Hum/111 Week 7 - Togeather We Stand

To Whom It May Concern:

Everyone in the community has been aware of a growing concern dealing with the health of our residents. When this mystery illness showed its ugly head, there was no real cause for concern, but after more of the community has fallen to this something is not right in the community. After interviewing many of the sick residents, I have found that these are not genetic or random. Most of the symptoms are the same, and it affects every age, race, and gender, so that leads me to believe it is environmental. This conclusion was reached after mapping the residents who have become ill, checking to see if there was any common location or area that could be contributing to this mystery. It seemed houses using wells closest to the gas company had a higher rate of the illness than residents living further away.

After conducting some research on how the gas company produces natural gas, and found that a process known as hydraulic fracturing uses a slew of toxic chemicals. In order to expel the natural gas, the company uses water as well as chemicals such as hydrochloric acid (Ramudo & Murphy, 2010). If not managed properly, the waste from this process can contaminate drinking water for the city. I conducted some research to see if this has been a problem anywhere else, and sadly it has. In 2011, the EPA released a study that showed high levels of contaminates in a Wyoming town (O'Day & Reece, 2012). I made some calls to people in that town to sadly find out that they experienced the same symptoms as everyone else. I sat down with a expert in the field of natural gas, trying to find out what chemicals could be in our water. I was told other than in 5 states, the plant has no obligation to disclose what chemicals are being used in the process. This can add a large number of harmful chemicals that could be flowing from our faucets. The final piece of research was to talk to employees, past and present, to see if there are corners being cut. While...