With Quakes, Toxic Water, and Emissions, 'No Surprise' Support for Fracking on Decline

With growing public awareness of the health, climate, and geological impacts of fracking, more than half of Americans now oppose the drilling method, according to a new Gallup poll out Wednesday.

Once hailed as a technological breakthrough that would ensure American energy independence, the survey found 51 percent of people now oppose “fracking” as a means of increasing the production of natural gas and oil in the U.S.

What’s more, opposition to the practice has grown by over ten percent in the past year alone, a fact that Gallup partly attributes to growing media attention and the rise of fracking-induced earthquakes throughout Midwest.

Wenonah Hauter, executive director, Food & Water Action Fund, said that the findings come as “no surprise.”