Fracking is the injection of millions of gallons of water, sand,
chemicals at high pressure into the ground. The shale then cracks and the
natural gas will flow and then be collected. While this may sound like a great
idea the chemicals can then get into the water system and harm the people that
drink and use the water. The main fracking contender is Sasol in South Africa.
Sasol originated as an apartheid state fossil-fuel coal to liquid company.
Multinational beneficiaries to the apartheid system were also oil giants from
Europe and US that are taking advantage of South Africa’s system that gives
cheap land, cheap labor, and cheap services. The government tried to establish
its own fuel protection. Sasol was allowed establish a whole down Sasolburg
where they take the cheap labor. Zamdela is the township that houses the
labors, which has been the site for socio-political and environmental racism.
Sasol’s profits have grown from coal-fuel, coal-mining, to gas energy, and
chemical manufacturing at the expense of the environment and poor communities.
Fracking should not be used in any case. Yet, more and more businesses
are trying to use it as well. With the threat that it causes to the environment
it should not be used to stop destroying the land and the air that it containments.
The problem is South Africa is not only the environment being harmed it also
the people that are being misused and hurt by it. Since natural gas makes our
world go round. Many countries and business will not stop at anything to get to
use it. Some countries cannot use fracking because people and laws do not allow
it. But there are some places where there are no laws and people do not have a
say. It is hard to see it that way and I wish that companies would realize the
harm they are doing to the environment and the people that will do whatever
they can to get money.
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