it time.  Either this generation or the next will soon enough realize the true value of clean water.  But, my guess is, by then, it will be too late.  Someday we will be paying dearly to have access to clean water, much more than we’ve ever had to pay for oil.