Fracking Is Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be

The city of Fayetteville is now experiencing an increasing number of fracking stations around the city. One was recently opened not half a mile away from the city limit. Given that the environmental resources affected –such as air, traffic, noise and water do not recognize city limits, we who live in proximity to the drilling station are all affected. Yet it seems the city is powerless to as much as raise a voice in how, where and what is being done by the oil and fracking companies in its own backyard.

Unfortunately, the federal government sold American civil society out when they exempted fracking from the Clean Water and Air Acts. Since neither the federal nor state governments are advocating on citizens’ behalf, there is only one level left, which is the local government. Yet here we are, local citizens and city councils alike, powerless and voiceless to receive even a modicum of information about matters that affect us all.

Yes, the property owners who sell/lease their mineral rights and those nearby who may receive some monetary recompense have agreed to the drilling because well, money – even relatively small amounts of it – trumps other considerations, including those of other neighbors who are affected but are neither consulted not compensated. And many of the latter perhaps are not entirely aware of the potential detrimental effects to their own environment, which numerous studies have confirmed.

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