Dear Future President:

Fracking has become an increasing concern for the people off the coast of Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico. The chemicals in waste water produced by fracking are hurting the environment. Hundreds of fracking operations off the Louisiana coast are causing billions of waste water to be dumped into the gulf (Larino 1). The waste water consists of toxic chemicals and many chemicals that are unknown by the public (Larino 2). In 2014, 76 billion gallons of waste water was permitted to be released into the ocean, based on the federal waste water discharge permits. The permits being given are not being followed up on nor is there any kind of public database (Larino 1).

Kristen Monsell, a center for biological diversity attorney stated that they are rubber stamping permits without any thought or public involvement. The waste water being dumped is in the form of salty, chemical lased byproduct (Larino 3). Fracking is short for “hydraulic fracturing,” which is “a destructive process that corporations including Halliburton, BP and ExxonMobil use to extract oil and natural gas from rock formations deep underground,” said in an article by Food and Water Watch (Fracking 2). The article also states that the chemicals used in fracking and in the waste water byproduct are toxic. Fracking is hurting our environment. More than half of the oil and gas produced in the United States comes from fracking, and has slowly reduced the amount of oil used from overseas (Larino 4). Fracking produces much fossil fuel for the United States but, it causes too many environmental problems. Many fracking wells are in sensitive environments, like habitats for the endangered loggerhead sea turtles (Larino 3). These wells in sensitive areas are only there because the permits were not checked (Larino 3). Looking closer at the area would have caused the fracking wells to not be in an endangered species’ habitat.

Requiring fracking permits to have more extensive checking, and to involve the public would be a justifiable solution. To make fracking safer, the operations should not be allowed to dump the toxic byproduct into the ocean. Fracking needs to be made much safer, or it needs to be stopped. Please take the time to address these concerns, so we can protect our environment.

Sincerely,

Erin Oehrle