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The Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing

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The impacts of hydraulic fracturing can be hard to analyze due to a lack of data available. The following case studies explored the effects of fracking on animals and humans within areas of hydraulic fracking sites. The case studies were completed in six states in which hydraulic fracturing sites has increased in recent years. These six states are Colorado, Louisiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The studies focus on the effects of animals because they "may serve as sentinels for human exposure, with shorter lifetimes and more opportunity for data collection from necropsies" (Bamberger & Oswald, 2012, p.52). The case studies also take into account human exposure within the same area as the animals affected. The first case study in the article observed two homes within a short distance of 25 shale wells. These two homeowners both had farm animals on their property and used well water for their personal water source. Both homeowners reported incidents relating to wastewater exposure for both their animals and humans. One incident was when a "truck carrying wastewater drove away from the impoundment site with an open valve, releasing approximately 20 gallons of wastewater onto the impoundment access road"(62). The water that was released was also spilled onto a road near one of the homeowners property. Another incident occurred when the barriers for the wastewater impoundment failed causing a spill into a creek. It is believed that this occurrences could have
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