The fracking of Iowa is underway

Searching for a rationale for Republican neglect of small communities, of public education at all levels, of parks and recreation, of the health of rivers and streams, and more, it occurred to me that Iowa has become a site for fracking. The fracking of Iowa, horizontal rather than vertical, extracting all that can be drawn from our resources with little concern for what’s left over.

I know it’s a metaphor, but metaphors point at something. “Fracking” comes from “fracture,” and it’s the fracture of much that’s at stake, with its grotesque horizontal shadow emerging in pipelines assembled to conduct carbon away from its manufactured source. All with the further, doubtful rationale of ethanol being healthier for the environment than the industry of its making.

David Hamilton

Iowa City

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