Water purity over energy intersts?

I participated in a telephone town hall with my congressman, Peter Roskam, on May 24. His assistant prescreened my question and I did not get the opportunity to ask it. So I’d like to state it here, in an open letter:

“Dear Congressman Roskam, you said increased natural gas production should be part of our national response to high gasoline prices. I’m concerned about current natural gas production methods which include hydraulic fracturing of wells, or fracking, to keep them running longer.

I’ve read that fracking chemicals can leach into the water supply. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor just began studying the effects of natural gas fracking on the Great Lakes. I’m in my early 30s. I run almost every day to stay healthy and I drink a huge amount of tap water. My Brita filter won’t remove benzene, toluene and other industrial chemicals used in natural gas production.

Some residents of Colorado, Texas, West Virginia, and other states that have allowed this technology for years can no longer drink their tap water because it is unsafe and can’t be filtered by their water treatment authorities to meet minimum standards. Will you take a stand to put long-term preservation of the Lake Michigan water supply first, ahead of energy interests that could endanger it?”

Tim Gaumer

Carol Stream