Health

This short film describes very well the impact of fracking on one small town in the USA.

This page will summarise the probable implications for the people of Ryedale, if fracking went ahead.

It will mention:

• the number of wells per square mile
• the thousands of lorries that would be needed to build each well and supply it with the chemicals and water it needs
• the noise and air pollution at the top of each well, and the effects on health of local people and unborn babies
• earthquakes, the millions of dollars cost of actual earthquakes in the USA, and the fact that most people will find their house insurance does not cover this damage
• the pollution to the water table, which would last forever, damaging local farming and brewing, as well as the drinking water of people and animals, and wildlife
• the toxic fracking fluid that would be removed from the wells, and
• the fact that electricity from solar cells is becoming cheaper all the time, and by 2020 is expected to be about the same cost as (or cheaper than) electricity from fossil fuel sources for about 80% of the population of the world.

It might also have a list of all the arguments why fracking has been said by some people to be a good idea (such as ‘creates jobs’ etc), together with the facts stated by others.

For example, as this article in the Daily Telegraph states, “Forget all the hype about fracking bringing down gas prices here, as in the US (even the industry no longer believes that); or creating tens of thousands of jobs (you’d get far more per unit of energy from insulating buildings).“