To the Editor:

Unlike Kermit the Frog, nobody should have a hard time being green when it comes to fracking.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a method of extracting natural gas from the ground using water, sand and chemicals. Fracking may result in clean-burning natural gas, but it is detrimental to health and the environment.

The process is labor-intensive and generates clean-burning natural gas and jobs. Still, the nation has to ask, at what cost?

Supporters of fracking relay its benefits. According to Energy from Shale, fracking boosts the economy and produces up to one million jobs in construction, mining and other sectors. America's Natural Gas Alliance points to its production of clean, affordable fuel. Natural gas companies claim fracking poses few risks, saying fracking has not contaminated drinking water as of August 2011.

However, the companies did not include the entire fracking process in their count.

While fracking may create jobs and energy, it poses environmental and health risks.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund, fracking fluid contains over 600 chemicals including lead, mercury, hydrochloric acid and others. Worse, because of current regulations, companies need not disclose the chemicals used in fracking.

The Environmental Protection Agency relayed that these toxic chemicals can leak into aquifers and wells, leaving water unfit for human use. Only 30 to 50 percent of fracking fluid is recovered, and this fluid is pumped into open-air pits to evaporate. This means that the water and toxic chemicals evaporate and create ground level ozone, or smog.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund, fracking is harmful to humans because the contaminated water and polluted air cause asthma, cancer and long-term lung damage.

Carol French, a Pennsylvania dairy farmer, suffered the ill effects of fracking on her farm. After using the contaminated water, French's daughter became very ill. "She had stabbing pains in her abdomen. When I took her to the emergency room they checked her urine and blood to only find that the white blood cell count was high in her urine not in her blood. They then did a MRI to find that she had 'free floating fluid' in her abdomen, and her spleen, liver, and right ovary were enlarged," French reported about her daughter.

The choice between energy, and the environment is not easy. But, unlike grandma's secret family recipe where everyone loves the outcome, not everyone loves the outcome of fracking, and everyone needs to know the ingredients.

Recently, the U.S. Congress passed a law that only loosely regulated fracking. The law continues to allow companies to hide the chemicals they use from the public and requires they test the quality of only one well on a fracking site.

The U.S. needs stricter fracking regulations to keep the process from harming the environment and health. The disposal of fracking fluid, the primary cause of harm done, also needs to be clearly and tightly regulated.

Support government regulation of fracking and advocate for legislation to prevent fracking from destroying land, contaminating water and polluting the air.

Micah Slaughter

Emmaus High School