Fracking in Colorado: Environmental and Health Concerns
This paper examines the practice of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") and its environmental and public health consequences in Colorado. Beginning with an overview of how fracking works and the chemicals involved, the paper surveys documented water quality complaints from communities across the United States before focusing on specific Colorado controversies. Key issues include groundwater contamination near schools in Longmont, inadequate buffer-zone regulations, and the enormous volumes of water consumed by fracking operations in a state already facing water scarcity. The paper concludes by proposing local legislative action, increased setback distances, and a broader shift toward renewable energy sources as practical alternatives to continued reliance on fracking.
- Introduction to Hydraulic Fracturing: History and purpose of fracking in the U.S.
- How Fracking Works and Its Environmental Risks: Fracking mechanics, chemicals, and water quality complaints
- Colorado and Fracking Controversies: Longmont school contamination and setback distance debates
- Water Scarcity and Agricultural Impacts: Water consumption and drought concerns in Colorado
- Solutions and Conclusion: Local legislation and renewable energy as alternatives
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds abstract environmental concerns in concrete local examples — the Trail Ridge Middle School contamination case and the Aurora water-purchase dispute — making the argument accessible and persuasive.
- It uses a variety of credible sources, including government agencies (EPA), academic voices (Colorado Water Institute), advocacy organizations, and news outlets, lending breadth to its argument.
- Direct quotations from community stakeholders (residents, lawyers, water managers, and state senators) effectively humanize the policy debate.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of the problem-solution essay structure: it establishes the scope of a policy problem through layered evidence, then proposes actionable remedies. This technique is especially well-executed in the transition from documenting harms (water contamination, inadequate buffer zones) to advocating for ballot measures, stronger local ordinances, and renewable energy investment.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief introduction establishing fracking's history and scope, then moves into a section explaining the mechanics of the process and associated chemical hazards. The longest section addresses Colorado-specific controversies, covering school proximity, setback distances, and water usage. A focused subsection addresses the agricultural and drought implications of water consumption. The paper closes with a solution-oriented conclusion that ties local legislative action to a broader renewable energy argument.
Introduction to Hydraulic Fracturing
Hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") is not a new approach to locating and extracting gas and oil in the United States. It has been used as a strategy since 1949, according to Earthworks, an environmental advocacy group. Fracking is a method oil and gas companies use to retrieve quantities of oil and gas trapped in shales, coalbed formations, and other underground areas that have previously been drilled. The environmental impacts of fracking can be significant, especially for neighborhoods and communities located near fracking projects. In Colorado, a number of controversies surround the process of fracking; this paper reviews those issues and proposes solutions.
How Fracking Works and Its Environmental Risks
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been studying fracking to determine whether the tactics currently used by oil and gas companies are negatively impacting water resources in areas where fracking is conducted. The EPA had yet to issue formal guidelines on fracking, though preliminary findings were expected to be published in 2012. The specific issue the EPA focused on was water quality in communities where fracking was taking place. A central question was whether the Clean Water Act — a component of which is the Safe Drinking Water Act, signed into law in 1972, which prohibits the discharge of "any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters" — was being violated by fracking activities. Moreover, it remained unclear whether drinking water wells, aquifers, and sub-surface water sources qualified as "navigable waters," or whether the EPA would need to adjust its approach to protecting clean, safe water in light of fracking's impacts. Those questions were expected to be answered once the EPA concluded its study and issued its recommendations.
Fracking is essentially a process in which water mixed with chemicals is injected underground at very high pressures. These fluids open up fissures so that oil and gas may flow more freely from underground formations. "A number of these fluids qualify as hazardous materials and carcinogens, and are toxic enough to contaminate groundwater resources" (Sumi, 2005). In numerous cases across the country — including Alabama, West Virginia, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado — "residents have reported changes in water quality or quantity following fracturing operations of gas wells near their homes" (Sumi). Lisa Sumi, writing for the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, documented several categories of complaints from citizens and communities located near fracking activities.
Those complaints include: (a) "murky or cloudy water"; (b) "black or gray sediments"; (c) "iron precipitates" and "black, jelly-like grease"; (d) "diesel fuel or petroleum odors"; (e) "increased methane in water"; (f) "rashes from showering"; and (g) "gassy taste and decrease or complete loss of water flow" (Sumi).
Colorado and Fracking Controversies
In Longmont, Colorado, citizens organized against continued fracking in their community after a gas well was drilled within 360 feet of Trail Ridge Middle School. For "at least three years, the ground water around the well was contaminated with carcinogens such as benzene, which was measured at almost 100 times the state limit" (Hooper, 2012). Compounding the problem is that under Colorado law, a gas or oil fracking operation may legally be carried out within 350 feet of a school (Hooper, p. 1). As Hooper notes, it is against the law to operate a liquor store or marijuana dispensary within 1,000 feet of a school — yet it is permissible to drill for "oil and gas" that could spew "potentially toxic chemicals into the air" within a much shorter distance (1).
The City of Longmont attempted to pass regulations preventing fracking — or any drilling — within city limits, but backed down under threat of a lawsuit by Colorado's Attorney General. Nevertheless, a ballot measure (Ballot Question 300) to prohibit fracking in the city was set for a vote in November 2012; it would also ban the storage of fracking waste within city limits.
Conservationists in Colorado called for a 1,000-foot "buffer that offers presumptive protection from public health and safety risks" (Berwyn, 2012). Bob Arrington, a resident of Mesa, Colorado, told a reporter, "They're proposing to drill 450 feet from my deck," and emphasized that "keeping the current 350-foot buffer in place is not going to help our town reduce health or safety risks from oil and gas" (Berwyn, p. 2). Mick Chiropolos, counsel for the Western Resource Advocates in Boulder, Colorado, was also quoted in the same article: "Coloradans understand that the energy industry is part of our landscape, but we need to keep neighborhoods free of heavy industrial operations and use modern technologies to protect families. Public health is not negotiable" (Berwyn, p. 3).
Works Cited
Berwyn, Bob. (2012). Colorado: Battle lines drawn over fracking setbacks. Summit County Voice. Retrieved October 21, 2012, from http://summitcountyvoice.com.
Finley, Bruce. (2012). Fracking of wells puts big demand on Colorado water. The Denver Post. Retrieved October 21, 2012, from http://www.denverpost.com.
Hooper, Troy. (2012). Longmont, Colorado fracking: Residents seek permanent ban in city. Huffpost Green. Retrieved October 20, 2012, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com.
Sumi, Lisa. (2005). Our drinking water at risk: What the EPA and the oil and gas industry don't want us to know about hydraulic fracturing. Oil and Gas Accountability Project. Retrieved October 20, 2012, from http://www.ogap.org.
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