Fracking is Fiendish.

Recently the New York Times Photojournalism Blog (LENS) had an amazing feature about a grassroots movement called The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project (MSDP). In attempts to expose the multifaceted horror show that is hydraulic fracturing, residents in the Marcellus Shale region (NY, PA, WV, & OH) are collectively amassing photo evidence of the terrible side effects and repercussions fracking extraction.

In the rare case you are unfamiliar with the process of ‘fracking’, it is a procedure in which bedrock surrounding pockets of subterranean Natural Gas is fractured via pumping hydraulic fluids laced with unimaginable toxins thousands of feet below Earth’s surface. Due to faulty cement pipe encasements and other common defects of the process, drinking water from aquifers and streams are frequently polluted to the point of becoming flammable. We could go on and on about this but instead I will leave you with the LENS / MSDP images along with a very informative & well done mini-documentary on the fracking process by Josh Fox (creator of the Gasland documentary [which if you haven’t seen, you must add to your shortlist]).

THAT’S FRACKED UP!