Fracking, According to Sandra Steingraber

By Johnny W. Lee

Sandra Steingraber, a biologist, environmental activist, and a cancer survivor, speaks out against fracking in her article “The Fracking of Rachel Carson, featured in Orion Magazine. For those that are unware, fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing, is a method to obtain natural gas inside shale rock. This is accomplished by injecting fracking fluid (mainly composed of water) at high pressure in order to crack open the rocks underneath the ground. In her article Steingraber starts off by mentioning Rachel Carson, an environmental activist, who spoke out on the use of DDT, an insecticide, that harmed the wildlife. 

Steingraber transition from speaking about Carson by linking Carson’s passion of the marine inhabitants to the “what’s now called the Marcellus Shale, a layer of bedrock that’s located under thousands of feet of what we would call the earth, but the mining industry calls overburden: the material that lies between the surface and an area of economic interest.” Steingraber’s main focus now is by presenting the facts to the reader. She craft her words carefully by using the irony in describing the Marcellus Shale. Steingraber mentions, “In 2005, fracking was granted specific exemptions from the Safe Drinking Water Act. Fracking is also exempt from key provisions within the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.” 

Steingraber then gives us a glimpse of fracking by describing the process, “Trapped for 400 million years, the gas is now free to flow through the propped-open fractures up to the surface, where it is condensed, compressed, and sent to market via a network of pipelines. The water remains behind.” The mining industry sets up the fracking process, collect the natural gas from the ground, but leaves the water behind. The key word here is the water that remains underground, it gives an image of a dirty table wasn’t wiped clean, the stain stays there just like how the water stays behind.

Through this another account of living through the environment, Sandra Steingraber’s book titled “Raising Elijah” talks about raising her child Elijah with a lens focus on raising children with the environment. In chapter ten of her book, she talks about taking Elijah to Cayuga Lake, a lake that is 435 feet deep. She continues and moves on to talk about how, “fracturing deep bedrock is not a gentle process. Exerting up to 10,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, fracking has been compared to smashing a windshield with a baseball bat.” I found her use of a simile to be moving since it puts a certain image in our mind that we can easily relate to. 

In a New York Times article called “Citing Health Risks, Cuomo Bans Fracking in New York State” by Thomas Kaplan, Kaplan speaks about the ban on fracking in New York State. The influence Mr. Cuomo decision came from “the long-awaited health study.” The results from this study show that “In a presentation at the cabinet meeting, the acting state health commissioner, Dr. Howard A. Zucker, said the examination had found “significant public health risks” associated with fracking.” Dr. Zucker mentioned “there was insufficient scientific evidence to affirm the safety of fracking,” since fracking can lead to water contamination and air pollution. This is a reoccurring theme that fracking leads to water contamination and air pollution. Steingraber mentioned that concern before, but it now the health study has also shown how true her words are. 

Just as Kaplan and Steingraber gives glimpse of fracking, the documentary Dear Governor Cuomo it talk about the fracking through a concert film. The documentary skips back and forth through speeches and a concert. In documentary, however, it starts off by talking how bad fracking is, but doesn’t describe what fracking is until midway into the film. The style of this film is unique since it is not only a long speech, but a mix of the concert as well. I found this style, annoying, since it seems to jump back and forth between the two styles. What had the most impact was when Sandra Steingraber spoke about fracking. Her voice carried a lot of emotions on  how it influence our drinking water, but then it would skip straight into the concert. 

Another documentary with the theme of fracking is Gasland, a documentary that is focused Josh Fox’s story of fracking. The documentary starts off with Fox receiving an offer from a gas company to lease his land for a large sum of cash. The documentary focuses on how fracking has change the community around him. I found this style of a documentary more impactful since I can saw the emotions of the people talking about their results of having their landed fracked. In one scene it shows a homeowner who spoke about his water being different and how he became sick as a result of it. In another scene it shows a series of fracking towers that can be seen for miles. This leaves a lasting image of how bad it can be for these people. 

Overall fracking is linked to water contamination and air pollution. This is shown in almost all of the media sources listed here. In Gasland Josh Fox talks about poor quality of the water from the owners of the land that leased their land for fracking.  In Dear Governor Cuomo, the narrator talks about the potential of our water if fracking is to continue. Sandra Steingraber’s book called “Raising Elijah” mentions that “fracking makes water disappear.” The dangers of fracking are real and can’t be overlook. Now the question is, to frack or not to frack?