Argumentative option: writing a public official
Write a letter to your congress representative about an issue related to fracking.
This will give you a chance to sort through all the murk of half truths and fragmentary information and decide where you think we should take a stand. The goal is to go beyond the polarizing rhetoric of being "for" or "against" fracking as a whole and to try to argue specific issues which people should be willing support across party lines.
There are a few requirements for this assignment that I elaborate on below, including
1) being specific with the issue,
2) writing both a long and a short form of your arguments, and
3) looking up your government representatives background.
Be Specific
Calling for a ban or a moratorium is still an option, but given the infrastructure the state has invested in, it seems unlikely that they are going to back down now. So I'm
encouraging you to focus instead on shaping future policies for how natural gas is
handled in the future. Possibilities include but are not limited to:
- Saving freshwater reservoirs from depletion by the sheer quantity of drilling
that is taking place.
- Getting rid of flow-back pools in order to help prevent surface spills and the
evaporation of chemicals.
- Upgrading wastewater treatment plants so that they will be better equipped
to handle fracking wastewater or brine.
- Further taxing gas companies in order to help pay for DEP oversight.
- Improving roads and demanding fewer hours for truck drivers to prevent
accidents.
- Requiring more training and shorter shifts from rig workers to avoid
fatalities.
- Push quicker for implementing new technologies such as those that go into
"green completion" which may make drilling more efficient, and result in less
escaped methane.
- Push for better studies of escaped methane so we fully understand its role in
global warming.
- Push for allowing local towns or cities greater leeway in deciding where and
how fracking can be implemented in their area.
- Push against building liquid natural gas refineries and extra pipelines
required to export gas to other countries.
- Push for the greater openness in companies reporting what is in their
fracking fluid, so that the public is more aware and the EPA or DEP can work
more effectively.
- Push for more openness on reporting chemical exposures and the impacts
they have for health purposes.