The Honorable Sherrod Brown

713 Hart Senate Office Building

United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Brown,
My name is Darren Kagey. Im 12, and in the seventh grade, and I live in
Pickerington, Ohio. For the past two weeks in school, weve been learning about
fracking. After learning about it, I decided to write this letter to you on my opinion.
Fracking can be a very beneficial thing. It makes getting natural gases much,
much easier. It provides a lot of jobs, lowers the prices of energy, and could make us
energy independent. Speaking of energy independence, if we continue to frack, and
become energy independent, we wont have to work with foreign countries. Also, the
extracting of natural gases through fracking is a cleaner-burning fuel than coal or
petroleum. This results in fewer emissions of pollutants and carbon dioxide, along with
less greenhouse gases being released into the air. On the other hand though, fracking
can be very harmful to the world. Did you know that fracking can involve millions of
gallons of water? This would cause even more environmental issue for drought prone
areas. Also, the chemicals used in the process of fracking, if poorly managed, can seep
into groundwater and local drinking water. The wastewater is hazardous as well. It has
to be disposed properly so it does not contaminate the local environment. The whole
process, including the disposal of the wastewater can cause small earthquakes in the
vicinity. It can damage people too. People living near sites where fracking happens have
reported illnesses such as headaches, dizziness, liver and intestinal damage, and even
cancer.
After seeing all this, I came to the conclusion that fracking should continue to
happen, but there needs to be regulations. Wells are drilled way too many times a year.
I believe there should be a law passed that says no more than three-hundred wells can
be drilled in a county per year. I hope you will take this into consideration.
Sincerely,
Darren Kagey