New Report Measures Damage Being Done by Dirty Drilling

A year after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed a fracking waste ban measure, Environment New Jersey Research and Policy Center has released a new report that measures the damage being done by dirty drilling across the country.

Fracking by the Numbers looks at fracking waste, including toxic wastewater, water use, chemical use, air pollution, land damage and global warming emissions.

“The numbers don’t lie— fracking has taken a dirty and destructive toll on our environment. If we allow the web of fracking to fully expand, this is the kind of damage we could see in New Jersey, the New Jersey Legislature needs to stand up to Governor Christie and to override his shortsighted veto to ban fracking waste” said Dan DeRosa, field organizer for. Environment New Jersey.

State Senator Linda Greenstein says “this report shows exactly the massive impact fracking waste is causing in neighboring states, and why it is so critical to keep fracking waste out of New Jersey’s waterways.”

Some of the key findings from the report include:

• More than 82,000 fracking wells have been drilled since 2005

• Fracking wells nationwide produced an estimated 280 billion gallons of wastewater in 2012.

• This toxic wastewater often contains cancer-causing and even radioactive materials, and has contaminated drinking water sources from Pennsylvania to New Mexico.

• Fracking operations have used at least 250 billion gallons of water since 2005

• While most industrial uses of water return it to the water cycle for further use, fracking converts clean water into toxic wastewater, much of which must then be permanently disposed of, taking billions of gallons out of the water supply annually.

• Operators have hauled more than 2 billion gallons of chemicals to thousands of fracking sites around the country.

• Global warming emissions from completion of fracking wells since 2005 total an estimated 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.