TOXMAP: Learn about toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing & Update [Wyoming water wells very likely contaminated by fracking]

From the US National Library of Medicine Press Release of 30 November 2011

Hydraulic fracturing (also called hydrofracking or fracking) is a process in which millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground to break apart rock in order to release oil and natural gas.

The US EPA Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program requires facilities in certain industries that manufacture, process, or use significant amounts of toxic chemicals, to report annually on their releases of these chemicals. Hydraulic fracturing is currently not a TRI-covered industry and so is not represented in TOXMAP.

EPA scientists are conducting a study of hydraulic fracturing to better understand any potential impacts on drinking water and groundwater. Congress has released a report on hydraulic fracturing (PDF, 156 KB) that lists 29 toxic chemicals used in fracturing (see Table 3 of this report). Click on the links in the table below for additional information on these chemicals:

Acetaldehyde	Acetophenone	Acrylamide
Benzene	Benzyl chloride	Copper
Cumene	Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate	Diesel
Diethanolamine	Dimethyl formamide	Ethylbenzene
Ethylene glycol	Ethylene oxide	Formaldehyde
Hydrochloric acid	Hydrofluoric acid	Lead
Methanol	Naphthalene	Nitrilotriacetic acid
p-Xylene	Phenol	Phthalic anhydride
Propylene oxide	Sulfuric acid	Thiourea
Toluene	Xylene

Related Resources

• Fracking & the Drinking Water of 1/5 of the United States (-element studio)includes this graphic

  

• What is hydraulic frackturing (graphic)
• Anatomy of a gas well (graphic)

RRelated articles

• Wyoming Water Contaminated By “Fracking” (naturalhistorywanderings.com)
• Feds Link Water Contamination to Fracking for the First Time (ProPublica- Journalism in the Public Interest)
• Fracking Compounds Found in Drinking Water (spiritandanimal.wordpress.com)
• Fracking pollutants detected in water wells (smh.com.au)
• EPA Finds Hydrofracking Chemicals Contaminate Drinking Water (thinkprogress.org)
• EPA: Wyoming well water tainted with chemicals consistent with fracking (alternet.org)
• Shale gas drilling’s dirty secret is out | Josh Fox (guardian.co.uk)
• Fracking likely linked to groundwater pollution in U.S. (cbc.ca)
• EPA Says Fracking ‘Likely’ Polluted Groundwater (ecocentric.blogs.time.com)
• Fracking (bell-book-candle.com)
• In 2011 ‘fracking’ , according to ProPublica, became a household word (iflizwerequeen.com)
• EPA to rig ‘independent’ review of fracking report (junkscience.com)
• A Fracked Landscape in Wyoming (dirt.asla.org)
• Study links fracking to health risks (smh.com.au)