What Is Fracking? Song Explains Controversial Drilling Process (VIDEO)

"What the frack is going on?" This creative and comprehensive video, "My Water's On Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song)," seeks to explain fracking -- the controversial natural gas drilling technique formally known as hydraulic fracturing -- in a concise and entertaining way.

In this animated Studio 20 NYU video, in collaboration with ProPublica, the history and dangers of fracking are revealed through song, with verses such as:

But there’s more in the water than just H2O/ Toxic chemicals help to make the fluid flow/ With names like benzene and formaldehyde/ You better keep ‘em far away from the water supply

This isn't the first time that environmental activists have gotten creative for their cause. Just recently, climate scientists rapped about climate change.

As Mediabistro's Lauren Rabaino explains, Studio 20's music-video fracking explainer is a great example of how the media can present an extremely deep and complex issue in a fun and simple way to entice people to read more. In this case, the video is an engaging teaser of ProPublica's ongoing "Buried Secrets" investigation into fracking, which includes over 100 articles at this point.

It seems that people concerned about fracking will have to keep looking for creative ways to express their worries, as evidence of the dangerous practice's harm to the environment continues to mount (a scientific study recently linked fracking to flammable water), despite gas companies continually assuring that there are no dangers.

Some small steps have been taken to regulate fracking practices. Wells in Arkansas were shut down to explore a link between fracking and earthquakes in the region, and an investigation was set in place after a fracking wastewater spill occurred in Pennsylvania. But these are all reactive measures. Perhaps with videos like this one, proactive measures can be taken to improve fracking methods.

WATCH:

Comments

[Unscrupulous]

04:27 PM on 05/25/2011

At a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing yesterday, President Barack Obama’s EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, admitted the environmental risk of hydraulic fracturing is practically nonexistent. - 5/24/11

[vietveter]

10:40 AM on 05/17/2011

I sure hope that they are paying you boys enough to fight what all free thinking, logical people know to be a popular uprising against the gas industry.

I am just a run of the mill kind of guy that never set any records or won any awards but I do know a few things that I think to be true. Let me give you an example:

If you go to bed at night and get a good night’s sleep after working all day raking your grass and then, when you get up in the morning and look out of the window and see two feet of fresh snow on your yard chances are real good that even though you aren’t a meteorologist and you were sleeping all night that the snow on the yard was evidence enough that it did snow.

[vietveter]

10:40 AM on 05/17/2011

I feel the same way about folks that live in a home and drink from a well every day AND THEN YOU WEASELS SHOW UP and damned if the well water isn’t bad and some even have methane coming out of the faucet. Now the chances are that those folks aren’t geologist either and that the fact that the only proof that they may have is the bad water its self; well chances are real good that YOU FRACKING GASS HOLES were the ones to screw up the wells.

So you and your fellow paid disseminators just go ahead and spread your FRACKING LIES around and do what you will. I just can’t bring myself to trust you or your FRACKING GASS HOLE procedures.

The preceding is my own personal opinion given freely and for no recompense of any sort. These opinions are my personal beliefs and are in no way put forward as factual or scientific proof of any sort.

Y’all have a nice afternoon
;~)

[wsmith3023]

03:51 PM on 05/17/2011

I never said that the gas corporations were good for us and our environment.
I'm saying we are as bad as they are. We are no different than they are.
We pollute as badly as they do. We put as many chemicals into the water system as they do.
Anyone who denies this is just fooling themselves.
We The People of the US of A, individually, waste more in a year than some people possess in a lifetime. We are not going to stop either. We are comfortable with ourselves. We have THEM to blame for all that we do. We are the customers of the coal industry. We are the customers of the oil and gas industry. We are the customers of the forestry industry. These industries do our bidding. Everything they do is for us and we approve of their measures and processes by buying their products.

[wsmith3023]

10:22 AM on 05/17/2011

Flammable water? Oh yeah! Water is made from hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen and oxygen mixed together will cause a gigantic explosion.

[smalljaws]

10:15 AM on 05/17/2011

The Delaware River Basin Commission recently postponed a vote on XTO's (ExxonMobil) request for millions of gallons of water from a Delaware River tributary. Political pressure from those who have made calls, sent letters, and signed petitions is having an impact.

[wsmith3023]

03:56 PM on 05/17/2011

Tell XTO to buy their water from the States bordering the Mississippii River.

I do know a few year ago, ExxonMobil bought water from the State of Colorado for their fracing jobs there. When the State came up short of water, Exxon donated a large portion of the water back to the State, who sold it to the people who needed it.

[vietveter]

07:04 PM on 05/16/2011

Rather than take my word for it just go to this link and spend a few minutes of your time

http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/about-the-film

Gasland the movie can be seen on NetFlix


WATER IS GOOD – FRACKING IS BAD

[Unscrupulous]

04:26 PM on 05/25/2011

At a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing yesterday, President Barack Obama’s EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, admitted the environmental risk of hydraulic fracturing is practically nonexistent. - 5/24/11

Gasland is scare tactic movie made by an activist, nothing more, nothing less. It is not factually based, just simple fear mongering.

[jugglefire]

06:25 PM on 05/16/2011

Chesapeake Energy = a bunch of fracking gas holes.

[PAGasDriller]

12:56 PM on 05/15/2011

I love how all of the people who comment in here just seem to ignore the replies by the pro-reality (aka pro-gas) folks. When faced with real facts and their own hypocrisy, they go silent.

[DorianCorso]

06:34 PM on 05/16/2011

Some people get bored responding paid industry liars.
Would you want to have a conversation with a doctor from 1950's who was paid by the tobacco industry to claim cigarettes were good for you ?

Remember the list you provided without explaining why hydrofracking is exempt from the Clean Water Act ?

Would it be okay with you if I put benzine and formaldehyde in your drinking water ?
How about hydrochloric acid and ammonium distillates ?

You "went silent" last time I asked these questions, and didn't post again for weeks so that's my reason for asking again.

[wsmith3023]

10:41 PM on 05/16/2011

It's hydrochloric acid and ammonium bifluoride that is mixed to make mud acid.
Mud acid is not used in hydrofracing. It's one or the other. They are incompatible. The mud acid would dissolve the sand in the hydrofrac in the near wellbore area, rendering the well useless. I guess one could run a mud acid job followed by a frac job, but then there would be too much water in the wellbore and it would kill the gas well. Oops. Drill another well. Try again.
Pumping benzene into a well would be expensive and worthless over the long term. Pressurized CO2 is cheaper and works better.
The formaldehyde is used to try to keep the bacteria from eating the frac fluid. But the bacteria end up eating the formaldehyde and the frac fluid.
A lot of people drink frac fluid before they eat to help their digestive problems or to help them lose weight. It's made out of stuff like celery.

[HazelPethigFan]

08:12 AM on 05/15/2011

want to stop fracking? Turn off your gas hot water heater, gas stove and gas furnace.

There...that was easy. Boy..these environmental problems are easy when we go to the source of who is to actually to blame.

[benwha]

09:33 AM on 05/15/2011

Look at you, barely 9:00 and you have saved the world!

[HazelPethigFan]

10:28 AM on 05/15/2011

hahaha

[ecoalex]

10:07 AM on 05/14/2011

The Duke report out his week said the seal thru the water aquifers never work under the emense pressure of fracking.The gas once liberated,difusses up thru natural cracks to the surface and thru water aquifers.There is no way to frack and not have this.Fracking ruins perpetual fresh water for 30 years of gas .make sense? What is more important gas or water?Trying to clean up water with gas,heavy metals,radium diesel fuel is very expensive.

[PAGasDriller]

12:49 PM on 05/15/2011

That is not at all what the Duke report said you liar. The thermogenic gas encountered was from shallow gas formations, not the Marcellus. This has been WELL DOCUMENTED by the PA DEP 10 times over. The DEP investigator in charge of their study presented all of this to the EPA in February. He plainly said he would 100% dispute that this gas is coming from the Marcellus.

[Robert Finne]

12:03 AM on 05/16/2011

Driller, are you high when you post your inane comments and unrelated anecdotes?

"In addition, the researchers say isotopic analysis of methane and other hydrocarbons detected in the water samples indicates that most of the methane detected was from the deep shale deposits and not from natural biological decay near the surface."
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/89/i20/8920notw1.html

This is from Chemical and Engineering News. Are they liars as well? You owe the commenter an apology.

Also, nobody really cares what DEP says. They have made so many mistakes and have admitted to being overwhelmed and out gunned. Their credibility is at near ZERO and its why outside studies are being done.

[DirtyDawg]

09:57 AM on 05/14/2011

Hell, Exxon's even got one of their TV commercials devoted to 'fracking'...although they don't call it that...just 'their use of technology to produce natural gas for America'. I mean the networks make the drug companies include a laundry list of disclaimers to their advertising and other companies change some of their claims if they think that they may not be completely accurate - or at least they used to - but they obviously don't require Exxon to do a damn thing but pound their chests in their effort to distract us from the real issue - that they are making a ga-zillion dollars a day and plan to keep on doing it forever...or until we pull a Chavez on 'em and nationalize 'OUR' ever-dwindling supply of oil and gas, or at a minimum declare it a regulated monopoly.

[wsmith3023]

10:59 PM on 05/16/2011

Coal, oil, natural gas and all other natural resources were nationaized in 1977.
Our government owns the vast majority of these natural resources.
You and I own more oil and gas than ExxonMobil does.
Our government makes over a trillion dollars a year from selling these natural resources.
That's why the Department of Energy was formed at that time.

[vietveter]

02:11 AM on 05/17/2011

WATER IS GOOD – FRACKING IS BAD

“”Hell, Exxon's even got one of their TV commercial¬s devoted to 'fracking'¬...althoug¬h they don't call it that...jus¬t 'their use of technology to produce natural gas for America'.””

Being a Rachel Maddow fan I have seen that disgusting eXXon commercial a thousand times. They show clean, green fields > all the tanks, etc. that they leave behind in their wake.
Every time I think about Rachel Maddow having eXXon as her prime sponsor I want to choke.
“RACHEL… YES YOU ! Ditch that sponsor. Your image is slipping.”

http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/about-the-film

[wsmith3023]

09:32 AM on 05/17/2011

Envision the barrels of dispersant the average American introduce into our sewage each year.
Envision the gallons of mutual solvent, like MTBE that the Average American flushes down the toilet each year.
Envision the gallons of gasoline and/or diesel the average American spill on our streets and into our storm sewers.
Envision the frac fluid that most Americans apply to their sex organ.
Envision the tons of carbon the average American exhaust into the air each year.
Envision the gallons of benzene the average introduces to our environment each year.
Envision the numerous cubic feet of petroleum products the average American daily throws into trashcans, out car windows or just leave on tables.

[wsmith3023]

09:42 AM on 05/17/2011

I saw gaslandthemovie. These people probably have methane in their water because there are tons of trash buried in their backyards.
They should harvest this methane. There are Do It Yourself instructions in the 1970s Mother Earth News magazine on harvesting and utilizing natural methane available in almost everyone's backyard in the world.
The storm sewer on our street caught on fire because numerous people were dumping their grass clippings into the sewer.

[terramartom]

09:21 AM on 05/14/2011

It's all about greed, and greed has no boundaries or ethics.
Anyone who will intentionally poison the air, the land, the water our food just so they can make money is a low-life crook on every level.

[PAGasDriller]

09:52 AM on 05/14/2011

You intentionally poison the air when you drive your car to your job, JUST SO YOU CAN MAKE MONEY. You spew out noxious chemicals that would kill a man in minutes. You low life crook!

[SamBaby]

11:56 AM on 05/14/2011

Why does the water catch on fire???

[Old Yaller Dog]

01:20 PM on 05/14/2011

You actually equate driving a car to fracking? Get a grip and try to see the difference in scale between the two.

[justan olnamvet]

09:29 PM on 05/16/2011

During war times people like this are executed if caught.

[ahzzz]

07:52 AM on 05/14/2011

This is the reason big oil wants to keep the subsidies they know big payouts are coming. Too bad all the profits taken will be by stockholders who can afford the purified water with dinner out.

[wsmith3023]

09:49 AM on 05/17/2011

I spent 28 years car pooling. I used the over $100,000.00 I saved not buying gasoline and maintaining my car(s) and paying big time taxes to buy oil stocks.
It has tripled in value over time.
You can do this too. Stop being addicted to gasoline.

[ahzzz]

03:44 PM on 05/17/2011

Ummm, you car pooled and did not contribute? You carpooled but did not drive?
and then you used the money you ?saved? to buy Oil company stocks - how is that not being addicted to gasoline? You were in the car right?

[richj45]

07:10 AM on 05/14/2011

Water , sand and formaldehyde, ammonium chloride, acetic anhydride, methanol, hydrochloric acid, and propargyl alcohol are whats added to your water sources when oil and gas companies frack in your area.. If the epa doesn't stop this what is the purpose of having an EPA..

[PAGasDriller]

09:53 AM on 05/14/2011

Hydrochloric acid is completely benign. Not that it matters, because frack water never reaches aquifers.

[ecoalex]

10:10 AM on 05/14/2011

Shill,stop spreading the lies.Must be paid for this manure.

[Robert Finne]

01:02 PM on 05/14/2011

Really? This MSDS says differently.
http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/h3880.htm

"frack water never reaches aquifers."

You have a scientific peer reviewed study that proves this conclusively? I've got polymers in my water, where did they come from?

[SamBaby]

11:56 AM on 05/14/2011

The EPA needs funding which the Repubs are trying to eliminate!!!

[wsmith3023]

10:14 AM on 05/17/2011

The EPA is just ammunition the Democrat party and the Republican party use against each other.
We need an EPA that is not controlled by a political party nor industry.
We need an EPA that is not used to increase tax revenues.
We need an EPA that is for the safety and well being of the people and the environment. The present EPA is not that organization.
We need to return the EPA to it's original purpose.

[speckitis]

04:51 AM on 05/14/2011

Come on. At first glance, last glance, in-depth glance, fracking is freeing natural gas to go hither and thither including into ground water. It's an issue now because the western tier of NY and Pennsyl-tuckey are economically hard hit. Fracking is a quick buck for landowners in the affected areas. I feel for them but also caution them to be careful what they wish for.