Fracking Is Lacking

I recently read a small book entitled "Fracking". It's part of the "at issue" series done by Greenhaven Press in 2013. The book gives divergent views on fracking for gas. Most of the chapters are articles written by well informed authors who have studied fracking and are not in favor of this practice. However, there is a chapter written by Exxon/Mobile to counter the others.

I will list some of the concerns raised in the book:
  1.) contamination of drinking water by methane, benzene, arsenic and over 500 other hazardous chemicals
  2.) erosion of soil from drilling and runoff
  3.) flowback water contaminated by radioactive deposits underground
  4.) contamination of the air from frack ponds, compressor pumps, truck exhausts, generators
  5.) contamination of the soil from flowback water and it's chemicals
  6.) waste of thousands of millions of freshwater to frack
  7.) no large scale methods of safe disposal of fracking flowback
  8.) scarring of the land by drilling rigs, multiple horizontal shafts, and all the pipelines
  9.) leaks and spills are polluting our natural water systems and aquifers
  10.) non-disclosure of chemicals in the frack water (Halliburton loophole)
  11.) lax enforcement of existing state laws & few national guidelines on fracking
  12.) many states view fracking only for the economic benefits (jobs & profits) NOT for any environmental impacts
  13.) medical doctors and researchers don't know what to "test for" when people get sick near fracking sites - drillers don't have to expose what the chemicals are that are in the frack fluids

Overall it appears that our government has left the fox guarding the hen house. Our natural resources (people, plants, animals, air, and waterways) have been left unguarded by the state and national regulatory agencies. In my opinion it's a national disgrace.