Drilling Apart Democracy—Fracking, Politics, and the EPA

In December 2016 the EPA concluded that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, does pose a risk to drinking water. That’s a stark reversal from a conclusion reached during the Bush administration, which gave the oil and gas industry exemptions to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Science has been whipsawed by politics, and now with the new Trump administration, there may be another sharp swing to the right—threatening many protections to air and water. Is there any line of defense left between us and environmental catastrophe?