In the world we live in today, every country has its unique way of making money, but the economy of every country combined is driven by crude oil and natural gas. Crude oil is the number one energy source used in the world. People use it for everything from heating their homes, fueling their cars and most of all it is used to transport goods all across the globe. With so much oil being used, many large oil corporations have turned to alternative ways of collecting oil from the earth. Fracking is one of the alternative ways, and possibly the most controversial. It does increase the oil production, however, the damages to the earth trump the increase in oil. The most popular affect it has on the earth is that it contaminates billions of gallons of drinking water in the areas surrounding the fracking site. This is not acceptable because it does not only impact people, but the wildlife that surrounds it as well. It kills many species of wildlife and is known to cause disease and other harmful birth defects in humans. 

"Fracking is the process of pumping pressurized water and chemicals deep down into the ground to dismantle shale rock, releasing natural gas." This process can be traced back to 1862 when Col. Edward AL Roberts noticed the effects of firing an explosive into a canal that ran across the battle field in Fredericksburg Virginia. He then applied for a patent for a torpedo that would be inserted into oil wells and detonated to release more oil. It was known to increase oil production by 1200 times in some oil wells, leading the way for modern fracking. (Manfreda, 2016) 

Fracking takes place in twenty-two of the United States, and could soon be in five more. Texas and Pennsylvania are the two states with the most fracking wells and are also the two states with the most protesters and political controversy over fracking. Politics play a large role in fracking because it is left to the legislatures from each state to determine if fracking will be allowed, and if so, what regulations will be placed on it. Few states have banned the practice of fracking, but most have only put restrictions on it. These restrictions are followed but are not strict enough because fracking is still harming humans and the environment tremendously. For example, Oklahoma had an average of five earthquakes a year until recently. Now that fracking is used there, that number has jumped to over forty, and the governor has turned a blind eye to it and has done nothing about it. As a result of this people and legislatures in communities' have begun to have small meetings in town halls and other meeting places. One where representative Lewis Moore lead and talked about the earthquakes and the damages they cause. This was a risky speech because he voted for the bill to ban fracking and was given a lot of grief at the meeting for this decision. He also brought up the point of how and where the fracking companies should dispose of their wastewater. He suggested using it to irrigate vegetables which was not liked by the audience, and also suggested shipping the water to Texas which was not liked by the Texans at the meeting. These are only small ways that the people of the communities are able to get their concerns through to a higher power.

Water contamination is the main negative effect of fracking. It has been found that fracking chemicals in run-off has caused the water to contain uranium, radium, methanol and many other harmful chemicals used in fracking. This is not only bad for the people that use these water supplies as drinking water, but all of the wildlife that call these waters home. On a smaller scale, micro bacterium that clean and inhabit these waters will also parish, and our water source will be useless. These bacteria add oxygen to the water supply to keep fish and other organisms that call the water home alive. These waters are home to many different types of fish and birds. If these chemicals continue to seep into the water supply, these various species of wildlife will not be able to survive (Dong, 2015). Water contamination from fracking has been proven to have killed fish in Pennsylvania fisheries and has reduced the diversity in the population of fish in these fisheries as well (Woolford, 2015). This is unacceptable because it kills these fish that people and other animals need to survive therefore weakening and possibly diminishing the food chain. Another instance of how deadly fracking waste is to aquatic animals is when in Kentucky's Acorn Fork creek fracking waste was being stored in unsealed spaces that it overflowed into the creek. This creek was home to the Blackside dace a small fish protected by the endangered species act. The contamination of the water caused nearly the whole population of this species to die because they suffered from liver and spleen malfunctions. (Papoulias, 2013) Water contamination is not only a big deal in natural water, but has been known to kill livestock and domestic animals. It has been studied that in Colorado Louisiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas that water contaminated by fracking has caused cows to mysteriously die and give birth to dead calves. (Bamberger, 2014) Again in Bambergers study he saw a case where fracking fluid was accidentally released near a pasture and seventeen cows were dead within an hour. They also found that fifty percent of the herds of cows near fracking areas were affected either by death or were unable to reproduce. (Bamberger, 2014) This epidemic is not acceptable because it is killing people's pets and also their form of income. These examples of livestock dying are not only bad because they are killing animals but also contaminating the animals that survive therefore contaminating the meat these animals produce.

Water contamination is not only classified as chemicals being present but invasive species as well. Machinery used in gathering the water from local water estuaries caries invasive species that have been proven to cause damages to the environment (Woolford, 2015). Some of these invasive species are bacteria that grow rapidly because it is a more suitable environment, therefore, killing the fish and other native species. These invasive species are brought in through machinery that is not properly washed and then comes in contact with water of a different area this allowing these species into the water. This causes a drop in fish and other wildlife that are needed to support other branches of the ecosystem. 

The problem of water contamination is a great risk to the environment, it is also a great risk to the economy. It poses a large risk to the economy because it kills fish that commercial fisherman catch and sale to make a living. It also poses a risk to the economy on the basis that if fish populations decrease in states waterways then the states recreational fishing will decline as well. Recreational fishing is one of the most popular outdoor activities in the United States. The recreational fishing industry is a tremendous part of the United States economy totaling near one hundred and fifteen billion dollars a year (Cunnigham, 2013). If the United States were to lose half of its recreational fishing waters, it would decrease the economy horribly. If we lose this money our economy could crash because our economy is already in disrepair. 

Water contamination is not only bad for animals that live in the water, but bad for humans as well. It poses many large threats to humans, but one in particular that most people overlook is that the waste water treatment plants that are used to clean the water retrieved from the fracking sites are ideal places for mosquitos to lay and hatch their larva. This poses a threat because mosquitoes carry many harmful diseases that humans contract and can be deadly. One of these hazards is the West Nile virus which is deadly to humans. Also, the water that is held in these waste water treatment facilities is allowed to evaporate and with this evaporation the chemicals that are used evaporate as well. This brings another issue into the equation of water pollution. When these chemicals are evaporated, they are transferred through the air polluting the air even more. Also, when these chemicals are evaporated they are transferred to other areas and dispersed with precipitation. This is a great risk because it not only allows the areas around fracking to be contaminated but also areas where the evaporated chemicals fall. This widens the area that is at risk for human and environmental health. 

Water contamination also impact humans because they use spring water from the ground that has been contaminated by the fracking sites through underground wells. A Yale based research project surveyed four hundred and ninety-two people in one hundred and eighty households and found that residents that lived one kilometer or less away from an active site had significantly higher numbers of skin and respiratory diseases (Pantsios, 2014).

Air pollution is another horrible downfall of fracking. It has been studied and found that possibly three fourths of the fracking related sicknesses have been traced back to air pollution. These studies show that extremely high levels of benzene and lead have been found inside people's homes that live close to an active fracking site. Benzene levels have been measured in multiple studies and were high enough to raise concerns about damage to major blood producing organs (Kiely, 2014).  This is a very big deal because it is making people sick and they aren't aware of it because it is just floating in the air. Some of the main illnesses associated with fracking's air pollution are respiratory problems, birth defects, blood disorders, cancer and nervous system impacts (Kiely, 2014). Air pollution is not only bad for the time being but the chemicals found in the air normally don't have any affects until years or even decades later. These chemicals could be in the air now and not affect the person that breathes them in, but cause birth defects later (Steingraber, 2013). Many polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are released have been found to interfere with the development of the heart brain and nervous system. If people are contaminated by the air now and don't feel any symptoms from it, it doesn't mean that they are not going to see repercussions one day. 

 Fracking boosts our economy because it creates jobs. Also, the extra oil that we sale to other countries and profit from. Fracking can never be allowed because it poses too many environmental threats. Water contamination is not the only downside of fracking, but it creates many other problems. It leaks greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and weakens the earths inter stability causing numerous earthquakes around active sites (Whibey, 2016). These earthquakes have many people that live near fracking sites worried that although they may be small that they will one day trigger a much larger earthquake that will cause major devastation. Studies show that Dallas Texas has experienced forty small earthquakes all 2.0 or higher in magnitude due to fracking. On January seventh and eighth 2015 the small town of Irvin Texas, just outside of Dallas, recorded eleven earthquakes in a twenty-four-hour period. One of these quakes registered at a 3.6 magnitude on the Richter scale (Lett, 2015). The main cause of these earthquakes is the blasting of the shale rock and the process of eliminating the waste water. Most of the water is pumped into underground disposal wells that are under immense pressure therefore when the water adds to the pressure earthquakes shake the ground. These earthquakes have been known to cause minor damage to homes and other infrastructure. Also they have caused harm to people themselves, one lady reports that she was thrown off of her couch during one of these quakes injuring her. 

Fracking does boost our economy because it creates jobs and the corporations are able to sale the oil to other countries. However, it is a very costly method of oil retrieval. It requires millions of gallons of water to be shipped to the active site using trucks that burn expensive fuel. It also requires a lot of money to purchase the chemicals that are used in the process of fracking, which also have to be shipped by trucks. One other issue that comes into the debate referring to the economics of fracking is the deterioration of roads and the infrastructure caused by all of the trucks used to ship the water and chemicals to the fracking sites. This destruction cost states millions and possibly billions of dollars every year to repair the roads and infrastructure (Hauter, 2015).

Many states have taken action towards the fracking epidemic. New York banned the use of fracking to extract oil in 2010 because of the protest and the environmental hazards. They are not the only state to ban fracking but are one of the most media covered states, so it is a big step forward for the anti-fracking movement. The state's legislatures banned fracking because people of the state and environmental activist discovered that the state's largest watershed was being contaminated by the harmful chemicals used in the process. In 2010 New York governor David Patterson put in place executive order to halt fracking for six-months but has been enforced until this day because of the water pollution (Lustgarten, 2015). Maryland is another state that has banned fracking because it poses so many health and environmental risk. It passed a bill that banned fracking for two and a half years and has set up stricter regulations on fracking when it is allowed to resume. This is a step in the right direction, but there is no way to restrict fracking enough to make it safe for humans and the environment (Cama, 2015).

However, fracking is a highly regulated practice many inspections of the healthcare of workers and surrounding residents have been overlooked because large corporations use fracking as a source of great income. There is corruption in this business because there are many regulations that are not being followed and are just being over looked.The corporations only want the money for the oil that they are gathering and don't care about the environment or the people around fracking sites because they don't see the effects. The world is run by an economy and money. Therefore, many people that are in charge of these fracking operations are not worried about the environment because they don't have to face the long term effects that fracking places on the environment, people, and the earth. 

In conclusion, the negative effects of fracking outweigh its positive effects so drastically that it should be banned globally. It should not be allowed because of all of the environmental and human health risks including water contamination, air pollution, and the weakening of the earths inner workings. These are only a few of the draw backs to this very debatable subject however, these few show some of the worst results that any environmentalist could look for. Fracking may be one of the most economically productive business of our generation but it will cause so much damage to the environment today let alone the affects that will arise later on down the line. 

