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Environment
Vivian R. Underhill, Postdoctoral Researcher in social Science and Environmental Health, Northeastern University

Companies that frack for oil and gas can keep a lot of information secret – but what they disclose shows widespread use of hazardous chemicals

Fracking Oil United States Pennsylvania Halliburton Los Angeles Texas
A deep injection well used for disposal of fracking wastewater in Kern County, Calif. Citizens of the Planet/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

From rural Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, more than 17 million Americans live within a mile of at least one oil or gas well. Since 2014, most new oil and gas wells have been fracked.

Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, is a process in which workers inject fluids underground under high pressure. The fluids fracture coal beds and shale rock, allowing the gas and oil trapped within the rock to rise to the surface. Advances in fracking launched a huge expansion of U.S. oil and gas production starting in the early 2000s but also triggered intense debate over its health and environmental impacts.

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