It's Fracking Dangerous?

Fracking is the technique of 'liberating' natural gas, by forcing fluid solutions into sedimentary rock strata. The liquid drives out gas from pockets in the rock. In the USA, more than 17.5m people currently live within 1 kilometre of a fracking site. A paper in Nature Energy from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, now reveals that, proximity to a fracking site, increases the liklihood of premature death (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/27/people-living-closer-us-oil-and-gas-wells-higher-risk-dying-prematurely-study ). The study examined 15m Medicare records of Americans from 2001-2015. The closer subjects lived to an oil or a gas operation (they looked at oil as well as fracking), the higher their risk of premature death. This was the case, even when demographic factors, like gender and race, were controlled. Fracking generates high levels of air pollution and reduces water quality in the surrounding area. It's also associated with continuous noise and light pollution. If you are elderly, it certainly doesn't pay to live near or even downwind of a fracking site! Given their emissions, fracking sites might well also damage childhood development and health. These wouldn't be picked up in this type of study.