This lake is used for recreation and has hundreds of homes surrounding it. If this facility does get built, there can be many negative consequences. For example, what will happen if there is an accident at the treatment plant and it releases hundreds of thousands of contaminated frack water into the local supply. The effect would be devastating to the whole community and cause those around it to have to give up their homes and find a place to live where there is no contamination. Fracking in Pennsylvania is an issue that needs to be discussed with our local, state, and national government so it can be stopped before too much harm is caused in the environment, which brings up the next point, lack of government regulation.
Lack of strict controls regarding fracking legislation is something that our Congress and House of Representatives should be ashamed of. The toxic substances used in fracking, as previously mentioned, are exempt from the Environmental Protection Agency's Safe Drinking Water Act of 2005 (Thompson 2013). This exemption made a loophole, commonly referred to as the "Halliburton loophole". .
The federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 contained a provision that has come to be known as the "Halliburton Loophole," an exemption for gas drilling and extraction from requirements in the underground injection control (UIC) program of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Other exemptions are also present in the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. (Fracking: Laws and Loopholes) In 2011, there was new legislation introduced to Congress that would close the loophole introduced back in 2005. Also, the legislation would force the fracking companies to provide full disclosure of the chemical makeup of fracking fluids (Thompson 2013). Unfortunately as of 2012 the so called "Frac Act" has been stalled with no plans going forward.
Another shameful thing regarding the fracking industry is lack of full disclosure of chemicals that are used.