I wish that all aspects of Marcellus Shale drilling were as glowingly positive as the wonderful natural gas applications enumerated by David Mishler in his May 20 letter to the editor, “End ‘shale’ negativism.”

I know of no one, myself included, who has issues with natural gas per se or its possibilities for the future. However, the current method for extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale — hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” — is something else.

In his letter, Mishler allows that fracking “isn’t perfect” and leaves it at that. If there were only a few minor technical flaws that were creating minor inconveniences for the public, I would say, “Drill away! The technology is bound to get better eventually.”

But that is not the case.

Hydraulic fracturing in the 21st century utilizes extremely toxic/carcinogenic chemicals such as benzene (known carcinogen), toluene (severe neurological effects), xylene (respiratory/neurological effects) and bromide (endocrine disruptor) that are mixed with water and injected with great force into the earth to shatter the shale and release the trapped natural gas. It is a process that the gas industry, with its profit-driven agenda, claims is “safe,” whereas myriad professional voices with no agenda other than the public’s health and safety warn of grave dangers associated with the fracking process.

The most common complaint associated with fracking is contaminated well water. A young woman from Bradford County contracted a rather exotic condition called barium poisoning from contaminated well water caused by fracking.

The fracking industry often says that it can’t be proven that its activities contaminate well water. Often that is true in a court of law, unless one has jumped through many very expensive hoops (that is to say, water testings) to supply the “burden of proof.”

In the court of life, however, this fact is indisputable: All across this country, communities that never had problems with air quality or widespread well-water contamination before fracking, now have those problems, some with great severity, after fracking.

Not perfect? Not even close. According to the Pittsburgh Business Times’ violation-tracking database, there have been 2,025 environmental/safety violations in Marcellus Shale development statewide over the past three years. Butler County has had 19 violations with limited drilling.

We who support a ban in Butler County simply want a modicum of protection for our communities until safer fracking technology can be implemented. Thus, we support a ban, or at least a moratorium, on fracking.

On June 11, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) and the City of Pittsburgh are co-sponsoring a free conference for municipal officials titled “Ban Fracking at the Municipal Level” at Robert Morris University in Moon Township. I hope that at least one representative from each municipality in this county will attend.