This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
At this point, too little is known about the environmental effects (including human health effects) that hydraulic fracturing or fracking have on the water we depend on.
Until we can know and study all of the chemicals used in the fracking process and the adverse effects that they and the process itself can pose, we are reckless and shortsighted in our attempts to secure natural gas through this process.
In the end, water is the resource that is going to be the most valuable. It will be the lack of safe, drinkable, usable water that will be our undoing, not gas and oil.
Congress should step back and look at the process of fracking. Conservatives worry about passing debt on to their grandchildren. Conservatives, liberals and all in between should consider the cost to future generations before approving any more fracking. Debt could be the least of their problems.
Let's start with stopping fracking near the national gem we know as Moab.
Nancy Weber
Salem, Ore.