Fracking wastewater — the leftover by-product of fracking — contains thousands of chemicals that could be radioactive and cancer-causing. Because we don’t have a complete picture of what’s in fracking wastewater, fracked gas companies can’t definitively say these chemicals are safe for human health and consumption, especially when they can’t be filtered out.
Additionally, there is no safe way to treat and dispose of fracking wastewater. And where there's wastewater, there are spills, which endanger the workers at waste treatment facilities who are handling the wastewater and taking the radioactivity home on their bodies and to their families.
What’s worse is that Black, Brown, and low-income communities will be most affected if fracking activities continue, as they are the areas where water treatment facilities are already located. These communities cannot afford to keep investing in more advanced filtration systems to combat corporate greed and the lack of protection from the agencies that were put in place to protect them.
A fracking ban isn’t a true ban if it contains loopholes that prioritize billionaires and corporations over the health of our neighbors, workers, and natural resources. We must call for complete protection for the Delaware River Basin and surrounding communities that the industry can’t game.
Sign on to our public comment demanding a total ban on fracking in the Delaware Basin that doesn’t allow for wastewater treatment and other loopholes >>
Thanks for all that you do.
Michelle Giles
Policy Analyst
Conservation Voters of PA