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     As I was looking at all of the information on Fractracker.org, some things stood out. The image gallery really grabs your attention and makes it hard to ignore what hydraulic fracturing is doing to communities around the country. Facts, data, reports, or research studies are fine, but people cling to images. Pictures capture scenes that are hard to express with words alone.

       The fracking process rips into the ground, tears apart rock formations, and blasts harmful chemicals into the void. A similar process is mirrored above ground. The drilling teams rip apart forests, tear apart serene wilderness, and spread harmful chemicals across acres of a drilling site. This is natural beauty destroyed by human intervention. Theses are large swaths of pristine forest we should preserve for future generations, ravaged by the pursuit of profits.Why should we stand up to stop this now? Fracking joins capitalism as something that "destroys your water, your air, and your food" (Seitz).  Capitalism has done the same thing to the country for our entire lives. The system in place won't stop until the top 1% holds 100% of the wealth. Here we can sleep easy, because fracking will stop just as soon as the natural gas is gone and your community is unlivable. Chesapeake Energy will leave the land once it is of no use to anyone or anything. But don't worry. Here is their plan to make it all better.

       They'll reduce the zone of devastation above ground to a measly acre. They'll make the area pretty by putting dirt back and making roads better than before. This is to mention nothing of the long term impact to groundwater and all of the chemicals left underground.
     They aren't the only gigantic corporation to step up and try to make us feel good as they obliterate the environment. Exxon Mobil is an ever-present figure in the fracking game. Any search of hydraulic fracturing on YouTube is greeted by Exxon videos at the top and bottom of the results. Take a look at the rest of their video library and things get disturbing. Many of the pro-Marcellus Shale exploration videos claim the energy found here will release us of our dependence on "foreign oil". Foreign, in this instance, is always evil. It always seems to imply the money we spend on oil imports goes directly to the pockets of terrorists and radicals. Maybe it goes to Canadian terrorists and radicals. Canada is our top supplier of oil after all. This mad grab for energy at any cost is global too. The Exxon YouTube page has videos in other languages, targeting potential victims across the globe. Of course, no hydraulic fracturing commercial would be complete without mentioning our current economic situation. Don't fret, the same large corporations,bankers, and wealthy elites who helped ruin the economy will now save us with their divine mercy.  Never fear. We wrecked your financial system, but you can have a few jobs back as long as you don't mind destroying your environment and community. A few of you can get off of unemployment if you give us "a five-year option to drill among the headstones of the faithful departed" (Seitz).
     Who will save us? Chomsky shows us that these important issues will never make it into the media's agenda. There are small, local efforts to educate people about fracking, but raise your hand if you listen to The Allegheny Front or watch fracking documentaries. Wait. Governor Corbett is stepping up to fight for us.

     Maybe this was an elaborate joke of some kind by Mr. Corbett. It is quite funny. He starts by telling us that drilling for natural gas impacts communities and the area around the sites. He knows, he's been there. Yet, instead of mentioning one single chemical people are exposed to in this process or raising one single environmental concern, he manages to make "impact" into a good thing. The drilling sites impact the area, but it's only an increase in school attendance because of all the glorious jobs fracking provides. Move over Tim Allen, Tom Corbett is now the funniest man in America. Maybe he isn't funny. He's just really good at his job: serving the interests of the myriad of energy companies who, in one way or another, gave his campaign massive sums of money.

Works Cited

Seitz, Daivd. "The Sacred and the Propane." Explosion Proof. 01 Jan 2011:11-14. Print.