Bernie Sanders

A growing body of evidence tells us that fracking is a danger to our water supply — our most precious resource. It’s a danger to the air we breathe. It has resulted in more earthquakes. It’s highly explosive. And it’s contributing to climate change.

The toxic chemicals used in fracking are known to cause lung cancer and birth defects. Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Academy of Sciences have shown clear evidence that hydraulic fracturing can lead to a contaminated water supply.

We cannot allow our children to be poisoned by toxic drinking water just so a handful of fossil fuel companies can make even more in profits. There is simply no good way to contain the cocktail of toxic chemicals pumped into the ground.

Moreover, the threat of methane emissions from fracking presents a profound danger to our climate. Methane traps more than 84 times the heat of carbon dioxide. While natural gas might burn cleaner than coal, the enormous explosion of fracking and the resulting release of methane presents a significant danger to our planet.

I’m proud that my state of Vermont has joined with New York to ban fracking. According to New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation, no amount of regulation can safely guard against the dangers fracking poses to our land, water, air, natural resources and public health.

Keep on fracking: Our view

If we are serious about safe and clean drinking water and clean air, if we are serious about protecting the health of our children and families, and if we are serious about combating climate change, we need to phase out fracking nationwide.

Unfortunately, Secretary Hillary Clinton disagrees. Even worse, as secretary of State, she worked to export fracking throughout the world to reward companies such as Chevron, Halliburton, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. That, in my view, is unacceptable.

The time has come to fundamentally transform our energy system away from fossil fuel and toward clean sources of power such as wind, solar and geothermal. And by doing this, not only will we create millions of new jobs, we also will save our planet in the process.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.